Fatalities and critical injuries at Asake concert crush at the Brixton Academy
- Thread starter DietCokeGirl
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hiraethified
AFAIK, there has been no evidence offered yet about the amount of 'fake tickets' that were in circulation, so it could be a few or it could be hundreds.
spitfire
Walty McWaltface
Most concert venues below stadium size have little or no control beyond the pavement directly outside, most venues don't even have official control over the pavement, only to the front door. In fact back in my days on the door at Mass we were told that anything happening beyond the front door was to be intervened in only at our own risk (legal and physical) and the venue insurance would not cover anybody beyond that point.
To stop this sort of thing happening at the Academy they would need a ticket filtration system set up, probably somewhere near the Beehive and the Stockwell end of the skatepark, effectively closing off large parts of central Brixton.
There is very little they can do in the event of a large crowd of people gathering and deciding to rush the doors.
Maybe it could have been handled better or more quickly on the night, sure we will find out, but a "crowd control system" for this would be very difficult in Brixton.
To stop this sort of thing happening at the Academy they would need a ticket filtration system set up, probably somewhere near the Beehive and the Stockwell end of the skatepark, effectively closing off large parts of central Brixton.
There is very little they can do in the event of a large crowd of people gathering and deciding to rush the doors.
Maybe it could have been handled better or more quickly on the night, sure we will find out, but a "crowd control system" for this would be very difficult in Brixton.
CH1
"Red Guard"(NLYL)
Don't remember that - but I remember a moral panic concerning the Beastie Boys, which seemed to pass off peacefully.
Maybe the Beasties were before this?
2ManyDJs postpone Brixton gig following Asake crowd crush
The Belgian duo said it was with ‘pain in their hearts’ to call off the show after eight people were taken to hospital following a crowd surge at the venue on Thursday
www.standard.co.uk
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ddraig
kicking against the pricks...
amazing read, thanks
The science of crowds is quite interesting
riskfrontiers.com
Behaviour and Mechanics of Crowd Crush Disasters - RISK FRONTIERS
Understand the Behaviour and Mechanics of Crowd Crush Disasters and the likelihood of the risk for mass events.
riskfrontiers.com
CH1
"Red Guard"(NLYL)
Cllr Mahamed Hashi was on the BBC1 local news at 6.30 pm.
He said "the community has been through much worse" - I think I'm quoting correctly.
I would have thought he should have been saying that the council - as the licensing authority - will be examining the systems in place for an event which was the culmination of 3 sell-out shows. It must cross their minds that dealing with 10,000 fans in a built up area with heavy traffic at all times has risks.
They've has other events like this recently - eg The Prodigy - 3 nights in July. Sigur Ros was on 10th/11th November - and massively busy.
I appreciate O2 Academies have had lean times due to covid, but they need to review their policy of packing them in in the Brixron venue.
Mohamad Hashi on again on Channel 4 News, with Solomon Smith. Solomon blaming ticket re-sellers.
Has he got a point? I assume if you got an online ticket it would be possible to resell multiple copies.
On the other hand why was there no trouble on 13th and 14th December?
Is Lambeth Licensing capable of mounting an enquiry?
Answers please to: licensing@lambeth.gov.uk
He said "the community has been through much worse" - I think I'm quoting correctly.
I would have thought he should have been saying that the council - as the licensing authority - will be examining the systems in place for an event which was the culmination of 3 sell-out shows. It must cross their minds that dealing with 10,000 fans in a built up area with heavy traffic at all times has risks.
They've has other events like this recently - eg The Prodigy - 3 nights in July. Sigur Ros was on 10th/11th November - and massively busy.
I appreciate O2 Academies have had lean times due to covid, but they need to review their policy of packing them in in the Brixron venue.
Mohamad Hashi on again on Channel 4 News, with Solomon Smith. Solomon blaming ticket re-sellers.
Has he got a point? I assume if you got an online ticket it would be possible to resell multiple copies.
On the other hand why was there no trouble on 13th and 14th December?
Is Lambeth Licensing capable of mounting an enquiry?
Answers please to: licensing@lambeth.gov.uk
thebackrow
Considerably more Brixton.
LCD Soundsystem did a week long, sold out, residency at the start of July. I went on the last night and it was no different to any other sold out gig I’ve been to there - the queue was right down the side and back towards the skatepark. No issues.
The tightest crowd is getting out through the doors at the end. Pre Covid most gigs sold out long before the night - a capacity crowd there is not an issue in itself.
I had tickets to 2ManyDjs and just had to message a friend who’s travelling over from Dublin for the weekend…
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thebackrow
Considerably more Brixton.
Crispy
The following psytrance is baṉned: All
Yep, beyond a certain density of people, individual behaviour no longer has any bearing and the crowd basically acts as a fluid. Literal shockwaves can propagate through the crowd and can reflect and refract just like waves in air or water. The experience on the ground is as if everyone around you suddenly decided to move in the same direction. If you happen to be in the wrong place, where the waves are concentrated, then there's nothing you or the people around you can do. The science of preventing crowding injuries is all about keeping crowd density under that threshold. Once you've breached it, personal responsibility and morality take a hike, and cold physics takes over.The science of crowds is quite interesting
Behaviour and Mechanics of Crowd Crush Disasters - RISK FRONTIERS
Understand the Behaviour and Mechanics of Crowd Crush Disasters and the likelihood of the risk for mass events.
twistedAM
Left Of The Dial
Again I have no hard evidence but saw a post from someone who works in that sector of the industry point a finger at a certain ticket reselling website whose checking procedure is not the best.
Ticket reselling at a price above that set by the promoter needs to be illegal. It’s that simple.
If you know that unless you’ve bought your ticket through the advertised channels, and they can’t charge more than the published amount, then you won’t get in, it will make things so much better for everyone.
Fuck knows how to do that but the likes of ticketmaster has been charging billions for decades. It shouldn’t be beyond them. They can invent something. Make it the law and they’ll find a way.
To play devil’s advocate for those who came down without tickets, if £40 tickets were impossible to get on the day of sale and, immediately as they went on sale, £120 tickets were everywhere, you can understand why someone might say “fuck that, I'm going down anyway”
This is all just a culmination of being ripped off for tickets for years.
Winot
I wholeheartedley agree with your viewpoint
Effective measures to stop reselling already exists. It requires checking photo ID on the door. Presumably not very popular with venues.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
You've not worked at a music venue have you?
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
When you say punter, is that person with a ticket or person trying to bundle his way in, even though from outside they're in no position to judge crowd conditions inside the venue?
I assumed you'd not worked in a venue because you clearly think capacity rules aren't important. If you do know how venues operate and you still don't give a shit about crowd safety then that's worse, not better.
SpookyFrank
A cheap source of teeth for aquarium gravel
Tldr: coming on a thread like this to bleat about how you like to try and get into venues for free is a cunt's trick.
thebackrow
Considerably more Brixton.
A couple of gigs I've been to in the last month or two had digital tickets/barcodes that were only issued a few hours before the event (presumably to minimise copying etc). Tickets had my name on them, transfers to other people had to be done some time before.
I've not had a physical paper ticket in years. Yes, you could screenshot a barcode and WhatsApp it to someone else (and I guess that would work) but theres are loads of ways as a punter of being certain you've got a valid ticket (and for venues/promotors to minimise chances of people being scammed)
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Because it is an additional cost to run checks. Plus I have read that some promoters sell tickets as touts as well.
Make it a condition of licensing that a certain % of tickets need to be checked, and refuse entry to those who are found not to be the correct person, people won't be confident in buying off touts and it will dry up.
If the promoter / venue / ticket company isn't doing the checks then refuse them a licence.
Call me old fashioned but I wouldn’t even turn up to an event if I didn’t have a ticket. Because hanging around in abject disappointment in minus degrees isn’t my idea of a fun night.
Spandex
A crazy bulbous punchbag of sound
I think the biggest cause of this was the promoters underestimating the popularity of Asake. Afrobeats is a huge global phenomenon, Asake one of the biggest stars at the moment, a rising global superstar. His shows are a spectacle - he's bought a goat on stage, he's handed out cash to the audience, he's in his prime as a performer, his album from this year has been turning up on album of the year lists. The Acadamy sold out three nights in minutes. He could've probably filled a venue like Wembley Arena or the O2. This was the last chance to see him at this point in his career in a venue the size of the Academy.
Sure, the Academy has sold out before, but once tickets are sold out there's no way of knowing how many people still want to go or how desperate they are to go. LCD Soundsystem selling out the Academy is an order of magnitude below Asake's current popularity. This is why some fans were predicting crowds before the event.
According to some BBC coverage I saw someone tweeted early in the evening that it was quiet outside. If people are desperate to go that's clear an invitation to go down on the off chance you can get in. Just because an event has sold out doesn't mean the venue is full. You often don't know how full a place is til you get inside. Soon thousands of people gathered and the crush formed. Once a big crowd has formed individual actions don't much count. Did a handful of people act like arseholes? Naturally. We're they the cause of the crush? No.
Could this have been forseen when the show was booked? Possibly not. Should crowd control outside the Acadamy have been put in place beforehand? In retrospect, definitely. The question is, how predictable to the authorities was this, as opposed to a handful of fans who are really engaged with Asake. Should they, could they have known this would happen and acted on it?
Sure, the Academy has sold out before, but once tickets are sold out there's no way of knowing how many people still want to go or how desperate they are to go. LCD Soundsystem selling out the Academy is an order of magnitude below Asake's current popularity. This is why some fans were predicting crowds before the event.
According to some BBC coverage I saw someone tweeted early in the evening that it was quiet outside. If people are desperate to go that's clear an invitation to go down on the off chance you can get in. Just because an event has sold out doesn't mean the venue is full. You often don't know how full a place is til you get inside. Soon thousands of people gathered and the crush formed. Once a big crowd has formed individual actions don't much count. Did a handful of people act like arseholes? Naturally. We're they the cause of the crush? No.
Could this have been forseen when the show was booked? Possibly not. Should crowd control outside the Acadamy have been put in place beforehand? In retrospect, definitely. The question is, how predictable to the authorities was this, as opposed to a handful of fans who are really engaged with Asake. Should they, could they have known this would happen and acted on it?
Winot
I wholeheartedley agree with your viewpoint
There wasn’t a huge rush of people wanting to see them then?
A380
How do I change this 'custom title' thing then?
Last couple of big sporting events I've been to (Rugby Internationals) You get a dynamic (I,e, it changes every couple of seconds) QR code about 24 hours before.
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