Falling off the stage is not a new thing. Famously in 2015 Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters fell off the stage and broke his leg. Then came back after receiving some treatment at the hospital to finish the performance. In 1971 shortly after the Montreux fire concert Frank Zappa was pushed off stage by a fan and did some serious damage to his body. The fall also damaged his larynx, permanently lowering his voice. One such incident that involved a band in the 1990s also involved an American Football team. My American Football team. As it’s the Superbowl today I thought it would be a good idea to recollect the story. This week the Beat Marches On to 13th November 1997.
Back in 1997, the New England Patriots have not yet won a Superbowl. They hadn’t yet drafted Tom Brady (that would be a few years away) In fact they were a bit of a laughingstock. Sure, they had got to the big game a couple of times including the year before but lost them both. One of them at the time was the biggest loss in Superbowl history against the classic 1985 Chicago Bears team. The team was banned from Monday night football from 1981 to 1995 because of the fan’s drunken bad behaviour. When the team first formed the initial owner, Billy Sullivan talked his way into being a team owner. It’s safe to say the bar was pretty low at this time.
After reaching the Superbowl the previous year New England was doing well in this season. With a 6-4 record the team were in the hunt to reach the playoffs again and had a tough matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who were a game ahead at 7-3. That’s when the Thursday before the game, a few team members decided to go out to a nightclub where a popular band was playing that night.
Everclear was touring America on the back of their second album “So Much For The Afterglow” released in October 1997. The future looked promising for the band as they had moderate success with their first album “Sparkle and Fade” They also had some moderate success with their breakout single “Santa Monica (Watch the World Die)” The band never made an impact in the UK but as they hit the mainstream when the UK was in full Britpop mode at this time.
The alternative band made a stop in Boston and played at a nightclub called the Paradise. It was quite a small show with only about 600 people in attendance. Three VIPs were standing at the back of the hall towering over the rest of the crowd (the shortest stood at six foot five) They were the Patriots Quarterbacks Drew Bledsoe and Scott Zolak and Offensive lineman Max Lane. They were noticed by the band and they were invited up on stage. Bledsoe confessed he was a fan of the band as they started to get attention in the Pacific Northwest where he went to college.
The story, as the band claims, is they invited the Patriots up on stage to dance but with 90s grunge concerts having a reputation for moshing, a form of violent dancing, you could see how the players wanted to get involved. Although there are not any accounts of this at the venue, you know that others were jumping off the stage. It was a 1990s rock concert. Everyone was jumping off the stage. So, the players wanted to try it for themselves.
You have to remember at this point that these are professional sports players at the peak of physical fitness. They are trained to play an incredibly violent sport. When Bledsoe and Lane jumped off the stage attempting to crowd surf the crowd tried but couldn’t hold their weight. Lane was 21 stone alone. It was an accident waiting to happen.
Unfortunately, the accident did happen. Max Lane landed on 23-year-old Tameeka Messier’s head and neck and had to have surgery on her neck and back. She sued Bledsoe, Lane, the band, and the venue for damages.
The suspects kept blaming each other. The players claimed that Everclear encouraged them to jump off the stage. The band said they only invited them to dance. There were reports that security did not attempt to stop the men from diving as this was normal in the mid-nineties.
The Patriots fans were in uproar with the players who went to the concert. Not because they hurt someone but because they could have hurt themselves before a big game coming up. The national media went crazy, especially as Bledsoe and Lane played in the Superbowl a few months earlier. Bledsoe also had a three-week-old baby at home with his wife. The local media blamed the team coach, Pete Carroll, who had a boys will-be-boys approach rather than the stricter approach of the previous coach, Bill Parcells. (Carroll’s approach would ultimately get him a Superbowl win later in his career)
The lawsuit was eventually settled out of court after a long two-year battle. Bledsoe paid the most at $600,000 but all involved had to contribute to the settlement. The total was $1.2 million. Everclear had to claim on their liability insurance which meant their premiums went up and hurt them in the long run.
The incident didn’t hurt any of the professionals involved. Everclear continued performing until 2016. The Patriots players carried on playing losing the first game following the incident against Tampa Bay. The media blamed the loss on what happened, but the people involved denied it. Drew Bledsoe carried on playing until 2006. Scott Zolak played until 1999 becoming the radio colour commentator for the Patriots in 2010. Max Lane played until 2000. Even the Paradise nightclub still operates to this day when conditions allow.
Luckily for those involved this happened in 1997 rather than the present day. If it was now the news would’ve dragged it out for months. It was forgotten about after a couple of days following the reports in the news. Everyone forgot about the incident and carried on even though the victim had to go through major surgery to repair the damage. This isn’t what you expect when you go to see a favourite band play.
The Beat Marches On is a music blog written by Jimmy Whitehead. Jimmy has been blogging for six years specialising in Sports (especially American Football). If you want to follow Jimmy on Twitter: @Jimmy_W1987
The Beat Marches On has a Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/The-Beat-Goes-On-Blog-107727714415791 and a Twitter page: @TheBeatGoesOnB1
The websites used for research were:
Everclear interview, Art Alexakis interview, Welcome to the Drama Club (bullz-eye.com)
Patriots’ Leap Injures Woman at Club – Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)
Also, the book “From Darkness to Dynasty: The First 40 Years of the New England Patriots” by Jerry Thornton
If you want to request a story for The Beat Marches On blog, then you can contact jwhiteheadjournalism@gmail.com. We cannot guarantee that the story will be published but will be considered.