What's with all these stage collapses lately?

Jeremy Bender

Platinum Member
Is it just me or does it seem like there's been a rash of stage collapses at music festivals lately? I hadn't heard of this happening in previous years. Maybe it's just the global news that's so readily available making it seem like it's been happening more lately. Any thoughts?
 
Peter Frampton had some thoughts on this earlier this week on Facebook. I thought what he had to say made sense:

Last year due to a stage collapse in OK, I had to cancel a show. Luckily only one local crew member was hurt badly enough to be taken to the hospital. The Indiana State Fair stage collapse the other day hit me hard.

No matter what you want to call it, the weather is changing and stages that we are using now are not strong enough to withstand it. We are experiencing increasingly more powerful and unpredictable, freak winds. The amount of equipment that stages must support safely varies with every production and in Indiana I'm told that it was a lot of trucks full of gear.

Already this year the Ottawa Blues Festival outdoor stage collapsed only a week after we had played it. Once again this was due to freak weather.

I am not placing any blame and all the facts are not available yet anyway. I am just so upset that this has happened and that stage crew and audience members had to lose their lives.

I am only suggesting that we put heads together, especially the structural engineers who design these stages and the companies who build and erect them. More and more stages are collapsing and in the name of safety they must be improved to withstand the new weather and the bigger productions.
 
Back
Top