Barricade collapses at Bumbershoot festival in Seattle, 4 taken to hospital



SEATTLE – People are reacting after rows of people went crashing down to the ground after a steel barricade collapsed at the Bumbershoot Festival.

It happened right as Jai Wolf was getting started on his set on Saturday night at Seattle Center.

The steel barricade separates the stage from the crowd by several hundred feet.

A spokesperson for Bumbershoot says 25 people were treated and released for injuries. “Safety is our top priority at Bumbershoot, and we have been working closely with police, medics, and security to ensure is a great evening for fans."

Nicole Gleeney found herself in the front rows of the concert and says she was being squeezed and pushed up to half an hour before Jai Wolf went on stage.

“I was being compressed the whole time. Like my ribs hurt today, and you should’ve seen my legs. They’re bruised to heck,” said Gleeney. “There was a girl on the ground crying because she had gotten covered in people.”

A festival spokesperson said a new barricade was installed and inspected following the incident.

Jai Wolf’s show was stopped and postponed to Sunday. The artist said on social media that he’s “stoked to be back in Seattle,” but asked festival goers to “be mindful of our surroundings and look out for one another.”



“That’s awesome that he’s playing again. Coming back again because man, that was like a wave,” said Maily Nguyen on Sunday at Bumbershoot.

“Music festivals are kind of crazy,” said Janipher Cruz, festival goer. “It’s a little bit like, you can’t control how excited fans are and stuff.”

Darek Mazzone who is the DJ of Wo’Pop at KEXP was also at the show Saturday night, and met Jai Wolf right before he took the stage.”

“I’m always interested in exposing new artists from different parts of the world,” said Mazzone. “ originally from Bangladesh.”

Thousands of people attend the annual three day music and arts festival that is now in its 49th year.

Mazzone said it’s an event where fans will go from stage to stage and a rush of people pushed in to catch Jai Wolf in his closet set Saturday.

“It’s super sad I’ve never seen anything like that before, but I have to say both the artist stopped the show, Jai Wolf was like we have to stop this and the stage hands and security team were top notch,” said Mazzone.

A spokesperson for Bumbershoot said Sunday’s event went smoothly with no incidents to report.