Gojira Guitarist Burns Face in Onstage Pyro Accident, Finishes Playing Set | Page 2 | Revolver

Gojira Guitarist Burns Face in Onstage Pyro Accident, Finishes Playing Set

Lamb of God's Randy Blythe shares photos of "the hardest Frenchman alive, Christian Andreu," after Sonic Temple Music Festival incident
gojira-2018-katja-ogrin-getty.jpg, Katja Ogrin / Getty
Gojira's Christian Andreu, 2018
photograph by Katja Ogrin / Getty

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.

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.

View this post on Instagram

(SWIPE LEFT FOR MORE PHOTOS) You are looking at photos of THE HARDEST FRENCHMAN ALIVE, Christian Andreu of @gojiraofficial. Yesterday at @sonictemplefestival, my brothers in Gojira took the stage & destroyed the place. I lost track of time & forgot when they were playing- when I realized they were on, I went running to the stage with my camera. I got there right as they were playing “Backbone”- their tech @notoriouswog was like “Here’s your mic!”- I took off my glasses, put down my camera, & ran out onstage wearing flip-flops (which I immediately kicked off- hard to rock in flops) & started singing. Suddenly there was a HUGE blast of flame- SCARED THE SHIT outta me, ‘cause I didn’t know they had pyro! Anyways, I got done singing, shot a few photos, then ran to my dressing room to get a different camera lens. When I got back, Woggsy said “Christian just caught a blast of flame to the face!”- the wind was REALLY bad yesterday, & it blew the pyro right into Christian’s face- THANK GOD HE HAD HIS EYES CLOSED at that second! 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 SHIT right there. @jameyjasta, you need to put him in the #HARDHALLOFFAME!!! Respect, Christian- you are one TOUGH MOTHERFUCKER. #Leica #LeicaCamera #LeicaCameraUSA #LeicaM #LeicaM10P #LeicaM10Ptyp3656 # #Summilux #Summilux35mm #LeicaCraft #MyLeicaJourney #MKexplore #drandallblythe #RatsEyesPhotography #HoneTheAesthetic

A post shared by D. Randall Blythe (@drandallblythe) on