h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I was very sad to read and hear about Roskilde. I gave it a miss the past few years because I have small children. But soon we will go back there.
In 1988 I was at the Monsters of Rock at Donnington. During the early afternoon (Guns 'n' Roses were playing) all we could see & hear from the back of the crowd (107,000 people that year) was "don't push", "move back" coming from the stage. 2 young men were crushed to death. Security there was always very tight because of the type of bands and all the bikers, and increasing it wouldn't have helped. The concert went on, and Iron Maiden played a blinder. Afterwards, as far as I remember, they said that it was in memorial to the 2 who had died, as they had gone to see a concert, and maybe that's what they would have wanted. We were all very shocked when we finally found out what happened. Afterwards the Donnington thing was capped at 75,000 people, but I never went again (I don't know if it's still going).
It just goes to show that a little bit of messing around at the back of a huge crowd can have bad, bad consequences at the front. Time and again this happens. Hopefully, knowing the sort of people who go to festivals, they will think about this. But banning them wouldn't help. We all have to remember to consider other people, and take responsibility for our actions. Not exactly the forte of most festival goers, but I live in hope. As we all must do.
And we must never forget.