Morgan Wallen's go-to music video director, Justin Clough, who has helmed visuals for songs like ‘Smile’, ‘7 Summers’ and more, is opening up about what really went down backstage during Wallen's infamous piano-flipping incident back in May this year.

Shortly after the ‘Last Night’ chart-topper's packed-out show in Denver, Colorado, videos circulated online of Wallen frustratedly tipping over his piano, after he was forced to perform ‘Sand in My Boots’ a cappella due to the instrument being faulty.

Some people online - as always - took the incident a little more seriously than necessary, and as, Clough, who was backstage when it happened, outlines, it wasn't as big a deal as it was made out to be. Wallen, he reveals, wasn't even that upset about it.

During an appearance on In The Trenches with Spidey Smith - Wallen's photographer - Clough recalls how Wallen made the best of a bad situation, “He just went a cappella and it was so sick...Everybody knew the piano wasn't working like halfway through the song. And then he stood up and [sang] a cappella and the crowd...went nuts...He could do his whole set a cappella. The crowd would lose it”.

Clough goes on to share how he thinks the piano actually ended up flipping over accidentally, “The piano comes up and down on a lif, a,nd I think it was like he was moving it back onto the lift. I think it had moved off the lift and then he just moved it”.

He goes on to stress that no damage was caused to any equipment in the process, something fans had expressed concerns about at the time, “I think all the tiles are fine. Those things are pretty durable. They're rated to be packed into trucks and stuff”.

Clough jokes about how panicked the crew underneath the five-foot stage were when they heard the crash of the piano from below, “If you look at the video, there's people that get rushed down to stage and go clean it up...You don't even notice it because the lights kind of go up...The funniest thing is the guys under the stage, there's like five people under that stage operating that lift. And like once it left the lift, it's like half-on, half off. The production manager is like, "Don't send the lift down. Don't do that”. And the guys that were under there...Dude, they were freaking out! He's like, “They thought the stage was collapsing!””

Tanner Gallagher, another photographer who co-hosts the podcast and also works closely with Wallen, shares that HARDY sent a playful joke the next day, “I remember HARDY texted [Wallen] the next day and he was like, “Hey, man. My mom needs a piano moved tomorrow. Just wondering if you could you come help””.

Clough underlines that it wasn't an issue in Wallen's mind, despite the furore it sparked online afterwards, “He wasn't upset about it. That's what's so funny. Or I didn't get the vibe that he was like upset at all. He came off stage like kind of laughing”.

It's certainly true that, whatever Wallen does - particularly on-stage - there are thousands of eyes watching him, and ready to become keyboard-warriors at the slightest misstep. We've seen this time and again, such as when he threw a security guard's phone across the stage because they were supposed to be watching out for the crowd - something Smith underlines he would've also done in that situation.

Either way, it's fun getting to hear the backstage reaction to Wallen's piano-flipping, and to get confirmation from Clough that it wasn't the major problem it was made out to be.

Elsewhere during the insightful podcast conversation, Clough opens up about coming up with the idea for Wallen's now-iconic jet-plane stage design, as well as touching on the pressure of being involved in a tour on the scale of the ‘Been By Now’ hitmaker's Still the Problem run. We're excited to see what ideas Clough has up his sleeve for Wallen's next series of shows, which will hopefully be launching in 2027.