Liza Minnelli Falls Off Swedish Stage

With a history like hers, Liza Minnelli must count herself lucky every second that she doesn't suddenly get ill, fall out of a tree or get trampled by a herd of furious stoats.

And, in the big scheme of things, Liza Minnelli collapsing and falling off the stage during a concert in Sweden really isn't the most important thing that's ever happened to her. But it is the most recent, so we'll go with that. Liza Minnelli collapsed and fell off the stage during a concert in Sweden on Wednesday night, and was briefly hospitalised before returning to America. Although Liza is recovering well, that'll be cold comfort to the Swedes - a 61-year-old woman with a funny haircut ploughing through her billionth rendition of New York, New York as part of a slightly overpriced Christmas carol concert would have been the most exciting thing to happen to Sweden, probably since the invention of herring.

When will these touring musicians learn not to go to Scandinavia? It's getting beyond a joke - Scandinavia turns you mental. It made Axl Rose chew on a man's leg, it shocking made Amy Winehouse take some drugs and now it has spun Liza Minnelli out so much that she's collapsed and fallen off a stage during a concert in Sweden, too.

According to reports, a Christmas concert in Gothenburg on Wednesday night was marked by Liza Minnelli toppling off the stage like a funny-eyebrowed Emma Bunton. We weren't there - obviously, since a Liza Minnelli Swedish Christmas concert with dinner and a support slot by
Carola Häggkvist sounds about as appealing as being shot up the arse by a blunderbuss - but luckily local promoter Michael
Silfverskiold was able to breathlessly repeat Liza's dramatic stage-plunge for anyone interested:

"It was a terrible situation. She fell off the side of the stage. The production manager caught her. You could see she was in pain."

Nobody knows what caused Liza Minnelli's collapse, but a statement released through her website clears things up a little:

"Liza Minnelli was scheduled to perform the final show (Dec. 12th) in a series of four concerts in Sweden this past week when she became very ill shortly after the show began. Ms. Minnelli… had complained of dizziness prior to the start of the show. As a result, she was unable to finish her performance and was rushed back to her hotel by her manager. A doctor upon examining her and in consultation with her NY physician, determined that it would be necessary for the Oscar winning actress and singer to immediately return to New York City to receive further medical evaluation."

On the plus side, it looks like everything's fine and Liza Minnelli is back and ready to resume her punishing touring schedule as of January. That tour includes six stops in the UK in May and June, so Liza should proceed with care. After all, if Sweden makes her collapse and fall off a stage, what's she going to do in the country that made David Gest - her weird ex-husband and scalp-tenderness accuser - a star? Shit blood?

Read more:

Liza Minnelli Collapses on Stage in Sweden - People