Brixton Crush

[gfa]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64012167

Probably worth making a topic for this following this tragic news.

[a6l6e6x]

Horrific and so sad that someone lost their life from it

[maelzoid]

Dreadfully sad news. I have been to the academy so many times over the years and have many fond memories of it, and it's quite hard to contemplate such a tragedy happening there.

Of course there will be a full investigation that might lead to some safety improvements. Although from what we know so far, it does not look like the academy or anyone working there was at fault. It does feel like an unpredictable and somewhat freak accident. And looking at a few videos online, it's not hard to imagine that this could have been a lot worse in terms of numbers. The Seoul Halloween incident shows just how deadly crowds can be.

That said, considering some of the discussions had here about over-crowding at the festival, I hope that mitigation strategies are being worked on, even before this awful news. 

[Suprefan]

So sad. 
 

would be curious to see if they make it more difficult to even be around the venue if you dont have a ticket. Thats the only thing they can attempt to do so that this has a lower likelihood of happening. Are they going to just have barriers set up in a way that they could check if you have a ticket before you even get into a queue to get in and such.

[WS_Jack_III]

Was supposed to be seeing 2ManyDjs there tonight, knew as soon as I heard the news on Friday of what happened that it'd be postponed. Seeing lots of blame on the venue via twitter, seems somewhat unfair? Mind I've never been there before so don't know if it is indeed dangerous or it was just that far too many people turned up.

[kalifire]

9 minutes ago, WS_Jack_III said:

Was supposed to be seeing 2ManyDjs there tonight, knew as soon as I heard the news on Friday of what happened that it'd be postponed. Seeing lots of blame on the venue via twitter, seems somewhat unfair? Mind I've never been there before so don't know if it is indeed dangerous or it was just that far too many people turned up.

Too many people unexpectedly turning up and trying to force their way in can’t be reasonably levelled at the venue. That’s just shitty human behaviour. It’s on us, if anything.

What it does means is that venues will now have to accommodate shitty human behaviour in their safety regulations, moving forward. 

[lendan]

Tragic news, nobody should lose their lives going to a gig/festival/event. 
will be interesting to understand what went wrong.
Been to Brixton for the prodigy a few times and always felt safe in and around the place. 

[Neil]

1 hour ago, gfa said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-64012167

Probably worth making a topic for this following this tragic news.

tragic - but people have bee n rushing the doors there for 30+ years.

[Gnomicide]

Standard practice when these happen seems to immediately blame ticketless fans forcing their way in. As we've seen before, that could be a factor or it could be bollocks. I'd leave it until more facts are known before pointing any fingers.

[Pinhead]

They have been rushing it a bit for years as Neil says. Cut my teeth at Brixton Academy and Shepherds Bush Empire back in the 90s and there was the odd time then when it felt it could go either way on the doors when something well popular was on...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gigpusher]

Yes I have seen lots of theories online some blaming fans turning up ticketless but others blaming security for letting people in without tickets. Until more is known best not to speculate but a tragic situation for all involved! 

[Ayrshire Chris]

1 hour ago, Gnomicide said:

Standard practice when these happen seems to immediately blame ticketless fans forcing their way in. As we've seen before, that could be a factor or it could be bollocks. I'd leave it until more facts are known before pointing any fingers.

Correct, and any investigation has to be independent and take evidence from all sources. 

[Leyrulion]

2 hours ago, kalifire said:

Too many people unexpectedly turning up and trying to force their way in can’t be reasonably levelled at the venue. That’s just shitty human behaviour. It’s on us, if anything.

What it does means is that venues will now have to accommodate shitty human behaviour in their safety regulations, moving forward. 

It doesn't sound like it was completely unexpected, they put announcements out before specifically asking people not to come if they didn't have a ticket. 

Between them feeling they had to put that announcement out and the event something failed in crowd management.  There needs to be an investigation to work out what if any changes they made knowing the act thought ticket less fans was a strong possibility, were the numbers foreseeable, was what they put in place reasonable.

And obviously, like all of these things, what can be done to improve it next time.

[a6l6e6x]

I’ve seen countless TikTok’s recently of people breaking into gigs and festivals and people making jokes out of it. Feel like the events companies or venues should make an example of someone and charge them

[charlierc]

I'm not gonna speculate on what happened. Just find it sad more than anything that something that should be fun ended up with such tragic consequences.

[gfa]

5 hours ago, Suprefan said:

So sad. 
 

would be curious to see if they make it more difficult to even be around the venue if you dont have a ticket. Thats the only thing they can attempt to do so that this has a lower likelihood of happening. Are they going to just have barriers set up in a way that they could check if you have a ticket before you even get into a queue to get in and such.

Its already like this

[dotdash79]

The main issue the venue has is as soon as you step out of it you are on a council owned pavement. 
 

Any barriers are only temp and aren’t fixed into the ground. 
 

I hope things can be learnt from this. 

[zahidf]

I think rhe obvious thing would be someone going in the queue to see if people have tickets. If they don't, they can't stay in the queue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[gfa]

1 hour ago, dotdash79 said:

The main issue the venue has is as soon as you step out of it you are on a council owned pavement. 
 

Any barriers are only temp and aren’t fixed into the ground. 
 

I hope things can be learnt from this. 

Definitely - the barriers are useless at stopping a crowd like this

41 minutes ago, zahidf said:

I think rhe obvious thing would be someone going in the queue to see if people have tickets. If they don't, they can't stay in the queue.

Its 20-30m max from where they check the tickets to the doors / search area, wouldn't make a difference

[Zoo Music Girl]

Such sad news. I've been to that venue more times than I can count and never seen anything approaching a situation like this, but hopefully the investigation will shed some light. There's always been a lot of security, especially since the Bataclan, so struggling to imagine how it happened. How terrifying for all involved, though, and tragic for the family of the woman who died.

[stuie]

After hearing this on the radio news yesterday, I couldn’t even imagine how this was possible at the venue until I saw the videos. I’m sure there’s a case for more permanent railing fixings or some kind of change but I don’t think this is the fault of the venue or the artist. 

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

5 minutes ago, stuie said:

After hearing this on the radio news yesterday, I couldn’t even imagine how this was possible at the venue until I saw the videos. I’m sure there’s a case for more permanent railing fixings or some kind of change but I don’t think this is the fault of the venue or the artist. 

I'm not sure how permanent railings would be suitable in the event of an emergency evacuation. It's a difficult one. Here we are again, having to find the solution to a problem created by anti-social behaviour. 

[Franky]

Sad news. 
 

I was there to watch Prodigy (amazing) in the summer. 
 

have to say I felt very safe but then am used to big crowds but you could move around the venue inside easily enough. 

[Maurice Mecca]

It is of course tragic. I’ve been to Brixton Academy scores of times as well as many other venues in London and I would say the potential for situations like this is possible at every single one of them.  I am not sure you can completely make any venue 100% safe. Same with sports arenas, Boxing Day sales openings at large stores etc. 

[danbailey80]

I've been to Brixton Academy about 20 times and always felt completely safe.

That said, I've not been to a gig when 100s of people turn up without tickets and try to get in. 

If you turned up that night without a ticket with the intention to somehow push your way then you have no right to pass the blame elsewhere.