Sir Paul’s pyrotechnics may have looked like they blew through BC Place’s new roof during his three-hour concert there last week, but it was several sound-dampening panels below the roof that may need to be replaced after the performance of Live And Let Die, according to stadium management.
After Paul McCartney’s Nov. 26 concert, workers rappelled down from the roof to inspect the translucent fibreglass panels that ring the stadium and sit right below much of its $30-million fabric roof.
“We do have some scorch marks that are on it,” said the stadium’s assistant general manager Kathy Delisser. “We haven’t ascertained if it has actually damaged the panel or it is surface marks that can be washed off.”
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Photos of the fire-retardant panels have been sent to the manufacturer and if they need to be replaced, the sprightly septuagenarian and his tour will pay for the repairs, Delisser said. She did not know how much any replacement panels may cost.
A Vancouver fire captain was on site monitoring the concert, present during any pyrotechnic display in the stadium, and went running across the stadium to McCartney’s explosives expert when the blasts first started hitting the roof. By the time he reached the location the blasts had stopped, according to Deputy Fire Chief Les Sziklai.
The department is still investigating how McCartney’s pyrotechnics expert – a veteran of his tours with a “very impressive resume” – underestimated the blasts, Sziklai said.
“At this point we haven’t quite figured out what the deal is, other than we’ll probably set some new standards in and new protocols and more than likely not allow anything that will shoot nearly that high in the future,” Sziklai said.
From now on two fire inspectors will be on site, connected by radios, to monitor any pyrotechnics from a closer distance Sziklai said.
Those new protocols may be tested at the stadium’s next concert Dec. 26, the Contact Winter Festival headlined by Canadian electronic dance music star Deadmau5.
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