After Accidents, a Call for Regulation

Darron Cummings/Associated Press

INDIANA STATE FAIR, INDIANAPOLIS: Seven people died, and 40 were injured, when a stage collapsed.

By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.

Published: August 23, 2011

It’s been a tough summer for the outdoor concert business: four stage collapses, two of them fatal. The spate of accidents has shaken promoters and focused a spotlight on the lack of uniform standards in the United States for building temporary stages and for evacuating people at outdoor concerts in severe weather.
“With these recent events, back-to-back events, everyone out there on tour is talking about it,” Eric Mayers, a concert promoter and the touring manager for My Morning Jacket, said.
For decades the outdoor concert business has been largely self-policed, and stage collapses have been few and far between, even as the number of outdoor concerts and festivals has grown over the last decade. Stages have also become more complex, with superstructures that hold tens of thousands of pounds of lights and audio equipment.
Still, the regulations for temporary stages vary widely from state to state and city to city. Chicago and New York, for instance, have relatively stringent requirements, and temporary structures there must pass muster with building inspectors, while in other places there is little or no regulation, and structures are not closely scrutinized, promoters, engineers, stage companies and safety consultants say.

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