Live music’s tragic summer
Jim Carroll
It has been a sadly memorable summer for health and safety concerns at outdoor concerts. Even before last week’s tragic events in Belgium, when five festival-goers were killed at Pukkelpop after a storm hit the festival site, there have been serious incidents at shows involving Sugarland, Cheap Trick and the Flaming Lips.
While there have been occasional weather-related problems and incidents at festivals and outdoor shows over the years, four high profile incidents during the same season draws attention to the issue of safety at these shows. As Sophia Tareen reports for Billboard, some of the problems Stateside come from a lack of national regulation. Different states have different regulations when it comes to safety at outdoor events leading to confusion and different standards. The Indiana State Fair, where five people were killed when a stage collapsed before Sugerland were due to play, only had a single page emergency plan, but promoters must adhere to much stricter health and safety codes in cities like Chicago and New York (Tareen cites a case where a Black Eyed Peas show in New York’s Central Park was called off due to thunderstorms).
Yet, as Rodd Zolkos notes in Business Insurance, the Indiana State Fair promoters reportedly received a severe weather warning in advance, but had not issued an evacuation order before the stage collapsed. By contrast, an outdoor performance by the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra at another venue in the area was pulled and the 7,000 capacity audience evacuated after officials received a similar weather warning.
In Ireland, outdoor shows (especially when the capacity is over 5,000 people) are strictly regulated. Planning permission and licences need to be obtained from the local authority in advance, hence why you’ll see or hear the tagline “subject to license” on ads for big events. Obtaining these permissions involve compiling detailed health and safety reports and emergency and traffic plans covering a range of potential incidents which might happen at the event. Furthermore, while we complain a lot about our lousy lot when it comes to the Irish weather, we thankfully do not have to contend with the severe, freak weather conditions which all four of this summer’s festival incidents had in common. Muddy campsites are a minor complaint compared to stages collapsing due to high winds and thunderstorms.
Incidents like Pukkelpop and the Indiana State Fair remind you, as Academy of Country Music promoter Bob Romeo notes, that outdoor shows always carry risks: “whenever you’re outside, there’s a risk. It just is. It’s an inherent risk. It’s been in the fair and festival business from day one”. The only way to reduce these risks is by pre-event planning and ensuring there are plans in place to deal with any emergencies when they happen.
But even then, as we saw at Pukkelpop last week, things can change in a matter of minutes and it seems that no amount of planning can prevent a tragedy happening. After all, as the BBC reports, “initial checks on emergency planning measures – which staff told AFP news agency included “checking trees for their resistance to high winds, and testing the drainage system” – left officials confident they had done everything that could be expected of them given such freak conditions”.
I was at Benicassim in 2009 when on the saturday evening a for strong breeze began to blow. Paul Wellers set was pulled on the main stage half way through when something fell from the overhead rigging. The place was been ripped apart. A bush fire also started close to the arena. It was a hugely dangerous situation as we could see the main stage swaying.at this stage it was getting dark and Kings of Leon were due to come on stage. An hour or so had passed for their due time and no sign even though over the Speakers an anouncement was made to say they would be on in 15 minutes every 15 minute (We later heard they left after Paul Weller left stage and were never going on in that wind) . It was a mini tornado with no rain. The campsite was destroyed and looked like a scene from Oxegen on a Monday morning. The site was evacuated and people stayed in a sport complex in the town that nite. It really was a very dangerous situation and looking back now after all these recent incidents, I realise how lucky we all were to escape unharmed
Patrick – I think one of the scariest things must be the lack of information about is going to happen. You can see how bad the weather has got but you probably think that the organisers have things in hand (ie they’re not going to go ahead if it’s unsafe) so you hang around, which is often the worst thing to do. Didn’t that Benicassim also feature some fires as well or am I thinking of another festival?
Seem to remember hearing about a storm one year during the EXIT festival in Novi Sad that knocked a big tree branch onto some tents on the campsite. Think 1 person was killed anyway….
Sunday at EP was fairly hectic , I had taken my tent earlier in the day and decided the car was way forward , great decision as campsite was mental apparently
Freak weather is going to be become more frequent everywhere and if it happens in Ireland I wont trust EP or Oxegen to be prepared and defo not the smaller festivals
It isn’t weather related but seeing what happend in Beguim last week really brought home just how stupid the end of Odd Future’s set at Primavera was this year.
Yep, I briefly mentioned that fire in the first post. A fire took place very close to the main stage area but was outside the arena and luckily the wind was blowing it away from the crowd. The lack of information was a real danger as there was an air of anger in the crowd as the wait went on for KOL which could have turned nasty. The festival continued the following day with much damage to the stages (they were just rigs of still with no Canvas) and with most peoples tents and belongings destroyed. Luckily we had a car hired and slep in that for the rest of the festival – Classy.
Scarecrows – also someone killed when they fell from the fortress wall in 2009 – http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8145907.stm
Damo – when you say “hectic”, what do you mean? And what year are you talking about?
Ian – that’s in a totally different category – when bands do stupid things
Patrick – just makes you realise how risky such events are. When you think about it, it’s amazing we don’t hear about more incidents of this ilk at live outdoor shows.
@7 Jim
Yeah i remember that too….i was in Novi Sad a few days after the festival one year and heard a few horror stories alright.
off topic but fesival related, and potentilaly Health and Safety related too… any ideas as to why the People’s Festival in Dun Laoighre got pulled this weekend?
I believe Damo is referring to the storm that hit EP just prior to Massive Attack taking the stage last year. Don’t think we were ever in any danger but by Irish standards it was pretty hairy.
cmd – ah, I remember that now. There was also fairly torrential rain/stormy conditions at the end of the 2008 festival too
beergutz – see http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0822/1224302805665.html
i remember the “2nd stage” was closed for most of the day at Witnness/Oxegen around 2003/2004 due to so much rain that the stage was sinking. they re-opened it in time for the big names though!
ciaran – i think that was 2002 at Fairyhouse?
I was at Benicassim in 2009 too and that fire broke out in the VIP/Artists area apparently. The winds were genuinely gale force though. After we found our tent at the campsite we sat in and braved it out. But there was a constant fear that the stanchions that surrounded the campsite would come flying through the side of the tent and impale you. The eerie silence after the winds died down the next morning was palpable.
In that case though the promoters took no chances and no one was killed as far as I know.
Yeah, there was a freakishly heavy downpour of rain and strong winds on the Sunday night at last year’s EP. Not in the same league as Pukkelpop obviously but still unusually relentless – it started during Fever Ray’s set at around 9 pm approx and didn’t let up until about 6 am the following morning. Crazy. Met office said it was highest volume of rain to fall in one night in many a year. If that downpour happened on the Friday, there would have been serious problems with mud and stages sinking etc at EP.
I left at the start of Massive Attack’s set last year as it was unbearable.
A few mates were at Pukkelpop this year and have commented at the scenes they witnessed, trees collapsing feet away, torrential rain, etc.
I was watching the continuing coverage of the tragedy at the Indiana State Fair with my father, who is a retired Ironworker with expertise in construction. He told me one of the biggest problems was the stage area at the fair was just too high and most likely hastily (poorly) constructed. In America this time of the year is particularly notorious for severe, sudden storms, so you would think that state fairs would have well thought out emergency plans, but this not always the case. You see State and County fairs are a huge source of revenue, especially for more rural areas and even one cancelled event can be costly.
As far as the patchwork regulations, America is an absolute mess. We have multi-layers of beaucracy to deal with. We have local, county, state, and federal regulationswhere as most other countries have one . It can be really problematic.
I think The National were on the main stage at the Picnic just before Massive Attack last year on the Sunday night. I came out of the comedy tent to catch the end of their show, with the intention of staying for the entire of Massive Attack but I just couldn’t take the weather and fled to the relative safety of the yurt. I remember one moment during The Nationals set when the lights on the arc over the stage lit up the entire place, just as a huge gust of wind caught the covers over the speakers and I swear to God, it looked like a pirate ship setting sail! Spent the night sleeping with one eye on the roof of the yurt just in case….
Yep, last Sunday at EP was the worst festival weather I’ve witnessed in Ireland. Ended the night early for many of us, and the Monday morning packing and trek to the car was miserable. Events in Belgium have obviously put perspective on it.
@18: i nominate Colette for quote of the week “I just couldn’t take the weather and fled to the relative safety of the yurt”
Does anyone remember the wooden sculpture/tower that was set a light on the Sunday of EP a few years back? It got really windy and there were sparks flying over onto the market stalls. A friend of mine was working on one of the stalls and he said it was a real worry they’d catch fire. The location of the Tower was obviously not well considered. I was also at Knockan Stockan two summers ago and a freak storm blew in and knocked a few venue tents down.
Phil – that was 2008 (Burning Man at EP). You’ve also reminded me that there were problems with tents and stages at the Mantua festival here a few years ago too
There were also the continuing problems with the Electric Daisy Carnival events in the US: http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/dc9/2011/06/one_dead_dozens_hospitalized_a.php
Watching the footage of crushes and people climbing barriers etc at the event last year in LA, it’s remarkable that these guys continue to operate.