Ariana Grande's Philadelphia show interrupted by stage invader

Pop star Ariana Grande suffered a security scare at her tour stop in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Wednesday (01Mar17) after a male fan crashed the stage.

The Problem hitmaker was performing her song Moonlight at the Wells Fargo Center when a young man suddenly appeared behind Ariana, amidst a cloud of fake fog.

In video footage of the stage invasion, obtained by TMZ.com, the guy can be seen just hanging around towards the back of the set, before concert officials try and fail to grab him.

The man, whose identity has yet to be revealed, then walks up to the front of the stage, where Ariana, who had been unaware of the drama, is belting out the ballad while on her knees.

The singer quickly spots the stranger as security personnel arrive to apprehend the fan, prompting the 23-year-old to urge the guards to handle the man carefully.

"Hey, hey, chill out," she says in the clip as she briefly stops singing. "Please be gentle."

Ariana refused to let the unexpected interruption derail the rest of her song performance, and she pressed on to complete the show without incident.

She also made no mention of the stage invasion as she took to Instagram after the gig.

Instead, Ariana simply wrote, "Thank you Philly", beside a blurry photo of her onstage.

Her Dangerous Woman Tour continues in Boston, Massachusetts on Friday night (03Mar17).

Ariana isn't the only musician to suffer a security scare in recent months. In September (16), Fifth Harmony star Ally Brooke Hernandez was knocked to the floor by an overzealous fan while onstage in Monterrey, Mexico, while Chance the Rapper had to tackle a male devotee after he evaded security and interrupted his set in Miami, Florida in October (16).