Music

The Flaming Lips' lighting rig collapses after storm in Tulsa, Wayne Coyne 'thought they were gonna die'

by Nicole Villeneuve

It’s been a bad summer for stages in live music. But, if you want to look at it another way, it’s been a great summer for bands escaping death as their performance spaces fell apart around them.

A few weeks after Cheap Trick were blown off the stage after a freak storm caused a stage collapse during their set at the Ottawa Blues Fest, the Flaming Lips experienced a similar smith from the weather gods in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Just before they were set to play at the Brady District Block Party this past Saturday.

Frontman Wayne Coyne told local news source NewsOK that “the Oklahoma wind and rain was a little bit more unpredictable than we had hoped, and we had a bad gust. The whole thing is shambolic and a bit dangerous and we’re working to get as much off of the stage before we get hit with the second wave.”

Coyne himself rushed right onstage to help secure some of their equipment, but Matt Duckworth, a Flaming Lips roadie, said it affected about $800,000 worth of equipment.

Coyne tweeted multiple pictures of the occurence, including the one above, stating, “Thought we were gonna die!!!” Yikes, nature. [via Pitchfork]