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An audio engineer from the Rhythm & Vines festival in Gisborne has died.
A director of Auckland’s Wavefront Audio company said on Facebook that one of its employees, David Peterson, had died of suspected heart failure.
Police confirmed that one person had died at the festival at 3 a.m. on December 31.
There were no suspicious circumstances or indications that drugs were involved, police said.
The death had been referred to the coroner.
It is understood that the person died due to a medical event and not an accident.
Wavefront Audio’s Milo Kerrigan posted on Facebook about the death, naming the dead man David Peterson.
Kerrigan said Peterson, a colleague and best friend, passed away from suspected heart failure.
“Dave had injured his arm 2 days prior and required some stitches and was on light duty as a systems technician for the 3 stages we take care of at R&V – usually being the tough roadie that he was, he came back after a couple hours mended and armed.
“Often at a gig like this, once things were going his way, he’d have a few Z’s in the front seat of the truck. A couple of us knew he was there (the truck was out of the production office) and he was in his usual relaxed snoring position. Unfortunately when one of the team members went to wake him up, he didn’t respond. We took him out and Bex started CPR, the doctors were there very quickly and took over. I knew when I took his cold hand he’s gone.
“I am very grateful that he was here doing what he loved, that he managed to get the MLA system up and running and spend 2 nights playing with it and that he was surrounded by his teammates and crew.”
Kerrigan said Peterson had performed at almost every Rhythm & Vines festival that had been held, and the team had worked hard after the tragedy to finish the concert, “and I’m pretty sure we made him proud.”
“Dave was a tough man with a soft core, a perfectionist and a solid friend. He taught me the power of the grumpy face! I and many others will miss him very much.”
The incident follows the death of concert goer Fletcher Wong, 19, whose body was found Thursday. He was last seen at the concert on Tuesday.
There were no suspicious circumstances and the death has been referred to the coroner.
