Update: Acrobat Plummets To Death At Madrid Music Fest

Pedro Aunión Monroy, a professional acrobatic dancer, fell 30 meters onto the main stage of Mad Cool festival after a stunt went wrong July 7 between sets.

Monroy was performing in a translucent, illuminated cube elevated some 30 meters above the stage when he fell. Some reports claim the harness on which Monroy was suspended hadn’t been secured properly.  He was setting up between performances by Alt-J and Green Day.

Some 45,000 festivalgoers witnessed paramedics arriving swiftly and treating him on site. However, they were unable to save him.

Green Day still performed. The band informed the public in a later statement that it had not been made aware of what had occurred right before taking the stage.

“15 minutes prior [to stage time] our tour management was told by local authorities to wait to go on stage because there was some sort of security issue.

“Security issues are a normal occurrence and procedure at any show. We were NOT told why which is also normal. We waited as we were instructed. Still, we had no clue there was any such accident. We were given the ok. The band jumped into vans and drove to the main festival stage. This was to be the last show of our European tour and we were all so excited to play our hearts out one last time.

“We were on stage at around midnight and played around two and a half hours. Everything seemed normal. The crowd and fans had a good time. We got off stage and drove back to our artist compound. It was there when we were told the shocking news about Pedro. All of us were in disbelief. I don’t know why the authorities chose not to tell us about the accident before our concert.”

The festival’s organizers, led by Javier Arnaiz and Farruco Castromán, said they decided to continue the program for security reasons. On Saturday, July 8, a tribute to Monroy was displayed on screen.

Excerpts from the festival’s statement, which was released on July 8: “We, the festival management, would like to publicly express our absolute grief and desolation regarding the incident that happened yesterday while choreographer, dancer and workmate Pedro Aunión was performing. We would like to express our love and support to all his family and friends at this hard and devastating time.”

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The statement continues to say that “in this situation it was officially deemed unsafe to have a large mass of people moving all at once, with the possibility of violent reactions, due to a sudden cancelation of an event of 45,000 people. The safety and security of the fans at the festival was of the highest order and it was not compromised.

“We believe music and culture are a life celebration, therefore the festival will continue in order that we can pay tribute to all the artists that work everyday showing their talent in front of admiring and appreciative audiences. Pedro was a person totally committed to art, he deserves all our respect and admiration and we strive to ensure this.

“Mad Cool would officially like to thank the audience for their kindness and support, the security forces and emergency services who worked so hard to keep everyone safe and we offer our gratitude and affection to all at this hard time.”

Monroy was the director of In Fact, an aerial dance company based in Brixton, London, and a self-employed massage therapist at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, UK. Mad Cool’s organizers asked the press to “respect the privacy of Pedro´s family and they are allowed to grieve. We hope that will we joined in making this a priority.”

Acrobat Plummets To Death At Madrid Music Fest (by Associated Press.  Posted Saturday, July 8 at 12:41 p.m. PDT)

Event organizers say an acrobat fell to his death during a rock music festival in Madrid on Friday night.

The organizers of the Mad Cool festival expressed their condolences to the acrobat’s family in a statement Saturday, saying they “regret the terrible accident.”

Spanish national television shows images of what appears to be the acrobat falling from a box suspended several meters in the air.

The organizers say they decided not to cancel the performance by American rock group Green Day following the accident “for security reasons.”

Green Day later wrote on Twitter that “we just got off stage at Mad Cool Festival to disturbing news. A very brave artist named Pedro lost his life tonight in a tragic accident.”