DelFest Stage Blasted by Severe Thunderstorm
Saturday, May 30, 2009 at 10:12AM in Entertainment Technology, Interesting Show, Weather by John Huntington Pretty amazing video from "Staggerlee1980" of a crew literally holding down gear during a severe thunderstorm during Delfest 2009 on Memorial Day weekend in Cumberland, Maryland:
Quoted from the info on the video:
This is the view from the campground stage during the severe weather at Delfest 09' We're just trying to salvage the gear.....it starts out somewhat mellow, but gets very intense, very fast. At the beginning the Front of House Sound tent is still there, but not for long! On the stage at the time were the Great American Taxi (Chad Staehly, Vince Herman, Edwin Hurwitz, Chris Sheldon) Tim Carbone of Railroad Earth, and some of the Delfest sound crew...
Pretty amazing wind speeds, and watch what it does to those Ez-Up tents we all use so much for outdoor gigs!
Aftermath here from Riesner1 (why don't these people post their names?!):
News story from the Appalachian Independent here.
Saturday's Delfest Festival was devastated when a late afternoon storm pummeled the Allegany Fairgrounds. What started around 4:30 p.m. as a gentle rain soon drove all to cover as the rain, wind, lightning and thunder and hail lashed the area.
They have this picture that shows that the mainstage survived a bit better:
Merlave Images has some great shots too:
Last two Photos by Bill Merlavage - http://www.merlavageimages.com
John Huntington
A sound tech who was working on another stage from the same festival posted his account here.
John Huntington
Be sure and read the comments on this post--David Olgilvy, who says he was on the campground stage, gives an account of the storm.
John Huntington
More photos here fromThomas Dameron (via Prosoundweb)
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Reader Comments (1)
I was on the campground stage shown in the Youtube video. It was the most hellacious weather I have ever subjected my body to, and I was only wearing shorts, a T-shirt and sandals. As I used one hand to keep part of a tarp over over the bass cabinet and the other to hold back the bass preamp from blowing off the back of the stage, hail the size of nickels hurt my feet. It came in three waves, each stronger than the last, building to winds so strong I could not look up. I'd like to know what the actual wind speeds were, but I'd estimate they topped out above 80 mph. The rain and hail came in sideways from the front of the stage, and the hail could be seen bouncing a foot off the grass. When I got back to camp, a spillway had overflowed and sent a river through it--tents surrounded by a foot of muddy water. Changing inside the tent was like standing on a waterbed. The old fairgrounds PA came to life and sent the reassuring voice of the festival organizer through camp, telling us that mainstage acts were starting up indoors and staff were roaming the grounds if anyone needed assistance. Later the mainstage was back in action, presenting that nights headliner Leftover Salmon. The next day every act played, and the music made everything worth it. They said it was the worst storm they've had in the area since 1976, so have no fear for next year. Hail no! Del yeah! I'll be back.