On the 45th anniversary of the 1967 Monterey International Pop Festival this weekend in 2012 saw another report on a stage collapsing at a large festival in Toronto.
This recent festival misery resulted in the death of one man and several others injured.
Alarmingly, this weekends disaster is not an isolated incident with another collapse of a stage at the Bluesfest in Ottawa July 2011. That time with one person dying and several people injured, followed by six people losing their lives in August 2011 at a Sugarland concert in Indianapolis and a further five fatalities in Belgium when a storm swept in and toppled the stage at the Pukkelpop Festival.
So what the architectural hell is going at the modern day pop festival ?!
With present festival tickets going for exorbitant prices wouldn't it be expected that the important matter of a safe stage would be top of the priorities for any organisers. Are there too many cowboy constructors? crap designers? or is it cost cutting entrepreneurs that are causing this apocalyptic nightmare for music fans and musicians.
Any other event e.g. sport bodies, would have had hand wringing inquiries with overall licensing being revoked from the culprits to ensure stuff like this never happened again.
Festivals have been successfully held for decades and no such disasters were evident in what might be considered an era of less technical staging. Woodstock. Isle Of Wight. Monterey etc. It's criminal that it should be happening now!
Here's a taste of the famous "summer of love" Monterey Festival in 1967 to mark what could be described as the birth of the rock festival. With Eric Burdon and The New Animals performing "Monterey" as a tribute to the event, along with some great pictures of some of the people and places put to the bands live recording, by Youtube uploader "olturrano".
May future festivals be as beautiful... and safe.
