THAT FIRST NIGHT... A Disastrous opener for English fans!
(Originally appeared in Brain Damage Magazine issue 35)
Pink Floyd’s record-breaking 14
night run at London’s Earls Court (12th October 1994) was marked with
near tragedy in an event which had wide publicity across Britain (Pink
Floyd news is usually not considered so!). The day started well enough
for the band with press interviews and photographs of the band with
various charities who stood to benefit from the shows - all the profits
from the shows are going to a selection of 13 charities picked with
difficulty by the band. However, less than a minute after the band had
started playing Shine On You Crazy Diamond, a scaffolding stand (block
9) holding 1200 fans, collapsed, throwing hundereds of people 20 feet
to the ground. Ninety-six people were injured, with 36 needing hospital
treatment. Six were detained overnight with back, neck and rib
injuries, but all were expected to make a full recovery. The show was
immediately cancelled and re-scheduled for October 17th, one of their
rest days. The stand was replaced and all other shows went ahead as
planned.
The common view of the fans in
the stand was this: the sound effects tape was coming to a close with
increasing volume; the lights went down and the rumbling noise kept
building whilst Rick Wright and Jon Carin started playing. Then in what
was initially felt to be great special effects the seats began moving,
then buckling and falling. General pandemonium and fear arose, the
house lights went up instantly (to the surprise and anger of Rick, Dave
and Jon who weren’t intially aware of what was happening) and the
rescue operation began. It took over an hour to free everyone from the
twisted wreckage.
Gilmour said afterwards: “We are
very distressed at what happened and we are particularly concerned
about the injured. We are also sorry to have disappointed those who
came to see the show.” He later added: “I am angry and upset about what
happened... it is extremely fortunate nobody died. When the accident
happened I was at the back of the stage waiting to go on. I heard
banging and presumed there was a fault on the PA system. We were about
to start playing when the house lights came up. I was getting a bit
frantic with people when someone said they were stopping the concert.”
Gilmour also issued a statement assuring the charities that the
accident would not affect the amount of money they were receiving.
That was not the end of the
story, however. The re-scheduled concert had traumatised fans being sat
in exactly the same seats they’d had on the first night - giving them
even more cause for complaint as it was reported that Earls Court were
not giving due attention to claims for compensation for damaged
clothing, time off work and medical bills. One good thing about this
re-scheduled show for those in block 9 was that they were all given
special t-shirts to ‘commemorate’ the incident and were all invited
backstage after the show to meet all the band.
The last word goes to Gilmour, who announced on stage: “If I were you, I’d sue somebody. Er, not me, though...”
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