At almost all major Indian concerts lately, there comes a time when there is just enough music left in the background to make way for some kind of chaos.
The latest proof of this occurred at one such event, the recent Yo Yo Honey Singh concert in Mumbai. This concert should’ve been an event about nostalgia, hit tracks, and a crowd singing Brown Rang at the top of their lungs. However, instead of talking about how they were going to have such an amazing experience with such a talented performer, people are talking about the woman who caused a riot after attempting to scale a locked gate and then arguing with security for getting in her way to prevent her from doing so.
It’s dramatic, yes. But more importantly, it’s telling.
Because this isn’t an isolated incident anymore.
When fandom turns into frenzy
The first thing we need to assume is that concerts have many emotional elements to them. Some fans spend years waiting to see an artist they love; however, while waiting for that artist, they are usually experiencing a variety of emotions, such as excitement, anticipation, nostalgia, adrenaline, and various types of urgency (e.g., getting to the front row). It sounds like the same thing happened to the woman who created the disturbance at this concert.
Reports indicate that this fan tried climbing over a locked gate in an effort to get into the concert after having been denied entry, and then began a heated verbal conversation with security personnel because they had told her to stop climbing over the gate.
While I can understand that creating memes and social media content are what everyone does and that the artist even referred to her as a “Sherni”, I still think that we owe it to ourselves (as concert attendees) to ask ourselves the bigger question: -Why do we allow ourselves to get into these types of situations!?
The bigger problem isn’t the fan
Although it may be tempting to point fingers at a single uncontrolled fan, the reality is that many issues seem to exist. Enormous numbers of people; a lack of clear entrance and exit points; a significant period before a lot of people can make an entrance to an event; inadequate coordination among different parts of the venue; and multiple attendees have indicated some form of crowd mismanagement are all present in this situation.
India’s thriving concert culture is largely a byproduct of the massive amount of global touring, the number of nostalgia acts, and the influence of social media. At this time, India’s infrastructure is still catching up with the demand for concerts.
We’d like to see our concerts structured and organized like Coachella, yet we still don’t have a solid system for managing an audience. As it turns out, this is not an isolated incident.
This isn’t the first time
Recently, there has been another incident involving Honey Singh (in another city) that involves a fight (and once again is going viral on the internet). This behavior does not seem to be limited to a particular artist, but is becoming a very common occurrence throughout the Indian music industry.
Whether at EDM festivals or Bollywood concerts, fans are being subjected to the same problems: oversized crowds, insufficient ways to manage the crowd, and being placed in a position to navigate the resulting chaos.
Are we ready? Not quite
India clearly has the demand to create a concert culture, as evidenced by the turnout of fans, the success of major artists, and the growing amount of energy and loyalty among Indian fans.
But being ready for concerts isn’t just about selling tickets.
It’s about:
- Trained security who can de-escalate situations, not provoke
- Crowd movement systems that are very clearly defined
- And lastly, a thorough understanding of audience awareness
Because let’s be honest – climbing over barricades to get to the front is an act of passion; however, this begs the question: Is it an act of passion, or is it a risk?
The uncomfortable truth
The current reality is that every concert in India starts out chaotic and semi-organised (a very “family-type” atmosphere), and at the current pace of population growth, India will not be able to provide easy access or organised events/venues until the end of the decade. As long as the population continues at the current pace, however, “another concert, another chaos” will continue to trend.
And the music?
It’ll keep getting lost in the noise.
