http://blogs.sfweekly.com/shookdown/2010/08/apparent_suicide_attempt_at_th.php
Updated: Man Dives onto Stage in Suicide at Thursday's Swell Season Concert
By Ian S. Port, Fri., Aug. 20 2010 @ 12:32AM
A man jumped from a roof onto the stage at the Swell Season concert at Mountain Winery in Saratoga tonight in an apparent suicide, according to news reports and witnesses.
Several witnesses say that the man climbed up onto the roof, then sprinted and stumbled to the top before jumping off. He fell approximately three stories, through lighting rigging, then landed on a speaker on the stage less than three feet from Swell Season vocalist/songwriter Glen Hansard, witnesses tell All Shook down in e-mails.
Update, 12:40 a.m.: The San Jose Mercury News is reporting that the man who jumped is dead.
Update, 12:32 a.m.: A witness says they were standing right next to the man before he jumped, and describes him as appearing in his mid-to-late twenties with dark hair.
"He stood alone and he seemed melancholy and removed from the show ... but not necessarily distraught," the witness writes. "We made eye contact and smiled at each other and shortly after, I noticed he had left."
"Almost immediately, I noticed a figure climbing onto the roof. He pulled himself up on the roof and starting sprinting towards the edge. It's quite a distance and he lost his footing more than once. He kept getting up, determined to follow through."
Several witnesses tell All Shook Down that the man was lying totally still on the stage after the fall and that paramedics abandoned CPR. A few witnesses report seeing blood around the man.
Here are some of the reports we've received from witnesses:
At first, we thought it was a dummy (prank of sort)or part of the lighting, but after seeing the horrible shock on Glenn's face, we realized it was something very serious. He came out of nowhere. The staff acted quickly and tried to resuscitate the man, but to no avail. What a horrible end to a wonderful evening. There were some very young kids behind us enjoying the concert with their parents. I hope this was not too traumatizing for them.
Writes another witness:
Glen was just finishing a little song that one of his band members had made up. The crowd was singing along with him and he was looking for the band member as we finished singing along. I just happened to look up and I saw this guy falling from the top of the roof on the right side of the building behind the stage. He landed about 3 feet to the left of Glen on a speaker and he was motionless, like a rag doll. It was about 10pm. At first there was a split moment where everyone was like, what is going on and then people started to scramble to help. They did CPR. The show stopped immediately. The crowd was in shock, but pretty cooperative exiting the venue.
And another witness:
I saw him fall from what appeared to be the lighting rigging, which is why I thought it was a light at first. He fell about three stories, if he did in fact jump off [the] roof. It was about 10pm. The band was between songs with most of them off stage. Lead singer [Glen Hansard] had just led crowd in a sort-of sing-along. Crowd seemed stunned at first, like me. Then you could hear some people sobbing. He fell on the front right of stage as you look at it from [the] audience. They performed CPR.
We will update this post as more information becomes available. If you saw what happened Thursday night, please contact us at i✧✧.p✧✧✧@sfwee✧✧✧.c✧✧.
― Johnny Fever, Friday, 20 August 2010 14:40 (fifteen years ago)
British pop singer dies in fall at Belgian concert
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100821/ap_en_mu/eu_belgium_singer_death
BRUSSELS – The lead singer of a British pop trio climbed a telecommunications mast behind the main stage at a Belgian rock festival and leaped to his death in the parking lot below, police said Saturday.
Twenty-two-year-old Charles Haddon of Ou Est Le Swimming Pool died late Friday during the Pukkelpop festival in Hasselt, a town in eastern Belgium. District attorney Marc Rubens said police were treating the death as a suicide.
Festival organizers said Haddon's family has been notified.
On Thursday, Michael Been, frontman for the U.S. group The Call, died of an apparent heart attack at the same festival. The 60-year-old was working as the soundman for his son's band, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
― bakerstreetsaxsolo, Saturday, 21 August 2010 13:31 (fifteen years ago)