By Mark Gray
2:58pm PDT, Jun 26, 2023
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Just moments before former One Direction singer Louis Tomlinson was set to take the stage at Colorado's famed Red Rocks concert venue on June 21, 2023, the heavens opened up. Attendees of the outdoor show found themselves taking refuge to escape golf-ball-sized hail dropping from the clouds. Video showed concertgoers hiding under tables and trees and even wearing cardboard boxes on their heads to shield themselves from the unforgiving ice pellets. After all was said and the done (and the concert canceled), nearly 100 people were treated on the scene for weather-related injuries; West Metro Fire Rescue confirmed seven people were transported to area hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries.
This isn't the first time extreme weather has resulted in injuries at concerts. Sometimes, the results have even been fatal.
Keep reading to see more examples of Mother Nature causing concert chaos…
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One of the most tragic weather-related concert incidents occurred in August 2011 before a Sugarland performance at the Indiana State Fair. As a thunderstorm approached, strong wind gusts ripped through the fairgrounds and caused the stage roof to collapse onto spectators. According to reports, officials were walking to the stage to announce an evacuation due to of safety concerns when the collapse occurred, but they never got to make the announcement. Seven people died and 58 others were injured. The incident happened after Sara Bareilles performed but before Sugarland, who were on their tour bus at the time of the emergency, took the stage.
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Billy Currington was performing at the Big Valley Jamboree, a Canadian country music festival near Edmonton, Alberta, in April 2009, when severe weather began. During the storm, a portion of the main stage collapsed. In the mayhem of the extreme weather, one person died as a result of debris coming down from the stage. Another 75 people were injured including Billy, who suffered a concussion and a black eye in the collapse. Billy's bass player, Alex Stevens, was trapped under debris for half an hour and received emergency surgery to repair damage to his arm. CNN reported that actor Kevin Costner and his band, Modern West, were scheduled to perform next before the weather-related collapse halted the show. About 15,000 country music fans attended the festival that day.
MORE: See your favorite rock stars when they were young
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Fourteen people were injured while awaiting a Backstreet Boys concert at WinStar World Casino and Resort's outdoor pavilion in Oklahoma in August 2018. Local reports indicated the outdoor venue was evacuated due to an approaching storm, but about 150 people didn't heed the warnings. ABC5 reported that 70-to-80-mph winds knocked over concert entrance trusses, which caused a tent to collapse.
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Brazilian death metal band Crypta had just finished a set at the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere, Illinois, in March 2023 when an EF-1 tornado barreled toward the venue. The twister caused the roof of the theater to collapse and falling debris killed a man. Dozens of others were hurt.
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American rock band the Smith Westerns were a few minutes into their set at Belgium's Pukkelpop Music Festival in August 2011 when wind and rain turned the area into a disaster. Trees were uprooted, video screens crashed down and a tent collapsed. Five people were killed and 140 were injured during the extreme weather event. Afterward, Smith Westerns singer Cullen Omori tweeted, "Stage collapsed max almost got crushed by trees, I hope pukkelpop has insurance bc all our s*** is broke." The tweet was later deleted. The remainder of the festival — which was set to include performances by Eminem, Foo Fighters, The Offspring and Thirty Seconds to Mars — was canceled. The incident came less than a week after a stage collapsed during a weather event at a Sugarland concert.
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In May 2023, Iggy Pop was in the middle of singing "The Passenger" at the Cruel World festival in Los Angeles when his microphone was cut off to announce an evacuation. Deadline reported that a National Weather Service alert had gone out about a storm that threatened to produce strong, gusty winds, heavy downpours, lightning and small hail. The rain-or-shine event was canceled due to the threat. In the end, the storm never arrived at the Rose Bowl, where the event was held.
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In 2009, three people were injured after a gust of wind collapsed a stage at a music festival in Derbyshire, England. Electronic trio Subgiant was about to begin their set when the stage was "flattened," according to news reports. None of the injuries were serious, thankfully, and the festival continued on.
