Jessica Michalik


Jessica Anna Michalik was an Australian teenage girl from Sydney, born to Polish immigrants, who died as a result of asphyxiation five days after being crushed in a mosh pit during the 2001 Big Day Out music festival during a performance by headlining act Limp Bizkit.

Incident

The Coroner's Court of New South Wales findings into her death criticized the crowd control measures in use at the time, and also criticized Limp Bizkit lead singer Fred Durst for "alarming and inflammatory" comments during the rescue effort. Michalik's family and her best friend Liza Ryan have maintained that it was a series of factors that contributed to Michalik's death and no one party was to blame.
The band At the Drive-In had taken exception to the vigorous moshing during their performance earlier that day. Their lead singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala, at the conclusion of their song Cosmonaut, addressed the crowd saying "I think it's a very very sad day when the only way you can express yourself is through slamdancing" then after pointing at an audience member crowd surfing saying "look at that... you didn't learn that from your best friend! You learned that from the TV!," and finally stating to the crowd "You're a robot, you're a sheep" before bleating at them several times and leaving the stage around 10 minutes into their set.
The band Grinspoon, Michalik's favourite, performed at her funeral, and a "minute of noise" tribute has been observed at subsequent Big Day Out festivals. Limp Bizkit paid tribute to Michalik during their Soundwave 2012 performances which included performing under a banner with Jessica's name on it during the Brisbane leg.