Limp Bizkit pledge for fire victims

Limp Bizkit pledge for fire victims

Durst has appealed for ideas

Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst is organising a fundraising event for the victims of a nightclub fire that killed 96 people.

The singer, whose own band was at the centre of a 2001 concert stampede that left one fan dead, said he was "horrified" when he heard about the fire at a Great White show in Rhode Island.

Great White guitarist Ty Longley was among those who died in the fire. About 80 survivors remain hospitalised, many in a critical condition.

"This really has got to me," said Durst in a message on the band's website, limpbizkit.com.

"I am so sad. It hurts me to think of it," he added. "I can't bear to think that I won't try to make a difference this time."

I love music and I love going to concerts

Fred Durst

An Australian coroner criticised Durst last November for failing to halt his band's set at the Big Day Out festival in Sydney two years ago.

Fans surged forward, triggering the heart attack death of a 15-year-old girl.

The band was eventually cleared of any criminal wrongdoing.

"It is so important to make any concert a safe place for fans to be," said Durst, who revealed he is still haunted by what happened in Sydney.

Hurting

Durst, one of the few artists to make an anti-war statement at the recentGrammy Awards, said "it feels right" to get involved in helping victims of the Rhode Island fire.

"I love music and I love going to concerts," he said.

"That could have been any of us.

"Fortunately it wasn't and we can come together to help not only raise awareness to prevent anything like this again, but to help the people who are sincerely hurting from their loss."

Durst has asked fans to call a telephone number to contribute ideas on how they can get involved.

Investigations into the fire are continuing.

Great White said they had permission to use the special effects that caused the fire, a claim disputed by the club's owners.