Sometimes it pays to be amongst the plebs, as 20 Swedish music lovers found out the hard way when the VIP platform at a sold-out show for Avicii collapsed sending them free falling 13 feet to the ground.
Amateur video footage from the concert shows 16,000 fans whipped into a frenzy when Avicii launched into his trademark hit ‘Levels’, bouncing in sync with the music and ultimately knocking out a hole in the floor under the strain of the excited concertgoers.
Security guards rushed to the scene, with the rest of the panicked VIP section shoving and screaming to get out of the way. According to Beat My Day, organisers ended up shutting down the platforms as they surveyed the damage and injuries, which included more than 20 people who had falled through the hole.
A young woman is reported to be in a critical condition with a further four people sustaining serious injuries. “It was constructed audience platform which gave way,” said Marie Lindqvist from Stockholm Globe Arenas who manage the stadium. The platform was constructed by an external supplier specifically for the event.
But the venue and the promoter, STG Live, are so far refusing to speculate who may be at fault and deny that the capacity for the platform had been exceeded. “That will have to be revealed by the police investigation,” said promoter Kalle Pettersson when asked who was at fault. “The firm has followed existing norms and regulations.”
Despite this, as they say the show must go on, which it did, Avicii not missing a beat. Cooler heads prevailed the following day when the next nights performance was postponed until further notice.
The past 12 months has seen a range of concert and festival disasters, including the stage collapse at the Indiana State Fair during Sugarland’s set, the Cheap Trick stage collapse in Canada, the Flaming Lips stage collapse, and the destruction of Belgium’s Pukkelpop festival during a freak storm.
You can see footage of the incident below. You can see the concertgoers disappear around 55 seconds in before the camera pans down to show the hole.
