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Kelsea Ballerini opened up about what happened at her show in Boise, Idaho, where a concertgoer threw an object on stage while she was performing and struck her in the face. Ballerini temporarily stopped the show and exited the stage, and addressed safety when she returned.
Ballerini explained that the object was a bracelet that a fan threw on stage, hitting her in the eye. She explained that although she wasn’t badly hurt, the bracelet “scared me,” and she left the stage to collect herself and make sure that she, her band and crew, and the audience were safe for the show to move forward.
“i’m fine, let’s just do a better job of keeping each other safe at shows. ily,” she wrote in an Instagram caption on Thursday morning (June 29), the day after the concert, as she shared a few photos from her latest tour stop. The award-winning singer-songwriter added in a written statement on her Instagram story: “hi. i’m fine. someone threw a bracelet, it hit me in the eye, and it more so just scared me than hurt me. we all have triggers and layers of fears way deeper than what is shown, and that’s why i walked offstage to calm down and make sure myself, band and crew, and the crowd all felt safe to continue. that’s all i ever want, is for shows to feel like a safe place for us all. i love you and appreciate all of the concern, let’s make the last two shows of the heartfirst tour the best yet. 🤍”
Shortly after the incident happened on Wednesday night (June 28), a Kelsea Ballerini fan account tweeted a nearly one-minute video that showed what happened. Kelsea Central tweeted, in part, that although “we all mean well,” there are better ways to offer gifts to the “HEARTFIRST” star rather than “throwing things on stage where artists are already so vulnerable… PLEASE don’t put her in danger like this.”
Kelsea Central also noted that Ballerini returned to the stage to finish her show and perform “If You Go Down (I’m Goin’ Down Too)” again. That was the song she was playing when she stopped partway through after she was hit with the bracelet. Ballerini said when she returned to the stage, in part: “Don’t throw things. …I just want it to be a safe place for everyone.”
The “HEARTFIRST Tour” show marked the latest time that a fan threw an item on stage, including recent incidents in which the performer was struck. Fellow country artist Hannah Ellis, without naming anyone specifically, said on her Instagram story that she’s “seen four different artists get hit by people throwing stuff from the audience” within one week. “That’s scary. Can someone help me understand what is happening there? And like, how do we make it stop?”