Vector Management’s Ross Schilling told POLLSTAR that the 10 tons of material flattened almost everything onstage, including the bass drum, which was crushed to two inches. Drummer Gary Moffatt had time to jump off the back of the stage while the rest of the band got caught beneath the collapsed roof.

“It could have been a major tragedy,” Schilling said. “We were lucky that the bus was parked right behind the stage and the bus caught the back end of the roof, so it came down at an angle. If it came down flat, those guys underneath would have been killed. … We ended up with a monitor mix guy with a broken foot and our tour manager getting cut on his head.”

Both men were treated at a nearby hospital and released.

The band Kansas had just finished playing without incident and although there was a storm rolling in, it was apparently not close enough to cause concern, according to Schilling. He said that eyewitnesses estimated the gust to be 70 mph.

“It was a micro-burst of wind so loud that you couldn’t even hear the band play,” concert-goer Sanlen Sooter told The Durango Herald. “I’m amazed that nobody got killed. … It crashed so slow. It just kind of bent and creaked real slow and then crashed down. My husband saw it falling and he started screaming at the band, ‘Watch out, watch out, watch out!'”

The roof was apparently well-constructed, and Schilling considers the incident an act of God. He expects the band’s insurance to cover the cost of the damage, which includes the loss of the band’s keyboards, drum kit and vintage amplifiers.

“I’ve gotten on the phone with Pearl Drums and Peavey Electronics and they’re trying to get us some loaner gear. We have a show in Aberdeen, S.D., on Friday (August 18) and the guys don’t want to cancel any gigs,” he said. “The band is very shaken up. As much as this band works, traveling on buses and going from gig to gig on airplanes, usually your safe haven is onstage. I’m sure everyone’s going to be checking out the structure on Friday.”