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Radiohead say they nearly stopped after the Downsview collapse
Radiohead came close to giving up after the stage collapse at Downsview Park that killed their drum technician, Scott Johnson, Phil Selway tells The Globe and Mail. It is the first time the band have said so in public, days before two sold-out nights at Toronto's Scotiabank Arena on 19 and 20 July.
When we came away, it was, 'God, do we want to do this ever again?' If it causes this, can we do it?
Johnson was 33 and had been with the band about a year. Before every show he set up a practice kit for Selway. On 16 June 2012, the day Radiohead were to end their North American tour, the build at Downsview ran late and the band's soundcheck was put back; the stage's rear scaffolding gave way, and a video screen weighing 2,270 kilograms struck and killed him. Three others were hurt.
We should have been there. We should have all been [soundchecking] on that stage. That carries a weight with it.
Philip Selway1
Nobody has been held to account. Ten charges under Ontario's workplace safety law against the promoter Live Nation, the staging firm Optex and the engineer Domenic Cugliari were stayed last September by Justice Ann Nelson for delay. The first trial had ended in a mistrial when its judge was promoted. A coroner's inquest is due later this year. Johnson's father, Ken, wrote to Ontario's attorney-general and never heard back. Selway wants what the family want.
It's not about wanting to punish anybody, it's about getting someone to take responsibility.
Philip Selway1
The band flew home and went to the funeral together. Three weeks later the tour started again in Nîmes, where the crew were offered the chance to walk away and all of them stayed. At the show there Radiohead ended with “Reckoner”, and during its coda the screens changed to a photograph of Johnson. A Moon Shaped Pool is dedicated to him.
Every 16 June, those who were at Downsview remember him over a pepperoni pizza and a Peroni, his two favourites, says Ade Bullock, the band's business manager.