Matchbox Twenty Performance Goes Viral After Rob Thomas Hits Bandmate

Matchbox Twenty singer Rob Thomas has attracted widespread attention online after accidentally striking bandmate Paul Doucette with a microphone stand and breaking his in ear monitors. Watch the clip below.

The mishap happened while the Florida group performed at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield on Sunday, August 16.

Footage recorded by an audience member and later uploaded to social media shows Thomas spinning the microphone stand above his head without noticing that guitarist Paul Doucette is positioned directly behind him.

The equipment then strikes Doucette on the head. The guitarist appears to be in considerable pain before leaving the stage to receive help with the injury.

“Every night I’m over here, and I’m throwing this Goddamn thing around,” Thomas told the audience afterwards. “It nailed him. Yeah, it nailed him hard. My best friend in the world, and I think I almost killed him, and I feel really bad about this.”

Thomas asked the audience to “give us one second” as Doucette recovered behind the scenes, before adding: “By the way, it felt like a really good idea right up until now. Throwin’ that shit around! I feel like an ass.”

Doucette later reappeared carrying a glass that seemed to contain alcohol and told Thomas: “I don’t know how many times I’ve told you about swinging that fucking thing. I knew it was only a matter of time.”

“It’s been 30 years! Now, admittedly I’ve been in the back for the first half of that, and maybe I’ve gotta go back there because it’s obviously safer.”

Thomas playfully asked whether his bandmate was now in “the danger zone”, then admitted: “I think I know one thing I’m gonna stop doing.” Raising his drink, Doucette replied: “There’s one thing that’s gonna help me right now. It’s gonna be this.”

View the Instagram post shared by Paul Doucette

Another recording captures Thomas offering Doucette an apology. “I’m so sorry. I’m gonna keep apologising to you, like, all month,” he said.

Doucette later uploaded footage to his own Instagram account showing people using tweezers to inspect his injured ear.

“So here’s what’s happening right now: Rob took me the fuck out with his swinging the fucking mic stand during that show, and I have bits of my in-ears – which he fuckin’ smashed – in my ear,” Doucette told his followers as someone removed the fragments.

“Oh, I fucking feel that. That is not fun. That is not fun. Please don’t move the bus!” After one fragment was removed, Doucette yelled: “Fuckin’ Rob!”

Matchbox Twenty have two North American performances scheduled for September. The group will then mark the 30th anniversary of its 1996 debut album, ‘Yourself Or Someone Like You’, in October. Their fifth and latest studio album, ‘Where The Light Goes’, was released in 2023.