Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Brad Ferguson]

I was with Arkells on the stageline adjacent to this stage on Thursday, as my friends who work with Billy Talent were on the MBNA stage Thursday as well.

Ken Stone from Wall Sound was teching FOH. He said last night on facebook that he is fine and all crew were accounted for. Some friends were watching cheap trick on the wing, and evacuated - they were at the bottom of the steps on the stage right side as it came down.

There were lots of hammocks under the deck too, scary to think of what it might have been like under there.

Scary moments indeed. I did notice that the skins on the stage did have vents towards the top.

[Bob Leonard]

Brad,
I've looked at the vidoes and was amazed, or maybe not, to see kids laughing at the failure. No concern at all. It was about then that I could reach through the system and slap the shit out of some of those people. They never learn. I'm glad all are well.

[Jonathan Kok]

Brad,
I've looked at the vidoes and was amazed, or maybe not, to see kids laughing at the failure. No concern at all. It was about then that I could reach through the system and slap the shit out of some of those people. They never learn. I'm glad all are well.

I noticed that as well.  "Dude, that was awesome"...SMACK.  Though one video did have a girl absolutely freaking out.  Were I the organizer, I think I'd rather have a hundred 'Dude, that was awesome' people standing around, staying out of the way, than a dozen of her.

Cheap Trick's driver was one of the injured.  In the words of a stage hand, 'He was disappointed he'd miss load-out' (see video below).  Everyone's been released from hospital.

Backstage aftermath, courtesy of Robin Zander (of Cheap Trick)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCwNKox0uXE

FYI: The marina 10km down the river from the main stage recorded gusts up to 62 knots (72mph, 115km/h).  Just because the weather station didn't record winds higher than 60mph, doesn't mean they didn't happen.  'Jus sayin'.

[Preston Soper]

FYI: The marina 10km down the river from the main stage recorded gusts up to 62 knots (72mph, 115km/h).  Just because the weather station didn't record winds higher than 60mph, doesn't mean they didn't happen.  'Jus sayin'.

I posted the history graph of the weather in Ottawa to show the comparison of the conditions earlier in the day
& how quickly conditions changed.
It wasn't meant to debunk the severity of the wind gusts on the show site.

[Brad Ferguson]

Brad,
I've looked at the vidoes and was amazed, or maybe not, to see kids laughing at the failure. No concern at all. It was about then that I could reach through the system and slap the shit out of some of those people. They never learn. I'm glad all are well.

Death Cab for Cutie was closing the show that night - I think their main demographic is apathetic teenagers; I'm not surprised.

For those curious, here's what the production advance had listed as gear on this stage:

FOH PA:
32 Meyer Milo Line Array (16 per side) 
3 Meyer Milo-120 Flown Centre Array 
9 Meyer MSL-4P (3 per Delay Towers)
6 Meyer MSL-4P (Fill)
24 Meyer 700-HP Subwoofer
6 Meyer UPA-1P Front Fill

Monitor Rig:
1 Digico SD10 96 Input 
1 Soundcraft SM20 
1 12 Mix BSS 966 EQ Rack
1 48 Ch 325’ Multipair snake w/monitor split 3 way
1 Sennheiser 8 Mix IEM Rack
12 QSC PL236 power amplifier
2 Meyer MSL4/650P Si

Moving lights were mostly Martin Mac2000 wash and profiles.

[Brian Ehlers]

Brad,
I've looked at the vidoes and was amazed, or maybe not, to see kids laughing at the failure. No concern at all. It was about then that I could reach through the system and slap the shit out of some of those people. They never learn. I'm glad all are well.

None of us really know how we'll react in a crisis until it actually happens, and every crisis is different.  I've found that I'm not nearly the hero I think I'll be when faced with medical emergencies.  And I once made a completely inappropriate comment while watching a neighbor's house burn to the ground (later to find that three people were dying inside).  I'll cut people some slack for their actions and words, at least until the dust settles.

Back to the weather .... I've always wondered why in this day and age with fancy weather radar and such that events don't better handle "surprise" storms.  I've been at festivals, auto races, etc. where the radar shows a clear line of severe storms approaching but the organizers/promoters do nothing to shut down ahead of time.  They wait until the wind and rain start flying.  Why is someone not stationed at a computer watching it approach?  Why isn't the event stopped?  Why isn't an announcement made to seek shelter?

[Bob Charest]

...They wait until the wind and rain start flying.  Why is someone not stationed at a computer watching it approach?  Why isn't the event stopped?  Why isn't an announcement made to seek shelter?

Sad to say, but follow the money...

[Jonathan Kok]

I posted the history graph of the weather in Ottawa to show the comparison of the conditions earlier in the day
& how quickly conditions changed.
It wasn't meant to debunk the severity of the wind gusts on the show site.

Apologies; I misunderstood.

Couple of interesting articles here:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2011/07/19/ottawa-bluesfest-investigation-stage.html
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/how-the-ottawa-bluesfest-stage-came-down-and-why-it-could-happen-again/article2101613/

Interestingly, Mega-Stage is stating that this stage is rated up to 80km/h winds; not the 120km/h listed on the website.
Not sure how to react to Stageline's comments...

[Sam Zuckerman]

I posted the history graph of the weather in Ottawa to show the comparison of the conditions earlier in the day
& how quickly conditions changed.
It wasn't meant to debunk the severity of the wind gusts on the show site.

Apologies; I misunderstood.

Couple of interesting articles here:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/story/2011/07/19/ottawa-bluesfest-investigation-stage.html
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/how-the-ottawa-bluesfest-stage-came-down-and-why-it-could-happen-again/article2101613/

Interestingly, Mega-Stage is stating that this stage is rated up to 80km/h winds; not the 120km/h listed on the website.
Not sure how to react to Stageline's comments...

Well it says 80kph sustained and 120kph gusts (with wind screens). Now I'm not sure what constitutes sustained but if it was gusting like they said it was and multiple gusts hitting it back to back then I see no reason why it wouldn't have failed.

[Brad Ferguson]

Not sure how to react to Stageline's comments...

Well, there was a Sam 555 parked adjacent to the stage that came down, the stageline held in there.

Obviously it's not an apples to apples comparison, this stage was much larger than the Sam.

[ProSoundWeb Community]