Radiohead's Drum Technician Killed in Stage Collapse

Radiohead were supposed to play a concert in Toronto's Downsview Park on Saturday, but the show was cancelled after the stage collapsed and killed the band's drum technician.

Radiohead were supposed to play a concert in Toronto's Downsview Park on Saturday, but the show was cancelled after the stage collapsed and killed the band's drum technician.

Scott Johnson, a British citizen, has been identified as the lone casualty in the accident, the CBC reports. Three others were injured. One man was taken to the hospital while two others were treated at the scene by paramedics.

Radiohead just issued a statement about the death of their crew member on their website. "We have all been shattered by the loss of Scott Johnson, our friend and colleague," the band writes. "He was a lovely man, always positive, supportive and funny; a highly skilled and valued member of our great road crew. We will miss him very much. Our thoughts and love are with Scott's family and all those close to him."

A girl who was supposed to work as a bartender at the concert described the moments leading to the collapse to the Globe and Mail:

There was a popping crack, like the sound of fireworks, then an eerie silence as Erin Peacock watched the towering stage crumple in on itself, hardware-laden canopy tipping over towards the front end of the stage, taking reams of scaffolding down with it and leaving long sticks of twisted metal behind.

The immediate aftermath of the collapse was quiet enough for Ms. Peacock to hear everyone with her in the beer tent collectively gasp as they watched - close enough to see stagehands sent scrambling, too far away to hear them shout as the stage fell.

Investigators are looking into whether safety regulations and procedures were met while the stage was being constructed, and whether staff were properly trained. A police spokesman told the Globe and Mail the stage is "still fairly unstable," so they're working to make it safe to continue the investigation. Last summer, a stage collapse at an Indiana State Fair that killed five people was horrifyingly caught on video.