Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready announced that the group was contemplating a split following last month’s accident at a Denmark concert, reported ABC online.
On a June 30 concert in Denmark, fans rushed the stage, crushing to death nine concertgoers and seriously injuring three others. The band appealed to the crowd to move back, but couldn’t prevent the massive surge toward the stage.
“I think the thought crossed all of our minds, but it wouldn’t have been a good way to end it all,” said McCready to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer in a phone interview Thursday from a tour stop in Boston, where the group performed two concerts earlier this week.
McCready said the band was devastated after the events.
“It’s about the worst thing that can happen to a rock band,” McCready said. “People shouldn’t have to die at rock concerts.”
However, Pearl Jam decided to keep on going.
“We realized we’re making viable music,” McCready said. “We can’t stop. We can’t end on a down note.”
Pearl Jam has made efforts to prevent injuries at its concerts, where fans usually mosh near the front of the stage. The group has used a customized barrier with padded railings to provide a buffer between the stage and the mosh pit.
Last Sunday, Pearl Jam asked fans at a sold-out concert at Saratoga Springs, NY, to leave blankets at home to prevent injuries from the objects being used as trampolines.
The band will wrap up the tour with a homecoming benefit concert November fifth at Key Arena in Seattle.
Money raised from the concert will go to Seattle charities, including the Northwest Literacy Foundation and the Chicken Soup Brigade.
Fans who missed the tour this summer will have the chance to catch up, the band is set to release a set of concert albums from the European leg of the tour, in September-Albawaba.com.
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
