NEWSLETTER NO. 17/00

Tragic incidents at the Roskilde Festival caused the death of nine young men in connection with a concert on the Orange Stage on the night of Friday 30 June. The cause of death is believed to be suffocation as a result of a lack of oxygen - not trampling or pressure against the fences as claimed by some media. No scuffle seems to have taken place in connection with the accident and no drugs seem to have been involved. At this point in time the cause seems to be the fall of a number of people in the middle of the crowd in front of the stage, all more or less in the same spot. The cause of the first fall and the following is being looked into by the authorities (the police and others.). Very few other people were physically harmed, none of them seri-ously.

In the hours that followed the accident, the festival management and the police judged the situation and whether the festival should stop or continue. This was no simple decision - for or against - but a decision which had to be made. Respect had to be shown to the dead and their families. 100,000 people who were all shocked to some degree and whose souls and feelings had been damaged also needed to be considered.

At 3AM on Saturday morning, Leif Skov announced on behalf of the festival management that the festival would continue as a show of respect to the dead as they had come to the festival out of a love of life and mu-sic. One also wished to continue the festival in consideration of the living who were all deeply affected by the tragedy and needed help to get on with their lives. Of course this would only happen on the condition that the investigations which the police had carried out during the night and the following day would prove that this could happen under secure circumstances.

At the same press conference, the festival management expressed their doubts about the decision which had been made and how they wished to show respect, consideration and responsibility.

Sending 75,000 guests and 25,000 helpers out onto the local roads in various states of shock and sorrow may have caused an even greater disaster. They needed each other to scream, cry, and comfort - they were not to be sent out on a dangerous journey back to the emptiness of their respective countries and regions - many of which could only be reached by train and ferry which had been booked for Sunday evening or Monday morning. The staff who had been involved also needed support to carry on.

The festival management has been accused of the letting the party carry on with a cynical regard for the money involved and with no thought, consideration, or respect of the dead. Countless letters, e-mails, and letters to editors have expressed their views in this connection. The majority have been supportive of the decision which was made, some have claimed it was lacking in respect of the dead, and finally very few have actually been threatening. Some have claimed that a cynical love of money motivated the decision. These people cannot be aware of the fact that every penny made during the festival is given to charity and this hap-pens under strict governmental control. Especially people who were not present have been critical - due to principles or emotions. These people have not felt the pain like those who were hit hard by the tragedy - the dead, the abandoned, the audience, and staff. Hardly anyone carried on as if nothing had happened. Hardly anyone was able to. Everyone was affected by what had happened - everyone showed respect in their be-haviour. Across the world people seek each other out when death occurs - to talk, comfort, sing, and play music. At this festival in a new way - with true respect. The music and the lyrics revealed themselves to be lights, tears and happiness - and therapy. The festival management wished to let these many thousand people gather themselves up so they could say a dignified goodbye to those who had arrived a couple of days previ-ously full of youth, enthusiasm, and dedication to life and who were now dead. The companionship and the music was what the dead and the living had in common. This was dignified and respectful and in spite of their wounded souls and the option to get out, the majority stayed at the festival site. With this, respect be-came a possibility - not empty silence. Jim Morrison from the Doors expressed this well when he sang, "Mu-sic is our only friend until the end."

Before music started playing again on the Orange Stage on Saturday afternoon, a ceremony in memory of the victims was carried through. The ceremony was arranged under difficult conditions. Maria Carmen Koppel sang the gospel songs "This Day" and "Till We Meet Again", and bishop Jan Lindhardt read a text and re-membered the dead. Youssou n'Dour, singer and musician from Senegal, then began his concert by dedicat-ing it to the dead and reminded everybody that all around the world, people remember and respect the dead with song and music. During his concert, n'Dour interrupted his band and left the stage, walked through the crowd numbering thousands to lay flowers in the large "memorial shrine", which the audience had estab-lished with candles, flowers, poems, and effects in respect for the dead. After this n'Dour continued with his concert. Only a few of the festival's remaining bands chose for personal reasons not to play, while 90 bands carried through with their concerts, quietly and dignified, some of them changing the form of their concerts to send a beautiful greeting along with the audience. The festival's last band on the Orange Stage, Danish D-A-D, began their concert by lighting candles for the dead and letting torches wander from the stage hand to hand through the audience to the memorial shrine for the dead.

Official Denmark arranged a memorial service in Roskilde Cathedral on Sunday afternoon. Relatives, Sec-retary of Culture, politicians and public servants, festival management, and hundreds of festival visitors par-ticipated in the moving ceremony, amongst other things with common silence. The bishop of Roskilde, Jan Lindhardt, spoke from the pulpit of how dangerous it is to be young and yet it is unfair and unnatural, when our young ones die. All these respectful and very emotional actions would not have taken place if the festival had been closed and people had been sent off to their homes. In that scenario, the dead and the audience would have been let down by those responsible for the festival. All the marks and ceremonies in honour of the dead were strengthened by the unification of many souls behind one last greeting.

Nearly half of the relatives of the deceased have been in contact with the festival management since the tragic incident. Naturally, people react in different ways to the accident - but generally, great appreciation has been expressed for the dignified farewell with the dead that the festival management has opened the pos-sibility for. This could not have been predicted by the management that dark Friday night - but most of the relatives and grieving are not as condemning as the more remote critics. On the contrary. Two families have asked that their dead son could be buried with a new wristband for Roskilde 2000, the festival that in life and in death gave their sons so much. One family asked the festival management to give Festival 2000 wrist-bands to all the friends at the funeral as one last greeting.

May allegations and critique of the decision of closing or continuing of the festival end here - in respect of death and out of love for life.

TREATING INJURIES AND COUNSELING VICTIMS

All through Friday night and Saturday morning, doctors, nurses, medics, police officers and paramedics worked together with numerous festival volunteers and audience members under extreme conditions to deal with the critical situation.

Afterward, counselling for the many people involved, including audience members, was necessary. Psy-chologists and other personnel from the local area and the surrounding vicinity offered counselling from Friday evening and throughout the rest of the festival as a supplement to the extensive support and aid audi-ence members provided each other. In the days after the festival, help was still needed. Today, all of those affected by the accident have returned home. Most have put a reasonable distance between themselves and their experience, although some will feel the effects for some time to come.

FUNERALS

All nine of the deceased have now been identified: three Swedes, one from Holland, a German, an Australian and three Danish young men lost their lives.

The first funerals have taken place, accompanied by condolences and flowers from the band Pearl Jam and Roskilde Festival.

In connection with the funerals, Roskilde Festival has provided or offered practical and financial assistance.

MEMORIAL SHRINE

In the course of the festival's remaining two days and the following days, the audience and bereaved family members created a "memorial shrine" to honour the deceased. Thousands of flowers, candles, poems and artefacts were laid in respect.

Roskilde Festival - its audience members and volunteers - will honour the deceased and their survivors by preserving all of the imperishable articles from the memorial.

At the same time, efforts have been set into motion to create a lasting, worthy memorial for the dead - out of respect, in memory and as a reminder on the ground which was sacred for the dead and has become so for the survivors.

MEMORIAL FUND

Bands, music agents, record labels, companies, contributing organisations, hundreds of audience members and citizens have backed up the festival leadership's decision to establish a fund in connection with the acci-dent. The festival leadership and the Roskilde Charity Society has now created "The Roskilde 2000 Tragedy Fund" to support "research and development of health and security measures for large gatherings of young people in connection with cultural events, especially musical events."

The Roskilde Charity Society hopes - upon receiving the approval of authorities - to support the fund. Fur-thermore, the society has proposed that the honorariums which Oasis and the Pet Shop Boys would have received if they had performed, should be given to "The Tragedy Fund" instead of merely becoming an arti-cle squandered in a court battle over the graves of the dead. The two bands are presently considering the proposal from Roskilde.

THE REASONS

The cause of the accident is not known. Faults in the festival's security equipment could not be traced; on the contrary, all equipment has been examined and found to be up to standard. It is a consolation - but in this situation, a useless one - that professionals in the music industry consider Roskilde Festival one of the safest and most painstakingly methodical festivals in Europe. That the accident nevertheless happened in Roskilde of all places gives one reason to wonder - not least of all about the many places where security measures are less comprehensive.

Several theories have been set forth as to how the accident could happen and to the extent to which it did. No reasons have been established, much less a clear course of events that could explain how nine people so tragically fell - and died. The police investigation continues, and a full report is expected upon completion of investigations.

DISCUSSIONS REGARDING SAFETY

The people behind the Roskilde Festival report that the necessary safety measures were met and that the equipment was found faultless. This was no reason to relax and take no action in the future. Bands and audi-ence members carried out the remaining concerts this year with mutual respect and with a clear understand-ing to watch out for each other. Future festivals - also those in Roskilde - must be made the subject of all conceivable attention to safety with regard to the physical design, technical aspects, communication matters, and in regard to the behaviour of both artists and audience members. In the days after the festival, many sug-gestions and opinions have come forward. These have been registered in Roskilde and will be debated with experts before proposals for future festival arrangements are put into action.

Leif Skov, one of Roskilde Festival's leaders, is a member of the executive committee of Yourope, the Euro-pean union of festival organisations. This union held a meeting in London last March with a representative of the committee that produced a 200 plus page report, "The Event Safety Guide", for the British government. At the March meeting, those in attendance decided that via the EU, this guide should be made into an obligatory safety manual for all large events in Europe. Now the topic has tragically become even more rele-vant for organisers of all large events. The people behind the Roskilde Festival are among those who are putting pressure on politicians to initiate a dialogue, so the risk is minimised everywhere large groups of people gather.

YOUTH CULTURE

It has been said after the tragedy in Roskilde, that although the accident happened in Roskilde, it was the music and culture of young people everywhere that was hit and badly wounded. A serious blow had been dealt to the lives and lifelong dreams of several generations.

It is important to ensure that the coming months make it safer to be a part of this youth culture. Much has been said about the danger of being young, about the wildness and senselessness required to feel alive and experience a rush. Unilateral demands and prohibitive rules and regulations from ageing politicians and pub-lic officials will probably be just as dangerous and ineffective as young people's demands or expectations of wild abandon in front of stages, in camping areas, in concert halls, in street sport environments and so forth. The reasonable and unreasonable, the old and the young must find a solution together to create a framework which allows for both safety and free limits, a framework which everybody can live with - and nobody can die from. This work will in concentrated form supplement the work with the lighter elements in preparations of the 31st festival in Roskilde.

OBSERVATIONS, OPINIONS, and SUGGESTIONS

which readers or festivalgoers might have, are kindly solicited to ensure good experiences in the future. In-formation which might cast light on the events of this year's Roskilde Festival should be sent to Roskilde Police Department - fax (+45) 46 32 20 43 or telephone (+45) 46 35 14 48. Ideas for improving safety fea-tures or the event in general should be sent to Roskilde Festival, fax (+45) 46 32 14 99 or telephone (+45) 46 36 66 13 or e-mail: improvements@roskilde-festival.dk.

THANKS FOR THIS YEAR

Upon the end of this year's festival, the Festival Management sent this greeting from the Orange Stage:

Leif Skov's speech on Orange Stage, Sunday night at 22.00, Roskilde Festival 2000

Three days of clouds and rain. Now on the fourth and final day the sun came out. Sun at last. Light at last. Let's see it as a sign from outer space that light is stronger than darkness and that the music can play on.

During Saturday and Sunday, bands have dedicated their concerts, lyrics, and songs to you and to your friends that passed away during the Friday night tragedy. Also to their loved ones. Thank you Youssou n'Dour for walking through the audience with your bunch of flowers. Thank you Henry Rollins for rocking for the living and the dead - thanks to all the artists who showed their consideration. The music will play on.

You in the audience have carried this festival through. It was for you and our 8 dead friends we decided to carry on with the festival. It was not an easy decision. You have proved that life seems stronger than death. In our emptiness we found music the best way to bring us forward - together. We all needed each other - so we should not walk away from each other. You focused on the beauty of life rather than on the darkness of death. Let the music play on earth and in heaven. Let the music play in your hearts. Play it loud sometimes - they might be able to hear it up there. Play it quiet sometimes as they too need some peace.

I would also like to express my deepest respect and gratitude to all the volunteers working on our stages. Here on Orange Stage in particular - and especially the people along the front barrier, the doctors and nurses and other good people at the back. They really had a tough job during Friday night. They had to fight for lives of people. Thank you to all of you. I do hope that the scratches in your souls are not too deep. I'd like to thank you in the audience for all your help especially on Friday night and your consideration and cooperation throughout the festival. You really deserve that we decided to let the music play. We went on with one huge, sad picture in our minds. But also hundreds of beautiful pictures.

Hopefully time will confirm that life and love is stronger than death.

So now the festival is coming to an end. After the last band here on Orange Stage we will let the music play on Green Stage into the light of Monday morning. You and D-A-D are friends so you won't hurt each other.

Thank you all for coming to Roskilde. Thank you all for your support. Take care of your good selves. Take good care of other people whereever you travel or live. We'll meet again some lovely day.

Good bye to all of you. Here and up there. Take care. We will miss you.

Leif Skov's words from Orange Stage at 23.25 after the last band, July 2nd 2000.

This afternoon the Danish government had organised a ceremony in Roskilde Cathedral for our 8 friends who passed away here on Friday. It was a beautiful moment.

Jan Bachmann will now play one tune as a last farewell to all of you and all our friends who passed away.

Ave Verum Corpus by Mozart.

The festival management wishes to express it's deepest sympathy with the ones left behind by the nine young people. Focus on the beauty of life and opportunities will mark the development of future life for Roskilde Festival in order to show respect for the dead, and that we have learnt from their death, that life is beautiful and valuable, and vulnerable.

Sting wrote amongst other things:

"On and on the rain will fall
like tears from a star.
On and on the rain will say
how fragile we are."

Honoured be the memory of nine lovers of life.