Image courtesy Adam Dietrich
I could’ve been there.
Had the storm clouds and high-velocity winds held off for a couple of hours, I’d have been front-and-centre for the Great Bluesfest Stage Collapse of 2011. I’d have probably been nodding along thoughtfully to Ben Gibbard’s wistful lyrics, maybe six rows back, when five storeys’ worth of soundstage would have torn away from its moorings and toppled (in what would certainly have appeared to be slow motion, no doubt) to the ground.
The journo part of me – or reckless suicidal part, if you prefer – sort of wishes I had been on Lebreton Flats to document it, even though the night could easily have ended up like the tragedy two years ago in Camrose, Alberta. (While reports varied yesterday evening, it seems now that three people were hurt in the collapse. They’ve all been apparently released from hospital.) Since I wasn’t on the scene, I spent most of my suddenly-free Sunday evening following the conversation on Twitter, specifically – but not exclusively – the #bluesfest hashtag. It wasn’t exactly like I was there, but with the winds battering my living room windows and thunder rumbling outside, it wasn’t hard to picture what was going down.
So check out Apartment613’s curation of the Bluesfest stage collapse, as seen through the eyes and madly-typing fingers of Ottawa’s Twitter community. It’s also our first time using Storify; we’re pretty excited about that.
