Which is totally beside the point, because if I’m not mistaken, those people were killed when structural parts of the concert tents they were in crashed down, not stage equipment. Tents have been used for outdoor festivals for a very long time.

I wasn’t there but some of my friends were, including someone who actually worked on the stage sets. I remember reading that the stage sets themselves caused no harm whatsoever. I have no idea which publication this is from, but it seems there’s more than one thing wrong with it.

Edit: What’s weird is that the top left of the page says “Belgique” (Belgium), which could suggest that it’s from a source that isn’t from Belgium nor aimed at a Belgian audience: it seems like a “third-person” (third country?) reference, if you see what I mean.
Edit 2: Turns out it was in Le Figaro Magazine, a French publication. It highly doubt that the “insurance experts” quoted in the article have anything to do with the actual insurance company involved with Pukkelpop.

The most significant point is “Confronted with multiple similar catastrophes, the experts of insurance companies see it as the unexpected consequence of the falling disc sales”.  If 1 in 50 stadium concerts resulted in one or more fatalities and we went from 50 stadium concerts a year to 500 because musicians were moving to a different  economic model then they are exactly right.

There are two suppositions here 1. there are more large scale concerts and 2. this is a result of falling CD sales.

I think 1 is almost certainly true, if it is connected to 2, well it doesn’t seem unreasonable, but I don’t have any evidence for it on hand.

My only question is, why did they have a Gay Pride parade at a pop festival?

Yeah, I know, wink wink, nudge nudge and all that.

So the experts say that falling disc sales lead to bands doing bigger concerts with more potential damage. (I guess this assumes that bigger concerts don’t come with proportionally better safety regulations?)

BELGIUM
A TRAGEDY THAT’S NOT SO NATURAL
The collapse of the podium of the rock festival Pukkelpop, who has five dead and 70 injured on August 18, is perhaps not due to the violence of the storm. Face many similar disasters, the insurance experts see it, in fact, an unintended consequence of falling record sales. Groups with a vital need for giant concerts, they rent huge stages, over-loaded with video equipment and spotlights. The rain and wind did not destroy more than before, but when they fall, that’s a lot more damage.

Wow, this is the most amazing non-logic EVER.

Exactly what is advancing this argument supposed to do?

They might as well suggest that the invention of the electric guitar and that we should only be playing non-amplified instruments going forward.