Popular mainstream and Christian rock band Relient K hit a major set back Thursday when their tour bus when up in flames.
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Relient K ran into some problems after their bus went up in flames Thursday morning. No band members were injured.
Just finishing up an opening night performance at this year’s Creation Northeast Festival in Pennsylvania in front of about 75,000 fans, the band was heading to their next stop in Bushnell, Ill., when the bus went into flames around 3:20 a.m. on Thursday morning due to an engine eruption under the back lounge of the tour bus. The group was expected to headline the concerts at the Cornerstone Festival Thursday night in front of another 20,000 fans.
“It was pandemonium,” explained Matt Thiessen, lead vocals, to the Times-Reporter. “Everyone was screaming. We thought the bus might blow up.”
The problem was spotted from the back of the vehicle by Thiessen and one of his friends, who then alerted the bus driver. The rest of the band was awakened by the alarmed driver who made everyone evacuate.
Fortunately, no band member was hurt in the accident, but the blaze will ring up a hefty damage bill.
Although total costs of damage for the vehicles are unknown, Thiessen has reported that his items were valued up to at least $7,000, which included his laptop computer containing 100 unfinished songs.
Because of the disaster, the band had to cancel its Cornerstone appearance, but still plans on making a Saturday night performance planned for Greeley, Colo.
Despite all the problems, the band has handled the chaos fairly well.
“We were just gawking and kind of laughing [outside the bus]. It was all so cinematic,” said Thiessen in the Times-Reporter. “There was the night sky with all this light and this fireman kneeling and hacking at the top of the bus with an ax.”
“It’s funny to be onstage playing for 75,000 people having a great time, at the height of your element,” he added. “Then hours later standing outside by a burning bus with no shoes on, feeling basically like a refugee.”
Relient K is a Grammy-nominated, Dove Award-winning band that hails from Ohio. The five-member squad, although Christian, erupted into the mainstream music scene in 2004 over their fourth album, Mmhmm, which had three top-five songs on the Christian airwaves and two top-twenty mainstream songs.
They have had success with their newest album, Five Score and Seven Years Ago, which was released on Mar. 6. The record debuted at No. 6 on the U.S. Billboard Top 200 chart and at No. 2 on the iTunes best-selling albums chart.
They currently have three gold-certified records.
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They fuckin deserve it all relgious people should burn in hell!!
omg relint k rox and they are in my prayers
i think god was really looking out for them but every thing happens for a reason.
i think God did this on purpose. ive been to 2 of their concerts and in one of them they mentioned God once and in the other not at all. lets face it they're just as christian as they r secular any more. i think God ruined the lap top to get them to start over on new songs. ones that honor God and rnt jus about girls and stupid stuff like that. i think everything happens for a reason.
WOW! Thank God that nobody got hurt.. i cant believe this really.. i mean i dont know if i could handle the fact that my bus was on fire AND that i have just lost my laptop full with 100 unfinished songs! thats crazy!.. God Bless Relient K!..
Ya'll are in my prayers! :)
"laptop computer containing 100 unfinished songs"
If they don't have any other copies of them, this by far was the most tragic loss.
:-( God bless them. i am praying for them.
fethmoe