Gojira's flame-fueled stage show was on full display at this past weekend's inaugural edition of Columbus, Ohio's Sonic Temple Music Festival. But the Saturday, May 18th, performance took an unexpectedly scary turn when windy conditions caused the pyrotechnics to go awry mid-set and burn guitarist Christian Andreu's face, causing him to rush off stage to seek assistance.
Thankfully the French musician wasn't seriously injured, and returned a short time later and heroically slammed through the rest of the band's four remaining songs, taking breaks between each to cool his reddened face with water.
Watch fan-filmed footage of the incident below.
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 singer Randy Blythe was also side-stage during the performance. And while he missed the moment Andreu got burned, he witnessed its aftermath and captured shots of the guitarist's injuries, which he shared — along with details of the incident — on Instagram. "You are looking at photos of THE HARDEST FRENCHMAN ALIVE, Christian Andreu of @gojiraofficial," reported Blythe, who moments before joined Gojira onstage and experienced the dodgy pyro conditions first hand. See Blythe's photos and read his full account below.
Despite the incident, Gojira went on to perform at Chicago Open Air the following day, Sunday May 19th.