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A Tree Fell On Our Stage!

#23
Jefenator said:
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:
View attachment 7488365
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.
View attachment 7488367

View attachment 7488375
The violinist was in worse shape. She went to the hospital in an ambulance with what turned out to be a crushed vertebrae.
View attachment 7488369
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.
View attachment 7488382
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!
Click to expand...
Jesus, that's major...poor violinist, holy hell!
 
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#24
I live on the edge of a state park near Commencement Bay in Tacoma, WA. Last December, a large alder tree came down during a wind storm and took out the bed of my Tundra. Shortly afterward, I had an arborist survey my property and had several trees pruned and a couple removed. Wind and large trees can be a bad combination!!
 
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#25
Freight Train said:
Was anyone there to hear it? (Hah! Because, you know, sometimes there's no one there... at the gig. Anyway...)
Click to expand...
Freight Train…. SHM, not cool.

Jeffenator,
Lets just give Freight Train the benefit of assuming he didn’t read your whole post.

Anyway, I really hope your violinist makes a full recovery and Im glad no one lost their life. Drum sets and amps can be replaced.

Did anyone watch NOVA last week? It was about sudden intensely violent storms called Rain Bombs. It sounds like you may have witnessed one.
 
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#26
I'm so glad everyone is basically OK! I hope your violinist recovers completely.

I've experienced similar. Here's a brief clip from our set at Delfest back in the day. One second, it was a beautiful lovely summer day, the next it dropped twenty five degrees F and hit us with 90 minutes of this. Luckily, no injuries, including to people seeking shelter under a tree that got hit by lightning. Part of the main stage collapsed and a bunch of it had to be moved indoors.

 
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#28
31HZ said:
Unbelievable. So glad everyone is OK.

When I'm running sound and the weather looks like it might get bad, I keep a laser eye on the weather maps; if it looks like something is coming I don't hesitate to call it. I'll be even more strident about it from now on!
Click to expand...
I do the same. Number one rule I don't trust anyone's interpretation of the weather radar except mine.
 
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#30
I just want to mention that the staff at the venue were nothing short of amazing; they really could not have been more supportive or helpful. As soon as we quit playing they were offering to help move gear. While I was sheltering in the farmhouse not fully clued in, some of them were out in the worst of the storm, essentially rescuing the violinist. Whatever we might have needed in terms of a ride home or to the ER or leaving gear behind to sort out the next day or anything else, they were 100% there for us. Their conduct seriously restores my faith in humanity.
 
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#31
I've had too many incidents with trees that I've experienced and witnessed over the years. I have a 7ft magnolia tree in my front yard and that's it. I look and try to judge how easily I can get away from a tree or if it can reach me if it were to fall over. Obviously you guys didn't have much of a choice, but yeah...stories like this are just affirmation for my concerns :(
 
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#32
Jefenator said:
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:
View attachment 7488365
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.
View attachment 7488367

View attachment 7488375
The violinist was in worse shape. She went to the hospital in an ambulance with what turned out to be a crushed vertebrae.
View attachment 7488369
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.
View attachment 7488382
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!
Click to expand...

That's way up there on the crazy gig list. Much sympathy for your gear.
 
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#35
Holy S#*t. Glad you're OK, really sorry to hear about your bandmates' injuries.

The tree thing can be scary. My previous house of 20 years had two gigantic old oaks on a backyard hillside looming over the patio and the house, and they were protected, so you weren't allowed to cut 'em back much (let alone take them out without paying 10's of thousands of dollars). We had an arborist check them out for health periodically but they can only predict so much. Sure enough the biggest one fell one day totally unexpected - perfectly sunny, typical hot dry SoCal day. Missed the house by inches. Could have likely killed anyone on the patio. But the one looming over the master bedroom is still there, for now.....always made us nervous, glad we moved. Big enough that it would flatten that end of the house if it came down.
 
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#38
I have seen that more-recently in my area, increased rain PLUS increased winds are playing foul with even old-growth, otherwise going-to-live-forever trees.

It's a combo deal, and NOT a good one!

God - I hope that somebody can make some Basses out of these...
 
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