Lil Durk Taking ‘Break’ After Onstage Explosion Left Him With Facial Injuries

Rapper Lil Durk is taking a break from music while he recovers from a scary incident that happened while performing at Lollapalooza festival on July 30. The popular social media blog The Neighborhood Talk shared a video featuring Lil Durk performing “Back In Blood” at the 2022 music festival in Chicago when what appears to be two onstage pyrotechnics explode in his face. In the clip, Durk walks across the stage when a huge explosive ignites in front of him as another cloud of smoke smacks him in the face. He stumbled backward and pulls up his T-shirt to wipe his eyes before leaving the stage. He returned shortly after, asking the audience, “Who wants smoke?” He recently updated fans on his Instagram account hours later.

The 29-year-old rapper posted an image of himself in the hospital wearing a face mask and a bandage covering his right eye. He captioned the photo: “Due to the incident that happened at Lollapalooza in Chicago on stage, I’ma take a break & focus on my health. I finished my performance yesterday for my fans. Appreciate y’all.”

The festival began on July 28 and ran through July 31 at Grant Park in Chicago. It originally debuted in 1991. Artists from various music genres, including alternative rock, heavy metal, punk rock, hip hop, and electronic dance music, hit the stage. It has also highlighted visual arts, nonprofit organizations, and political organizations with vendor booths, as well as food and drinks. 

The festival hosts an estimated 400,000 people yearly and is a sold-out event. It’s one of the largest and most iconic music festivals in the world, drawing attendees from all over the world. Aside from Lil Durk, performers this year included J. Cole, Coi Leray, Metallica, Machine Gun Kelly, Big Sean, YG, and dozens of others.