Harry Styles, Lady Gaga, and More Singers Who Stopped Performing Mid-Show to Help Fans

During a show in Los Angeles on Nov. 8, Teyana Taylor stopped the show to get help for a woman in the front row of the crowd. “Bring her up here. Sit her right there. Get her some air,” Teyana instructed security. “You good? Say rose petal,” she asked the woman, making sure that she was OK before she continued with the show.

In 2011, Adele stopped a show at London’s Hammersmith Apollo theater when she noticed a fan had passed out. “Stop! Stop! Stop!” she told her band. “Someone fainted again, right in the middle. This happened last night, as well . . . Is anyone coming to you? Has it been sorted?” Adele then continued to point in the direction of the person who’d fainted and call for help until she was sure that someone was coming to provide assistance.

Dave Grohl stopped a Foo Fighters show in London in 2011 when he noticed a child in potential danger. “Hold on one second,” he said as he stopped playing his guitar. “Does that kid need somewhere to sit? Get that kid a real seat . . . You’ve gotta take his parents too now, come on. This is a family occasion. Bring him up on the side right there. I’ll sing a song to him.”

In 2001, Linkin Park stopped a show in London to get help for a fan who’d fallen down. “We gotta look out for safety first, for real. Nobody gets hurt. That’s number one,” Mike Shinoda told the crowd before Chester Bennington started leading everyone in a helpful chant. “When someone falls, what do you do?” he shouted into the mic before the crowd chanted back, “Pick them up!”

In 1993, Kurt Cobain stopped a Nirvana concert and jumped out of his seat to stop a man who was reportedly trying to sexually assault a woman. After Cobain told the man off, Krist Novoselic led the audience in laughing at the man as he exited the crowd.

During a performance of “Ocean Eyes” in Sweden in 2018, Billie Eilish stopped the show to give water to a fan who was about to pass out. “I’m also about to pass out. We’re all just passing out,” a fan said. “What can I do to help?” Billie asked in response before passing out more water to the grateful crowd.

In 2019, A$AP Rocky stopped a concert when he noticed fans were piled on top of each other and crushed against the barrier. “Everybody back up,” he told the crowd. “Pick them girls up!” he added, pointing at a group of women who’d nearly been crushed. Rocky continued to yell at the crowd to back up until everyone was safe before continuing the show.

At a Los Angeles show in 2019, Harry Styles stopped mid-performance to ask the crowd if everything was all right. “I have a very serious question. Are you OK in there?” he asked, pointing the mic at the audience. When they responded they were not OK, Harry sent help for a woman who had fallen down and asked everyone to take “one very slow, very gentle step back.”

During a performance of their song “Homecoming,” Green Day singer Billie Joe Armstrong stopped the show to admonish some older fans who were bullying the younger members of the audience. “That’s not f*cking appropriate now. These kids are just trying to have a good time. You don’t have to f*cking muscle them around, all right?” he said before continuing the rest of the song. “Nobody’s f*cking getting hurt. Come on, be cool!”

Lady Gaga stopped a show in Connecticut in 2017 after she noticed a fan bleeding. “Meredith, I’m so sorry that you got hit in the face and that you’re bleeding,” Gaga told the fan as paramedics made their way to her. “We’re gonna make sure that you’re OK.”

During a concert in Argentina in 2018, Niall Horan stopped mid-show to address the safety of the audience when he noticed things were getting out of hand. “We don’t want anyone getting hurt or squashed. This swaying is very dangerous,” he said, encouraging the crowd to back up. “It’s not gonna work for the rest of the night. Let’s organise this before we go any further, OK? . . . Your safety is my responsibility.”

During a show at the Houston House of Blues in 2014, Brendon Urie from Panic! At the Disco stopped the band’s performance. “Make some room – hold on. Let’s be reverent for a second,” he said, instructing the crowd to part “like the Red Sea” as paramedics made their way to a woman who’d experienced a seizure. Once the woman was taken to safety, Brendon said, “We’re cool? Thank f*cking god,” and continued with the show.

Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz stopped a 2014 concert in Florida when a fan fainted. “We’re going to stop for a second here. Somebody in the front row needs some help,” he said into the mic in the middle of “Thnks fr th Mmrs.” “If everyone in the front row could just give them so room, that would be awesome. Just back up a little bit. We’re just going to take a minute here. Then we’re going to pick up exactly where we left off.”

Once the woman had been safely carried away by paramedics, Patrick Stump addressed the crowd, saying, “The coolest and most important thing is that we’re all together on this. When somebody goes down, we help them up.”

At a Slipknot concert in California in 2019, singer Corey Taylor stopped the show when he saw fans getting crushed in the pit section of the arena. “Are you all right?” he asked, halting the concert until fans agreed to back up and make more room for each other. “I’m not starting this song until you motherf*ckers back up. We are all here together, so back the f*ck up!” Once the audience complied, the concert resumed.

During a 1997 performance in Arizona, Rage Against the Machine’s Zack de la Rocha stopped the show to confront a man who had reportedly ripped a woman’s shirt off. “We’ve almost had to f*cking stop shows all over the country, and I’ll tell you why,” he said. “It’s because some people think that because they’re at a show, because there are women dancing and trying to have a good time, that they have the right to tear their f*cking tops off,” he said. “That’s f*cking bullsh*t!”

As the crowd cheered, de la Rocha went on to call out the fact that women should feel safe at concerts and not be afraid to have fun because of people who don’t respect them. “Women are forced to live in fear in their schools, and in their communities, and shouldn’t have to come to a Rage Against the Machine show and be afraid of that sh*t right there,” he said. “You can’t f*cking do that. We’re gonna stop it if it happens again.”