General Chat

[AlwaysAVFC]

18 minutes ago, Seat68 said:

Vague on details but I was at a Reading festival one year where there was barrier problems whilst System of a Down were on. There were problems with the barrier all weekend but I think it collapsed whilst they were playing. 

 

Edit. Internet said it was Leeds festival, not one to argue with the internet but thought it was Reading as I favoured that festival at that period. 

Things have changed a bit over time. I  remember Dave Grohl being very wary of what was going on in the crowd at Reading in 2000 but this was on part because of Roskilde earlier that year. 

Reading didn't have a barrier other than the front, then added one further back and may now have a split in the middle too? I can't remember and not been for several years. For some events this is now also used to rip off fans and charge more. 

I think they are very hot on crowd control and security, risk assessments and such like in the UK but I imagine there is still some risk. 

[Seat68]

Pictures I have say I was at Leeds. Prior to the barrier collapsing for SOAD I was in one of the tents on the Thursday or Friday and a barrier collapsed in there as well. Scary times. 

[Genie]

4 minutes ago, AlwaysAVFC said:

Things have changed a bit over time. I  remember Dave Grohl being very wary of what was going on in the crowd at Reading in 2000 but this was on part because of Roskilde earlier that year. 

The Oasis gig I mentioned would have been about 2001 I think.

Noel was very aware and asked several times for people to take it easy, take a step back, pick someone up if you seen them fall.

I remember Liam saying something along the lines of “ignore him he doesn’t want you to have fun”. Always been a prick.

[Wainy316]

41 minutes ago, Seat68 said:

Vague on details but I was at a Reading festival one year where there was barrier problems whilst System of a Down were on. There were problems with the barrier all weekend but I think it collapsed whilst they were playing. 

 

Edit. Internet said it was Leeds festival, not one to argue with the internet but thought it was Reading as I favoured that festival at that period. 

Yep, pretty sure that was 2003.  I was a Reading at the time and remember hearing about it with them due to play at Reading two days later.

[chrisp65]

I don’t tend to go to gigs with enough people to manage a crush.

But I have been spooked a couple of times at Brixton Academy with its sloping floor that encourages a perpetual move forward. I know there are barriers, but all the same, 20, 30, 40 people behind you and moving downhill, that can feel uncomfortable.

 

[KentVillan]

Only been in one crush at a festival, and it was very, very scary. Kids crying and having to be lifted out, and then more (drunk) people coming in from one side and deliberately pushing people (in fairness to them, doubt they had any idea what they were doing). Thankfully it sorted itself out, but it's a very scary experience because there really isn't a lot you can do other than shout to people to back away.

[mjmooney]

Probably done this story before, but hey... scariest experience like that I ever had was overnight queueing for Bob Dylan Earl's Court tickets in 1978. Other than the 1970 IoW festival, they were his first UK gigs since 1966, demand was huge, and Austicks' bookshop in central Leeds was the only ticket outlet in the north of England, so the queue wound round several blocks. When the doors opened in the early morning, the crowd began to press forward, and at one point I was being crushed up against a large plate glass window. It was visibly bowing inward, and audibly creaking. If it had broken I would probably have been sliced in half. I was screaming frantically at people to stop pushing, and fortunately a policeman came along and got them to move back, to my immense relief. 

I didn't even get tickets in the end, but that's another story. 

[tonyh29]

1 hour ago, Genie said:

The awful scenes at the rap concert in America where 8 people were crushed did make me think back to Hillsborough. 

Concerts are setup in a very similar way to that which is now banned in football. If there is a surge then those near the front are in big trouble and can’t get out. 

I’ve been to a few big gigs and at the front been crushed against the barriers. Fortunately it’s been only a few seconds before it’s eased.

I also remember seeing several people pulled out of the crowd unconscious at an Oasis gig in Manchester.

 

not a gig , but i went to an England one day cricket match in Delhi  and essentially everyone in the ground was herded out through one big long walled in passage way  .. if you've ever been to India you'll kinda know that they don't really do waiting so it just tended to be people from the rear  joining this surge of people and pushing  and pushing

coupled with it being 40 degrees it was the worse experience I've ever had ,  you  were sweating , squashed , struggling to breathe and almost felt like you were going to pass out   ..I think if one person had fallen it would have been curtains for hundreds of people as the people pushing through from the rear would have meant a domino effect  ....

There was a point where the wall was a bit lower , all be it covered with barbed wire , that getting cut to pieces was the more viable option so we joined a few locals  , pulled ourselves up and waited it out 

 

 

[Designer1]

22 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

Probably done this story before, but hey... scariest experience like that I ever had was overnight queueing for Bob Dylan Earl's Court tickets in 1978. Other than the 1970 IoW festival, they were his first UK gigs since 1966, demand was huge, and Austicks' bookshop in central Leeds was the only ticket outlet in the north of England, so the queue wound round several blocks. When the doors opened in the early morning, the crowd began to press forward, and at one point I was being crushed up against a large plate glass window. It was visibly bowing inward, and audibly creaking. If it had broken I would probably have been sliced in half. I was screaming frantically at people to stop pushing, and fortunately a policeman came along and got them to move back, to my immense relief. 

I didn't even get tickets in the end, but that's another story. 

Well down every street there's a window and every window is made of glass.

[villa4europe]

My wife was at love parade Duisburg in 2010, shes described it to me a few times, sounds horrible, not just the crush itself but the panic and not knowing exactly what was causing it in the first place and then not knowing where anyone was 

[tonyh29]

there was a midweek Villa game at Upton park ( I'm going to say not long after Hillsborough  , but my memory could be playing tricks ) where the crush was so bad  the police eventually opened the gate at the front we all had to spill out onto the pitch  ..anyone else remember it ?

[hogso]

My worst crush experience wasn't at a gig, it was at school. It was this thing called a 'pile-on'. Basically, someone falls over (may be accidentally, may be forced upon them) and then someone nearby (who doesn't participate in the pile-on, usually) shouts pile-on, and folk start to, well, pile on top of the victim. 

Regrettably I was at the bottom of a pile of stinking teenagers and actually felt like I was going to die, right then and there.

I tried screaming for help, the only replies these desperate cries were met with were jeers, and laughter. 

When I was released, I was told no one had ever seen such a massive pile-on, and it was probably some sort of record. Even Fat George, acknowledged as the largest lad in the year, joined in. 

Anyway, I survived. 

A couple of weeks later we got a lad in to a grit bin and sat on top of it so he couldn't get out. Oh how I laughed. I knew he'd been involved in the pile-on, and this felt like vengeance to me. When he came out he was crying. 

Kids are cruel, I guess. 

[mjmooney]

14 minutes ago, Designer1 said:

Well down every street there's a window and every window is made of glass.

Your point being? 

[Mark Albrighton]

4 minutes ago, hogso said:

When I was released, I was told no one had ever seen such a massive pile-on, and it was probably some sort of record. Even Fat George, acknowledged as the largest lad in the year, joined in. 

I don’t know if you were going for “rueful pride”, but this paragraph is one of, if not the best example I’ve seen.

I can’t help but wonder whether Fat George felt a sense of obligation to be involved. Like it was his calling.

[Designer1]

3 minutes ago, mjmooney said:

Your point being? 

Mike, I am disappoint.

 

[mjmooney]

10 minutes ago, Designer1 said:

Mike, I am disappoint.

 

Haha, busted! In my defence, context threw me. 

[KentVillan]

37 minutes ago, hogso said:

My worst crush experience wasn't at a gig, it was at school. It was this thing called a 'pile-on'. Basically, someone falls over (may be accidentally, may be forced upon them) and then someone nearby (who doesn't participate in the pile-on, usually) shouts pile-on, and folk start to, well, pile on top of the victim. 

Regrettably I was at the bottom of a pile of stinking teenagers and actually felt like I was going to die, right then and there.

I tried screaming for help, the only replies these desperate cries were met with were jeers, and laughter. 

When I was released, I was told no one had ever seen such a massive pile-on, and it was probably some sort of record. Even Fat George, acknowledged as the largest lad in the year, joined in. 

Anyway, I survived. 

A couple of weeks later we got a lad in to a grit bin and sat on top of it so he couldn't get out. Oh how I laughed. I knew he'd been involved in the pile-on, and this felt like vengeance to me. When he came out he was crying. 

Kids are cruel, I guess. 

This is Booker Prize material.

[Seat68]

Ramones gig. 16 years old. First ever gig and it was a punk gig. Chuckles here thought the best place for me would be the front of a punk gig. I figuratively shit my pants. I had obviously never experienced a crush like it. 

[AVFC_Hitz]

Libertines at the academy for me around 2003. The middle of the crowd sank in like some sort of sinkhole. I had my arm outstretched and the knuckle of my thumb was in a girls eye socket and I couldn't physically move my arm or hand.

She was screaming. I was screaming. 

One of the best gigs I've ever been to. 

[tonyh29]

1 hour ago, Seat68 said:

Ramones gig. 16 years old. First ever gig and it was a punk gig. Chuckles here thought the best place for me would be the front of a punk gig. I figuratively shit my pants. I had obviously never experienced a crush like it. 

was it a crush at the queue to  buy T-shirts