Radiohead drummer Phil Selway was in Toronto on Monday to testify at an inquest into the 2012 stage collapse that killed drum tech Scott Johnson.
Selway told the coroner’s inquest that Radiohead felt “anger and frustration” at the “complete failure” of the Canadian justice system.
Charges against concert promoter Live Nation, scaffolding company Opted Staging and Services, and engineer Domenic Cugliari were stayed in 2017 because the case took too long to go to trial.
At the time, Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke tweeted: “words utterly fail me …”
On Monday, Selway complained that “the system has failed Scott, his family and other industry workers.”
He recalled hearing “a very loud sound of breaking glass, which reached a crescendo” and running to the stage.
Selway described the lasting impact the incident had on the band and its crew – even adjusting its stage designs to mitigate risks and hiring an engineer to verify that their stages have been properly constructed.
“The collapse has made us vulnerable where we used to feel secure,” he said.
Selway said he hoped the inquest – which will not assign blame – will determine what went wrong and make recommendations to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Outside the inquest, he told reporters: “I am pleased that this is happening now.”