Roskilde Organizers Issue Safety Plan
Nov. 22 -- Organizers of Denmark’s Roskilde Festival have issued a report detailing plans to improve safety and security at next year’s event.
Last summer, a crowd surge over muddy ground during a Pearl Jam performance resulted in nine fatalities, as audience members fell to the ground and suffocated. Titled “Roskilde Festival 2001 — 30 Years of Happiness and an Accident,” the report states, “Music culture must learn from what the accident has shown us. … Roskilde wishes to contribute to the securing of the interaction between free spirits and the music culture — and to make it safer.”
Moving On, Carefully The report outlines the festival’s safety plans for next year’s event, which will be its 30th anniversary. Planned changes include a shortened chain of command to enable quicker responses to emergency situations, increased use of large screens to help with audience communication, and a new system of barriers to replace the controversial fencing used in front of the stage.
The members of Pearl Jam, who were rattled by the tragedy and canceled the remainder of their European tour, met with Danish investigators in late summer to help determine the causes of the accident. The band had said earlier that it believed that 15 minutes passed before security notified it of a problem, during which time it continued to play.
The report revealed that the Roskilde Municipality will create a small memorial grove — a circle of nine trees around an unhewn stone with a simple inscription.
“The festival will not come to a standstill, suffer a blackout, turn to concrete,” the statement concludes. “The festival shall develop its role as one of Europe’s significant cultural, musical, free, caring, environmentally sound, loving, and responsible points of interaction for people and opinions, for music, for tolerance, for much good between people. That is the best way for us to move on — the best way to respect the deceased and their relatives.”
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