Rock Monsters Romania

Yes, it’s the 30th of October, that day of the year when we, at Rock Monsters Romania, think if the Colectiv disaster could have happened in a “normal” country.

6 years ago, at 22:32, a fire started at Goodbye to Gravity’s concert from Colectiv Club. 26 people died on site and 39 in hospitals. On that day, we lost families, friends and fellow metalheads.

You all know the movie “Collective” made after this tragedy, a movie that was nominated for a lot of awards, including the Oscars. This story is well known in the entire world, from the USA to Japan. They all know about Goodbye to Gravity and their story. But did anything change in Romania?…

Unfortunately, this disaster can be repeated soon. Why? Because nothing changed. Underground bands are still playing in clubs that look more like horror caves than places where you can attend a concert and most of the Romanian buildings (including hospitals!) do not have fire authorization.

Moreover, Bucharest does not have (enough) concert halls that underground bands can play in. At the beginning of his first term as Bucharest’s mayor, I e-mailed Mr. Nicusor Dan talking about this problem. After more that 10 months, I think we can agree that we will never receive an answer, right? This reflects that the political situation in Romania is critical and this can be also seen from the fact that the mayor of Bucharest’s District 5, Cristian Popescu Piedone, who was arrested for abuse of power in Colectiv Fire’s case, has been elected AGAIN as a mayor. So…nothing changed, nothing new… Welcome to Romania.

This year, Rock Monsters Romania celebrated 5 years since its first post. I’ve made this project to make sure that these type of “accidents” won’t happen again. Unfortunately, I can say that I’ve failed. Why? Last month I went to Brasov and passed by 3 live music clubs in the city. All 3 had the same paper on their front doors (visible only because they were closed due to the huge number of Covid-19 cases): “This club does not have fire authorization”. After 6 years, this is still possible in Romania, a country where money is more important than people’s health, and I can not change this alone, but I still have hope in the fellow metalheads, club managers and music journalists that are doing their best to be sure that everyone is safe at concerts.

And I’ve got as message for them:

The day we give in is the day we die

Goodbye to Gravity – The Day We Die

and another message for the political parties and people who are responsable for this disaster:

Fuck all your wicked corruption

It’s been there since our inception

Goodbye to Gravity – The Day We Die

Signed,

Radu Mihai

Rock Monsters Romania Manager