Radiohead Addresses Fatal Stage Collapse During First Show Back in Canada

On Thursday (July 19), Radiohead played its first show in Canada since a stage collapsed, killing the band's drum technician Scott Johnson, during a Toronto tour stop at Downsview Park in 2012.

During their set at Air Canada Centre, frontman Thom Yorke said a few words before holding a moment of silence for their colleague.

“We wanted to do a show in Toronto, the stage collapsed, killing one of our colleagues and friends,” he said to the audience. “The people who should be held accountable are still not being held accountable in your city. The silence is f***ing deafening.”

What Yorke is referring to is the lack of information Radiohead has received from Toronto about what caused the accident.

"There have been no real answers...without the answers, we can't ensure that an accident like this can't happen again," drummer Phillip Selway said in a recent interview with BBC Newsnight, after discussing how "frustrating" it is that the court case filed after the incident had broken down due to a technicality. Thirteen charges had been brought against the concert's promotor, the staging company, and the engineer. 

Prosecutor David McCaskill blamed the accident on a miscalculation of the roof's weight, but because of the halted legal action, no progress has been made on the case since 2017. 

Radiohead plays Air Canada Centre again on Friday night (July 20). The two Toronto dates are part of a short North American tour the band embarked on earlier this month.

Watch a clip of the band's remembrance below.

Photo: Getty Images


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