Punters at the first ever Sonic Temple Festival got more of a show than they bargained for over the weekend. Due to heavy winds threatening the three-day event, a huge blast of stage pyrotechnics was sent into the face of Gojira guitarist Christian Andreu.
Andreu suffered facial burns during the band’s performance of Stranded, dead centre in the middle of Gojira’s set, who were last on Australian shores in 2018 as a part of our own inaugural Download Festival.
Gojira guitarist, Christian Andreu, finishes performance at inaugural Sonic Temple Festival after sustaining burn injuries to the face.
Captured side of stage by non-other than Lamb of God rocker Randy Blythe, who slung a few lines on Backbone before taking to the Monster Energy stage himself shortly after, hailed Andreu as ‘the hardest Frenchman alive’ for powering through and finishing the set despite the injury.
The festival, launched at Mapfre Stadium in Columbus, Ohio, featured many high octane rock, metal and punk acts from across the globe; Parkway Drive, Foo Fighters and Basement to name a few. Unfortunately not all slated to perform were able to take the stage, with British Pop Rock powerhouse Bring Me The Horizon’s Sunday performance being cut when the venue was evacuated for 90 minutes.
