Asake concert disaster at Brixton Academy

[diggedy derek]

I think this deserves its own thread now, as the news coming out following the crush at an Asake concert last Friday is very serious. Two people, Rebecca Ikumelo and Gabrielle Hutchinson, a concert-goer and a security contractor, have now died, and an investigation is ongoing.

As yet, it's very unclear what happened, and there seems no solid evidence, as police have said, that there were large amounts of fans without tickets, and from experience with sports events such claims should be treated with a degree of scepticism. As a piece in The Guardian noted, it was sub zero temperatures in London, which is not weather that makes it likely for people to go down without making arrangements to get in.

The venue has been criticised before for perceived overcrowding, and there appears to have been both very heavy policing/security at points, but other than that there is little clarity about what exactly happened.

The latest: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...-concert-crush

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Yes difficult to comment without knowing the facts, and obviously there is a lot of hearsay and finger pointing already.

There is a big debate going on on the festivals forum I'm on around this and again people are keen to come in from their own angles on this.

Coincidentally today saw the announcement of the so-called "Martyn's Law" which in short will put tighter regulations on venues which is another debate in itself.

For all the gigs and festivals I've gone to I'd say this scale of problem is very rare, but when it happens is obviously horrendous for all concerned and I've had near misses that were seconds away from turning into major news stories (T in the Park, I'm looking at you for a start). It's certainly not confined to one venue or one artist's fanbase (two of the aforementioned angles in this case).

But for now the main (if obvious) thing to say is that no one should be going to a gig (as an attendee or worker) and not making it back alive, and the stories coming out now are heartbreaking.

[Patrick Thistle]

I went to a gig at the O2 Academy in Bristol that was scarily overcrowded. I'm sure there were far more people in there than there should have been. Tbh hearing this news and it was "the Academy chain" made me think of that gig.

Awful situation and exactly what WFD said.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

I went to a gig at the O2 Academy in Bristol that was scarily overcrowded. I'm sure there were far more people in there than there should have been. Tbh hearing this news and it was "the Academy chain" made me think of that gig.

Again trying not to single out particular venues but we go to O2 Academy Glasgow regularly but one recent gig in particular seemed unusually crowded. The Academy venues aren't identical of course, but a lot of them are converted theatres and that has issues in itself around the distribution of the crowd so even if it is a correct sized capacity crowd it can still lead to overcrowding in specific areas. Which again (and adding Martyn's Law into the equation) I can see will lead to venues having their capacities reduced and/or artists tending to use bigger venues instead.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

There was a licensing meeting this morning at Lambeth Council and Brixton Academy have voluntarily agreed to remain closed until January pending a full licensing review. When I say "voluntarily", that would have been the likely outcome anyway. I expect it will remain closed for some time after January, because the actions that come out of the review won't be able to be resolved overnight.

[ursus arctos]

An updated explainer from the Grauniad, which indicates that a lot went wrong

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...don-brixton-o2

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

This points towards what I was getting at earlier, that more gigs will get moved to bigger venues which have room around them to better deal with crowds and enhanced entry infrastructure. In the case of London it'll mean more gigs going to places like Alexandra Palace, the O2 Arena and Wembley Arena, all of which have space around them that they are able to utilise. Inner city venues like the O2s in Brixton and Kentish Town aren't able to put significant additional entry measures in place given their locations and surroundings.

[colchestersid]

One of the issues here (again) is the half arsed way venues check mobile tickets. These are easily shared and, when it gets crowded, security staff stop checking them

In a very different context we went to the panto in Colchester last night - when our mobile ticket should have been scanned at the door the staff just waved us through. Now I doubt there will be an issue with jibbers for Beauty and the Beast but you see this all the time now at football, gigs and festivals

[Patrick Thistle]

An updated explainer from the Grauniad, which indicates that a lot went wrong

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...don-brixton-o2

There's some serious claims in that article, notably that security staff can be bribed to let people in.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

One of the issues here (again) is the half arsed way venues check mobile tickets. These are easily shared and, when it gets crowded, security staff stop checking them

In a very different context we went to the panto in Colchester last night - when our mobile ticket should have been scanned at the door the staff just waved us through. Now I doubt there will be an issue with jibbers for Beauty and the Beast but you see this all the time now at football, gigs and festivals

I'd say that all of the music venues I tend to go to are diligent on this, but as another example Carlisle United had problems with their scanners last season for a few games and were just pretty much waving people through. Again, an example where overcrowding would be unlikely to ensue however.

[elguapo4]

My last two indoor gigs before lockdown were the Skatelites in the Button Factory and Fontaines DC in Vicar Street in Dublin. The former was packed but tolerable, the latter was scarily overcrowded. I was standing at the back wall and people were still trying to push past. I was stone cold sober ( thankfully) and I don't remember a minute of that gig, I just wanted to get out.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Brixton Academy security guards regularly 'took bribes' - BBC News

Meanwhile their licence has been suspended for a further three months and most of their bookings are being moved to the Hammersmith Apollo. Could see it being closed for a lot longer.

[diggedy derek]

They're not being very proactive about sorting out gigs. Some of the gigs are still scheduled to be at the Academy, but they've neither refunded tickets nor rescheduled them.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

The hearing on re-opening Brixton Academy has taken place, with a decision still to come, with the Met saying that they would prefer AMG not to be the licensee. I'll hazard a guess that the outcome will be that they get to re-open with a lot of conditions attached on making physical and procedural changes at the venue first, and then operate it on a probationary period.

[Walt Flanagans Dog]

Brixton Academy re-opening on 19 April, initially with tribute band shows.