One dead, at least three more hurt as Radiohead stage collapses before the show

photo via CBC

Radiohead’s heavily anticipated set at Toronto’s Downsview Park has been cancelled after the stage collapsed, killing one and injuring at least three more. Reports from the scene vary, but sources say that the collapse happened minutes before gates were set to open to the public.

Radiohead has issued a brief statement on the collapse, advising fans not to make their way to the park. LiveNation says refunds will be available at point of purchase.

There’s no news yet on what caused the collapse, and we’re not prepared to speculate, but this is at least the third major incident of its kind to happen in the last year. We hope it’s the last.

My Three Favorite R.E.M. Videos

Late last month, when R.E.M. ‘‘called it a day,’’ as the band put it on its Web site, I had a semipublic meltdown on Facebook: ‘‘REM BROKE UP REM BROKE UP REM BROKE UP THIS MEANS THAT SOMEDAY WE’LL ALL DIE.’’

Last week’s Lives column, ‘‘The Right Moves,’’ is an expanded version of my feelings that day. It’s about how dancing at R.E.M. shows — goofing on Elvis like Michael Stipe, practicing my T-Rex moves — made me feel graceful, often in the religious sense. That is, it made me feel alive in a way that made life itself seem like a gift, freely given.

Onstage, Michael Stipe could dance in ways that other performers of his class, like Thom Yorke of Radiohead or Bono of U2, simply can’t. Bono hides behind his sunglasses and isn’t particularly nimble. Thom Yorke, like the late Ian Curtis of Joy Division, or even David Byrne of the Talking Heads, is simply too spastic. He dances, wonderfully but not gracefully, in a world of his very own. Stipe, on the other hand, always seemed to find himself. And if you danced along, you could find yourself, too.

Here are my three favorite R.E.M. videos, selected for the best dancing:

‘‘What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?’’


‘‘The Great Beyond’’

‘‘Man on the Moon’’ (live with Eddie Vedder)

Bonus clip: Michael Stipe’s version of robot

One dead, at least three more hurt as Radiohead stage collapses before the show

photo via CBC

Radiohead’s heavily anticipated set at Toronto’s Downsview Park has been cancelled after the stage collapsed, killing one and injuring at least three more. Reports from the scene vary, but sources say that the collapse happened minutes before gates were set to open to the public.

Radiohead has issued a brief statement on the collapse, advising fans not to make their way to the park. LiveNation says refunds will be available at point of purchase.

There’s no news yet on what caused the collapse, and we’re not prepared to speculate, but this is at least the third major incident of its kind to happen in the last year. We hope it’s the last.