Underworld‘s RICK SMITH has spoken of his horror at discovering the unfolding tragedy at ROSKILDE when his band were winding up their set on the SECOND STAGE at the festival on June 30, while nine people died after a crush among fans at the front of the MAIN STAGE where PEARL JAM were playing at the time.
And in an interview with [url=]www.mtv.com, Smith, whose band are preparing to play the V2000 festivals on August 19 (Chelmsford) and August 20 (Stafford), expressed support for the festival, describing it as one of the finest in the world.
He said: “What’s so incredibly sad is that the festival itself has been run since 1971. Roskilde is one of the finest festivals in the world. All the money they make goes to charity, and any profit at all they invest back into the public, in the comfort and facility of the public. Money doesn’t go to the artists so much and you don’t get huge fees for playing at Roskilde… I just felt so sorry for everyone. What an awful thing to happen.”
He revealed that Underworld, who were told about the tragedy shortly after they left the stage, were asked to walk back to their hotel after the festival rather than use transport which may have been needed for emergency purposes.
“I don’t know if I could ever play again had I been on stage and that happened. It was just so tragic. It was just mud and a load of people and just an awful combination of events,” he added.
“As a parent it made me shake the next day. Imagine if it was my child who was even in the crowd, let alone killed or hurt. I don’t know how I would deal with this.” But he also warned against a knee-jerk reaction towards festivals: “It is a bit like a plane crash… we don’t suddenly ban all planes.”
As previously revealed on nme.com, Underworld release their live album, ‘Everything Everything’ – recorded at a number of locations over the last two years including Glastonbury Festival, Fuji Festival in Japan and V98 – through JBO/V2 on September 4. It will be preceded by a remix of ‘Cowgirl by John Digweed on August 21. It is the first release from the band since the departure of Darren Emerson, who left earlier this year.
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