Being onstage with a 'baby twister'

Now we hadn't really come across the term 'baby twister' before this weekend, but you can be sure we now have a complete and thorough understanding of what sort of weather event a 'baby twister, is, and well, you wouldn't want to meet mummy twister.

We are at the Bearded Theory festival in Derbyshire for what looks like a great weekend. The vibe is friendly and this festival has everything you want from a festie. A great looking main stage, a thumping dance tent, lovely people and a great line-up.


It's about 7:30 on the Saturday evening and we are about to start our set. We've set up all our equipment on the stage and in the process of doing the sound check. I say to our roadie "now that is the meanest looking cloud I've ever seen", and we all gaze into the sky just as debris starts to fly.

The top of a nearby bar flies past the front of the stage, followed by a couple of dome tents and long canvas banner. One person in the crowd is physically lifted up and dropped on their arse. The sound tent in front of us lifts about 3 feet in the air with crew clinging to it.

We know what's going to happen next...

There's a guttural ripping and grinding sound as the stage canopy lifts up and is thrown back down to earth. The lighting structure, the canopy and all the supporting trussing comes crashing down in a giant heap.

The band are all okay, but we are concerned that there will have been people in the rear stage area under the carnage. Shouts are going out asking if everyone is all right. Word comes back that one lady is quite badly hurt and possibly another but first aiders are already with them. Our attention turns back to the stage where we are stood in the direct force of horizontal rain, our equipment is getting a thrashing by the elements, we run around the stage for a while like headless chickens clutching keyboards and samplers.

After about fifteen minutes of what seems like chaos the situations calms. The stage has been cleared amazingly fast and we get most of our equipment away from the scene.

Through all this everyone has been helping everyone else in anyway they can, Justin Sullivan, who was performing just before is helping to clear a drum kit away and we share a moment stood on the drum riser just taking it all in. The stage crew, stewards and emergency staff were all fantastic.

Our thoughts now go out to the organisers who put so much into this festival, who could have never predicted this. The festival went on in true spirit and the party continued into the night.

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