I would ask why would they do it, period! Don't they have enough experience with this stuff to know how much clearance is needed to safely operate it? Is there a report that anyone in the band or associated with the band has stepped to say "oh yeah, we told them it was too dangerous, we better not do that here"?
I can appreciate their grief that they lost a band member but deplore their running away from accepting any responsibility for their own actions. That joint was a tinderbox waiting to go up, but guess what? Great White lit the ?#$%& match!