Gojira guitarist has face burned by onstage pyro, returns to finish set
Gojira’s lead guitarist Christian Andreu finished the band’s set at the Sonic Temple Art + Music Festival on Saturday (18th May) despite having his face burned by the onstage pyrotechnics.
The French metal band were performing ‘Stranded’ mid-way through their set at the Mapfre Stadium in Columbus, Ohio when a gust of wind blew a blast of flames directly into Andreu's face.
Despite having a visibly scorched face and being unable to open his eyes fully, after leaving the stage momentarily Andreu swiftly returned to tear through Gojira’s remaining songs ‘Flying Whales’, ‘The Cell’ and ‘Vacuity’.
> Gojira, he took a fire blast to the face in this video. Came back and finished the set. Very Metal!!!!! #SonicTempleFest pic.twitter.com/tnn5SaJ3wL > > — Tim Human, AKA CHRBOMBg8 (@SonsOfLibertyLv) May 19, 2019
Lamb of God frontman Randy Blythe, who was also performing at the festival, witnessed proceedings and shared close up photos of Andreu on Instagram.
Calling Andreu “the hardest Frenchman alive”, Blythe blamed strong winds in the outdoor stadium for blowing the pyro into his face.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BxqWfEInK-a/
“THANK GOD HE HAD HIS EYES CLOSED at that second!,” Blythe wrote. “I looked at him & he was still playing, mostly with his eyes closed, obviously hurting & looking PISSED OFF.
“In between songs he walked over & asked for water & threw it on his face. Then he finished the set, & medics attended to him. He’s gonna be alright (except for some peeling & missing hair & eyebrows) but that was scary & it could have been really, really bad.
“Christian caught a full-on #DRACARYS to the face & still did his job. That is some HARD S--- right there.”
Gojira play the Scum stage in the Shangri-La area at Glastonbury Festival next month as part of their European tour.
Drummer Mario Duplantier recently confirmed that work is underway on their seventh studio album – the follow-up to 2016’s ‘Magma’.