Stages Collapse At Rocklahoma

The five-day Rocklahoma music festival in Pryor, Okla., suffered a rain delay July 12 when a storm with winds in excess of 65 mph collapsed two side stages.

No one was injured from the collapse itself but one woman broke her arm after she slipped and fell while running for cover. About a dozen people had minor injuries, according to Mayes County Sheriff Frank Cantey.

"The storms came in at about 5:45 and there was about a 2 1/2-hour rain delay," event spokesman Rob Miller told Pollstar. "The storms didn’t last that long but we had to get the mainstage back and running. We had lost power. We had to meet with the road managers of the three remaining bands to pull everything off."

One of the side stages blew over into a merch tent. Another collapsed straight down.

"In just three minutes, we went from rain showers to a storm that I have not seen in my 30 years," onsite weather expert Mike Range said. "There was not enough time to warn everyone in advance."

The festival resumed at about 8:30 p.m. The next day went off without a hitch, with all 122 scheduled acts performing.

"The show went on inside the beer garden tents for the side-stage bands," Miller said. "We still had 25 bands to play, which included the ones that didn’t get to play on Saturday. When the mainstage was taking a break, there’d be the three beer garden tents that would all fire up at the same time to allow the bands to play."

Despite the collapses and rain delay, the festival was a success, Miller said, and the crew worked around the clock to get everything up and running for the final day.

"Our attendance figures were up from last year," he said. "Everybody came together. Everybody wanted to see these bands play, even the side-stage bands. … It just kind of completed the festival."

The festival donated all of the proceeds from its opening day to help victims of a tornado that struck the city of Picher in May. The twister resulted in seven deaths and destroyed more than 100 homes.

The festival drew approximately 100,000 heavy metal fans over its five days, accrding to the Associated Press, and acts included Ratt, Jackyl, Faster Pussycat, Bret Michaels, XYZ, Warrant, Queensryche, Tesla, Ace Frehley, Triumph and Living Colour.