Music

Smith Westerns survive stage collapse

by Anne T. Donahue

Further cementing summer 2011 as the musical apocalypse, another stage has collapsed at a gig, this time at Belgium’s Pukkelpop festival during a severe storm prior to the Smith Westerns‘ performance on the Chateau Stage.

While certain details have yet to surface, the band fortunately escaped injury-free, going on to tweet their relief as well as their general discontent:

So far, the remainder of the day’s programming has been called off, including the headlining performance by Jared Leto‘s 30 Seconds to Mars.

Let’s hope this marks the last of the season of stage collapses, and that everyone involved is safe and sound.

Update (4:17 p.m.): Video footage has emerged of the collapse, where you can see the severity of the storm that brought down the house:

Sadly, four people are thought to be dead following the incident, with about 40 people reported as injured. Thanks to NME for the update.