Guelph Hillside Festival 2009 Mudsliders and Lightning Strike

[Syeno]

LoL at the chick that fell while running.

[Kasausage]

holy shit!

[andreiwindstorm]

I love that guy in the background which ducks instantly when the lightning strike, then he gets up and trows himself to the ground again...he was like "I was not afraid the first time, just playin, like now" LOL

[br4ve]

When does Hillside usually take place - I am a student from Australia hoping to study at Guelph at the start of next year for one semester - would love to attend!

[Cameronx]

@br4ve Hillside Festival takes place the last weekend in July. Weekend passes go on sale and sell out on May 1st. Best to keep an eye on the website to make sure things don't change. Sounds like you will not be in Guelph at that time but there is 1 day festival, Hillside Inside that takes place in Feb which has many of the same artists on it.

FYI - This year they installed lightening rods on the main stage and food building.

[br4ve]

@Cameronx Thanks for the info, looks like i'll be heading there around june/july now rather then the end of the year (maybe I can get snuck in ;) jks). Either way I look forward to checking out some crazy Canadian bands in the main cities and towns. Cheers

[lexygirlforever]

theres jacob and the clan of wolves lmao

[beckysalt]

lol i was watching them too, the lightening strike made me scream :o

[fishfinderflyfishing]

Dude! I shot a bunch of video at hillside. I've added this one in to part of it!! Shoot me a message and I'll get ya a copy of the video I made!

[McDirtyD]

could be a viral!

[GuelphRacing]

Nice video!

[EDWARDPPC]

Wow what a bunch of little kids that are dumbasses, that could have been them for all you know.

[br4ve]

@EDWARDPPC Well at least the end of their days would have been enjoyable

[brenpebbs]

Wow! That was seriously close!! I'm guessing that the peeps in the video were assuming the rule of thumb that lightning doesn't strike twice? Surely there's no other explanation as to why anyone would continue to mess around outside outside after something like that? Me, well I'd be sceptical of that rule of thumb ;-)

[liveIndigo]

Hillside attracts some intense energy.

[TheModWolves]

!!!

i was one of the guys hit by that!

[TheDillHoles]

I was about 50 feet away from it.

[TheDillHoles]

TheDillHoles are awesome! Watch the DillHoles. Please watch it. I'm the guy eating a donut.

[wefanscomingsoon]

I was taking shelter under the main stage at this point. Twas like a sonic boom. Had no idea it struck this close. Wow. Wow. Wow.

[gixxer1000rr]

i was in island tent then. sitting in the second row in the middle between the two aluminum poles. brightest and loudest thing ever... lost power on the stage for atleast twenty mins

[saberman41]

My dad works for the newspaper and he was taking pictures there his car came back rly muddy lol

[saratoningurl]

holy crap, there it is. DEFINITELY too close for comfort. Island stage, all the kids started crying, and I kinda wanted to cry along. :)

[forestcitylovers]

we were stuck trying to get our tent down and then were forced to huddle in and hope that we didn't get blown away. the craziest storm we've been in for ages.... ehhk! good video.

[tiffcooper1]

We were at the Sun Stage closing up the trailer, and after the worst of it passed (and we got over the lightning!) we were treated to an impromptu spoken word performance "sans equipment" for all of us trapped under the shade tent in the rain. Awesome.

[Cameronx]

I was in the Lake Stage and that strike caught our attention too.  They had just warned people to move away from the metal poles. Great video and the still frames of it are awesome too. Strike @ 0:34 and a guy bails out at 0:41 . I can't laugh too hard as I did the same on the walking trail.

[frizico]

Wow ...

[wtrloocanoo]

My wife and I and both kids were at the Rainbow Stage, the tent that was struck. It was the loudest noise I have ever heard, followed by the saddest sound of 20 or so kids crying. I won't forget seeing all the power outlets on the stage light up with electricity, and the look on the face of the man who was trying to distract the kids with slight of hand tricks. He had an impossible challenge....I still can't believe no one got seriously hurt, lucky no one was playing music at the time.

[BrendaM23]

I was in the tent to the left of the blue/white striped one. I didn't see it but the sound it made is indescribable. I'm glad someone captured it!

[ClevelandSteve1963]

I was huddled in the Island Stage when it struck. I knew it was very close and judging by this I would say we were all very lucky...

[Db0ytellem]

Not everyone at the festival was that lucky, 8 people got struck by standing in a mud puddle close by and needed treatment, 1 person I think was hit directly!

[Heckler1337]

no one was hit directly, a few people felt some slight tingling feelings but no one needed treatment. They were very lucky though. Sure was a memorable moment.

[ClevelandSteve1963]

Update:

No one was directly hit and treatment was minor at best. It is true that a few faint hearts went down from being startled. I do agree people were carted away by the extraordinary Hillside support staff for precautionary reasons & today's "realities" relating to insurance claims.

Full stop.

[basementband]

I wondered if anyone got a good video of this! Nice!

[aaroths44]

Great video! I think the best part of the weekend is that not even terrible weather can put a damper on Hillside. Great job guys

[nonidentity]

yeah i heard it hit near the children's area and that some people in bare feet were shocked - i think a few people left via ambulance!

[SteveCross28]

I was in the food shelter looking in that direction when it happened. Pretty crazy experience. The awesome power of nature.

[rebeldroid]

I was my wife, NewTeach about 40ft away inside the tent. The bang was massive and made everyone either duck, scream or jerk suddenly towards the source of the sound.

I was six inches away from one of the metal tent poles too. Had it hit that instead of the tree, I would have been BBQ'd!

[NewTeach]

Yeah I was in the Island stage too and it scared the crap out of me..

[mijjenta]

whoaaaaa

[larryllama]

what a lucky shot! 0:33

[ravipjoshi]

I'm the guy saying "right over there, it was right over there"... really cool!

[Guelphling]

I was 25 feet away from that when it hit in the childrens area while I was with my family hiding from the rain! Several people in the tent felt that zap their legs, it terrified the kids and made us temporarily deaf and pink-blind. Even got a couple of performers and part of the p.a. in the island stage! Great shot -only the people standing beside the tree knew where it hit.!

[ballyhoomedia]

Incredible! I was behind mainstage trying to close the equipment trailers at this point! So freaky and so lucky it didn't strike closer while we were in the rain clutching giant metal doors!

[gryphgrrl]

Wow - great shot of the lightening!!

We were at the island stage - that lightening strike shook the ground under us which prompted a collective gasp/yell. It felt so close.