Cheap Trick Lobbying Against Possible Stage Collapses

10/05/2011
. (hennemusic) Cheap Trick aren't letting their close call in Ottawa this summer go away without a fight. Trick's July 17 set at the Ottawa Bluesfest was interrupted by a sudden storm that caused the stage to collapse around them as the band narrowly escaped without injury.

On Monday, guitarist Rick Neilsen and band manger Dave Frey were on Capitol Hill, where the Chicago Tribune reports the two intended to urge congressmen to regulate temporary stages to prevent such an incident from happening again. Besides their own near-miss, they'll have plenty to talk about with legislators.

Cheap Trick's near-fatal incident was one of four last summer in which temporary stages were blown down amid foul weather during or just before musical performances, some with tragic consequences. In the following weeks, stages collapsed in Tulsa, destroying $800,000 worth of gear owned by the Flaming Lips but causing no injures; the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis, resulting in seven deaths and dozens of injuries; and the Pukkelpop Music Festival in Belgium, where five people were killed and 140 injured. more on this story

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