5 Seconds of Summer were forced to abandon their Wembley gig last night when the band’s guitarist stepped too close to onstage pyrotechnics and his hair caught fire.
Michael Clifford walked into the path of the flames projected from a device on one corner of the stage during the Aussie pop-rockers’ show at Wembley Arena in London last night.
The shocked guitarist clutched his burning hair before grabbing a towel in a desperate attempt to put out the flames.
He is thought to have been taken to hospital for treatment.
Clifford later tweeted a picture of his bandaged face, writing underneath in reference to a disfigured character in the film Batman: “Sorry I couldn’t finish the encore but at least I look like Two-Face.”
He added: “Hello world. I’m doing OK 🙂 Thanks for worrying! If I obviously don’t want to have my picture taken right now please don’t take my picture :).”
He confirmed on Sunday afternoon that he would appear with 5SOS at that night’s show at Wembley, which won’t feature any pyrotechnics.
He tweeted: “Feeling loads better and my face is fine 🙂 excited for the show tonight.”
Drummer Ashton Irwin added: “Early morning breaths… Today we are playing Wembley for the 3rd time! Last night was crazy, happy my dude is OK…”
Michael’s bandmate Calum Hood, 19, tweeted after the incident: “No one ever wants to see your best friend in the state I saw Mike backstage. He’s a trouper and is ok.”
Guitarist Luke Hemmings, 18, added: “Incredible show tonight for the most part, Mike’s in good spirits 🙂 Glad he’s all good!”
A 5SOS spokesman said: “Michael is recovering well after being given the all-clear by doctors.
“Michael and the band would like to thank all the fans, well-wishers and particularly last night’s audience for their support. There will be no pyrotechnic production for the show this evening.”
The four-piece left the stage following the guitarist’s mishap during a spectacular finale.
Security guards at Wembley had to comfort upset fans and reassure them that Michael was fine.
Joanna Brown, 44, had taken her 13-year-old daughter Charlotte to the concert.
She said: “Michael obviously forgot where to stand, or where not to stand, because he just steps out in front of the flames.
“He clearly starts to panic and grabs the hair and a towel to put it out.
“They were due to come out to do a finale and the crowd were getting quite restless because it was like 20 minutes.
“Eventually Ashton, the drummer, came on stage to let fans know the band would not be able to continue.
“He said that Michael was OK but had his hair burned and that they could not continue. Everyone was disappointed but relieved that he was OK.”
The incident has scary similarities to Michael Jackson’s infamous accident while filming a Pepsi advert in 1984, when a pyrotechnic went wrong, setting his air alight and causing painful scarring.
The accident is blamed for making the star reliant on painkillers, beginning his downward spiral into the prescription drug addiction that would claim his life in 2009.
5 Seconds of Summer topped the UK charts in 2014 with She Looks So Perfect.
The mishap came just 24 hours after another band calamity, when Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl fell off the stage and broke his leg at a gig in Sweden.