Jessica Michalik

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Jessica Anna Michalik

Born	7 January, 1985 Manly - Sydney
Died	January 26, 2001 (aged 16) Sydney
Education	Cromer High
Occupation	Year 11, Student
Children	none
Parents	George & Barbara

Jessica Anna Michalik (7 January 1985 - 26 January 2001 in Concord, New South Wales) was an Australian teenage girl from Dee Why in Sydney who died of asphyxiation five days after being crushed in a mosh pit during the 2001 Big Day Out music festival during a performance by nu metal band Limp Bizkit.

[edit] 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 criticised Limp Bizkit lead singer Fred Durst for "alarming and inflammatory" comments during the rescue effort.

Somewhat prophetically, 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 cosmanaut 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", then baa'ed at them before leaving the stage around 10 minutes into their set.^[1] The band Grinspoon performed at Jessica's funeral, and moments of silence have been held at subsequent Big Day Out festivals. Performers at the Big Day Out observe the "minute of noise" each year to honour her memory.