CHEAP TRICK

CHEAP TRICK File $1 Million Lawsuit Against Ottawa Bluesfest


The Guardian's Sean Michaels reports that CHEAP TRICK have filed a $1 million (£600,000) lawsuit against the Canadian festival where the band were almost killed in 2011. The musicians accused the Ottawa Bluesfest of putting "economic considerations over... safety" in their maintenance of the site's main stage, which collapsed during a storm.

According to the filing by Cheap Trick Touring Inc, Bluesfest responded to the severe weather in an "unsuitable, haphazard and inadequate manner". Not only did the organisers allegedly fail to monitor the environmental conditions, but the band claim they did not check on the sturdiness of the stage or adequately prepare their staff for an emergency.

Cheap Trick were midway through their evening gig on July 17th, 2011 when wind gusts of 117kmh (73mph) began to rake the outdoor stage. "It was like the Titanic or something," their manager, Dave Frey, told Rolling Stone. "It was complete pandemonium." As the structure buckled, frontman Robin Zander began to shout, "Get off the stage! Go, go, go!" The group and more than a dozen crew-members narrowly avoided the falling struts. Three people required hospital treatment, including roadie Sandy Sanderson. Sanderson has already filed his own lawsuit against the festival, accusing organisers of gross negligence.

In addition to Bluesfest and their technical team, Cheap Trick are seeking compensation from the companies that built the festival's stage, sound and lighting rigs. A report from the Ontario ministry of labour found that although the stage was designed to withstand winds of 120kmh (74.5mph), operators neglected to remove the necessary wind-walls. These kinds of omissions "heightened the risk and increased the vulnerability to visitors, including Cheap Trick Touring".

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