Rick Nielsen, the lead guitarist for the rock band Cheap Trick, walks past the main stage at Ottawa Bluesfest after it collapsed in Ottawa on Sunday July 17, 2011. Cheap Trick is asking for a full account of what went wrong when a stage it was performing on toppled during a violent summer gale at Ottawa Bluesfest.Leon Switzer/The Canadian Press
Citing safety concerns, the American rock group Cheap Trick has cancelled its scheduled concert at this year's Pacific National Exhibition in Vancouver.
The veteran band was performing at the Ottawa Bluesfest on July 17 when the main stage collapsed, causing injuries and sending musicians, crew and fans scrambling. Because the PNE uses a mobile outdoor stage made by Montreal-based Mega-Stage - the same company that manufactured the one that crumbled in high winds in Ottawa - Cheap Trick has scuttled its Sept. 1 appearance.
In a statement released on its website, the I Want You To Want Me singers expressed a lack of confidence in the company's equipment. "Unless current investigation(s) prove otherwise, the band will not, as a matter of principle, but more importantly, as a matter of safety, appear on a Berger stage in the future."
The Berger family of Montreal owns Mega-Stage. Director of operations Stéphane Berger told The Globe and Mail his stages are sound. "There's no doubt in my mind," he said. As for Cheap Trick's decision to pull out of the PNE because of its wariness of performing on one of his stages, Mr. Berger said only, "That's their personal choice."
It was a choice PNE organizers never saw coming. "We were surprised and disappointed that 30 days out of the concert they decided that they would not be coming to Vancouver," said spokesperson Laura Ballance, who first learned about the decision from the band's website.
According to Cheap Trick's statement, tickets would be refundable at point of purchase. In fact, all 17 of the PNE concerts, including Cheap Trick's show, are free with the exhibition's general-admission charge. For it's part, the PNE will not seek financial damages relating to the band's late pullout. "We're not the type of organization that would focus on that," Ms. Ballance said. "We're moving forward."
Ontario's Ministry of Labour is investigating the incident in Ottawa, and the band said in a previous statement that it is "actively participating" in the inquiry.
The mobile stage at PNE differs from the Mark III model used at Ottawa Bluesfest in that it is a single-unit structure, with the roof, stage and side walls all attached. It is similar to the side stages at Ottawa that did not collapse, and it will be approved by an engineer before Aug. 20, the night of the first concert at a fair which last year celebrated its centennial.
According to Mr. Berger, his stages that were used in Montreal last weekend at major events - Just for Laughs, Gay Pride, Rod Stewart and the Osheaga Festival of Music and Art - received "extra verification" by a third-party engineer. Asked about the PNE stage, Mr. Berger was confident in its dependability. "The stage," he said, "is good."