Big Day Out AucklandSystem of a Down
A front barrier collapsed during System Of A Down’s set at Big Day Out Auckland. The performance was stopped, the running order was adjusted, crowd surfing was halted, and the band later resumed after repairs.
Incident Overview
What happened
On 18 January 2002, during System Of A Down’s set at Big Day Out Auckland, contemporary reporting says furious dancing and/or a crowd surge caused the front crash barrier to collapse.
The band stopped after two songs. The order of performance was changed, with Shihad brought on earlier on the adjacent stage while repairs were made.
System Of A Down later resumed and completed the set. Security also halted crowd surfing, a sensible move when the front-of-stage infrastructure had already had a bad afternoon.
Location & Context
Where it happened
Event: Big Day Out, Auckland, New Zealand.
Venue: Ericsson Stadium, Auckland, identified by festival and setlist pages. Stage details place System Of A Down on the Orange Stage and Shihad on the Blue Stage / adjacent stage.
Street-level detail: Not stated in the incident reports reviewed. Later venue information identifies the site at 2 Beasley Ave, Penrose, Auckland 1061, but that address was not part of the contemporaneous incident coverage.
See disputed details →Key Facts
At-a-glance
Chronology
Sequence of events
Operational Themes
What stands out
Disputed Details
Conflicting information
The source material agrees on the barrier collapse and show interruption. It does not agree on injuries.
Sources conflict on whether the barrier-collapse incident caused injuries.
Reported no one was seriously injured, but said some front-row attendees claimed one person left with a suspected broken leg.
Reported that no injuries were reported.
The suspected broken leg was not independently confirmed in the reviewed sources.
One later report attributed a stronger injury statement to Serj Tankian.
Reported that Tankian told the crowd a fan “broke his legs” in the crush.
The same idobi item said NME reported no one was hurt; Blabbermouth also said no injuries were reported.
No primary recording or transcript was verified here, so the Tankian statement remains a secondary claim.
Not Verified
Unverified Details
These points should not be treated as confirmed without stronger evidence.
Source Material
References
Sources listed in the supplied research document for this incident page.
All Document URLs
Source Links
Direct links to the reviewed online source material.
