SHIT HITS THE FANS: LIVE CONCERT WOES CONTINUE WITH GERMAN TRAGEDY, BIRD TURDS

The summer concert season, already riddled with poor ticket sales and cancellations, had another brutal weekend, topped by the 19 people killed and 342 injured at the annual Love Parade techno festival in Duisberg, Germany on Saturday, which was headlined by several world-class turntablists and dance acts, including DJ Tiesto.

Estimates of attendance at the festival, which has been held annually since it was founded in 1989 in Berlin, ranged upwards of 1.4 million, though other sources pegged the attendance at between 350-500k.

Six foreigners, from Spain, Bosnia, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy and China, died in the stampede when hordes of young people were pushing through a tunnel to reach a ramp which led into the techno festival grounds at a former freight rail yard.

Authorities were not able to explain how the tragedy happened. Most of the victims—all between the ages of 20 and 40—were found dead on the ramp outside the tunnel, authorities said.

The incident took place after a 15-year-old girl died of a drug overdose while attending the Electric Daisy Carnival earlier this month at the L.A. Coliseum, leading local authorities to impose a temporary ban on so-called “rave” shows.

Meanwhile, at the Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in St. Louis on Friday night, Kings of Leon was forced to leave the stage after just three songs when an infestation of pigeons resulted in a shower of bird turds on the band. The group’s bassist Jared Followill was hit repeatedly, with some of the excrement reportedly getting into his mouth.

“I’m surprised they stayed on for as many songs as they did,” said Vector Management’s Andy Mendelsohn in a subsequent press release. “Jared was hit several times during the first two songs. On the third song, when he was hit in the cheek and some of it landed near his mouth, they couldn’t deal any longer. It’s not only disgusting—it’s a toxic health hazard. They really tried to hang in there. We want to apologize to our fans in St. Louis and will come back as soon as we can.”

“We couldn’t believe what [opening acts] The Postelles and The Stills looked like after their sets,” said Jared. “We didn’t want to cancel the show, so we went for it. We tried to play. It was ridiculous.”

Live Nation has announced they will offer refunds to all ticket buyers.