One night after an object thrown from the crowd caught him in the head, Billy Strings walked onto the Fishers Event Center stage Friday wearing an Indy Fuel hockey helmet.
The crowd erupted. Strings gave them a quick, wry smile, said nothing about it, and started playing.
The gag landed as well as it did partly because of where he was standing. The Fuel, the ECHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks, are the primary tenant of Fishers Event Center and have played home games there since the $170 million arena opened in November 2024. Strings did not just put on a helmet — he put on the home team’s helmet.
It was a sharp turn from Thursday night. As reported here, Strings was hit in the head by an object thrown from the audience during the first of his three shows at the venue, and he stopped the show to deliver a profanity-laced rebuke to the crowd. “Maybe I shouldn’t have come back,” he told the audience, before asking why anyone would throw something at him and calling for the crowd to identify the person responsible.
The object has never been identified. Fans online have speculated it was a lighter. Strings was not injured.
Neither Strings nor Fishers Event Center has commented publicly on the incident or the helmet.
Because of the language in the Thursday clip, this site again is not linking to fan video from either night.
Not an Isolated Problem
Objects thrown from the crowd have become a recurring hazard at arena shows. Riley Green, Morgan Wallen, Luke Bryan and Kelsea Ballerini have all been struck mid-performance. Bring Me the Horizon frontman Oli Sykes suffered a mild concussion after a fan threw a phone at his head.
Strings’ three-night stand in Fishers was itself a makeup engagement. He postponed a spring run, including the original April date at Fishers Event Center, after breaking his leg in a skateboarding accident backstage.
His new album, So Much for Goodbyes, is due out in late August. His tour continues through December.
Reporting on the helmet appearance from Consequence and Stereogum.