R.I.P.

Roskilde Festival 2000 poster

As great as the 1999 festival was for me as horrible would the 2000 festival turn out to be. It was the year that I would be able to see my favourite band Pearl Jam for the first time. I've been a huge fan of theirs since I got their second album Vs for Christmas in 1993. I was immediately captivated and still am. Hostage for life but happy to be.

We were there, dead center at the front, only a couple of meters from the frontmost barrier along with a friend of ours and had stood there basicly since the Swedish band Kent had finished their set. Personally I don't like being in the pit during a huge show like that. I'm there for the music, not moshing around like an insane git. But this was Pearl Jam. We wanted as close a view as possible and so did hundreds of other people too I guess. The pressure just before the band got on stage was insane. I said to my girlfriend that we ought to turn around and get out but I'm sure you can imagine the wall of people not being able to move. So we rode it out for the first couple of songs. We lost sight of Alex in the process as we had to concentrate on not constantly getting crowdsurfers in the head.

We eventually made it back some twenty to thirty meters and could move around more freely. I.e. we had free will. At that point we just started enjoying the show. Then during the twelfth song Daughter the concert suddenly stopped. Ed then told us to do something for him, move back three steps. Everyone we saw did. He asked us more times, about three times I think, but no one really understood why.

For around 45 minutes we stood there, waiting, listening to Ed. No official came on stage and told the audience that we had to move back because people were getting trampled. I was aware that someone was hurt (that's pretty obvious) but I didn't imagine it to be any worse than a broken arm or similar. Nothing critical surely. After all we were just being told to move back three steps so I figured it was just the helpers trying to get someone out.

Nine young men died that evening. From what I understand it happened only a few meters from where we initially stood at the beginning of the concert. I have often muttered the words "It could have been us.". We couldn't have been more than thirty meters from the accident(s) when the show was stopped but we never had any notion about what was really going on. We had not been drinking (like security). We were not high. We might have been intoxicated by being to our first Pearl Jam concert though. We've been to many shows at Roskilde with just as many people and the accident could just as well have happened there and then.

By the way. If somebody crowd surfs over my head again I will punch him/her in the face. Repeatedly. Hard.

Due to the accident during Pearl Jam's concert Friday night we left the next Saturday morning like many others. It was not the place to be anymore for us and I doubted if I'd ever go back there again.

Pictures

The Pearl Jam pictures were sent to me by a kind fellow fan.

Concerts we went to:

  • Marie Frank
  • Pearl Jam

Concerts in retrospect we wish we could have gone to also:

  • The Cure
  • D:A:D
  • Live
  • Madrugada
  • Muse
  • Pet Shop Boys
  • Lou Reed
  • Superheroes
  • Youssou N'Dour
  • Ziggy Marley