Freak accident suffered by St Albans’ Enter Shikari band member

Hats off to St Albans band Enter Shikari – when it comes to freak accidents they certainly gave fans an eyeful at a recent overseas gig.

While playing at one of three recent festivals in Germany Rory Clewlow had to seek hospital treatment after receiving a cut to his left eye from an over-enthusiastic fan.

Admitting the injury was “not very rock ‘n roll,” fellow band member Chris Batten explained: “Rory went out into the crowd and someone was dancing with a straw hat in his hand and struck him in his eye.

“Rory got a cut on his eye and as it was causing him a lot of pain he ended up seeing a specialist in Germany.”

While the band is used to suffering various injuries while performing on stage, Chris said it was “probably the first time we have been injured by a fan; it is normally the fans who get injured”.

The specialist put a protective eyepatch on Rory and told him to rest and keep his eye clean to lessen the chance of infection.

However the injury did not stop him from returning to the stage the following day.

And there was plenty of ribbing for Rory who after posting “stage injuries…never eyedeal [sic]” and a photo of his patched-up eye on Twitter was told by fans that he looked like he was about to walk the plank.

Despite his injury Enter Shikari are looking forward to performing at both the Reading and Leeds Festivals.

Chris said it would be the band’s seventh appearance at Reading, which begins next Friday (22).

He added: “We are really looking forward to it as it’s a high point in the year.”

Festival promoters said that as Enter Shikari’s sound system “almost blew the roof off the tent” last year, the band would “return to their rightful place on the main stage for a fully live set for the first time since 2012”.

Aside from a busy touring schedule the band whose members are former pupils of Sandringham and Verulam Schools, are currently also working on their fourth album.