Pet Shop Boys‘ NEIL TENNANT has accused ROSKILDE FESTIVAL organisers of being “unbelievably insensitive” for allowing the event to carry on after eight fans were crushed to death over the weekend.
Following the tragedy on June 29 where eight fans died in a crowd surge during a performance by Pearl Jam, the festival continued. At the time a spokesperson said the festival would continue with “deepest respect” for the dead, adding “life is stronger than death”.
However, both the Pet Shop Boys and Oasis pulled out of the Danish festival, citing safety fears and their wish to show respect to the dead music fans and families.
Speaking to Radio 1 about the tragedy, Tennant said: “This makes me so angry, because eight people have died, from four different countries. The youngest of them was 17. I feel like they have just been brushed under the carpet. The response from the organisers was unbelievably insensitive, and their main concern was that the whole thing just went ahead.
“I don’t believe that in Britain that would have happened. I think that, at least, the main stage activities would have been cancelled. If you speak to someone who was at the Roskilde Festival you’ll find that there was general support for Oasis and the Pet Shop Boys‘ decision not to play this event.”
Around 1,200 people attended a 50-minute memorial service in Roskilde cathedral yesterday to pay their respects to the dead. However, in the aftermath of the tragedy, the local police chief has appeared to blame the incident on festival-goers.
Police commissioner Bendt Runstroem is quoted in a report on [url=]www.bbc.co.uk as saying some of the members of the audience became “over excited”, and added: “We can never give 100% guarantees that there will be no accidents when you have crowds like this in a festival of this sort and groups of young people who have drunk too much or taken drugs.”