Dave Grohl Broke His Leg on Stage and Finished the Show

On June 12, 2015, the Foo Fighters were two songs into a concert at Ullevi Stadium in Gothenburg, Sweden. Fifty-two thousand people were watching. During "Monkey Wrench," Dave Grohl jumped toward a ramp at the edge of the stage, misjudged the distance, and fell into the security pit below.

He had broken his leg.

He was carried backstage. The rest of the band kept playing. Drummer Taylor Hawkins jumped on lead vocals and performed Queen's "Under Pressure" while Grohl was being treated. A doctor strapped up his leg and gave him pain injections.

Grohl refused to cancel. He was wheeled back onto the stage in a chair, with a doctor sitting beside him physically holding his broken leg in place. He told the crowd: "I may not be able to walk or run, but I can still play guitar and scream."

He played every remaining song. The show ran for another two and a half hours.

The band posted an X-ray of the break to Twitter. Surgery followed, with a plate and pins inserted in the bone. Most people would have cancelled the tour.

Grohl designed a throne.

From his hospital bed, high on morphine, he grabbed hotel stationery and drew a sketch of what he wanted. Guitar necks forming the back like the Iron Throne from Game of Thrones. A speaker cabinet as the seat. Stage lights throughout. The Foo Fighters logo on top. Lasers shooting from the crown.

He took a photo of the drawing and texted it to his lighting designer with two words: "Build this."

The crew built it in five days at a Las Vegas staging facility. Fender donated spare and defective guitar necks for the construction. The throne debuted at RFK Stadium in Washington, D.C. on July 4, 2015 - the Foo Fighters' 20th anniversary show.

Grohl toured on that throne for three months.

When asked about designing it while on painkillers, Grohl was characteristically blunt: "I was high as a fucking kite."