Investigation Begins into Radiohead Stage Collapse

The event production community was shocked by another stage collapse tragedy on Saturday, June 16, when a partial roof collapse at Downsview Park, Toronto, Ontario, killed one crew member and injured three others.

The stage, which was being set up for the final show on the North American leg of Radiohead's world tour, collapsed at 4:00pm local time, around one hour before the gates were due to open, killing 33-year-old Scott Johnson, a British drum technician who was working on the stage at the time.

Of the three people injured, a 45-year-old male suffered head injuries, but these were reportedly not life threatening. The two others were less seriously injured and were treated at the scene.

A message on the Radiohead website says: "We have all been shattered by the loss of Scott Johnson, our friend and colleague. He was a lovely man, always positive, supportive, and funny, a highly skilled and valued member of our great road crew. We will miss him very much. Our thoughts and love are with Scott's family and all those close to him."

Toronto police have said that forensic officers would begin a joint investigation with the coroner and the Ministry of Labor to identify the cause of the incident.

This latest tragedy follows a string of concert stage collapses in recent years. Several people were injured when a stage structure collapsed during a storm at Bluesfest in Ottawa, Ontario, last July. That incident was followed in August by two separate events which left 11 people dead in less than one week: six people died when a structure collapsed in high winds at the Indiana State Fair on August 13, and five were killed at Belgium's Pukkelpop Festival on August 18, again in high winds.

While all three of these incidents in 2011 occurred during severe weather conditions, there were apparently no reports of similar conditions at the time of this latest incident in Toronto. Local reports said the weather at the time was "calm," with a forecast of light winds.