One forecast said 60% chance of precipitation. My phone weather app said all dry for this location. (Even the radar looked OK.)
The weather seemed fine to start. Quite pleasant, actually. We played a long first set for the large lawn crowd – in case we wound up having to pack up early.
The sky was a little grey after the break, but it seemed like we might make it all the way through... until it didn't. The wind picked up, and then the power went out.
I struck my gear extra fast and loaded out. On the way, the hail and rain hit, big time. It was by far the most intense storm I've ever experienced. By the time I reached my car I was soaked to the bone and all my gear was drenched.
I slapped on my rain jacket (a little late) and headed back to help the others. Where the stage had been, I saw this:
I retrieved a violin and an amp from the deluge and headed to the farm house for shelter. (It was still coming down ridiculously hard.) I didn't realize that all 3 of my bandmates had been caught by that tree!
The drummer was the least injured. His equipment, not so much.
The violinist was in worse shape. She went to the hospital in an ambulance with what turned out to be a crushed vertebrae.
She got released the next day with a back brace. Fingers crossed, she'll recover without too many long-term complications.
The guitarist had a tiger scratch across his forehead and was very sore. It took us 20 minutes to retrieve his right shoe. I eventually drove him to the ER where they checked him over, then left him sitting unattended for hours before releasing him.
The drummer probably should have gotten checked for a concussion. I really tried to persuade him, but he insisted on staying around and scooping up what was left of the gear. (He was sore the next day, but otherwise okay. After others got on his case too, he might go ahead & get looked at.)
The freaky thing about all this was how normal things seemed before (absolutely no sense whatsoever of that tree being a hazard), how quickly it happened, and how chaotic things were afterward.
I'm glad I was able to pack up and load as quickly as I did. That sort of saved me – along with total blind luck. (Another minute and I would have been back up there, probably around the drums that got smashed.)
So that's how my Sunday gig went!
The weather seemed fine to start. Quite pleasant, actually. We played a long first set for the large lawn crowd – in case we wound up having to pack up early.
The sky was a little grey after the break, but it seemed like we might make it all the way through... until it didn't. The wind picked up, and then the power went out.
I struck my gear extra fast and loaded out. On the way, the hail and rain hit, big time. It was by far the most intense storm I've ever experienced. By the time I reached my car I was soaked to the bone and all my gear was drenched.
I slapped on my rain jacket (a little late) and headed back to help the others. Where the stage had been, I saw this:
I retrieved a violin and an amp from the deluge and headed to the farm house for shelter. (It was still coming down ridiculously hard.) I didn't realize that all 3 of my bandmates had been caught by that tree!
The drummer was the least injured. His equipment, not so much.
The violinist was in worse shape. She went to the hospital in an ambulance with what turned out to be a crushed vertebrae.
She got released the next day with a back brace. Fingers crossed, she'll recover without too many long-term complications.
The guitarist had a tiger scratch across his forehead and was very sore. It took us 20 minutes to retrieve his right shoe. I eventually drove him to the ER where they checked him over, then left him sitting unattended for hours before releasing him.
The drummer probably should have gotten checked for a concussion. I really tried to persuade him, but he insisted on staying around and scooping up what was left of the gear. (He was sore the next day, but otherwise okay. After others got on his case too, he might go ahead & get looked at.)
The freaky thing about all this was how normal things seemed before (absolutely no sense whatsoever of that tree being a hazard), how quickly it happened, and how chaotic things were afterward.
I'm glad I was able to pack up and load as quickly as I did. That sort of saved me – along with total blind luck. (Another minute and I would have been back up there, probably around the drums that got smashed.)
So that's how my Sunday gig went!
