Drake Stops Apollo Show After Fan Falls From Balcony

Willie Plaza

On Sunday (January 22), Drake held a concert in Harlem, New York at the iconic Apollo Theater and the show was lit — perhaps a little too lit for one fan. The “Laugh Now Cry Later” rapper was forced to pause his performance after a fan fell from the second floor down into the orchestra pit. Roughly 90 minutes after The 6 God took the stage, he brought out his partner in crime 21 Savage and the duo performed several duets. Right as the pair were gearing up to rock their first song, however, a fan abruptly dropped from the mezzanine balcony and landed in the below crowd.

A team member speedily ran up to the hip hop stars and informed them of what went down. “Just gotta make sure somebody’s okay,” Drake said to Apollo attendees prior to exiting the stage. The venue cut the lights on and security personnel hastily ran through the audience toward the location where the fan landed. The man who fell disported a light fixture, and it was removed shortly after. A crew member also secured cords that were dangling over the balcony’s side.

Drake had to pause his show tonight after someone accidentally fell off the balcony. He’s okay and they kept on preforming. pic.twitter.com/EWKBDIF3mN

— Drake Direct (@DrakeDirect_) January 23, 2023

After 20 minutes, a man over the loudspeaker announced that the fan who fell over the balcony was unharmed. “Everybody is absolutely OK,” said the announcer. “They are being checked on. Nobody’s hurt. But I got even better news for you: We’re at the Apollo so the show must go on.” Champagne Papi and 21 Savage got back to the show, singing tracks from “Her Loss,” their collab album released in 2022. In between songs, Drake spoke over the mic, “Let’s just make some noise that everybody’s OK. I feel like they had to wait like 10 minutes, we should go up a little more.”

Drake also thanked the crowd for their love and high energy before performing his final song. “This crowd is an absolute 10 out of 10. I’m so happy with you tonight. We apologize for the delays and all that sht, but thank you,” said the Toronto native. “I used to come up here and my heart used to beat out of my chest. I used to be side of stage hoping some bad sht would happen, like a f*cking fire alarm would go off. I used to dread performing ’cause I just never really understood how it was just like, me on one side and all of you on the other side. But it’s nights like these that let me know I have the greatest job in the world and I feel like you, again, give me the confidence to know after all these years.”

Readers May Also Like: