Festival accidents increase

Music festivals have grown in number and popularity around the world in recent years, but this summer’s festival season has been particularly notable for a spate of stage collapses. A stage collapse before an Aug. 13 performance by Sugarland at the Indiana State Fair in Indianapolis resulted in at least six deaths. Another in Hasselt, Belgium, while the Smith Westerns performed at the Pukkelpop Festival, killed at least five last week.