Green Day comes under fire

Madrid, July 9 (IANS) Rock band Green Day was criticised for continuing their performance after a man fell to his death in front of thousands of stunned concert-goers waiting for their headlining set.

The band and the event organiser were accused of insensitivity for resuming the festivity soon after the horrific incident, reports aceshowbiz.com.

Pedro Aunion Monroy, 42, performed a dangerous stunt at the Mad Cool Festival in Madrid, Spain on Friday night. He was inside a box dangling from a crane around 100 feet high above the ground. He was wearing harness, but the rope apparently broke and he plummeted to the ground.

Paramedics rushed to the scene but he died soon due to the serious injuries he sustained in the fall. Despite the disturbing incident witnessed by the whole crowd, Billie Joe Armstrong and his bandmates took the stage as the organiser decided to continue with the festival.

A disgusted concert-goer tweeted: "Ashamed of you. An artiste died just 20 metres from you and you still play. Worst band on the planet."

Another slammed the band: "I am leaving the madcool after an acrobat died mid show, and noone in the organisation said anything. Green Day shouldn't be playing right now."

British actor Adrian Randle, who was among the crowd, also criticised the organisers and chose to walk out of the festival following the incident.

"I couldn't in good faith stay to watch Green Day perform after that. Thoughts go out to the family of the performer," he wrote.

In their own defence, Green Day claimed that they didn't know about the incident until after they finished their set.

"We just got off stage at Mad Cool Festival to disturbing news. A very brave artist named Pedro lost his life tonight in a tragic accident. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends."