{{Short description|Leaping from a concert stage onto the crowd below}} {{redirect|Stage dive|the online ticket broker|Stage Dive}}
[[Image:Method Man stage dive.jpg|thumb|right|Method Man preparing to dive into the crowd at the Tweeter Center during Rock the Bells 2007]] '''Stage diving''' is the act of leaping from a concert stage onto the crowd below, which occasionally causes serious injuries. It is often the precursor to crowd surfing.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Evolution of Stage Diving |url=http://kcpr.org/2018/10/25/evolution-of-stage-diving/ |website=KCPR |date=25 October 2018 |access-date=16 February 2019}}</ref>
Many musicians have made stage diving a part of their stage act. Jim Morrison was an early performer known for having jumped into the crowd at several concerts. Iggy Pop is often credited with popularising stage diving in popular rock music.<ref>{{cite magazine| url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/20-wildest-iggy-pop-moments-20160421/iggy-flings-peanut-butter-on-cincinatti-june-13-1970-20160421 | magazine=Rolling Stone | title=20 Wildest Iggy Pop Moments | date=2016-04-21}}</ref> Initially seen as confrontational and extreme, stage diving has become common at hardcore punk and thrash metal performances.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.altpress.com/stage_diving_op_ed/ | website=altpress | title=In defense of stage diving and why it shouldn’t be banned from venues | date=2017-11-01}}</ref>
==Risks and incidents== Stage diving has occasionally caused serious injuries. One example is when Peter Gabriel of Genesis at the Friars club in Aylesbury on 19 June 1971 stage dove during the end of their song "The Knife", landing on his foot and breaking his ankle.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Banks |first1=Tony |last2=Collins |first2=Phil |last3=Gabriel |first3=Peter |last4=Hackett |first4=Steve |last5=Rutherford |first5=Mike |title=Genesis: Chapter and Verse |date=2007 |publisher=Macmillian |isbn=9780312379568 |page=113}}</ref>
On 20 August 2010, Charles Haddon, the lead singer of English synthpop band Où Est Le Swimming Pool, died by suicide after a performance at Pukkelpop, Belgium,<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/aug/21/charles-haddon-belgium-pukkelpop-dead | location=London | work=The Guardian | title=Ou Est Le Swimming Pool singer Charles Haddon found dead in Belgium | date=2010-08-21}}</ref> by jumping from a telecommunications mast in the backstage artists' parking area. Haddon was reported to have been distressed after he feared he had seriously injured a young girl earlier after a stagedive.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2010/aug/25/ou-est-le-swimming-pool | location=London | work=The Guardian | first=Sean | last=Michaels | title=Ou Est Le Swimming Pool singer 'injured fan before killing himself' | date=2010-08-25}}</ref>
In February 2014, federal judge Jan E. DuBois ruled that Fishbone had to pay $1.4 million to a woman who broke her skull and collarbone during a 2010 concert in Philadelphia when Angelo Moore stage-dove and landed on top of her.<ref name="Spin 2014-02-14">{{cite news|last=McGovern|first=Kyle|date=14 February 2014|title=Fishbone Owe $1.4 Million for Stage-Diving on Fan|url=https://www.spin.com/2014/02/fishbone-stage-dive-lawsuit/|newspaper=Spin|access-date=23 April 2015}}</ref><ref name="AP 2014-02-13">{{cite news|last=Dale|first=Maryclaire|date=13 February 2014|title=$1.4M for woman injured by Pa. Fishbone stage-dive|url=http://bigstory.ap.org/article/14m-woman-injured-pa-fishbone-stage-dive|agency=Associated Press|location=Philadelphia|access-date=23 April 2015}}</ref>
Another fatal stage diving incident occurred in May 2014 in New York City during a performance of the metalcore band Miss May I. Although the fan was able to walk away after falling from the stage, the concert was cut short after he fainted. He later died at the hospital.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Brown|first1=Harley|title=Fan Collapses Exiting NYC's Webster Hall|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6077448/fan-dies-stage-diving-at-miss-may-i-webster-hall|magazine=billboard|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519164156/https://www.billboard.com/pro/fan-dies-stage-diving-at-miss-may-i-webster-hall/|archive-date=19 May 2022}}</ref>
In April 2024, an audience member was seriously injured after the frontman for Trophy Eyes dove from the stage during a concert in Buffalo, New York. The fan suffered a broken neck and partial paralysis after the lead singer landed on them.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Li |first1=David |title='His body and my neck': Woman recalls punk singer's stage dive that sent her to hospital paralyzed |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/-body-neck-woman-recalls-punk-singers-stage-dive-sent-hospital-paralyz-rcna151963 |website=NBC News |access-date=15 July 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250516023450/https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/-body-neck-woman-recalls-punk-singers-stage-dive-sent-hospital-paralyz-rcna151963 |archive-date=16 May 2025}}</ref> Stage diving had been banned at the venue since 2011 after a stage diving incident left a man with 2 broken vertebrae.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Childers |first1=Chad |title=Fan Files Suit Against Trophy Eyes Over Spinal Injury |url=https://loudwire.com/fan-lawsuit-spinal-injury-trophy-eyes-concert/ |website=Loudwire |access-date=15 July 2025 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250124004659/https://loudwire.com/fan-lawsuit-spinal-injury-trophy-eyes-concert/ |archive-date=24 January 2025}}</ref>
==See also== *Crowd surfing *Headbanging *List of dances *Moshing *Trust fall
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.vice.com/en/article/is-it-ok-to-stagedive-musicians-weigh-in/ "Is Jumping on Someone's Head OK? Musicians Weigh In on the Great Stagedive Debate"] at ''Vice'' {{Rock festival}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stage Diving}} Category:Punk Category:Heavy metal subculture Category:Rock music Category:Syllabus-free dance