DelFest Stage Blasted by Severe Thunderstorm
Pretty amazing video from "Staggerlee1980" of a crew literally holding down gear during a severe thunderstorm during Delfest 2009 on Memorial Day weekend in Cumberland, Maryland:
Quoted from the info on the video:
This is the view from the campground stage during the severe weather at Delfest 09' We're just trying to salvage the gear.....it starts out somewhat mellow, but gets very intense, very fast. At the beginning the Front of House Sound tent is still there, but not for long! On the stage at the time were the Great American Taxi (Chad Staehly, Vince Herman, Edwin Hurwitz, Chris Sheldon) Tim Carbone of Railroad Earth, and some of the Delfest sound crew...
Pretty amazing wind speeds, and watch what it does to those Ez-Up tents we all use so much for outdoor gigs!
Aftermath here from Riesner1 (why don't these people post their names?!):
News story from the Appalachian Independent here.
Saturday's Delfest Festival was devastated when a late afternoon storm pummeled the Allegany Fairgrounds. What started around 4:30 p.m. as a gentle rain soon drove all to cover as the rain, wind, lightning and thunder and hail lashed the area.
They have this picture that shows that the mainstage survived a bit better:
Merlave Images has some great shots too:
Last two Photos by Bill Merlavage - http://www.merlavageimages.com
Update
on 2009-05-31 22:53 by controlgeek
A sound tech who was working on another stage from the same festival posted his account here.
Update
on 2009-06-01 12:16 by controlgeek
Be sure and read the comments on this post--David Olgilvy, who says he was on the campground stage, gives an account of the storm.
Update
on 2009-06-02 12:01 by controlgeek
More photos here from Thomas Dameron (via Prosoundweb)