August 3, 2000 – Pearl Jam released yesterday the full text of a letter written by Roskilde police department's Commissioner Kornerup that was sent to band representatives following Pearl Jam's July 26th statement regarding the Roskilde Festival tragedies and investigation. (Nine fans lost their lives during the band's concert at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark, June 30, 2000, when the crowd surged toward the stage.)

The letter from Commissioner Kornerup corrects previous media reports, which stated that the Danish police held Pearl Jam "morally responsible" for the Roskilde tragedies and that Pearl Jam "whipped the crowd into a frenzy." (Full text of the letter from Commissioner Kornerup of the Roskilde police follows below.)

Pearl Jam made the following statement yesterday:

We are eager to participate fully with the ongoing investigation of the tragedies that occurred at the Roskilde Festival during our performance on June 30. Although we stayed in Copenhagen until the 2nd of July with the hope that we could meet with investigators on the day following the tragedies, a meeting did not take place at that time. We now look forward to finally meeting with investigators next week in the U.S.

We feel strongly that all aspects that may have contributed to the deaths and injuries at the Festival be identified and examined from every angle and will participate in every way possible to make sure that this occurs. We owe it to everyone that has been impacted – all of those we lost, all of those who loved them, all of those who were injured and all of the fans who attend our performances – to learn about all factors that might have contributed to the Roskilde tragedies so that steps can be taken to prevent future tragedies of this nature.

Full text of letter written to Pearl Jam representatives by Roskilde police department's Commissioner Kornerup on July 27, 2000 follows:

Referring to our pleasant conversation I can issue the following official statement on the investigation by Roskilde Police, Denmark into the incident at the Roskilde Festival on June 30, 2000.

The preliminary report of July 14, 2000, of which a copy was given to you at our meeting had the sole purposed to ascertain the facts connected with the incident. This is not a criminal investigation, and the report states that there is no basis to make anybody responsible in a criminal case after the incident. Naturally this statement also applies to Pearl Jam. Certainly this will also be the conclusion of the final investigation now in progress.

It is not true that the report holds Pearl Jam "morally responsible" for the tragic incident.

It is also not true that the police have stated that Pearl Jam "whipped the crowd into a frenzy."

The quotation that the police stated that Pearl Jam "appealed for violent behaviour" is due to an incorrect translation of the Danish text. What was written was that according to some sources the band is known almost to appeal to the audience to behave in an uninhibited way.

Also incorrect are the news articles that state the band left Copenhagen immediately. We now understand that they remained in Copenhagen for a full day after the incident, and expected to speak to us at that time. We now will arrange with you to talk with key personnel of Pearl Jam.

The police in Roskilde are looking forward to working with Pearl Jam to determine the causes and development of the terrible tragedy in order to make sure that similar incidents can be prevented in the future.

Yours sincerely,
Kornerup
Commissioner of Roskilde police