Nine hospitalized after Alexisonfire performance at the Olympics

February 17th, 2010

Grant Trimboli

Courtesy of Alt.Press:

A free concert last night featuring Alexisonfire at Yaletown LiveCity surrounding the Olympics in Vancouver was stopped almost immediately when surging crowds knocked over a barricade near the stage. About 20 fans were treated for injuries and nine were moved to an area hospital. Only one person suffered serious injuries–a compound leg fracture. The Canadian band had only played for about 10 seconds when the crowd pushed forward and the fence failed. The concert was immediately canceled.

As the crowd continued to wait, the members of Alexisonfire took the stage to explain the situation. “We were all so excited that you completely decimated the whole barrier,” said guitarist/vocalist Wade MacNeil. “The reality of the situation is that it’s completely destroyed and it’s really dangerous and there’s an incredible amount of sharp objects up here and a lot of people got hurt when that happened.”

As vocalist George Pettit announced that the show was canceled and repeatedly apologized to the crowd, he was greeted with boos. The band promised to “make it up” to fans in the future.

Check out the incident: