Fans Injured by Falling Ceiling Panels at Bad Omens Show
No one goes to a concert expecting to leave the venue injured (unless you expect to spend all night in the pit, that is), but unfortunately for some Bad Omens fans at last night’s show at Festival Hall in Melbourne, Australia, that’s exactly what happened. And it’s all thanks to the band’s confetti cannons and the venue’s ceiling.
According to first hand accounts, the night was winding down as the band was playing their set closer “Just Pretend” when things went awry. One concertgoer named Kate, according to Wall Of Sound, was in the immediate area of the accident when it all went down.
“It was actually really bad… Two girls got dragged out in front of me, one bleeding from her mouth and neck, the other from her knee… A bunch of people in the area were scrambling to get out.”
Apparently, what caused the accident was the band’s use of confetti cannons, which wasn’t out of the ordinary for their set. For those that don’t know, those devices use heavily compressed gas to fire its light, paper-y payload all over the crowd. When those cannons went off, however, the pressure they expelled apparently dislodged some of the venue’s plaster ceiling tiles, causing them to fall directly onto the crowd.
As a result, several people were injured by the falling debris. There are reports of people sustaining injuries to their head, neck, knees, and various forms of soft tissue damage, with people that were closer to the stage getting the brunt of it.
One concertgoer named Skye shared her account:
“[I] was watching the show to the left of the stage when the confetti cannons went off. I felt something hard hit but thought it may have been the cap from the cannon, shrugged it off until people a row or two back started yelling for help and security. We all made room for them to jump over the barrier as this was maybe 3 rows from barricade.
“When I turned around to see what was happening there was a girl on the ground clearly dazed, with blood running down her face. They had trouble getting her up as I’m not sure if she was passing out. Medics jumped in and escorted her out of the pit. The band had walked off stage at this point.
“Security checked if people were ok & another young girl with blood on her chin was taken out of the pit. Show resumed a few minutes later so I’m not sure if the band knew what was happening. Large pieces of the roof were left on the floor just behind me & there was a clear void where it had fallen.“
According to the band, they had no idea what happened when shit went down. In the wake of the accident, the venue put out an Instagram story, stating that they were committed to making sure the same thing wasn’t going to happen during the following night’s performance.
“Regarding last night’s Bad Omens show, Festival Hall want to thank our onsite first aid team who responded quickly. We have conducted an immediate review of the special effects vendor and additional safety checks before tonight’s show. We look forward to seeing you tonight!”
The band eventually commented on the accident while playing the same venue the following night, with frontman Noah Sebastian offering the following (as reported by The PRP):
“A moment of silence for the victims of the ceiling panels. I said a moment of silence. Not a joke, shut up. No, that was serious, for real. And I’m so glad everyone is okay. That was… first of all, I didn’t see that happen, okay? I want to make that very clear. In the zone, doing my thing… was not expecting a ceiling tile to fall but, uh, I’m glad that everybody’s okay.
“But! I also heard they are all here tonight: Everyone that was hit by the ceiling tile. If you were… Where my tile guys at? Was that you? Who else? Don’t start lying to get attention. You? Are you okay? [The] news it said someone was knocked unconscious, is that true? That’s true? Your friend? They’re not here?”
