A Steve Lacy concert has left fans feeling traumatised after they experienced a “stampede“ to enter the venue.
The sold-out concert took place at the John Cain Arena in Melbourne on Tuesday 22 November.
According to fans and videos on social media, there was a huge surge of people rushing to enter the gig after doors were opened at 7pm.
Lacy is currently on the Australian leg of his world tour of his recent album, Gemini Rights.
The event was originally taking place at the Forum but was moved to a bigger venue given the high demand. Fans had been queuing for hours prior to the gig starting.
“Steve lacy melbourne didn’t even feel like a concert it felt like a panic attack,” tweeted one fan after the gig.
“The worst organised concert I’ve ever been to, I almost fainted, I swear to god. Someone literally could’ve died just trying to get in the arena,” said another concert goer.
Apparently the issues came after ticket holders were emailed by Ticketek on 17 November, informing them that all tickets were now general admission.
This meant that in order to access the floor, they had to obtain a wristband, which was on a first come, first served basis – seemingly causing the early queuing and sudden rush.
According to outlet The Age, some ticket holders forged wristbands to gain access.
“A stampede at a Steve Lacy concert is not how I want to die,” wrote one attendee.
“The Melbourne Steve lacy concert was the most poorly organised event I have ever been to, wtf John Cain arena, luckily Steve is a g and the concert was elite!,” wrote another attendee on Twitter.
According to attendees, Lacy made several attempts to manage the crowd during his performance, halting the gig as many as five times to encourage the audience to step back.
Sydney Morning Herald reported that an ambulance was called 20 minutes after the venue opened, but was cancelled after no injuries were reported.
“Our venue management team had a detailed plan in place to manage ingress into the venue,” John Cain Arena and promoter Frontier Touring said in a joint statement in response to the Herald on 23 November.
“Unfortunately, once doors were open, a number of guests towards the back of the queue pushed forward, creating crowding near the entry,” they added.
“No injuries relating to crowding were reported,” they wrote, adding that they would review their ingress process to ensure a “safe and enjoyable experience for all”.
