"No play, no pay," huffed Roskilde Festival chief Leif Skov after Oasis and the Pet Shop Boys cancelled their Saturday night appearances at the Denmark music festival. Skov spoke to reporters on Saturday morning, just five hours after a crowd serge resulted in the death of nine people during Friday night's Pearl Jam show at Roskilde. (Pearl Jam's Friday show was cut short and the Cure's was cancelled).

"There is no reason whatsoever why they shouldn't appear," Skov continued. "Police have approved of our security, and really, Danish police can be considered impartial. It's the bands and not us who are potentially reckless." He explained that the three-decade-old festival would thus continue with "deepest respect" for the dead, adding that "life is stronger than death."

Neither the Pet Shop Boys nor Oasis shared Skov's thoughts. The bands released a joint statement, which explained that they cancelled because "security arrangements [had] not changed fundamentally since [Friday] night" and that they "feel that it would be disrespectful for those who were killed and their families to perform in front of the site where the deaths occurred."

Head Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant was more pointedly critical of Roskilde organizers during an interview with Britain's Radio One on Saturday, calling them "unbelievably insensitive" for allowing the three-day event to continue after the deaths. "This makes me so angry, because eight [now nine] people have died, from four different countries . . . and [the organizers'] main concern was that the whole thing just went ahead."

Tennant went on to say that the Pet Shop Boys may put together a memorial concert to the people who died at the festival, but it will not be at the original site.

JAAN UHELSZKI
(July 6, 2000)