Full Details On What Happened During Mike Haggith's Rotaryfest 2023 Set!!

This will be a very different post for me on the SMS, as I've never seen an event like this happen before in a musician we cover (minor slips or moshpit mishaps, sure), but given how fast this spread on social media for bad and good reasons, I had to cover it on here once we escaped this weekend's concert previews and had enough public facts. Let's get things rolling!

As you may know, local/Barrie alt-hard rock solo musician Mike Haggith was the very first performer on Rotaryfest Stage 1 on Thursday, which also served as the release party for his brand new studio album "All The Best In All You Do", but that wasn't the narrative of the evening for too long. If you were watching in person at Clergue Park or via Facebook live-streams, you'll have seen Mike and his backing band (guitarist Chris Nielsen, bassist Jacob Quarrell, and drummer Brandan Glew) kick off their set with the new album's opening track "All You Do", and they were in the late stages of their second song ("Hot & Cold") when Mike seriously dislocated his knee mid-song! You can see what happened below in Jacob's live-stream for his personal Facebook page, which was shared publically on Kenneth Armstrong's SooToday article about Mike's set, so I assume it's safe to share here (at least one other Facebook video is floating around too).

You can see what happened at the 8:30 mark, and it doesn't look like much, just that his left knee suddenly gave out while he was rocking out with his right foot propped on the drum riser. Mike thought that he caught his heel on a crevice on the stage in a freak accident, and he did not pass any blame or judgment on Rotaryfest's crew, who he praised for the amazing job they did this year (remember, he played on the same stage without incident last year). Mike finished the song while laying on his back facing away from the crowd, and while his left knee looks a little misshapen, it's nothing horrible to look at (initial on-stage reactions were that he broke his leg, but it thankfully was not that serious). Jacob's live-stream above runs out with Rotaryfest staff, paramedics, and the band checking on Mike and assessing what happened, with Jacob reminding us at the end to not actually tell someone to "break a leg" before a performance, as it might come true!

An ambulance was called to bring Mike to Sault Area Hospital, but while still laying on his back surrounded by paramedics (who did pop his knee back into place), he played one more song! The joys of adrenaline, musicians will understand that rush! Mike and the guys played "I've Seen It Before" (not something many of us can say of this set!), and while that video wasn't posted/re-shared publically, Jacob did film it in a second live-stream that you can watch on his personal Facebook page. The abbreviated 20-ish minute set ended with Mike still joking to the crowd, thanking everyone, and suggesting that we do it again next year, and personal postings suggested that if the ambulance didn't arrive when it did, he would have tried to keep playing. All props and kudos to Mike for his toughness and dedication to play on despite a freak injury like this, not all musicians would bother after getting similarly hurt mid-set! I wonder if this is worthy of a song?

The dislocation was not a simple "reset the kneecap and you're good to go" instance like on TV, and Mike is still dealing with the effects of the injury. I won't go into full detail here, as not everything is posted to his solo project's Facebook page or the SooToday article, but he was discharged from the hospital that night, and as of Friday morning, he was "stubbornly up & hobbling around" despite a swollen knee, and it was "not fun to walk". Mike does still plan to play at the Northern Vibe Festival in Ophir late next month, presumably with the same backing band, and if you know Mike well, you'll know that he and the guys put in a lot of work to get this set ready for Rotaryfest to launch the new album in style, only for this to happen. Time will tell how healed up his knee is by August 25th, but they did invent chairs for a reason, and you may recall Dave Grohl (and later Axl Rose) using a fancy throne on stage when he broke his leg on tour!

Hopefully his Northern Vibe set is everything that he and the band were hoping for out of the Rotaryfest set, as the new album (which I will cover on the site next week) deserves attention beyond what a fluke injury going viral could create. That said, it's the press you can't quite make up off the top of your head, and hopefully he sold some extra CDs on Thursday! I'm told they were still being sold after the ambulance left. It is worth noting that Mike's old Din bandmate Tammy Hill had just played her first live concert in four years on Tuesday (with The Steeletown Girls at The Roberta Bondar Pavilion) after she seriously injured two fingers in an accident back in 2019, so this has proved to be an eventful week for Din alumni. Read the SooToday article above (featuring Mike's own remarks via phone) and his Facebook page for more on his Rotaryfest 2023 set, and we'll have more from him on the site next week! Thanks everyone!