What is happening at Heineken Festival!?

PJ Sweden

it is bad enough this happened! I pray for all those hurt to recover completely, quickly. It is really good news no one lost their lives! Thank you...
You are in my thoughts, please be safe!

stu gee

I read on NME that there are some people with injuries like fractures and head injuries, hopefully that is as bad as it gets. Apparently they have not cancelled it completely yet and are debating what to do.

yourpearl

http://www.rainews24.rai.it/video.asp?videoID=2482

svarionman

The festival has been totally cancelled, there will be no show tomorrow and sunday. Just read it......it seems that there aren't serious hurt . I had a ticket for tomorrow's show, aerosmith+smashing pumpkins.....

Some pics here:http://www.kataweb.it/multimedia/media/752187

Ms. Haiku

yourpearl wrote:

http://www.rainews24.rai.it/video.asp?videoID=2482

It looks like the initial panic is defused.

yourpearl

http://www.rainews24.rai.it/ran24/rainews24_2007/fotoday/15062007/default_3.asp?id=4

mahloni

Niko80 wrote:

He just reported what an italien person told him.

A TV news is still reporting a fatality here. At least they did again just recently but that seems to be the only source. I do not think there has been any fatality based on all other reports but one report here still said that.

An Iron Maiden board said 30 injured, 2 critical, but again the news is still sketchy and reports differ.

It was not a tornado, just one big gust of wind. I posted details on RM from my friends who were beside one tower that fell.

The storm was similar to the one yesterday before Iron Maiden. Late afternoon thunder showers because of the humidity but beautiful and calm evenings. Just a freak gust of wind.

Mahlon

Ms. Haiku

What's the tv news station?

I'll repeat post #75:

Latest news from TV:

22/23 people were taken to the hospital, no one is seriously injured.
it was a person from hospital staff to speak, thus the information are surely well-founded

svarionman

An official news from the organization says that there are 19 hurts.

dane

Shit. That headline and the first few post really gave me the chills! And judging from the pics on that italian hp, it looks like all hell broke lose! Luckily noone was killed and PJ weren't playing when it happened. Can't think of what that would have done to them.... :(
Finding info on this in english isn't easy, so if anyone has some links it would be much appreciated.

yourpearl

Watch live news from http://wwitv.com/tv_channels/7560.htm

solaruppras

I didn't read all the posts, so sorry in advance if i will say something you already know.
Me and my girlfriend were under one of the towers that collapsed until 20 minutes before the storm hit the the venue. We decided to move nearer the stage (but still far away) next to the rails. at 5 o clock more or less started raining quietly, then more heavy rain. So we hid completely under my raincoat, and that was our lucky point, because we were not seeing all the mess around. i guess most of the people moved away from the stage to the hills surrounding the park before the hailstones and the strong wind. But hailstones and wind lasted for 5 minutes,not more, and i guess that towers collapsed very soon, because when the hailstones became bigger, we catched the heads out the raincoat and there were already only few people around us and everything messed up. i have to say that the exit was relatively quite. we were in a point with no towers (well, actually we were near one of the towers that didn't fall). what i can say is the that the wind was not that strong, becuase we didn't feel like falling out to the floor from one moment or another.
but god knows how much we were scared, seeing all the mess around. we were storng enough to think about the right thing to do like walking slowly afar from objects subject to hurt you bad like toilets, rails and other iron objects rolling over.
i think that some human fault will be discovered, because it's impossible that 8 towers collapsed for just heavy rain and hailstones. Have the rain and the wind lasted longer, i guess now we would talking about deaths, and sincerely, i don't know if me and my girlfriend were safe at home.
on the radio they talked about 20 people injuried, and the festival obvioulsy it's cancelled for the rest of the days, because police need to work on the place to discover what exaclty went wrong and to find evidences and responsibilities.
No reasons and not enough clearness of mind now to comment on festivals as such, perhaps tomorrow, sorry...

Ms. Haiku

Good to hear you made it back safe, solaruppras. It does sound chaotic and scary.

ThreeBigFish

hey Venice Folks, so sorry to hear your show's been cancelled :( that's real bad luck. i really hope no one was seriously hurt.

hope PJ will be back with you as soon as possible!!

Gary Carter

trammeus wrote:

From a local newspaper on web which is following the festival:
a tornado came across the festival area around at 5 PM
At least 6 towers of the main stage fell off. Some injuried people (the say 8-10, two of them seem serious) with fractures on heads and legs.

They say the concerts are canceled, for now.

wow that sucks big time. i hope the 2 people who were seriously injuried get better

bgirl59

Ms. Haiku wrote:

Good to hear you made it back safe, solaruppras. It does sound chaotic and scary.

Ditto---and thanks for the info, solaruppras! Hope your show is re-scheduled when things settle!
Peace

Gary Carter

anymore updates bout this

MANTIS

good that no serious injuries happened, sucks nobody got to see PJ tonight. But, this is what happens when YOU DONT SECURE SCAFFOLDING TO THE GROUND...Look at the pics of tha stage...everything still together...SECURED.

Tombourine

From Reuters:

VENICE (Reuters) - A whirlwind hit Venice on Friday, injuring about 25 people and forcing the cancellation of a festival headlined by rock band Pearl Jam was to have played, police and fire services said.

The whirlwind hit late in the afternoon, bringing down sound towers and girders on the stage for the Heineken Jammin' Festival as well as trees in the surrounding park. Several vehicles were overturned by the strong winds.

The damage forced the cancellation of the festival, organizer Roberto De Luca told local media.

The park where the concert was to have been held was on the mainland part of the city and there were no reports of damage in the city's historic centre in the lagoon.

Venice Mayor Massimo Cacciari said 19 people had been taken to hospitals but only one suffered serious fractures, news agency ANSA reported.

Traffic on the bridge that connects the lagoon city to the mainland was temporarily disrupted by debris.

The Friday night concert was Pearl Jam's only Italian appearance on their current tour.

The band sold over 9 million copies of their debut album "Ten" and their track "Man of the Hour" was on the soundtrack for Tim Burton's film "Big Fish."

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mali mujo

i just came home from venice.
we were sightseeing in venice around noon till 2 and it was hot as hell, with little or no clouds. then at 4,when we came to the park, the wind was already blowing and i saw dark clouds. it started raining so we hid under a box. and afterwards under the tent. at first noone was allowed under the tent,but we jumped in. It all happened very fast and was over in about 10 minutes.

i saw few people lying on the floor, and one with bandage around his whole head. didn't see other injuries. many ambulances were driving away,not sure how many. we were forced to go out of the park so we did and we went home.