Danish Police Say Pearl Jam ‘Morally Responsible’ For Roskilde Deaths
In honor of the nine fans killed on June 30th at the Danish Roskilde festival, organizers have set up a Roskilde 2000 Tragedy Fund, which will support research on safer security measures for rock concerts. Discussions are also underway to build a permanent shrine on the concert grounds in memory of the dead.
In other Roskilde news, Danish police delivered a report on July 17th charging that Pearl Jam were “morally responsible” for the deaths that occurred while the band was onstage, suggesting that Pearl Jam had stirred fans into a frenzy and encouraged crowd-surfing. Their manager, Kelly Curtis, called the accusation appalling. “I find it hard to believe that after the band’s devastation over the tragedies and their long history of attention to fan safety, that anyone would assign ‘moral responsibility’ to them,” he said. The police report will be reviewed by the Danish minister of justice.
This story is from the August 31st, 2000 issue of Rolling Stone.