Green Day defends performance after acrobat's death: 'We are not heartless people'
When Green Day played a music festival in Spain, the band didn't realize their set followed a tragedy.
The band took the stage after an acrobat fell 100 feet to his death during Madrid's Mad Cool Festival on Friday. At the time of their performance, Green Day didn't know about the earlier incident.
"An acrobat by the name of Pedro was killed during his performance before Green Day played our show," frontman Billie Joe Armstrong wrote in a statement. "Many of you are wondering why we continued to play our show after the accident. Green Day did not hear about the accident until after our show was over."
Pedro Aunión Monroy, 42, was killed in front of thousands of festival attendees when he fell from a cube that was suspended above the stage, reports The Telegraph.
"We are so sad for Pedro and his family and we pray for them in this time of grief. I can't imagine how much suffering the friends and family are going through," Armstrong said, going on to explain how the accident occurred without the band's knowledge.
"We were in a back stage compound about a half mile away from the main festival stage. We were warming up ready to go at 11:25 pm. 15 minutes prior our tour management was told by local authorities to wait to go on stage because there was some sort of security issue" that was not explained to us. "We were on stage at around midnight and played around two and a half hours. Everything seemed normal. the crowd and fans had a good time. We got off stage and drove back to our artist compound. It was there when we were told the shocking news about Pedro," Armstrong wrote.
"What happened to Pedro is unthinkable," the singer continued. "Once again we are heartbroken for his friends and family. and we are also shocked and heartbroken for anyone that had to witness this tragedy."
Armstrong noted: "This has never happened in the 30 years Green Day have been performing live. "
He added, "If we had known prior to our performance we most likely would not have played at all. We are not heartless people. The safety and well being at any of our concerts absolutely comes first."