Tent Collapse In Oklahoma

A show scheduled for July 6 featuring Peter Frampton and Yes at the Lucky Star Casino in Concho, Okla., will be rescheduled after a gust of wind caused the event’s tent to collapse, injuring five people. The mishap also forced the cancellation of tonight’s gig in Albuquerque.

Two people were taken to a local hospital, authorities told KOCO-TV News. Frampton, who was not in the tent at the time, recently posted on his Facebook page that a local stage hand has a broken leg, the guitar tech for Steve Howe injured his arm and “Tiffany” – who handles merch for Yes – suffered cracked ribs.

“Nothing as tremendous as this disaster has ever happened in YES’ forty-two year career,” bassist Chris Squire said. “Most importantly, my thoughts go out to any of the crew that were injured. We’d like to thank our fans for their continued support and we will be up and running in Los Angeles on Friday.”

A spokesman for the casino reported five non-life threatening injuries overall.

Photo: facebook.com/peterframpton

A gust of wind collapses the outdoor stage at the Lucky Star Casino in Concho, Okla., hours before a Peter Frampton / Yes show.

“I was in a trailer when we got this tremendous downburst of wind,” spokesman Mark Rodgers told the Oklahoman. “It rattled the trailer really good, and just took down the tent – and we’re talking about a tent that can withstand 80 mile-per-hour winds. This isn’t just any tent.

“We’re just thankful there weren’t more people in the tent. We were expecting 5,000 people tonight. That would have been absolutely horrible.”

The casino tent has been an active venue for several years; the casino has hosted Randy Travis, Gretchen Wilson, Rick Springfield and Montgomery Gentry over the past year.

Click here to see KOCO-TV’s video coverage and here for the complete Oklahoman article.