Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark‘s triumphant return to the spotlight at this year’s SXSW was slightly shadowed by an unfortunate incident during one of their set’s during the festival. 
With the hectic nature of the festival, a lot of speculation and misinformation surrounds what happened during the March 18 incident at Stubbs. So here’s the facts: just before starting an evening set, a camera boom fell into the crowd at OMD’s concert. Four people were injured, but the injuries were minor. Fans and staff assisted in lifting the boom and helping make sure everyone was safe.
SXSW organizers have said they were unaware of the film crew and boom, which was brought in by the unofficial party’s sponsors, Steve Madden.
The band did not take the stage or begin their performance until all was resolved with the accident. Due to venue ordinances, the band only played a brief 7-song set before the club had to close at 2 a.m.
To clear up some of the confusion about comments made from the band on the incident, singer Andy McCluskey has issued the following statement:
Once we realised what had actually happened, and that there were people who needed medical treatment it was obvious that we could not start playing. I guess that if there was any ‘luck’ involved.. it was the fact that the camera crane fell before we actually started.. it would have been much more confusing and slower to resolve if we were into the set. I expected the concert to be canceled. We just waited to see if the injured were going to be OK.. (I hear that they are OK). Once the police said it was fine to play we decided that we should at least do something for those who had paid money and waited until 1.30 a.m. Even though the 2 a.m. curfew would not be pushed back! It felt rather weird at the beginning, but slowly the band and audience started to re-connect.. it was actually a great 7 song set! And an even greater relief that no-one is permanently hurt!
It was very unfortunate that this accident had to occur during SXSW right as we walked out on stage. We are thankful that no one was hurt too badly and we hope for all that were injured to make a swift and full recovery. We plan to get in touch directly with the injured people.
Please note that we have been misquoted in some of the media, slandering Stubbs, which is not the case. We unfortunately had our set cut at another venue in a very unprofessional manner earlier in the week and that information was misconstrued with our statement about the accident at Stubbs.
You can find more from OMD at omd.uk.com.
