Former Dancehall Queen, Junko catches the attention of the crowd as she does the Dutty Wine, upside down and holding on with one leg on the stage support. - Ian Allen

From where I was standing backstage, when Bass Odys-sey's selector Squingy fell from high in the stage rigging at 'Death Before Dishonour' on Tuesday morning, no one laughed.

And since this happened in the middle of a sound clash, with insults and dub plates being hurled with force and deadly intent, the fact that there was not a celebration among opposing sound fans indicated just how serious the fall was.

He must have fallen at least 18 feet, slamming into the ground at Pier 1, Montego Bay, St. James, with enough force to break his left ankle and wrist and dislocate his left shoulder, as reported in THE STAR yesterday. It could have been much, much worse, as he fell near to the long metal pins which anchor the stage rigging. If he had fallen on one he would have been impaled.

It is not the first time I have seen someone fall off stage, although this was by far the worst. At one staging of Reggae Sumfest in Montego Bay, Singer J tried to take a leap across the open space to stand up on a platform that a camera was on and did not make it.

There have been times when I have seen Elephant Man going up and up and wondered if he was going to come down and down.

Then at last year's Sunsplash, former Dancehall Queen, Junko, was upside down from the stage rigging, dangling by one leg and wining, at one point.

It is all well and good and exciting when someone goes sky high in their performance. Luciano has been on a few speaker boxes (he once hurt his leg coming down from one) and TOK's high-pitched singer is wont to go up high as well. But this accident in Montego Bay should give the high flyers food for thought.

The next person to take a fall may not be that lucky.