Description

On the evening of March 31, 2023, a tornado struck the Apollo Theatre in Belvidere, Illinois, United States, which caused the ceiling of the theater to suffer a critical structural failure and collapse onto a sold-out concert. The show, headlined by the death metal band Morbid Angel, began despite advance knowledge of expected and imminent severe weather. After a half-hour storm break was instituted during the opening performance of the band Crypta, the tornado struck the theater. Winds of 90–100 miles per hour (140–160 km/h) caused the failure of the lower roof structure, with large amounts of debris falling into the venue, primarily onto concertgoers. Multiple people were buried by debris caused by the collapse. Concertgoers aided in removing debris from on top of others, before the arrival of the Belvidere Fire Department, who evacuated the building and handled search and rescue operations alongside emergency management agencies from three neighboring counties. One concertgoer was pronounced dead at the scene and 27 were taken to hospitals by ambulance, out of 48 that suffered non-fatal injuries.