The Archive.

Updated June 2021

This page dedicated to the memory of ALAN DICK (18yrs) and LANDON PETER SIGGERS (20yrs) who died at the festival..

© Mark Peat

" don't fuckin' kill each other "

Axel Rose addresses the audience during the Guns N' Roses set.....

Its a sea of Denim ! © Karl Davies

Fireworks close off the event © Dave Ingham

Recollections . We start off our recollections of this festival with a rather harrowing account from a close friend of one of the deceased.... Hi guys my name is Mark Bradshaw and I was there!!!! We were looked upon as "antisocial", outcast from the general population of our village, the three of us were heavily into the metal scene and dressed accordingly. I was a long haired ruff looking 16 year old, Joe didn’t have the hair but had the leather with denim cut-off, Allan had this awesome leather with a hand painted grim reaper on the back (he always said death was never off his back) he also had a pair of dm’s with blue toe caps the same colour as his ford Capri. For all of us it was our first concert and if we had known what was going to happen we would never have gone.

We caught the train from helensburugh central that morning totally buzzing about the gig we then travel from Glasgow to donnington, We got our tickets from the portacabin outside the main gate and went in to the grounds. I don’t remember much of the gig other than maiden kicked ass and g 'n' r were amazing however I remember plenty about after the gig. When I got back to the coach the first thing I noticed was no one was buzzing or talking about the gig , it was then I saw Joe and he told me what had happened, the arse fell out of my world I didn’t believe him at first and thought yeah right shit joke mate, but when the 2 cid officers boarded the coach and took us to the local hospital to identify Allan’s body it hit me like a fucking train. The guy that had been the first to show me friendship when I moved to rhu ( the village we stayed in) and he was the guy who introduced me to guns n roses was lying on a morticians slab covered in mud and shit and a colour that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Three of us went to donington and two came back, dicky (Allan) was the salt of the earth, he was a good mate and a really nice guy in general, his funeral was mobbed there was a 100 plus attended it. I wasn’t there as I couldn’t bring myself to watch my best mate being cremated. One thing is for sure he will always be remembered. His full name was Allan Dick , he was from the village of Rhu near Helensburgh in Scotland .

I haven’t been to another gig since and do get pretty nervous in crowds but for me Donington 88 was my first and last concert.

Regards...........

Mark Bradshaw.

---

i too was there...right in the middle during guns n roses,its like one of the other posters said you really did have to fight your way out. As i did there were loads of people in shock and crying...men and women......sad day ..Alan and Landen i think they were called.

Ian Thompson

---

Not terribly comforting to see such a fuckin big PA being supported by such a little forklift....! © Karl Davies

I was there too, SCARY. I was about 50 yards from the stage and for a while there, I was at the mercy of the crowd. Could barely breath! What a wild experience that was!    I was among the 108, 000 fans there that day and since the fans were crushed the organisers got their act together very quickly and the following year barriers were introduced to seperate the front section of the crowd. Sad that people were lost but credit to the organisers. RIP ROCK FANS. We will remember you. LglzPrcy

Nice website, really brings back memories. 20 years ago!!!

I was there and almost got killed during G'n'R set. Can't say I have good memories.      I was there too . must of been close to you. i carried one of the gilfriends of one of the dead guys back stage. lost my jacket money n train ticket home in the chaos     It was my first gig too,and I got pulled under in the crush.I got out with cracked ribs and a broken nose.The bit when Axl told the crowd to get back brought tears to my eyes even after all this time.Total carnage that day.

Hi
I am loving your site, it is bringing back so many memories that have been fogged with time.
For GnR I was caught in the crush at the front. I don't remember beingscared at the time, but in retrospect, especially reading other peoples accounts, I am feeling lucky that I got out alive. I wasn't too far from the stage, and remember collapsing on top of a pile of bodies. It saddens me to think that I may have contributed to the death of one of those poor souls.

I think one of the problems was that in the time from the line up being fixed, and the event taking place, GnR had become massive and it is obvious the organisers weren't prepared for the ensuing rush of people to see a band so far down the line-up.
The only three bands I explicitly remember from that day were GnR, David Lee Roth - only because of his "I forgot the fucking words" act - and Maiden, who blew me away.

My only other memory from that day, and it is a bizarre one, is after Maiden we were all making our way to the exit when they announced overthe PA about the tragedy during GnR. I remember a deathly silenceamongst the crowd, then, for whatever reason, they decided to play Monty Python's "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life". I remember shaking my head in disbelief.
Mark Wittenberg

At long last British Heavy Metal heroes Iron Maiden finally got their shot at headlining Britain’s top rock festival.
Their show was based around the ‘Seventh Son’ album. And with an impressive stage set and song selection they wowed the crowd with an excellent performance worthy of their position at the top of the bill.
However there was an impressive line up beneath them……

"You are my people,
you are my crowd,
this is our music,
we love it loud...."- KISS

The first (29 and counting) of my festival experiences.
16 yrs old, still only 5' 4" tall, 9 stone (wet through in my denims) and shit scared of life in general, i came to donington with eyes as wide as saucers ("is this what heaven's like?").
After Megadeth, i think Helloween had sold the most t-shirts that day, they were everywhere you looked but i can't say they got more than a polite roar.

That the sound wasn't great and it was drizzling is about all i remember. That and the fact that the singer had black canvas pants and huge white basketball trainers on "Hey, look, german rock stars dress just like us!"

Like all the truly great gigs you ever see, he didn't beam down from another planet, he beamed you to his.
I was a fan of Kiss and i enjoyed their set but they were never a support band. Its easy to say now but without the make up and gimmicks it was a bit like a blowjob after the nightclub has shut in a public toilet off a girlfriend you dumped a couple of months previous, still great but it really is time you both moved on and you both know it.

My first Donington, ( the others being 91 and 95 ) and the most memorable for a variety of reasons.

The 3 of us got the coach up from Norwich, 16 years old and no idea what to expect.

My memories are

Being amazed at how close we got to the stage during Helloween’s set
Laughing at some stupid cow setting up a picnic, complete with wicker basket in the middle of the crowd just before Guns N Roses came on and seeing the thing obliterated as the crowd surged forward and then trying to tell 107,000 people to move back!
Being seriously shit scared during the first song, the crush was unreal
Trying to get my mate out of the crush, he was only small and was in serious danger of falling. We managed to get to the area in front of the lighting tower and could see everything unfold.

Dave Mustaine was and still is an arrogant sod but he was damn good
Dave Lee Roth – the only guy who could get away with playing California Girls in the freezing cold and rain and pull it off.
Kiss – were truly awful
Maiden were on top form as always

It wasn’t until the bus trip home that we heard that those 2 kids had died! Everyone just stopped talking!

Festivals were different back then, you went with the purpose of having a laugh with your mates and seeing the Bands, I don’t go to festivals any more, too much other shit going on. The Big Day Out in Australia for example! I now live here and would never go again, 30 different bands, 5 stages, Ferris Wheels, markets WTF!!

The camaraderie was also one of the main attractions. Everyone got on!

I’ve met so many people in Australia who talk about wishing they could have gone to some of these Donington Festivals ! I’m lucky to have seen 3 of the best

Great site – brings back lots of memories
David Miller

© Karl Davies

This was my first visit to Donnington. I was 17 and very excited, My fav band were Guns N Roses. I was known to buy anything they sold!!! My friend commented - "If GnR packaged shit, Julian would buy it!!! ... they went on to release one 12" with a sick bag!!!, and yes I bought it!!!
We went by coach from Poole, Dorset. I think there were 3 or 4 coaches of Rock fans.

I was in the middle of the crowd at the front, can't remember how close, but remember the the fear in my mind as the crowd swell grew. THE biggest problem was the ground. It was a mud bath. The stage was at the bottom of a bowl and the ground was not fit for the sheer volume of footfall. You could not keep your feet before hand, but once your feet were stepped on, you could not move your lower body. The crowd was moving left and right, front and back, you could not keep up.

I was eventually horizontal and couldn't see the sky due to bodies on top of me. I genuinely had decided in my mind this was it. Very weird and never to be repeated. I was on top of a girl, I think about my age, who was crying and very scared. It was the scariest experience of my life.
Out of nowhere my friend grabbed me from behind and somehow managed to pull me out. I still don't know how to this day. As I got out I pulled the girl out too. She was really upset that she'd dropped her camera - I think she thought her parents would give her hell. I remember saying you're alive, don't worry. I never saw her again, hope she's fine.

My friend said I was as white as a sheet. I'll never forget, and wasn't surprised to hear of the two sad deaths at the end. I always thank my lucky stars it wasn't four, not realising it could have been many more.

With all this said, I have fond memories too of the festival. I got to see my fav band of all time Guns 'N Roses. Dave Lee Roth was awesome and enjoyed Kiss. I was never a big Iron Maiden fan, but they put on a good show with all the props and lights.
The sound was mostly awful at the start but got better from Diamond Dave.

The two sad deaths will never be forgotten by anyone there, but Monsters of Rock was how a festival should be. You see all the bands, you don't have to walk miles to miss half the set!

Enjoyed your site and the recollections.
Showed my eldest son as I had told him about 1988, he was shocked to read what I had told him. But he's got the bug, as my wife and I took him to Glastonbury when he was 18 months old!!!! More recently he loved Foo Fighters at Wembley, at 14 he's hopefully got some great gigs ahead of him as have his two sisters and two brothers!!!!!
Keeping the Rock flag flying.

Julian Clark

This was my 6th and last Monsters of Rock and only remember it for being the most terrifying moment of my life
Me and my mate were huge fans of GnR so made our way down to the front for their set but couldn't really get that close. Before It's So Easy had finished I was a lot closer than I wanted to be having been literally carried forward in the surge with my feet off the ground. The crowd were all over the place, one minute I was stage centre, the next stage left. Then we were pushed to the right. People right next to me were falling over and I only just managed to hold my footing and helped a couple of people up.

I tried to get out of the crowd but it was so tightly packed it was impossible to move backwards. It was like being on a roller-coaster and wanting to get off, you had no choice but to wait until it had finished. It was a relief when the show was stopped and things calmed down a bit, but then it all went crazy again when they played Welcome To The Jungle. I seem to remember thinking they only played Patience to calm things down again, which kind of worked.

It took a while to find my mate after the set, we'd got split up as soon as they came on. He managed to get out of the worst of it but was still pretty shaken up. I can't remember anything about Megadeth, or Dave Lee Roth, not even sure if we watched them, and we ended up leaving halfway through Kiss. We didn't hear about the deaths until the next day and sadly, weren't surprised at the news.
Fantastic website. Brought back a lot of memories, thanks for all your efforts in putting it together and keeping it going
Cheers
Martin Hand

A large group of us set off from Hull in coaches for this festival. I had specific instructions to look after my younger brother who was 15 at the time. It was from memory all our first festival. At that time I certainly stood out like a sore thumb with my extremely short hair (I had just joined the Army in March).

The weather was poor, really overcast and horrible drizzle. Through the mists of time I can remember that the festival site was already packed. There was no chance that we would get near the front of the stage, so we must have been 200-300m from the front.

I can remember the Bailey Brothers were awful. Helloween were good. And then Guns ‘n Roses. My mate Andy and I had been fortunate to see them in Newcastle back in late 87 just as they were beginning to break, so we weren’t too fussed. My brother thought they were crap.

I believe they opened with ‘It’s So Easy’. And all hell broke loose......................

From my vantage point, the entire crowd moved as one and didn’t stop for moving the entire set. The phrase of ‘packed in like sardines’ was extremely apt!! I remember a crowd surge from behind us with people wanting to join the melee at the front. In this surge I lost my bag containing food, drinks and souvenir t-shirts. Compared to two other young festival goers, this was nothing.......

It appeared relentless at the front, the entire front seemed packed and not moving. I can recall quite a few people being carried out by their friends, unconscious, past us to the medical post. The faces of these people showed sheer terror and panic. It was just sheer mayhem.

After GnR’s set, no one had an inkling of the tragedy that had unfolded in front of our eyes.

Megadeth, were, well to be honest I can’t recall their set!!

David Lee Roth was good, very entertaining.

Kiss were good. They played a festival set full of their hits.

Iron Maiden were great. You get what you get with Maiden.

We boarded the coach back home. It was only when the news came on after we left the festival site that the two deaths were reported. It left a very deflated feeling but after witnessing the carnage from afar, it wasn’t a surprise. To be honest, it was a surprise that no others sadly died. It would be interesting to know how many people were injured during GnR set.

Now, being older and a lot greyer, I still attend festivals, however I work them (namely Glastonbury). As part of my job I am trained in crowd control, crowd dynamics and mass panic in crowds (no I am not Festival Security!!). Over the years maybe festivals have become more corporate, but the lessons of the Donington 88 tragedy have been learnt in my opinion. Safety is paramount to all those who attend. Glastonbury proves that a large number of people can safely attend a festival. Should the festival organisers have taken more steps to prevent the crush and tragedy? Should they have been more aware of how big GnR had become? But did it really take the deaths of two young men who only wanted to see their favourite bands to change things..........

Darren Winstone

The worst festival I've ever been to. They over sold the place (sheer greed) it was crushing, wet and miserable. My girl friend and I (she's now my wife) clung to each other as we got dragged through the crowd unable to move or put our feet on the floor as people moved from left to right through the crowed, it was scary. They later tried to pass peoples deaths off on slam dancers. RUBBISH they over sold the place and the weather did the rest. I read the tribute to one of the guys who died on here and I felt so sad, it just should not happen at a gig. RIP. I'm not even going to talk about the music, it was irrelevant on the day.

Carl , Essex.

Hi there
saw your website & thought it was great & brought back a lot of memories. I was at 83, 84, 85, 87, 88, 90.
Got a few ticket stubs, lots of photo's of bottle fights - my mate got hit by a ball-cock from a toilet (fuck knows where that came from).
Memories include:-
83 - Brilliant line up, just arrived as Diamond Head where playing Am I evil. Dio (amazing), Meatloaf getting pelted with anything & everything, Whitesnake - nailed it as headliners.
84 - Refused to go on family holiday as I wanted to see Van Halen. Some guy hit Dave Lee Roth with a bottle & Diamond Dave's response was - "Hey I saw you throw tha, t and after the show I'm going to come and find you and.......fuck your girlfriend". Some bloke also scrambled up the hoarding to get Eddie Van Halen to sign his Kramer.
88 - we were in front of the mixing desk and it went fucking nuts when Guns & Roses came on. Had to move as we had girlfriends in tow. Really sad end to a great day when we heard about the death at the end.
Steve

Hello, my name is Neil McIvor I was at donington in 1988. The night before Imwas in the dreadnought rock disco Bathgate West Lothian. i bought a ticket that night got a case of lager the next thing I know I was at donington. i remember standing at the front and a rock disco was on an airplane was doing dives to we will rock you. The PA looked massive I said to my mate is that as loud as it gets? Then Helloween came on and the volume nearly crushed my ribs. i remember before Guns and roses came on the exitement then the massive rush down the hill I stopped and thought if I fall here I'm dead. It wasn't until I got back to Bathgate that I found out. i walked into the British Legion got a pint and said to my dad That's me back, megadeath were chronic, he said we thought you were dead. All they could recognise from one of the dead was two tatoos and I had those tats. For what it's worth Kiss were the best band by miles and I was never a Kiss fan. The report on your page that Iron maiden were the best is wrong, everyone went to see stevie vai, he was chronic and Kiss blew every band away. They say 107 000 try 200 000 plus.

All the best

Neil McIvor

my day

What a day!! Managed to scrounge a lift to Donington, the journey was bad enough rained all the way and the car kept overheating. Got in to the concert ok but the mate was with was will over six foot, so wherever we stood we got plastic bottles of piss lobed as us! So I managed to get away from him for a bit and found my way in to the front of the stage area biggest mistake of my life!

Guns and Roses got going and so did the crowd, I was swept off my feet and into the mud under foot, managed to right myself and stand up only to be transported into a crush of people. This seemed to last of ever. Axel Rose was shouting some think at the crowd, but I was too busy trying to live to take any notice. Some people were being passed over our heads to the pit area.

After sometime I managed to squeeze out to the edge of the pack and start breathing properly again. Iron Maiden start later in the evening just as the rain did again. I thing I can’t remember, was how I got home to Little Clacton in Essex, still a bit of a mystery. Still not great in crowds even after all this time. Steve Kerridge

just a quick note
having attended my first MOR at donington at age 16 in 85. the actual amount of people at the event was immediately noticeable in ‘88. previous events it was easy to wander around at the back of the arena near the race track. at the event in ‘88 no chance it was people all the way. that's how many people there were.

as soon as Bruce announced that maiden were going to be playing ‘in nineteen eighty eight’(the biggest roar of the whole event) during the bon jovi encore in ‘87 while singing CCR’s travilin’ band with Dee snider of twisted sister, it was going to be a year of building anticipation/frustration, loads more emotions too. its what the youth were waiting for, it had to happen. when it did it was overwhelming to be part of it the day was fantastic. usually you found out a few months before the festival who was playing, a whole year to wait was a lot of time to wait out. worth it though. it still makes me sad to remember my fellow festival goers that didn't make it home.

johnnyrandom

I was there that year also with my friend who I never seen again till we got back on the bus he was pulled from the crowd during gnr set it just went crazy !!! 1girl was screaming her friend crying but u had nowhere to go but forward in the mud as for them playing monty python after the announcement of the two deaths I made my way to the bus disgusted never been back after that year. it was my second time there Bon Jovi was the previous year which went off without any deaths my family were glad to see me home again they were worried I was 1 of the dead -tragic !!!!!

Scott lowden

Hi,

Great website which has brought back some happy memories. I went to monsters of rock in 87 & 88 and have returned for download 2006-10 & 12. The memory is a little fuzzy after all these years but I remember riding my motorbike from Somerset to Nottingham where I stayed with cousins both years.

87 was about the mud and seeing guys rolling around in it, it pissed down all day long but I seem to remember the sun coming out when Dio played "Naked in the rain" which struck me as being ironic. Although Metallica have gone on to become one of my favorite bands they didn't impress on the day and it was Anthrax who stole it for me.

88 obviously had the sad note to it, we were half way up the hill when Guns n Roses came on stage and there were loads of people running down the front to get a better view. There was a guy in front of us who had passed out from drinking, one of his mates pulled down his jeans and put a lit cigarette in his bum crack. When it woke him up with the burning his confused reaction was hilarious. Maiden were as Maiden always are, fantastic.

I kept the programs from these 2 days for years but somewhere in all the house moves they have gone awol.

Regards,
Ian Hume

Hi
I found your site after searching for the line up at the 1988 Monsters of Rock. Reading your page really brought back many memories not just of that year but others when I went too.

I remember forcing my way to the front to see Helloween's set, which was awesome. I travelled there driving a mini-bus full of my mates & my future husband travelled up on a separate mini-bus. We arranged to meet under the Dunlop bridge straight after Helloween had finished their set. It under the bridge that he got down on one knee & proposed, it was also the day of his 20th birthday. I remember that Guns'n'Roses where playing Sweet Child Of Mine. We're divorced now but that song stills brings back some great memories, sadly it also reminds everyone there that 2 people died.

After the show there were rumours going round the campsite that people had been injured, some very seriously & that there had been 2 fatalities. News also spread that one of guys killed had an Ozzy style dragon tattoo. This really scared our group because one guy in our group of mates had that tattoo & no one had seen him all day & he didn't return to his mini-bus on the Sunday. We finally found out that he was OK when my husband went to work on the Monday & he was there - relieve doesn't come close to the feelings we all had. Although when we saw him the Friday night in the pub we did give him a bollocking for not letting us know he'd got a lift home with another group.

I arrived home to my parents hugging me & thanking god I was ok. Back then there weren't any mobile phones. My dad was working as a night watchman & had heard on the local radio station that there'd been an accident. They were reporting that a screen had fallen, but they said it had fallen forward onto the crowd. Needless to say, he went straight home & tried to get more information. My uncle turned up because he'd heard the same news information & knew I was there. They were on the verge of travelling up to try & find me when the TV news confirmed that the screen had fallen backwards into the backstage area & that the fatalities were 2 men.

Even though we heard the rumours it wasn't until getting home on Sunday afternoon that this was confirmed. I like everyone else I knew who'd been there felt sick to our stomachs that something so aweful had happened while we were all enjoying ourselves.
I went to a few more Monsters Of Rock after that, although of course not in 89 as there wasn't one - it was Milton Keynes that year. I also took my daughter to Download in 2010, her first festival (she was 20). Every time I've been there I've always thought about the guys who perished that aweful day in 1988 & take solace in thinking that they're up there rocking it out with some greats, playing Les Paul guitars with a stack of Marshal amps.
Debbie Hepworth
Still Rocking After All These Years

Hi,

I searched 'Castle Donington 1988 Death' and found your site.
I was at the event that day and managed to fight myself to the front by the time Guns n Roses had started to play.

It was absolutely chaotic. It was like being in a tug of war, and the other side had let go, leaving a tangled mess of bodies. I got tangled up in it and ended up with someone standing on my leg. I couldn't move. I was almost drowning in people.

I eventually panicked enough to get pulled out by one of the muscle bound security men at the front. Despite his best efforts, I was stuck fast and it was 30 mins before I could get free enough to be pulled out.

As I was pulled out, a guy behind me shouted to the security man, pointing downwards 'there's two down here dead.'
We were so tightly packed you couldn't even see below your chest, I didn't even see them. It wasn't even clear if it was genuine or not.
When I was pulled out, my 32 x 32 levi jeans were caked in mud and totally stretched and distorted and were nearly hanging off me.
It wasn't until after the Maiden set it was announced there was a fatality.
If anyone wants to they can contact me
Cheers
Ed Mackie

Hi,
I was looking for a bit of help. Like many people, I was in the middle of the crush during G'n'R. I remember being on the edge of one of the collapses and I fell down on one knee. I remember vividly telling myself "If I don't stand up now, I could be a dead man." Using every bit of strength, I managed to force myself up. When we cleared the collapsed area, at the bottom there was an unconscious kid who was white as a sheet. We passed him over the top, not to be seen again.
I am trying to figure out of that was actually one of the guys that died. Do you know if there are any existing photographs of the guys from news reports?
I swear I would recognise this guy, even now. I don't remember the song now, but I remember noting that Kerrang said the deaths occurred during a different song to when my "near death" occurred. I don't know if this confirms that he wasn't one of the victims or not, or whether the incident was mis-reported by Kerrang.
Thanks for reading,
Ian.

Hi

I was there, I lived to tell my story but only just. I remember a great surge in the crowd during the Roses & I was carried sideways about 10 feet. The most vivid thing in my memory was my mate Simon’s face as he lost his footing in the mud. It was sheer terror turning to tears almost. I had my arm around him & I didn’t let go, I can’t recall ever seeing anyone that scared before! The music stopped & I could feel fresh air rush around my body. That’s when I knew something wasn’t right, I’ve seen bands play through all sorts of shit ‘n’ piss being thrown at them. A few minutes later there was a parting of the crowd as I saw the red cross carrying somebody through the melee & out! It was a really poignant moment for me, the realisation that somebody won’t be going home to their loved ones.
That said, we should not forget the fallen, but remember 1988 for the good times, the time Maiden tore Castle Donington a new arse. Their 1st time at Donington and what great memories I have from that day.
I’d also like to add, who has put the pictures up in the gallery? I laughed my nut off, there’s a picture of ME there!
Rock on!
Lee Maunder.

Hey there, awesome site, currently reading through every entry in true festival geek fashion. This is my Donington88, like others I am lucky to be alive, very lucky but I want to put a little more to it not just my perspective of that terrible hour.

Donny 88 was my second fest with 87 being the first and we couldn't wait for it after bruce announced maiden would be doing something special in a field...
In our own skint teenager style the four of us left Slough train station with one tent between two and a sleeping bag each, festival rules stated if one person pulled and got to the tent first the unlucky friend slept around the fire. This rule was soon abandoned cos it never stopped bloody raining!!

After two days of rain dodging, fire jumping,  car powered skiing and power drinking in the camp site it was on and we rushed through the gates into the arena (roughly to the left if where we queue for download camping now I think) and it was obvious this was going to be way bigger that 1987, there was people streaming in from everywhere it seemed but regardless we got to the front few rows of people and staked our place for guns n roses, or so we thought. 

The conditions were horrific, it rained in 87 but this year the mud was thick, you couldn't just pull your shoe out you had to almost wiggle it free, that was if you wasn't standing in a puddle,  the wind was blowing a hooligan from behind the stage, the curtains were billowing and the video screens were swaying. It was packed, seriously packed. 107k was the official sales we heard but were told people were just getting in over fences and even that security were overwhelmed at the gates,  but that's hearsay, all I know is I took a photo from a mates shoulders and it was peopke all the way back to the walls,  apparently the infield then could hold 200k. My guess 107k was nowhere near the true crowd size. 

Helloween came on to mighty roar after the bailey brothers whipped the crowd up but from memory fizzled a little but we ok for the first band, it was maybe halfway through when the video screen to our left came down in the wind and there was a lot of pushing and shoving and you could almost sense agitation in the wet cold and muddy crowd, not aggressive,  just an atmosphere. 

Forty minutes or so later and guns walk on stage the second main reason im here, this was going to be amazing...within minutes of its so easy I was picked up from just left of mid stage and got my feet back on the floor near the remains of the left screen, we paused moved a little more before swaying back to centre stage.  This barely stopped till gnr stopped the set. It was the scariest thing imaginable,  total loss of control. I remember my trainer coming off in the mud and diving down to pull it out,  just thinking about that now makes me shudder, seconds later I could have been trampled to death unnoticed at no fault but my own for not thinking.  I managed to get two guys either side of me to hold onto me while I tied the laces back on tight during the pause in the set. I also remember clearly the feeling of terror and chlostrophobia during the pause as this was the first chance I got to think of how I saw Matty and Alex dissappear one way and the terrified look on Adams face as he was shoved forward and vanished from my sight. These thoughts were soon gone when gnr started playing again and the pressure from behind was too much, everyone around me fell forward and I was face down with people on top of me.  I dont know how I did it but I managed to turn myself half over and grabbed at whatever I could and with the help of a random hand I was pulled out and over some people and was back on my feet. I tried to help people up but there wasnt room to move and as security was wading through the crowd and I was shaking from head to toe and on the verge of an asthma attack I pushed my way back towards the sound desk got my head together and tried to enjoy the rest of gnr. Looking back I was probably in shock.

I hung around to check out megadeth but they bored me so I took myself up the hill for a rest and a beer and found Adam sitting with a beer staring at the stage,  he went over the barrier holding an unconscious girl during the first surge and was as shaken as I was . I dont remember DLR at all.
We watched kiss from the hill and they were shocking compared to their arena performances. Eventually I ventured down alone to the right of the sound tower for maiden who lifted my spirits with the greatest performance I have seen them do and that stands to this day, amazing show.
I didnt know anything about the tragedy that had happened underneath me till I got home on sunday, my parents heard it on the news and couldnt do anything but wait and see if I came home.  Apparently the description given fitted most male teenagers who had gone. 

I returned to Donington for the 1990 festival but couldn't walk into the arena and just packed my stuff and sold my ticket outside.  It took me years to attend another arena concert and then I couldnt be involved down the front and until 2010 to attend another festival.
I go to download every year now and sonisphere if its on but those memories live on, they just need shutting in a box and put in a dark place. But to this day I check my exits and once the arena starts to fill up i tend to watch the crowd almost as much as the stage and move in a heart beat if it gets too lively.

Alan Dick and Landon Siggers.  Never knew you, never forget you. Rock on boys.

Craig Flynn

Hi

This was my first and last festival, we parked at East Mids airport and walked to the festival. We kept pretty much out of the way, all I remember are the guys peeing up the side of the hoardings and the women having to trek across the race track. We went because Bruce Dickinson had told my mum it would be safe to go. I also remember it being wet and the ground slippy with the urine bottle missiles flying overhead, also the choas when megadeth and g n r took to the stage. Maiden were wonderful as always. After the concert and the lights going out and stumbling to the exit in the dark, walking back to the airport, only my brother was allowed to get the car, waiting and then getting changed in the car into a grey tracksuit, we arrived home to find mum waiting, telling us that two fans had been killed and that I looked as grey as my track suit. We didn't know anything about the deaths.

Marsha Vincent

The buzz at that point around Guns n Roses was intense.

When they burst on stage the whole place just surged forward. Me and a friend were near the front and pretty much had to crawl out. It's so easy just seemed so raw and powerful it was like watching a full throttle punk band coming at you.

I remember Axel saying he was going to slow it down and they did Patience to try and calm it all down.

Was terrible for the two lads who died, it could have been any of us at the front.

Anyone too young to have seen Guns n Roses as they were then won't understand what a band they were before they went overblown.

Jon Allen

• Rubber Walls: as soon as we arrived it was obvious there were too many people there. It took our coach an hour to find a parking spot in a field 30 minutes walk from the site because of the chaotic lack of organisation and sheer number of vehicles. Because of this the coach operator sternly instructed us to remember where we were parked as they wouldn’t wait for any stragglers after the gig (this is relevant for what happened later).
• Inside the site it was rammed. Took two hours queuing just to buy a programme.
• The Helloween set went off sedately but things turned ugly once Guns n’ Roses took to the stage. They had to stop the set several times to ask people to stop surging because people were getting hurt.
• I kept a safe distance during Megadeth’s set but decided to get closer to the front for Roth’s set. I managed to get about 30 yards from the stage (photos attached) by which time I realised I had made a big mistake. People were panicking because of the crush: I saw people with blue faces and at one point somebody punched me full in the face out of sheer panic. By this point I was struggling to breathe. I remembered the advice given after the Heysel disaster and wedged my arms against my hips, elbows out to protect by ribcage to allow me to breath. I decided I had to get out of there and it took me an hour to fight my way to safety. I had a rucksack on my back, by the time I reached safety it had been reduced to a flap of cloth with just the straps attached to my shoulders.
• I spent the Kiss and Iron Maiden sets at the very back of the site grateful that I’d come out alive. At the time I was 6’4”,15 stone and a competition martial arts fighter but I’d never been so scared. You could smell the violence in the air. Maiden also had to stop their set a few times to ask people to move back to stop the crush.
• The performances: Helloween were bland in the extreme; G & R were phenomenal*; Megadeth were perfunctory; Roth was his usual Diamond Dave but it was obvious his band was in decline (poor Matt Bissonette wasn’t up to playing Sheehan’s basslines and Vai’s guitar wasn’t in tune for most of the set); Kiss phoned-in their set (you could almost sense Simmons calculating their net take including merchandise adjusted for Sterling to Dollar exchange rates) and Maiden did their usual faultless but essentially soulless spectacle.

• The walk back to the coach was carnage: fights everywhere. Things weren’t helped by the fact Maiden had employed teams of heavies to hunt down bootleg merchandise sellers who took obvious pleasure in showing the bootleggers the error of their ways in the most violent of terms. To top it off, when I finally reached the place where our coach had parked it was nowhere to be seen. It turned out they’d had to move it to make room for the thousands of other coaches that had arrived.
  I was lucky to blag my way onto a coach going back up north, got dumped somewhere in Yorkshire, hitchhiked to Newcastle and arrived at Newcastle Central Station at 4.00am on Monday 22 August flat broke. I spoke to a taxi driver who had heard about the carnage at Donington and in return for my telling him my story he took me home for free.
• The Roth Newspaper Reports: The Daily Mirror got things wrong (clippings attached). The security man did try to get on stage to ask Roth to tell the crowd to get back and was physically bounced back into the pit by Roth’s minder (“Big Ed” Anderson I assume) but Roth’s words to him were verbatim: “Get the f*ck off my stage pal” and nobody was hurt during his set, hence the retraction a few days later (also attached).
• I’ve read several accounts of the events; all of which fail to acknowledge the real cause of the tragedy: too many people were allowed in (rubber walls) with no concern for safety. I haven’t been to an outdoor festival since except when I’ve worked as roadcrew. What was perhaps the best line-up in Donington’s history was eclipsed by the nadir of venality in the music business.

Vince Major

I was watching YouTube and came across videos of this festival in 1988. I was there and remember the chaos and tragedy that followed very well. I did take photos and i do have them still but sadly i don't know where they are just now, alot of years have passed. I remember Jonathan King having items hurled at him, we didn't know then what we know now about him. I remember Axel Rose screaming at the crowd to move back or they would walk off, i was 20 at the time and even as a seasoned Rock Concert goer it was pretty scary stuff, i was hit a couple of times with flying objects. Sadly and tragically though, my most vivid memory was going home on the coach after the festival after being told two boys had been crushed to death. The coach load was quiet and sombre, not like a raucous noise it should have been after an amazing rock festival. Hope this is of some use to you, if i find the photos i will email them. Long Live Rock. Miranda Lilley Hi Here is a part of my story.  I have often thought about that day and will never forget what i witnessed. As part of the Manchester crew i worked from the very start to the last truck leaving the site. My job was building the stage working to stage hire and Stuart Knowles and his team. On that day i can safely say that nobody had the view of events that i had . I was directed as a climber to climb into a position where i could assist the skrim curtain in its track as it used to stick allowing the bottles of piss pigs heads etc to hit the stage during set change. So i was 50 feet above the stage with a view of backstage ,onstage and out front,a truly unforgettable sight. The backstage arguments by desperate stage management and band management over stopping the carnage  The twisted despairing fans crushed and trampled and beaten. regards Nick Hall I was at the 1988 donington festival, and after trying to get a good view at the front we decided to move to the side , and the collapsing screen just missed us. We were luckier than some though, later on, unfortunately. Memorable day for good and bad reasons.  Paul Sayce

I was at the festival.I was 18 and traveled their from Perth in the back of transit van with about 10 other people overnight. We arrived after driving, drinking and smoking our way down and a 10 hour drive. I recall most of the acts, watching megadeath first. It was guns & roses who were amazing. If I recall this was their first ever UK appearance. I recall the bits where they stopped playing, but unknown to us two guys died. The album then was only a few months old, and it was clear they were going to do amazing things. David Lee Roth was great and if I recall he even played a bit of the guitar. Kiss where great but it was Maiden that stole the show. They started just at sunset, and their lighting was immense. Once the show was over, it was a long wait to get out of the site, and then a long drive home. No camping, no hotels. Bruce Danraj Hi,  Just came across your site and would wish to say that as I was there as a mere 16 yr old. My mates and I had got the tickets for £25 or so.ething including coach travel.  We were about 30 yards from the stage just off centre, when Helloween were playing; a band I truly liked at the time and then came guns and roses. Now appetite had just been released the year before but no momentum had been gained (as I had seen then a year or so before at the marquee in london) yet I couldn't wait for them to come on so I suggested to my mates we move for a better view, so we went to where the screen that blew over (on the stage right hand side) to watch but the swell of the crowd when GNR started was incredible we were pushed forwards and sideways. Before welcome Axl did ask the crowd to move back as some were unconscious, yet then burst straight into the song, in fact one of us fell or was pushed over but we grabbed him back up. We didn't hear about the 2 fans till we got home to very relieved parent or parents. I feel for those two guys who wanted to go and have a good time to see possibly the best line up at MOR for that era and didn't make it home. I have some blurred photos somewhere which just look shit tbh. Most of the bottles thrown were aimed at Jonathan king who wisely wore a nfl helmet. But I did almost manage to hit DLR with an apple but he moved. Maiden were just fucking amazing, in fact the whole day was bar the tragedy. And I still to this day claim the wind blew the screen over during GNR performance which led to the crowd going two ways. And didn't Lars Ulrich come on with megadeth to do anarchy yet was wearing slash's hat?  As for Dave mustaine...."told you We'd make the sun come out......peace sells".  Epic day out that ended so sadly for two rock fans.  RG.

I was at that show and nearly lost my life when up the front and caught up in the crowd surge. I have read some of the reports from the fans about what happened that day and I can relate to those horrifying events. But a lot of people are saying the 2 guys died during Guns and Roses but it was during the Dave lee Roth gig the lads got killed. The stewart in the front of the stage tried to stop the gig when he jumped on the stage to stop the gig , only to be pushed off by another stewart who was not aware of the commotion.If the gig was stopped at this time the two guys would probably be still alive. David Molloy I had a fantastic time at Donnington 86 and when I heard the amazing line up for 88 there was no way I was missing it. However I was never so scared prior to or since my experience during the G n R set. I was 24. My old school friends from Oban picked me up in a rented van from my place in Helensburgh and we travelled all night to get there. We drank wine from boxes and inflated the empty bags to use as pillows to sleep it off. I actually slept thru the entire Megadeth set - something my kids find both hilarious and sacrilegious! When G n R came on we went to the front. Very soon we lost each other and I was alone and absolutely terrified. It was like having my legs bound in a straight jacket and at the mercy of a massive sea of bodies out of control in a storm. I tried to backtrack but couldn't. Thankfully I was very fit and fairly strong. Eventually I fought my way out to a clearing - it took forever - and stayed well away for the rest of the day. Having feared for my life I now feared for my friends. Thankfully I hooked up with them soon afterwards as we had agreed to meet at 'the flag' if we lost each other. They had all had similar experiences to mine and were as shaken by it. We had all seen the paramedics trying to get to the injured to rescue them but had no idea there were actual fatalities. As we were leaving the park after Iron Maiden we heard the announcement of the 2 deaths and were stunned and gutted. Driving back north we heard that one was from Dunbartonshire which is where I lived. It was awful. We all called home from a service station to let our families know we were ok. After that numbers at Donnington were limited I think to 80,000 but I never went back. Calum

---

Hi just come across your site. I was there at Monsters of Rock 88 photographing the event for the Derby Telegraph. My first job for them.  I'd done the previous 3 or 4 Monsters for the Coalville times.  Really bad scene when I first arrived. Got there late due to the sheer volume of traffic. By the time I got back stage it was mayhem and Guns and Roses were rapping up. A video tower had fallen over into the area next to the stage . As I dashed to get what I could of the band there were some very distraught looking medics trying to revive a guy who was flat out on the floor on a stretcher. I instinctively grabbed a shot but was pushed out by security. To this day looking at the picture it was probably one of the poor folk that were killed.  Re Dave Lee Roth incident I was on the photographers platform when that all kicked off. The area in front of the stage was a complete nightmare due to the mud (I'd been to Donington and few days before to photograph Iron Maiden ahead of the event and it was raining then and it didn't stop till the day of the event) folk were having a job to stay on there feet and it looked frightening to say the least. A security guy suddenly climbed up the scaffolding to the stage which was some feat in itself and got himself onto the stage to stop Dave Lee Roth in mid flow . He'd (the security guard) obviously seen what had gone on before and knew peril the fans were in. Dave Lee Roth uttered words to the effect "Get this guy off my stage" not knowing who the guy was from Adam. With that two big minders literally launched him into the crowd below and that had to be at least 15 feet down into the crowd. A few years ago a colleague showed me a pic of me in the photo pit watching this guy in disbelief being ejected ...i think it was in Kerrang. There was a rumour going around the journalists and photographers early on that there had been at least one death but what the artistes knew at that point I don't know. I'm pretty sure Dave Lee Roth couldn't have known about the deaths and when he asked the guy to be got off his stage he probably might have thought that he would be walked out the back not thrown off the front. I think some papers said the folk died during his set but that's not the case it was earlier on for sure. I'll never forget that day.  It was good to go back in 1990 and see it go off without a hitch. Andy Baker

---

Great site and really interesting to hear similar accounts. Reports of being lifted off your feet and carried with the crowd are exactly what I remember. I knew that if I fell over I would be trampled. Just thankfully I didn't get hit on the back of the head by a 2 litre bottle of piss as there were loads flying over head!!

Chris Smith

---

I don’t know if you’re still taking submissions to your page for ’88 but I’ve come across it while showing my kids and thought I’d submit my own thoughts. I did have a camera on that day but sadly it never made it home with me.

I was and still am massively into Maiden and at the time really liked Helloween and Megadeth so was buzzing with excitement for the day. I was 18 years old and it was my first festival and probably the furthest I’d ever driven from home so it was an exciting adventure. I remember the day starting with Helloween  and I loved every bit of it  and slowly made my way through the crowd using the swell to edge me ever closer to the front and even though it was packed down there I was comfortable with my surroundings, everyone was engaged in good banter and  we huddled together trying to avoid the bottles of piss coming from behind us!

Then GnR came on and the place went, as others have attested, crazy. It became less of a music show and more about survival at that stage…people were slipping in the mud and being pulled up by their jackets and belts and I had to be rescued a few times myself. I don’t remember being scared….to be fair I remember being exhilarated by this intense ground swell of people around me and for the first time experiencing the joy that this gives. I think there was a sense that things were not well as there were fans being passed over head who didn’t look in a good way and at the end of their set there was actually a sense of relief that it was over. I took myself to the back and watched the rest of the gig from a position of relative safety except for Maidens set where I wanted to be as close as possible.

I remember the lone police officer who came on stage after the fireworks and announced that two fans had died earlier in the day and the sense of quiet that fell over the crowd as we walked back to our cars or busses.

But the most vivid memory I have is when I got home in the early hours and my mum was watching through the window as I pulled up outside the house. The news had broken on the tv that there had been fatalities and in the age of no mobile phones she simply either had to wait for a call from the police or for a green Austin metro (shit car!) to arrive home with me in it. I can only imagine how I’d feel if one of my kids found themselves in that position now..

I’ve only been back twice since. 1990 and in 2013 but for me there was no magic to it….it’s become too bloated in my opinion now plus as I’m now nearly 50 the days of me standing ankle deep in mud for three days holds no appeal at all. It’s a massive shame that both Alan and Landon never had the chance to ever return and I hope they rest in peace.

Steve Taphouse

---

I was a witness to the whole sorry incident. It started when one of the English
security guards at the bottom of the stage climbed up onto the stage to usher the crowd back with gestures as people were getting crushed during Dave lee roths set, no sooner than he had got up onto the stage Roth stopped singing and said " get the fuck of my stage man." As soon as he had said those words one of roths security came charging onto the stage and launched him into the crowd. This was about a 15 foot drop at least, the crowd reacted with fury pelting the stage with anything at hand, this changed the vibe completely.

Fast forward to guns and roses, now the stage was at the bottom of a slight slope, and a water station had been piped to the right of the stage at the top of the slope, and it had been vandalized earlier that day and water had been running down towards the stage for hours turning it into a very slippery muddy  mess. As guns and roses cranked the crowd up there was a surge towards the stage about 200 people slipped and the crowd swept over them. I felt I was fighting for my life I had gone down but my right leg had gone behind my left knee into a kind of figure 4 leg lock and I couldn't stand up.

I  grabbed wildly at the people next to me and pulled myself upright, but the crowd were still pushing as one from the back we were being driven into the metal railings and the topography was making it worse, one of the security could see I was in a bad way and using a security man as a pole they lifted him over the barrier and I grabbed this bald guys head and they pulled us both back over the barrier. I owe that guy my life as I stood to get my breath on the other side, the crowd passed a guy forward towards the barrier he was limp and lifeless and as he was lifted over the barrier his head fell towards me and I could see blood coming from his nose mouth and the corner of one of his eyes. I was then taken to the back stage area were all the injured were just laid on the grass. As I laid there I could have sworn Sam fox walked past but I can't be 100% sure. There were alot of factors in play that day, but letting thousands come in through the fence at the back must have contributed as well.

My name is Gareth Lloyd and I survived the monster's of rock 1988

---

Monsters of Rock 1988, my first festival and one of the most surreal experiences of my life....a group of us had driven up from Hampshire, and we spent most of the concert near the back of 100,000 people....I remember the crush....the band stopped playing and kept asking people to move back... then things just carried on....at the back we didn't really comprehend what had happened. Later on, I was determined to get right to the front for Iron Maiden - and I made it right up to the front barrier, with a reluctant boyfriend in tow...it was worth it, Maiden were really great, I was totally hooked...but I thought it was strange that every 5 minutes the security men kept asking me if I wanted to get out - I was short and was getting a bit swamped....of course after Maiden had finished, there was an announcement....that some people had died in the crush earlier, and if anyone had any information, they could speak with the police on the way out...then they played Monty Python's 'Always look on the bright side of life' and let off the fireworks.....and then you realise you're also up to your knees in mud, excrement, beer, plastic and odd shoes....totally surreal....a very strange day...

Karen Howard

---

I was there, it was my one and only festival and I was 15 years old.  getting out of the venue took 3+ hours after the last song played and I was in a heap of trouble from my parents when I finally got home. Mobile phones were still a long way from being as popular as they became and a phone box in Donninton Park? Even if they existed I think it would have been easier to find Wally dressed in leather and denim that day so they weren't sure I was safe until I got back at around 2.30am.

Of course my parents were worried as they had heard on the news about there having been two deaths at the festival.  I was very near the front at the beginning but since I wasn't a thrash fan I went to find food at the start of Megadeth's set. I was lucky.  When I returned to the crowd at the beginning of Kiss's set (they were every bit as fabulous as I had hoped they would be - Crazy, crazy nights was probably the highlight of my life up to that point), the crowd surges were a bit scary.  I had about 10" square to stand in, and so did everyone else. If someone 20 feet away moved, everyone had to move. if you didn't move, you went down. I hit the dirt twice and was rescued twice by big blokes grabbing me and dragging me back to my feet. I kept the jeans I wore that day for more than ten years - they had muddy footprints up the back!

remember plastic gallon bottles being flung around the crowd, I caught one and, since I was thirsty I took a big swig. Bad idea, it was vodka, not water. I also remember Johnathon King coming on stage and being heckled and pelted with mud and bottles.
Great web page, brought back some fun memories.
Rhyanna

---

Can we get a witness ?

We need more info on this and the other Donington festivals, most especially more photos and personal recollections so c'mon head bangers, get yer photos out and fire up what's left of the aging brain cells .Send your recollections and scans to us NOW ! !! Contact us

Watch this space for more Monsters of Rock pages to be added in the next month or two - we will eventually go up till 1996, meanwhile if you have material from any years up to 1996 , send it along and we will add it as we build the pages.

Free festivals of the 70s and 80s

Back to the main Archive.