"Oh my God, my face is caved in!" - fan reportedly injured by Axl Rose mic toss

Axl Rose throwing his mix into the crowd, plus Rebecca Howe's facial injuries — (Image credit: Breakdancer71/Rebecca Howe)

A Guns N' Roses fan who attended the band's show this week at the Adelaide Oval in Australia claims to have been injured by a microphone tossed into the crowd by Axl Rose.

The fan, Rebecca Howe, tells the Adelaide Advertiser that she was struck at the climax of Paradise City, the final song of the band's 29-song set.

"I was in Diamond Standing, so it wasn’t even right at the front, and it was the very last song, Take Me Down To Paradise City,” she said. "He took a bow and then he launched the microphone out to the crowd … and then bang, right on the bridge of my nose.”

Footage of the event at Adelaide Now appears to show Howe fall to the ground while another fan retrieves the mic – clearly not thrown in malice – and triumphantly hold it aloft. The toss itself can be seen in the video below.

“My mind went, ‘Oh my God, my face is caved in," says Howe. "What if it was a couple of inches to the right or left? I could have lost an eye… what if it hit me in the mouth and I broke my teeth? If my head was turned and it hit me in the temple, it could have killed me."

After the incident, Howe was attended to by an off-duty policeman.

It's not the first time Guns N' Roses have run into trouble with flying objects on the Australian leg of their ongoing We're F'N' Back tour. Last month Rose complained that the band had been distracted by drones flying above the stage during their set at the 27,500-capacity Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast in Queensland.

"We get it can be 'fun' to get ur drone bootleg vid," tweeted Rose, "but we'd appreciate it if anyone planning to be a drone pirate took the fans n' the band into consideration n' played w/ur toys somewhere else."

Guns N' Roses have three shows left on the tour. The play at Melbourne Cricket Ground on December 3 before skipping across the Tasman for two shows in New Zealand, at Wellington's Sky Stadium on December 8, and two days later at Auckland's Eden Park.

Yesterday they announced they'll headline London's Hyde Park on Friday June 30, next year with a full supporting bill to be announced in the coming months.

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 40 years in music industry, online for 27. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.