Acrobat Plummets To Death Before Green Day’s Headline Set At Mad Cool Festival
An acrobat plummeted 100 feet to his death moments before Green Day’s performance at Mad Cool Festival in Madrid last night. The accident occurred while 42-year-old Pedro Aunion Monroy, a director of the In Fact performing arts company in Brighton, was descending in an illuminated cage as part of a Prince tribute between Alt-J and Green Day’s sets at the fest, The Daily Mail reports. Although Green Day are being criticized for continuing with the show immediately after the tragedy, the band say that they weren’t informed about the incident until afterwards:
We just got off stage at Mad Cool Festival to disturbing news. A very brave artist named Pedro lost his life tonight in a tragic accident
— Green Day (@GreenDay) July 8, 2017
Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends
— Green Day (@GreenDay) July 8, 2017
Mad Cool issued an official statement regarding the decision to continue the festival:
Mad Cool Festival regrets the terrible accident that the aerial dancer suffered during the second day of the festival.
For security reasons, the festival decided to continue with its programming.
We send our most sincere condolences to all his family.
Tomorrow Saturday 8, during the festival, we will render a heartfelt tribute to the artist.
Slowdive, who were also scheduled to perform, decided to cancel their set. “After the tragic incident at Mad Cool in Madrid on Friday night, we chose not to play our scheduled set on the Koko stage,” they wrote in a statement on their website. “All our thoughts are with the performer and his friends and family, and apologies to those who were waiting to see us play.”