Pearl Jam: The story of the Roskilde Festival and the tragedy that transpired

SIGN UP for 10 of the Craziest Stories in Rock N' Roll [Secret Playlist]: [ Ссылка ]

Check out our Top 25 Favourite Albums Here
[ Ссылка ]

Have a video request or a topic you'd like to see us cover? Fill out our google form!
[ Ссылка ]

-----CONNECT ON SOCIAL-----
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Blog: www.rockandrolltruestories.com

#pearljam #grunge #roskilde

I cite my sources and they may differ than other people's accounts, so I don't guarantee the actual accuracy of my videos.


Pearl Jam were alongside playing alongside acts including The Cure, Nine Inch Nails, Oasis, Iron Maiden and Lou Reed. Pearl Jam’s performance drew a whopping 50,000 people to the Orange Stage, the largest stage of the festival. Unfortunately heavy rains soaked the grounds, which turned the turf to mostly mud. Some concert goers were forced to wear bags on their feet after the concession ran out of gumboots according to rolling stone.

Pearl Jam would take to the stage around 10:30 and 45 minutes into the band’s set tragedy struck. It proved to be so horrific, the band nearly called it quits. That’s what we’re going to explore in today’s video.

Rolling Stone would interview one of the members of security from the festival named Per Johannsen who told the magazine that the size of the audience was not unusual adding it was and i quote“nothing special. It was really crowded. But not dangerous. We’d had that [size] crowd before and there was no problem.”

Ahead of Pearl Jam hitting the stage they had received some welcome news that their friend, former Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell’s wife Susan Silver had given birth to their daughter Lilly. The mood quickly turned sour though. By the time the band took to the stage the temperature was cold and it was wet with the rain saturating the ground for most of the day.
Johansen would tell Rolling Stone he was helping pull kids from the mosh pit, but he could tell something wasn’t right recalling “There were some girls, and they were extremely difficult to pull up. Usually we have one guy to pull one up. But we needed two.” The magazine would interview one attendee who stated “It was tight even before the music started – people were stumbling left and right. Half an hour in, I knew it was life and death. I couldn’t lift my arms. It was difficult to breathe. I lifted my head to feel clean air. I was scared for my life.”

Rolling Stone would add “According to one eyewitness who was onstage, it was hard for anyone, including the band, to see what was happening in the pit, other than the usual exuberant tumult. But the centrifugal sway of the packed fans was knocking people off balance and down to the hardclay pavement underneath, where arms, legs and heads were getting caught in a lethal tangle. “ end quote.

The crowd movements resulted in some fans leaving the show, while others were not so lucky. Some members of the audience couldn’t even tell they were standing on people thinking it was just bags they had found a footing on. While some who knew they were standing on people either didn’t care or couldn’t move to get off them.

Nearly 45 minutes into Pearl Jam’s set Johansen asked his security chief to stop the show sensing there were dead people in the audience. The request would have to be made several times until it went through the promoter and eventually got to Pearl Jam’s tour manager who rushed the stage to tell frontman Eddie Vedder what was happening. The band were wrapping up the song Daughter and upon learning the news of crushed audience members Vedder addressed the crowd. Here’s what he had to say

There were conflicting reports over how long the delay in relaying the situation to the band took, with Johanssen claiming it took 15 minutes while the promoter claimed it was much shorter.

In the end 8 young men who ranged in age from 17-26 would die after being trampled, with an additional death coming a few days later as one concert goer died in hospital after succumbing to their injuries. A total of 26 people would be injured during Pearl Jam’s performance. This wasn’t the first time an incident involving pearl Jam happened at Roskilde as in 1992 Vedder jumped into the pit to deal with an overzealous member of security who was beating up a stage diver. Security would end up punching Vedder before realizing who he was.

свернуть