Billie Joe has just posted on Instagram about the Mad Cool Festival and what the band knew when they went on stage. There's been a lot of arguing and lots of people showing contempt for the band for playing after an acrobat performer died. The band wasn't aware about what exactly happened. They were only told to wait because there was an issue, which isn't uncommon at large events.
Anyone who actually knows or cares about this band know that they are genuinely good people. They don't believe they or their show is the most important thing. They cancelled a show just last week after being told the stage could be unsafe. They didn't want to put anyone at risk just because they were scheduled to play.
Read his full post below for a full explanation of what happened.
[quote]Last night at the Mad Cool festival in Spain there was a horrific accident. An acrobat by the name of Pedro was killed during his performance before Green Day played our show. We are so sad for Pedro and his family and we pray for them in this time of grief. I can't imagine how much suffering the friends and family are going through. Many of you are wondering why we continued to play our show after the accident. Green Day did not hear about the accident until after our show was over. We didn't even know there was an acrobat performance at all. these festivals are huge. There are so many things happening at the same time it's impossible to keep up with every performer/artist.. We were in a back stage compound about a half mile away from the main festival stage. We were warming up ready to go at 11:25 pm. 15 minutes prior our tour management was told by local authorities to wait to go on stage because there was some sort of security issue. Security issues are a normal occurrence and procedure at any show.. we were NOT told why which is also normal. we waited as we were instructed. Still, We had no clue there was any such accident. We were given the ok. The band jumped into vans and drove to the main festival stage. This was to be the last show of our European tour and we were all so excited to play our hearts out one last time. We were on stage at around midnight and played around two and a half hours. Everything seemed normal. the crowd and fans had a good time. We got off stage and drove back to our artist compound. It was there when we were told the shocking news about Pedro. All of us were in disbelief. I don't know why the authorities chose not to tell us about the accident before our concert. All we know is what was said after our concert. This has never happened in the 30 years Green Day have been performing live. If we had known prior to our performance we most likely would not have played at all. We are not heartless people. The safety and well being at any of our concerts absolutely comes first. What happened to Pedro is unthinkable. Once again we are heartbroken for his friends and family.
we are also shocked and heartbroken for anyone that had to witness this tragedy.
sincerely
Billie Joe Armstrong
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Now that we have the real version of events, I just want to add one more thought on this. For millions of people around the world, music is our group therapy. Music is a way that people all over deal with very bad situations. For thousands of people that night, this helped them deal with a very bad situation. Had the show been cancelled, I think it would just made everyone feel worse.
People have a right to be upset if they were there and saw what happened first hand. I don't blame them at all for feeling like they needed to go home. But to show contempt for Green Day, without knowing any facts about what they did or didn't know, shows that people were more interested in making a lot of noise and blasting Green Day than they are about mourning the death of someone.
Humans are incredibly bad at dealing with anything except black and white problems and solutions. I've gone to a concert in the past to deal with the death of a close relative. It was a few hours of using music as a coping method, it was a few hours of singing and yelling at the top of my lungs in a way that locking myself up couldn't have helped. I'm entirely aware that this isn't true for everyone, and I believe those who left were right in leaving. Those who stayed were right in staying. It's ok to have differing and complicated feelings about a situation without needing to make someone else into the bad guy.
Anyone who actually knows or cares about this band know that they are genuinely good people. They don't believe they or their show is the most important thing. They cancelled a show just last week after being told the stage could be unsafe. They didn't want to put anyone at risk just because they were scheduled to play.
Read his full post below for a full explanation of what happened.
[quote]Last night at the Mad Cool festival in Spain there was a horrific accident. An acrobat by the name of Pedro was killed during his performance before Green Day played our show. We are so sad for Pedro and his family and we pray for them in this time of grief. I can't imagine how much suffering the friends and family are going through. Many of you are wondering why we continued to play our show after the accident. Green Day did not hear about the accident until after our show was over. We didn't even know there was an acrobat performance at all. these festivals are huge. There are so many things happening at the same time it's impossible to keep up with every performer/artist.. We were in a back stage compound about a half mile away from the main festival stage. We were warming up ready to go at 11:25 pm. 15 minutes prior our tour management was told by local authorities to wait to go on stage because there was some sort of security issue. Security issues are a normal occurrence and procedure at any show.. we were NOT told why which is also normal. we waited as we were instructed. Still, We had no clue there was any such accident. We were given the ok. The band jumped into vans and drove to the main festival stage. This was to be the last show of our European tour and we were all so excited to play our hearts out one last time. We were on stage at around midnight and played around two and a half hours. Everything seemed normal. the crowd and fans had a good time. We got off stage and drove back to our artist compound. It was there when we were told the shocking news about Pedro. All of us were in disbelief. I don't know why the authorities chose not to tell us about the accident before our concert. All we know is what was said after our concert. This has never happened in the 30 years Green Day have been performing live. If we had known prior to our performance we most likely would not have played at all. We are not heartless people. The safety and well being at any of our concerts absolutely comes first. What happened to Pedro is unthinkable. Once again we are heartbroken for his friends and family.
we are also shocked and heartbroken for anyone that had to witness this tragedy.
sincerely
Billie Joe Armstrong
[/quote]
--
Now that we have the real version of events, I just want to add one more thought on this. For millions of people around the world, music is our group therapy. Music is a way that people all over deal with very bad situations. For thousands of people that night, this helped them deal with a very bad situation. Had the show been cancelled, I think it would just made everyone feel worse.
People have a right to be upset if they were there and saw what happened first hand. I don't blame them at all for feeling like they needed to go home. But to show contempt for Green Day, without knowing any facts about what they did or didn't know, shows that people were more interested in making a lot of noise and blasting Green Day than they are about mourning the death of someone.
Humans are incredibly bad at dealing with anything except black and white problems and solutions. I've gone to a concert in the past to deal with the death of a close relative. It was a few hours of using music as a coping method, it was a few hours of singing and yelling at the top of my lungs in a way that locking myself up couldn't have helped. I'm entirely aware that this isn't true for everyone, and I believe those who left were right in leaving. Those who stayed were right in staying. It's ok to have differing and complicated feelings about a situation without needing to make someone else into the bad guy.
