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Club that has good reason not to let people dive off its stage had to explain how guy got injured falling off its stage after climbing on it

A hardcore band that loves having its fans climb on stage got the Paradise, 967 Commonwealth Ave., hauled before the Boston Licensing Board this morning to explain how one of those fans wound up with head injuries in a tumble from the stage.

The board's hearing was formally on a police citation for "dangerous condition (mosh pit)."

Venue attorney Dennis Quilty started by denying the Paradise has a mosh pit: "There is no such thing as a mosh pit at the Paradise," just a large seatless floor, he said. "We don't condone mosh pits, we don't have a mosh pit."

The Paradise, of course, has a permanent place in Boston rock lore for the 1997 stage dive by Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe and a 335-lb. lineman - who landed atop a woman who then had to have two disks removed from her spine and part of her hip removed and reused to help fuse her spine.

However, both Quilty and Paradise General Manager William Guerra did concede that, in fact, a patron got up on stage and then promptly fell off and hit his head on somebody else's body hard enough to get injured around 9:50 p.m. on April 18 - despite the best efforts of roughly two dozen guards assigned specifically to keep people from getting up on the stage.

Two other people were also injured that night, although not enough to require EMS transportation - a woman who became dizzy and fell to the ground and another woman who also fell to the ground for unspecified reasons.

Guerra said the band, Sunami, enjoys having fans getting up on stage. He said one of his managers talked to the band's manager earlier in the day and talked about the no-fans-on-stage rule, and that she basically told him, sorry, the band really "does enjoy" having fans climb up on stage and then she chuckled and said something like "best of luck stopping them."

Sure enough, that night, "there were a few hundred people in front of stage and band was encouraging them to mosh and slam dance and get up on the stage," Guerra said. Security guards were stationed along the stage to try to stop that, he said.

Guerra said the fan in question, in fact, managed to get up on stage over the head of a guard trying to stop him - and that the guard "got a little bit of an earful from the member of the band" for trying to do that, although the band member later apologized.

A fan-posted video of the performance shows people climbing up or being pushed up on stage - with at least one person taking a head-first dive into the slam-dancing, beer-spraying crowd.

The board decides Thursday whether the club could have prevented the incident, and, if so, what sort of penalty to apply.

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Comments

A mountain of stupidity was made out of this in the late 90's.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/club-dive-costs-bledsoe-lane/

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Voting closed 13

I was at The Ritz club in NYC some 40 years ago seeing Circle Jerks or some other hardcore band. The stage there is much higher than most clubs.
Somebody climbed up there and dove off, expecting to body surf in the audience.
People apparently stepped aside and the poor bastard had to be taken out on a stretcher.

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Voting closed 20

This band makes the Circle Jerks sound like Stravinsky. Utter garbage, the 'dise deserves a fine just for putting them on the stage.

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Voting closed 10

Based on that video, fans of that band know exactly what to expect at a concert, and enjoy the anarchic experience. If they're in the Paradise, they're 21+. Unless the venue is locking them inside, I say let the consenting adults thrash around all they want.

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Voting closed 31

We can't allow adults to make their own decisions. We must protect them from themselves!

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Voting closed 16

Not a child care. Anyone who stage dives should be considered to be an adult responsible for their own Darwin award entry.

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Voting closed 26

The Paradise, of course, has a permanent place in Boston rock lore for the 1997 stage dive by Patriots quarterback Drew Bledsoe and a 335-lb. lineman - who landed atop a woman who then had to have two disks removed from her spine and part of her hip removed and reused to help fuse her spine.

This fact-free navel gazing about "consenting adults" is cynical and ignores the actual facts. I don't think that woman consented to have someone else land on her head, but I suppose there's always some nihilistic smart-aleck on the internet ready to hand out a Darwin award.

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Voting closed 19

Different situation. I could be wrong, but I don't think the victim in that case went to see Everclear for the slam dancing. And if she did, she probably made a bad decision.

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Voting closed 15

Tolerating? I plead the 5th.

I don't allign with their politics but goddamn do they share my childhood realities.

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Voting closed 7

Maybe I should show you how to enjoy a mosh pit. You might have to remove something first, though.

I am aware of that incident. Again, what is a club supposed to do? Put everyone in personal cages?

Are you going to support an end to trucks in the city because they actually kill people and damage bridges when they do stupid things?

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Voting closed 23

I've been to a lot of shows at the Paradise, it's easy to not have people stage diving on to you if you don't want that part of the experience.

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Voting closed 8

…. does not mean you consent to being jumped on by some idiot.

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Voting closed 15

Looks like these people accepted the possibility, or even welcomed it.

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Voting closed 14

Even if they did, it would not excuse the management in any way.

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Voting closed 11

Did a colossal professional football player jump off stage onto a sleight woman again?

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Voting closed 15

… assigned to prevent fans from getting up on the stage that the Paradise did make a genuine attempt to prevent injuries.

What a loser band however, that enjoys seeing their fans risk serious injury. What even more loser fans who gladly offer themselves up for the sacrifice.

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Voting closed 15