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Roskilde Death Toll Rises; Pearl Jam Issues Statement
ROSKILDE, Denmark—update: Roskilde Festival officials confirmed early Saturday that eight people were killed when thousands of fans pushed toward the stage during Pearl Jam ’s performance Friday night (6/30).
Danish police said Saturday that 25 people were injured in the incident. Festival officials further noted that identification of the victims was not yet complete, but that the all of the dead were male.
An earlier statement from festival officials had confirmed four dead in the moments after the concert was stopped.
The incident occurred during a general admission Pearl Jam concert at the Orange Stage, one of seven performance areas on the festival site.
According to eyewitness reports, rainy conditions may have contributed to the situation near the stage, fueling repeated incidents where people near the front of the stage lost their balance or slipped on the muddy ground. As fans fell, something of a domino-effect was created as members of the densely-packed crowd fell forward on top of them.
Seven songs into Pearl Jam’s set, the band was told to stop by security guards after more than a dozen people became buried after falling during an ongoing crowd surge toward the stage. Frontman Eddie Vedder then asked the audience to take three steps back from the stage and look around them to see if anyone was hurt.
One eyewitness who was at the front of the crowd told LiveDaily, "It was crazy at the front and it kept getting worse. Two songs before [the band] had to stop, we were lifted over the barriers [for safety]. I have been following the band on their European tour, and it's never been like this before."
A post-midnight concert by The Cure was cancelled, but festival officials allowed performances in other areas of the festival site to continue. At press time, Oasis and the Pet Shop Boys were scheduled to perform at the Orange Stage on Saturday, and the festival remained scheduled to continue through Sunday.
Pearl Jam issued a written statement from the road in Denmark on Saturday, saying in part,
“This is so painful ... I think we are all waiting for someone to wake us and say it was just a horrible nightmare ...When you agree to play at a festival of this size and reputation it is impossible to imagine such a heart-wrenching scenario.
Our lives will never be the same, but we know that is nothing compared to the grief of the families and friends of those involved.”
Pearl Jam was scheduled to wrap up their European tour with shows Sunday and Monday in Belgium and the Netherlands, respectively. Both of those concerts have been cancelled.
-liveDaily's Alexa Williamson contributed to this report.
