Pukkelpop - Incidents

Incidents

During the 2010 festival, two musicians died. Michael Been, lead singer and guitarist of The Call, died on August 19 of a heart attack after performing duties as sound engineer for Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. On August 20, Ou Est Le Swimming Pool singer Charles Haddon committed suicide by jumping from a telecommunications mast in the backstage parking area, shortly after the group's performance at the festival. Haddon was reported to be upset about an injury sustained by a fan after stage-diving into the crowd.

The 2011 festival was affected by a severe thunderstorm during the evening of August 18, 2011, the opening day of the event. Torrential rain and strong winds toppled several concert tents, uprooted trees and knocked down festival light towers and video screens. The Chateau tent collapsed shortly after American rock band Smith Westerns began performing their set. Lead singer/guitarist Cullen Omori updated the band's Twitter account directly after the incident: "Stage collapsed max almost got crushed by trees, I hope pukkelpop has insurance bc all our shit is broke .", however this message was later removed. Five people were killed in total, and at least 140 were injured. The death toll was originally believed to be five, however this figure was later dropped to four; Belgian media have suggested that a man who died in a local hospital and did not attend the festival was erroneously counted as a reported death. Another victim died five days later in the hospital, which brought the death toll back to five. Following the storm, officials of the event announced that all music performances for the remainder of the night would be cancelled and that the festival would be put on hold "until we understand the situation completely". On August 19, 2011, the organisers decided to cancel the entire event. A statement read:

The closest anemometer, in the town of Diepenbeek, recorded gusts above 80 km/h (50 mph), with reports of large hail and the possibility of a tornado. However, research done by specialists after the event, showed that the actual wind speed at the festival site reached 170 km/h (106 mph).

The 2011 festival was to feature Eminem, Foo Fighters, The Offspring, dEUS and 30 Seconds to Mars among the headlining acts. The incident came just five days after the Indiana State Fair stage collapse in the United States, which killed seven people, and sparked debate about regulations in outdoor concert events.