Why All the Stage Collapses?

Last week Belgian music festival, Pukkelpop 2011, was unfortunately cancelled due to a stage collapse. This sad event killed five people and injured around 140 people. The reason for the collapse was a very strong storm that blew into the area right before the Smith Westerns were about to play their scheduled show. Sadly, this is not the only stage collapse this year.

Pukkelpop 2011

In July a stage collapsed at the Ottawa Bluesfest held in Canada. Luckily, the event planners realized a big storm was headed their way and cancelled the Cheap Trick show minutes before the stage collapsed. Very few were injured and luckily no one was killed in the stage breakdown.

 Ottawa Bluesfest 2011

Earlier this month, another stage collapsed at the Indianapolis State Fair right before Sugarland was set to play. The fall killed six concert viewers and injured more than 40. This collapse, too, was caused by a shift in the weather. A heavy gust of wind set the stage on a crash course scattering the audience.

Indianapolis State Fair 2011

So, the question is…why aren’t the stages built better? Weather is an unpredictable beast, but we know this already. Shouldn’t that just teach us to prepare better and avoid these types of instances? Lives could have been saved if these types of outdoor stages were tested before released for use. I am not saying that those who built the stages are to blame here. I am saying that it is unfortunate that the sets were not secure enough to survive a large storm.

Hopefully, this will get those who construct stages thinking about the safety of concertgoers and do a bit more testing and securing before the stages go out. As a member of the audience, I would feel much safer knowing that these types of tests have been done.

For more information on each of these disastrous collapses, see the links in the “Sources” section.

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Sources:
http://www.spinner.com/2011/08/19/pukkelpop-stage-collapse/
http://www.pukkelpop.be/en/blog/pukkelpop-2011-can-t-go-forth
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/07/18/bluesfest-stage-collapse.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/21/us-indiana-fair-lawsuits-idUSTRE77J1MP20110821