The live environment can be a dangerous place; Ace Frehley was nearly shocked to death after a bizarre accident in 1976 and Al Di Meola feared his life was ending when he suffered a heart attack while on-stage in 2023.
But few guitarists soldier onto the stage after sustaining an injury that should have seen them standing in a hospital, not between a stack of amps and thousands of screaming fans.
Not every guitarist, it turns out, is as brave — or crazy — as Snow Patrol’s Johnny McDaid, who has just played a show with two broken hands.
The Scottish alternative rock band are best known for their 2006 hit "Chasing Cars". Having featured in the second season finale of Grey's Anatomy, it shot the band to fame, particularly in Britain. Its success earned them a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Song the following year, but the band would lose out to the Red Hot Chili Peppers for "Dani California".
The band’s latest tour saw McDaid succumb to two separate major injuries, but he proved his mettle by playing on.
Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody detailed the incidents, and McDaid’s steeliness, to Ireland’s RTÉ’s Radio 1. The first injury happened in early February when he caught his hand in a train door somewhere between Switzerland and Frankfurt.
“[McDaid] ended up getting surgery on his hand. Never missed a show,” he says.
To add insult (and more injury) to injury, he damaged his other hand just weeks later.
“The Thursday night [February 27] in Belfast at midnight or so, he fell and wrecked his other hand. Smashed his knuckles on his other hand,” Lightbody continues. “When we came in for soundcheck on Friday, he couldn’t move the fingers on his right hand and he still played the show on Friday night.”
McDaid had a second bout of surgery in quick succession after the show and is due to return to the stage for a tour of Canada from Friday, March 21.
“It’s insane,” Lightbody reacts. “He had two broken hands on the Friday show. He’s made of different stuff from the rest of us.”
His resilience is to be applauded, especially with a guitarist's hands being such invaluable tools. Steve Morse has had to adapt his picking technique as he battles arthritis, while Rockabilly legend Brian Setzer has recently revealed an auto-immune diagnosis has forced him to stop playing guitar.
Meanwhile, Slash has recalled how he nearly deafened Jeff Beck and ended his career by cranking his Marshall amps during a jam together.
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