Pukkelpop 2011

Furious-Red

For once im glad i didnt go this year :(:(:(

honru

That's terrible news... and we just had that stage collapse in the US last week. Hope everyone's OK. Reports of four deaths... and the festival might be called off.

Furious-Red

I think it should be called off for everyone's safety. The damage has been done sadly . Its such a nice festival aswell . Presume we will see a lot of investigations into outdoor event rigging and health and safety etc

Few pics i found online

http://jangeloen.blogspot.com/2011/08/pukkelpop-2011.html

Also according to a Pukkelpop Press Conference 2 people dead and 40 injured

honru

According to the reports the Chateau tent was hit by a tree, which is unfortunate because the woodland there adds to a really nice setting. From one of those pics posted earlier it looks like a tent/podium in the dance area has collapsed.

Giruilla

i'm in belgium at the moment, and the storm outside today was unbelievable. I've been at festivals with bad rain but I can't even imagine how anyone could stay there tonight after this.. on the first night too. Its a tragedy that people have died.

Minstrel27

I heard the horrible news on the radio. What a shame

NothingMan

Heard from my friends and they're ok. Know a few boardsies there too and I hope they are as well. My friends are looking to get out of there already. Must be very bad.

Thoughts are with those who weren't so fortunate. Hope all the boardsies are safe.

amoppet

terribly sad news from pukkelpop today, hope everyone is ok and gets home alright. what a shame something that should have been so wonderful ends like this.

Alter-Ego

Awful news. I saw a few videos online of the storm, it looks like absolute chaos. A long way from what it was last year. I'm pretty sure it'll have to be called off.

BrianD

The event promoter has posted a help line number if you are concerned about friends/family at the festival:

+32(0)11 23 97 11

Jello

Really can't believe that, very sad news

--LOS--

hope all the boardsies are ok, its terrible when events like this get marred by tragedy, esp after what happened with the german festival last year.

Tubsandtiles

Feck sake Hope all boardsies are ok, sad to hear about the three people killed

Grid.

Awful news, hope anyone from boards are ok....R.I.P to those that lost their lives..:(

opr

Some scary footage around youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06pkA1cjedk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-lgzwggWfk

Opr

Dicksboro_man

no lads, THAT is scary! have 2 friends of my own at it, thank god they're safe..

0:20

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i52kwAzlOwU

Furious-Red

Its just scary and crazy what happened and you cant blame anyone. I heard a 4th person died in hospital(not sure if it is true though)

Wonder will they call off the festival? I no if i was over there id be nearly trying to get back to brussels and fly out asap unless the weather gets better

Dicksboro_man

As far as i know the festival will be going ahead but again, it depends on if they'll manage to repair the 3 stages and drain the fields overnight..

Greenman

I live close by and never saw so many ambulances charging down the motorway in my life.

honru

It's official: the whole festival has been called off. There must have been quite some damage to the festival site and I can image people's spirits are down after what happened yesterday. The solid organisation has come in to play as the Grenslandhallen complex in Hasselt has been opened to house campers. Might be a bit of a nightmare for the Irish contingent to get home.

Strangely enough the last time I went to Pukkelpop in 2009, on the first day of the festival at around the same time in the evening when Deftones were playing, there was a very eerie storm with thunder and all. Besides that I had been to Pukkelpop three times previously and the weather was usually fantastic; it's unusual to see the place looking so water-logged. That video of the trees breaking through the canvas of the tent is shocking stuff.

Hope everyone gets home safe and sound, and that this incident doesn't mark the end of a great festival.

NothingMan

Looks like the death toll has risen to 5 now. It's really scary stuff and I'm glad all my friends are ok. The only reason I'm not there is because I couldn't afford it a few months ago when they were booking. Crazy.

The death toll at the Pukkelpop music festival in Belgium, hit by a sudden violent storm, has now risen to five, say local officials.
Staging collapsed, giant screens fell, tents were flattened and trees were uprooted in the space of minutes after the storm struck.
Dozens more people were hurt, several seriously.
Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme has sent his condolences to the families of the victims.
Reports say organisers have now decided to cancel the rest of the event.
"During the night, the fifth festival-goer died in hospital. I think that the organisation of Pukkelpop rightly took the courageous decision to stop the festival," Hasselt mayor Hilde Claes was quoted as saying on the website of De Standaard newspaper.
'End of the world' About 60,000 people were believed to be at the event, one of Europe's largest outdoor festivals, when the storm hit. Headline acts this year were set to include Eminem, Foo Fighters and the Ting Tings.
Within 10 minutes, the storm turned the festival site into a scene of mud and destruction
"The sky suddenly turned pitch black and we took shelter waiting for the rain," said festival-goer Catherine Blaise, according to Le Soir newspaper.
"Then suddenly, there was a downpour. The wind blew violently. There were hailstones bigger than a centimetre falling... Trees toppled over.
"It was unbelievable, the end of the world," she said.
Within 10 minutes, the storm had turned the festival site into a scene of mud and destruction, reports said.
More than 20 ambulances raced to and from the site near Hasselt, some 50 miles (80km) east of Brussels. More-lightly injured people were being treated at a local sports complex.
Many festival-goers were inside tents which collapsed when the storm hit.

"It was mass panic," Laura Elegeert, 17, told AP news agency.
"People were trying to get out of this tent that collapsed by using their pocket knives and cutting holes in the fabric."
Two cranes were brought in to try to lift the largest tent late on Thursday - which collapsed as the band Smith Westerns was playing - but the festival grounds appeared to be too swamped to allow them access, AP said.
It was the second consecutive year of tragedy for Pukkelpop. Last year, lead singer of the group Ou Est Le Swimming Pool, Charles Haddon, committed suicide at the event.
Five people were killed last week at a festival in the US state of Indiana, when a stage collapsed in high winds.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14586001

Pigwidgeon

I hope everyone is ok. We're booked into a hotel in Brussels now. That was unbelievable, I've never seen anything like it.

Half the boiler room collapsed, so did the big pukkelpop sign just inside the entrance, the petit bazar tent had a hole in it. I think there was more too. Rivers knee deep everywhere. We got a bus to Hasselt last night where they were great, several people asked if we wanted to stay in their house, we were given water and foil blankets and at about 12 they open a big hall opposite the train station where we slept. Thankfully we were inside as there was another storm during the night.

It was all very surreal and hasn't quite sunk in yet.

Mushy

Pigwidgeon wrote: »

I hope everyone is ok. We're booked into a hotel in Brussels now. That was unbelievable, I've never seen anything like it.

Half the boiler room collapsed, so did the big pukkelpop sign just inside the entrance, the petit bazar tent had a hole in it. I think there was more too. Rivers knee deep everywhere. We got a bus to Hasselt last night where they were great, several people asked if we wanted to stay in their house, we were given water and foil blankets and at about 12 they open a big hall opposite the train station where we slept. Thankfully we were inside as there was another storm during the night.

It was all very surreal and hasn't quite sunk in yet.

Good to hear ye be ok. Seems like everyone pulled together to help each other too which is great to hear.

languagenerd

One of the scariest ten minutes of my life!!! Storm just came out of nowhere, it had been scorching all day and suddenly it started raining like crazy. I have never seen wind like that, more like a tornado than a thunder storm.

I was in The Marquee, right beside the stage that fell, I thought ours was gonna go too, it was shaking so badly. And then it was all over within ten/fifteen minutes!! The ground was completely waterlogged after that, so glad we had brought wellies!

Getting back to Brussels was a challenge - a tree fell on the line at Kiewit so we had to walk 6km in the dark to try and find another station, and no-one knew what was going on... Tents completely flooded, had to leave them behind.

Could have been so much worse though, was shocked to hear people had died there. RIP.

Jelle1880

Seen the images, truly shocking to see that happen.

And then there's people on the Pukkelpop website complaining about the festival being cancelled, 'because they want to see Eminem', horrible people.

sweetie

f®eak s©enery wrote: »

It's official: the whole festival has been called off. There must have been quite some damage to the festival site and I can image people's spirits are down after what happened yesterday. The solid organisation has come in to play as the Grenslandhallen complex in Hasselt has been opened to house campers. Might be a bit of a nightmare for the Irish contingent to get home.

Strangely enough the last time I went to Pukkelpop in 2009, on the first day of the festival at around the same time in the evening when Deftones were playing, there was a very eerie storm with thunder and all. Besides that I had been to Pukkelpop three times previously and the weather was usually fantastic; it's unusual to see the place looking so water-logged. That video of the trees breaking through the canvas of the tent is shocking stuff.

Hope everyone gets home safe and sound, and that this incident doesn't mark the end of a great festival.

I was there for that - no jacket, lovely weather and boom, downpour.
Such a tragedy, RIP.

Furious-Red

Glad to see some of the boardsies got out safe. I was watching a video of Skunk Anansie playing and i was thinking how could it have been dark when they were playing since they were on during the day but then i realised it was the massive storm and the amount of debris flying around the place it looked crazy.


Good to hear that all the locals were helping out people, nice thing to hear

Pukkelpop is in deep mourning. We truly sympathise with the families and friends of the victims.

Words are not enough. We have struggled with the decision to continue the festival. Therefore we have decided to cancel Pukkelpop 2011.

What has happened is very exceptional and could not have been predicted. We are deeply moved by all the spontaneous support the festival goers and the organisation have received.


We call on all Pukkelpoppers to return home calmly. Extra buses and trains have been organised to bring everybody home.

Undoubtedly many of you have many practical questions. That is why we ask you to direct them to info@pukkelpop.be.

We ask everyone to understand that this decision was extremely difficult to make.

Professey Chin

Well then that went perfectly to plan >_>
We stayed in the campsite last night since we didnt see the point trying to get everything together in the pitch black and rain. Luckily our tents didnt take much of a hit at all(every tent around them was a different issue :pac: )
Ive never seen a storm hit that hard that fast. Nature just seemed to run in and dropkick the area for a laugh.
I got my flight changed so im at one of them interweb kiosks in the airport. I hate airports :mad:

Jelle1880

Belgian media reporting that in 20 minutes they got as much rain as they normally get in a month.

The kind of hail that rained down:



More pictures, click 'Volgende' to scroll through them:

http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/8000/planet-watch/photoalbum/detail/1306615/1009880/0/Het-Pukkelpop-drama-in-86-foto-s.dhtml

Just look at those trees, can't imagine what it must have been like.

H8GHOTI

Such sad news.

I remember at Electric Picnic last year there was rain & strong winds on the Sunday night.
But it wasn't even half as bad as this. Really puts it in perspective.