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Fishbone Front Man Angelo Moore Sued over Stage Dive

By Tanya Roth, Esq. on March 03, 2010 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

A 42-year old woman is suing the band, Fishbone, for injuries she sustained when the band's lead singer jumped off the stage and into the crowd. The woman's lawyer filed suit in Federal Court earier this week. 

Fishbone's front man, Angelo "Dr. Madd Vibe" Moore is notorious as a longtime practitioner of the stage dive, propelling himself off the stage and into the crowd.  Last month, however, he allegedly injured a woman when diving off the stage at the World Cafe Live in Philadelphia. 

The woman, Kimberly Myers, 42, alleges that she was injured at Fishbone's February 23 show, when Moore threw himself into the crowd "without any warning."  As a result, Myers says she suffered a broken collarbone, a fractures skull, a perforated eardrum and hearing loss.  She alleges that she had to be taken from the venue in an ambulance. 

Perhaps what angered Myers the most might have been the fact that the band frontman failed to apologize to Myers, continuing his performance after the stage dive as if nothing had happened. Myers alleges negligence as well as assault and battery in her personal injury lawsuit. Her lawyer, Neil Jokelson, declined to comment on how exactly the singer struck Myers during the dive.

The lawsuit states that Fishbone is well known for stage diving. As a result, the suit says, the venue should have warned concertgoers that there would be stage diving. 

According to DelawareOnline, the cafe's manager says that the contract with the performers contains a clause that limits the liability of the venue for any negligence by the performers, claiming that such would be the responsibility of the performers. 

Whether this would negate all liability for the venue is questionable.  After all, Fishbone might have been liable for catapulting off the stage, but the venue also owed a duty to its patrons.  That duty included warning the patrons of any well known danger, such as stage-diving by a band that was notorious for doing so.

The lawsuit names World Cafe Live, Fishbone and the band's manager, Silverback Artist Management. The suit also names the University of Pennsylvania, who incidentally owns the cafe. 

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