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Cheap Trick Call For Clamp Down On Stage Companies
By WENN on 05 October 2011
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Picture: Rick Nielson of Cheap Trick performing live in concert at the Cruzan Amphitheatre West Palm Beach, Florida - 31.07.08
Rockers CHEAP TRICK are pushing for new U.S. legislation to govern promoters erecting temporary stages at outdoor music events after narrowly escaping tragedy at a summer (11) show in Canada.
The group's equipment was trashed and the bandmates narrowly escaped with their lives after the main stage was hit by storm winds and collapsed at the Ottawa Bluesfest in July (11).
The incident was the first of many similar disasters this summer (11) - the Flaming Lips also escaped a stage collapse at a gig in their native Oklahoma, while music fans were killed at the Indiana State Fair and Pukkelpop festival in Belgium when rigging came crashing down during storms.
Cheap Trick are now urging lawmakers in America to lead the way in making sure no more lives are put at risk - even though their disaster took place in Canada.
Guitarist Rick Nielsen and the band's manager Dave Frey appeared in Washington, D.C., on Monday (03Oct11) and urged Congress to seek legislation regarding temporary stages, according to the Chicago Tribune newspaper.
Frey told the publication, "We want to make sure something like this doesn't happen again and we want Congress to enact a certification process as you would have with elevators or a Ferris wheel at a carnival."
Speaking about the stage collapse at the Ottawa Bluesfest, Nielsen said, "I felt like I was in a Buster Keaton movie where the building falls down on him."
Following the incident, Cheap Trick cancelled a Vancouver show on 1 September (11) after discovering the company behind the gig was the same one responsible for the staging in Ottawa.
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