Music Forum / Pukkelpop

Yesterday, Pukkelpop, one of the bigger festivals in Belgium, was struck by a severe storm. Around 6pm, a combination of rain, hail and strong winds hit the 60 000 visitors who were on the terrain at that moment. Several tents and trees snapped under the strain of the weather and many people got hurt. Chokri, the organizer of the festival, said: "I've been in many tropical countries in my life and I've seen my fair share of tropical storms, but this is unlike anything I've seen before". You can see footage from the storm here. The storm only lasted about 10 minutes, but the damage and injuries were horrendous.

The future of the festival was uncertain for the rest of the evening. The organizers decided to abolish the perfomances, including the Foo Fighters, for that evening, but they were still debating if it was possible to resume the festival today (yesterday was only the first day of the festival, it was meant to continue throughout the whole weekend). Once the death toll and the number of injured was more certain, they decided to abolish the festival altogether. There have been 5 dead (all of which Belgian), 10 severely injured (3 of which are still fighting for their lives) and in total 140 people that needed medical attention. The organizer said that they simply couldn't reconcile with the fact that the festival would have resumed under this circumstances. Extra busses and trains have been convoked this morning to get the remaining festival visitors home.

This has really been a black day in the history of Belgian festivals... Any NE members from the Benelux who have been there? Are you guys all safe?

I was there and witnessed it, I'm safe and sound...

I thought that you said that you were going to Pukkel, I'm glad to hear you're safe...

5 People Dead someone we know saw it happend, A Big Truss Construction fell over a woman, They still cannot believe it happend...

I heard what happened.. we had some bad weather of here but you won !
Terrible story, me and some friends have thougt about going to pukkelpop next year, hopefully they won't cancel it.

is pukkelpop completely cancelled this year ? What about the money people paid and such ?

Yeah, they completely cancelled it this year. Chokri, the organizer, made it very clear that they made that decisions based on the human side of what has happened and they would look at the financial repercussions later. I'm sure they'll do everything that's necessary in time.