It’s happened to everyone at least once in their life.
You know what it’s like. There you are: walking along, not a care in the world and all of a sudden you place your foot on what you assume is solid ground and find that it’s, er, not solid at all.
And people laugh. Or gasp. And ask if you’re alright.
Even pop stars can fall down holes. And we’re not talking about metaphorical holes here. But real ones. Take Olivia Rodrigo, the US singer best known for her 2021 global smash Drivers License – she fell through a trap door on stage earlier this week and pulled off what in anyone’s book has to be an impressive recovery.
The incident happened at a gig at the Rod Laver Stadium in Melbourne. It was during an early section of the show; Rodrigo was hyping up the crowd when she suddenly disappeared, falling through a gaping section of the stage. It looked serious. The crowd gasped, fearing that she had done herself a serious mischief. But Rodrigo immediately popped back up and said, “Oh my God, that was fun! I’m ok!”
Though she was understandably a wee bit flustered, Rodrigo is obviously quite the trouper. She merely clambered back on stage and quipped: “Sometimes there’s just a hole in the stage. That’s alright! Ok, where was I?”
To which you have to wonder… is there? Really? Do the tech guys and roadies on stadium shows make a habit of leaving holes on stage so headlining performers can hurtle head first into them? Wouldn’t that be, like, a health and safety issue?
As you can see from the footage below, there is indeed a bloomin’ great hole centre stage, but Rodrigo handles it with absolute aplomb, getting right back on track with a big: “How we doing tonight, Melbourne?!”
The Californian singer – who has three UK Number One singles to her name - is currently on the Australian leg of her Guts World Tour, which concludes with four appearances at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena before she has a well-earned rest. And a chance to tend any injuries sustained by falling down holes on stages…
