Festivalgoer seriously injured after stage light falls at Coachella
An attendee at this year’s Coachella Festival has been seriously injured after a lighting fixture fell from the Do LaB stage on Friday evening, causing the stage to be temporarily closed off.
After strong winds reaching up to 35mph hit the festival site in the Colorado Desert, which also caused DJ Anyma to cancel his set on the opening night, the severe weather conditions have continued to cause disruption to the festival.
At around 8pm local time, DJ and producer John Summit took to the stage for his surprise set, but halfway through the performance, one of the main lighting fixtures was dislodged from the stage, falling on top of a woman at the front of the crowd.
Speaking to SFGate, festivalgoer Joey Freshour described the incident as he witnessed the equipment fall from the stage into a section of the crowd approximately three rows ahead of him.
Freshour said that the fixture hit the woman on the side of the head and “gashed her head open,” adding that “there was blood all over the light, and then there was blood on the ground.”
According to reports, others in the crowd flashed lights to signal to emergency services that there had been a casualty, and that a number of crowd members ended up carrying the injured spectator out of the audience to get help.
Despite the incident during Summit’s set, producer Jigitz took to the Do LaB stage directly afterwards, although he eventually had to curtail his set due to continued safety concerns.
Festival staff eventually opted to cordon off the entire stage with tape due to the possibility of high winds causing further disruption. No further injuries have been reported as a result of the incident, although reports indicate that the stage was able to reopen for performances on Saturday.
The first weekend of Coachella concludes on Sunday, April 12th, with a headline performance from Karol G, before commencing with its second week on Friday, April 17th.
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