I’ve read the timeline. I’m not disputing any of it but it’s worth pointing out that I’ve often seen queues snaking round the block. They start the queue at the left hand side of the doors, and people queue all up the street, round the back of the building, back along Astoria Walk and sometimes even out towards Brixton Road and round there. I once saw a queue that came out of Astoria Wall and wrapped around the original queue.
I’ve always been kinda flummoxed when seeing such long queues cos no show I’ve ever attended there has had queues like that. The longest I’ve ever had to queue was along Astoria Walk, and it was brief.
But I’ve never seen a queue thicker than a couple or three of people. Never as thick as described in that timeline, filling the pavement. I’ve only ever seen them hugging the wall with plenty of room on the pavement. When I’ve walked along the queue, just out of curiosity, I’ve been aware that the section were the tour buses and coaches are parked at the back of the building feels oppressive and hemmed in. Tall busses, the big cliff face of the building, standing waiting in a queue, not nice.
I don’t know what makes the difference between what I’ve seen and what was described from that night.
The point is, it’s not one type of crowd that’s made to queue that way. I’ve seen young girls in groups or with their mums, and gaggles of late teens early twenties, largely white. So it seems to be policy of some kind.
So I’d reckon that bit wasn’t racialising. The bit about the security doing gun checks and the dogs, I can’t remember ever seeing that for any gig at the Academy. That bit does sound like racialising.
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