Stage Collapse at Pukkelpop Music Festival in Hasslet, Belgium during severe weather

[dvsDave]

Right on the heels of the Indiana Fair/Sugarland Stage Collapse, a stage has collapsed in Pukkelpop Music Festival and four people are reportedly dead, due to severe weather.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14582448 (with video of aftermath)

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/smith-westerns-survive-stage-collapse-in-belgium-20110818

Stage Collapses at Pukkelpop Festival in Belgium - chicagotribune.com

 

[DaveySimps]

Re: Stage Collapse at Pukkelpop Music Festival in Hasslet, Belgium during severe weat

So sad. I can only imagine the changes that are going to come out of all of this.

~Dave

 

[Van]

Re: Stage Collapse at Pukkelpop Music Festival in Hasslet, Belgium during severe weat

The Rolling stone article is slightly better than the Chicago Tribs. The Tribs was written too quick and missed facts in their tie-ins. Weird Video though, the one on bottom, that big loose sign hanging free ? Well, Times they will be a changin'.

 

[dvsDave]

Re: Stage Collapse at Pukkelpop Music Festival in Hasslet, Belgium during severe weat

Actual Collapse seen from Onstage

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Aftermath

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[dvsDave]

Re: Stage Collapse at Pukkelpop Music Festival in Hasslet, Belgium during severe weat

AP has downgraded the number of dead to 3, 60+ injured.
News from The Associated Press

 

[JD]

Re: Stage Collapse at Pukkelpop Music Festival in Hasslet, Belgium during severe weat

Incredible. Other then "weather" and "out door event" I am finding it hard to see any common threads between these disasters. The type of equipment used is different in almost every case. Hard to draw any useful conclusions other than these things happen in strings for some reason.

 

[DaveySimps]

Re: Stage Collapse at Pukkelpop Music Festival in Hasslet, Belgium during severe weat

Incredible. Other then "weather" and "out door event" I am finding it hard to see any common threads between these disasters. The type of equipment used is different in almost every case. Hard to draw any useful conclusions other than these things happen in strings for some reason.

I hope people don't start drawing conclusions based on this, lack on knowledge, and crate policy based on this.

~Dave

 

[dvsDave]

Re: Stage Collapse at Pukkelpop Music Festival in Hasslet, Belgium during severe weat

Statement from the Cullen Omori, frontman of the band Smith Westerns that was onstage at the time:

We had just finished the first song of our set at Pukkelpop when the stage/tent started shaking and simply thought it was a storm passing through. I made a comment about Cheap Trick and we were about to play the next one when our tour manager yelled at me to run off the stage. Right then the tress collapsed 1 foot in front of [guitarist] Max [Kakacek]. At this point we thought only the stage broke, not the tent. Amid the chaos it was hard to tell exactly what had happened, but after the rescue teams started coming in it became clear that there were severe injuries and we are now being told there are reports of multiple deaths. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families who lost loved ones in today's tragedy.

 

[DuckJordan]

Re: Stage Collapse at Pukkelpop Music Festival in Hasslet, Belgium during severe weat

So, I wonder if we all need to rethink what these systems are cappable of handling. Or at least read what the manufacturer (who has probably done the load tests) figure what should occur if something like this happens again... The way that video wall was swinging makes me wonder just how long the wind was blowing before it collapsed.

 

[dvsDave]

Re: Stage Collapse at Pukkelpop Music Festival in Hasslet, Belgium during severe weat

Reports are still coming in slowly. It's a bit early to begin speculating. I'm getting conflicting reports all over the place. 4 Dead, 3 Dead, 6 Dead. It's still fairly chaotic over there and I think we won't get a clear picture of what happened till tomorrow morning. Lots of video of the aftermath, trying to find more video of the event itself, but it was raining so hard that most of the videos have no real detail.

 

[dvsDave]

Re: Stage Collapse at Pukkelpop Music Festival in Hasslet, Belgium during severe weat

Video found over at Jimonlight.com who is also keeping running updates going.


This video shows the back of the circus style tent going down, fast forward to 1:15.

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[dvsDave]

Re: Stage Collapse at Pukkelpop Music Festival in Hasslet, Belgium during severe weat

Pictures of the aftermath. Poster has explicitly stated he retains all rights on the photos so I'll link you to the blog post. Fotoblog Jan Geloen: PUKKELPOP 2011

 

[teqniqal]

Re: Stage Collapse at Pukkelpop Music Festival in Hasslet, Belgium during severe weat

Incredible. Other then "weather" and "out door event" I am finding it hard to see any common threads between these disasters. The type of equipment used is different in almost every case. Hard to draw any useful conclusions other than these things happen in strings for some reason.

Look at the pictures posted in Fotoblog Jan Geloen: PUKKELPOP 2011 Although they use circus style tents for some venues, they still use stages very similar to the US for the large music acts.

That these 'things' happen in strings is the predictable nature of summer storms. The high technology of lightning strike monitors and wind shear radar also allows us to foresee these events in time to evacuate the venue and get lower the structures close to the ground where they can possibly survive the wind loading much better. At a minimum, even if the wind tears it apart, at least the gear is not falling 50-60 feet to the ground. Lowering the speakers, lights, and canopies takes time, so you must plan that into the decision matrix for calling the show.

Another significant difference is that most of the European stuff runs on 220-240 Volts, so if any wiring gets blown loose and electrifies the truss or wet ground, the consequences can be even more severe.

 

[gafftapegreenia]

Re: Stage Collapse at Pukkelpop Music Festival in Hasslet, Belgium during severe weat

Not much you can do when a tree falls on your truss.

 

[Van]

Re: Stage Collapse at Pukkelpop Music Festival in Hasslet, Belgium during severe weat

I realize the jury is still out on this and the Indiana collapse but ... I find it passing strange that Smith & Western were still performing if you watch that video that Dave posted from Jimonlight it's not just raining it's POURING why were they still performing in those conditions ? Must the show go on ? Really ? I generally look to Europe and Austrailia as a beacon of doing things right and **** the costs.

 

[shiben]

Re: Stage Collapse at Pukkelpop Music Festival in Hasslet, Belgium during severe weat

I realize the jury is still out on this and the Indiana collapse but ... I find it passing strange that Smith & Western were still performing if you watch that video that Dave posted from Jimonlight it's not just raining it's POURING why were they still performing in those conditions ? Must the show go on ? Really ? I generally look to Europe and Austrailia as a beacon of doing things right and **** the costs.

you wanna be the one to say no to tens if not hundreds of thousands of people?

 

[chausman]

you wanna be the one to say no to tens if not hundreds of thousands of people?

As long as I'm doing it from a god mic from somewhere where they can't see me!


---
- Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[MNicolai]

Re: Stage Collapse at Pukkelpop Music Festival in Hasslet, Belgium during severe weat

I realize the jury is still out on this and the Indiana collapse but ... I find it passing strange that Smith & Western were still performing if you watch that video that Dave posted from Jimonlight it's not just raining it's POURING why were they still performing in those conditions ? Must the show go on ? Really ? I generally look to Europe and Austrailia as a beacon of doing things right and **** the costs.

Agreed, but it's sort of a moot point because there likely wasn't any shelter for the concert-goers aside from other tents which are just as much a gamble to be under or near. I'm not agreeing with that practice, but I expect there was not a single safe place to be at the festival for 98% of the crowd. Their choices were probably to be outdoor getting rained on and blown over, or standing under a tent that's liable to collapse on top of them.

Just like the Indiana State Fair disaster; the damage was done hours in advance of the storm by allowing the event to continue. By the time the storm escalated in severity, there probably wasn't any solid structure for anyone to stand under, much less a large enough one for every attendee to get out of the rain/wind.

This raises a big problem for festival organizers everywhere: If ample, secure shelter is not available, do they have any business holding their event outdoors in the first place?

 

[DaveySimps]

Re: Stage Collapse at Pukkelpop Music Festival in Hasslet, Belgium during severe weat

you wanna be the one to say no to tens if not hundreds of thousands of people?

I think that is a VERY loaded question. That type of attitude is what contributes to these types of accidents to begin with. Obviously lots of grey area, but I think we as an industry need to revisit that whole idea.

~Dave

 

[cpf]

Re: Stage Collapse at Pukkelpop Music Festival in Hasslet, Belgium during severe weat

I think that is a VERY loaded question. That type of attitude is what contributes to these types of accidents to begin with. Obviously lots of grey area, but I think we as an industry need to revisit that whole idea.

~Dave

Not only does the industry need to revisit it, audiences and the general public should, too. When you've got people complaining about icebergs not showing up at their vacation destinations on schedule, they certainly aren't going to stand for their favourite band's concert getting cancelled due to some measly wind or a few drops of rain.