This is not the blog post I had wanted to write. I had long
been looking forward to the Bring Me The Horizon (BMTH) concert and wanting to write about a fantastic
gig by one of the world's best metal bands.
But instead I am having to write about a total disaster
that caused the second-day gig to be cancelled after the first-day gig ended prematurely.
First of all, let me say I really like BMTH. There are few
bands which can match their sheer emotional velocity in the rock world. To
bring metal and even aspects of metalcore to a much wider audience by incorporating
pop sounds into really well-written songs is pure genius.
Live they would be magnificent. Or so I had hoped to see
myself.
A lot has appeared in the media about what happened in the
first day gig and why it ended prematurely.
But let’s be truthful here: this was a shambolically organized
gig. An absolute disgrace and we can only be grateful that a tragedy was
averted.
The problems
To avoid writing a ridiculously long post, I am just going
to list all the failings here in point form:
1. Bad choice of venue. The gig was held at Beach City
International Stadium, a failed shopping mall on the outskirts of Jakarta.
Why here??? To make things worse, access to the venue was difficult. BMTH
are huge and they are to play in a dump like this? WHY?
2. Too hot. The
venue had insufficient ventilation and got very hot in the first gig. Some visitors
even fainted. Inexcusably, medical staff complained that they were unable to
gain access and provide treatment as the venue was too full.
3. Smoking allowed. Scorching temperatures and heavy smoke
do not make for a pleasant experience. Also imagine the fire risk. Absolutely
crazy.
4. Lack of security. There were long queues to get in. People complained of
being stamped on. Sexual harassment reports as well. During the first-day gig, fans clambered up on to the stage and no action was taken
against rowdy fans. WHERE WAS THE SECURITY? Well, I spoke to a ***** and he told
me that the gig organizers hadn’t given them permission to safeguard the gig.
To save money perhaps? Go figure…
5. Dangerous set-up
This is what the lead singer of BMTH, ollie said:
"While we were performing last night (November 10), we
got pulled off after one of our songs due to concerns from our crew and some of
the local crew that the staging, the trust, basically a lot of the venue was
structurally unsound."
“It was bouncing so much that a lot of the video monitors,
speakers, basically everything was bouncing at a really concerning amount and
there were serious concerns that something would happen. The structure could’ve
fallen and hurt people or worse, so we had no choice but to cancel the
show."
Holy shit!!! So the promoter basically put people's lives
on the line! Where was the due diligence? They had two months to prepare for
this. What a disgrace.
So thankfully, I am writing about a disaster and not a
tragedy.
Some BMTH fans expressed hopes that the band might come
back to Indonesia in the future. But I’m not sure after this debacle. After
all, would you?
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