Limp Bizkit bassist Sam Rivers was rushed to the hospital 38 minutes into the band's sold-out, kick-off concert at the Mercer Arena in Seattle, WA. Apparently, Rivers was having technical difficulties with his instrument, and he began to smash and destroy, banging his bass on the ground and causing his hand to bleed profusely from a deep gash. As Rivers was rushed to a local hospital in an ambulance, singer Fred Durst asked the sold-out crowd to wait, that Limp Bizkit would finish the show. A few x-rays and 10 stitches later, Rivers emerged from an ambulance and onto the stage, announcing he must come back. Why? "For the Nookie," he told the cheering crowd as the band launched into the hit single, "Nookie," from their new album, Significant Other (Flip/Interscope). Limp Bizkit proceeded to pummel the crowd with five more songs, including the above-mentioned "Nookie" and the wildly popular "Faith." In the interim, the crowd put on a little show of their own, obviously restless but reluctant to leave. They chanted, they bared chests, they climbed on shoulders, they worried cops who were watching the approaching curfew. A little over and hour after the band left the stage, Durst announced from the P.A. that he was enjoying the show from backstage, and moments later the band made good on the old adage that the rock must go on. No cancellations have been made, and Limp Bizkit's tour is expected to continue as scheduled.

Posted 6/24/99