Mark Lanegan in Leeds

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runcible
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Mark Lanegan in Leeds

Post by runcible »

This rates as the most unpleasant live music experience I can ever remember.

From beginning to end our time in Leeds Metropolitan University was an utter shambles and I will never go back to that venue. I went with my other half and a close friend. When we arrived it was obvious there were an awful lot of people in there. The 2 smallish bars were absolutely packed with punters - a good 80 people around both trying to get served by 4 inept staff on each. With some determination I managed to get some drinks - an insane £12.40 for 2 pints and a G & T - which were served by the slowest barman using beer taps that trickled rather than poured. The auditorium had 2 entrances at the back, one at the bottom downstairs and one that went onto a raised side section with steps at the end going down to the area near the stage. We went to the first door, the raised side bit, and it was totally heaving. Mark Lanegan was already on. Getting to the end was a real struggle but I thought when we reached the stairs down it would open up. To my surprise it was absolutely solid people at the bottom - no room to stand whatsoever let alone move about. My other half said 'let's go back' so we did - again it was absolutely bulging with people as we tried to get back up the steps and along to the exit door. Our friend said she'd stay in that bit when we said we were going to try the lower doors.

Downstairs at the back there was a double door entrance and in this sort of limbo lobby area people were trying to get into the auditorium but it was so packed no one could get in, so we were stuck in this hallway, unable to get in or out. No room at all and we weren't even inside.It's not often I am scared at a music event but suddenly it got very frightening as people were squashing around us, other people trying to get out, endless more people trying to get in. I thought that if anyone panicked or some incident took place people would be crushed, trampled, whatever, and my other half looked really worried. So I said 'let's get out now' and we managed to push back to the bit with the merch table. Bouncers were starting to move into the area, speaking into their earpieces, and they all looked very concerned. I said to them 'you have to do something as it's really dangerous in there'. We talked to the merch guy who said he'd never seen anything like it and one of the bouncers said the gig wasn't even sold out! WHAT? We watched puzzled people carrying drinks go from entrance to entrance trying to get in - backwards and forwards before giving up and standing about in the foyer.

After a couple of minutes deliberation we decided we had to get our friend out as we were seriously worried about her and if anything happened what would we do? Another awful struggle to get in and grab her and tell her a very frightening situation was developing and we wanted her out. As we came out some St John Ambulance guys appeared and started treating a woman who'd obviously been overwhelmed with the crush of people and she looked terrified. Bear in mind this is about 20 minutes after the set had started. We went and looked at the entrance downstairs once more and it was carnage as people tried to squeeze in and out - genuinely scary. If the Fire Brigade had come they would have shut the place down immediately. I can honestly say I have never known a situation quite like it in all the years I've been going to gigs.

The punchline for just how utterly shit that venue is came in the form of a large speaker just outside the auditorium doors which piped in awful chart music which drowned out any chance of actually hearing Mark Lanegan's music! We left and came home. I think I actually saw about 3 minutes of Mark Lanegan's set.

So we were in the venue about 30 minutes. 15 of those were spent squashed at the bar, the other 15 in a hellish situation unable to see the band or hear the music properly. Absolutely miserable. What's more - dangerous. Yet the only thing the security people did when we complained about how frightening it was was to say 'really sorry about that'. They let people try and cram into an already packed auditorium so it became a major safety issue. We heard someone say 'thank God we didn't bring the kids'. I am always looking for a gig to take my kids to to get them into live music. The very thought of taking them to that is awful - they'd never go to another gig ever if they'd been there last night.

There were a couple of big venues in Leeds - I've known the Academy over sell it's capacity but this was a ridiculous situation, and one which all of us found extremely frightening. You shouldn't go to a gig and be concerned about your own safety like that. So no Academy, and now no Leeds Met for me. Both potential death traps and desperately horrible places when vaguely full. Thank God for the Brudenell Social Club which actually considers the comfort of its customers rather than ticket sales. I have been to many sold out events there and you can always move about in that place. If anyone inside the auditorium at Leeds Met last night had needed to get out for a breath of air, a drink or to use the toilet there was absolutewly no chance whatsoever of getting back in.

What a fucking let down. We'd all been so looking forward to it but will now remember it as the worst gig of our entire lives.
BzaInSpace
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Re: Mark Lanegan in Leeds

Post by BzaInSpace »

Fucking hell Mark, that sounds terrifying. Sorry you guys had such a fucked up night. That's mental though - at the very least you ought to demand a refund attaching a copy of that post, maybe even consider contacting the cops or health and safety investigators? No fucking way can venues oversell tickets due to demand and sheer greed... yet that sounds exactly what must have happened here. :shock:
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stevelee101
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Re: Mark Lanegan in Leeds

Post by stevelee101 »

The bar staff in most University / student venues are almost always all as thick as pig-shit, just serving the first person they see rather than who's been stood there longest. At Leeds Met they seem to spend most of their time talking to each other.
Regarding the crushing: I'm not sure how and why the gig seemed so over sold but there are a lot of venues where there have real bottlenecks. Sheffield Leadmill - a venue lots of people love but I don't - is terrible for this. You can often barely get in and out of the big gig room but if you manage to shove across to the other side of the stage, there's usually loads of space. Stuff like this needs sorting out.
runcible
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Re: Mark Lanegan in Leeds

Post by runcible »

stevelee101 wrote:The bar staff in most University / student venues are almost always all as thick as pig-shit, just serving the first person they see rather than who's been stood there longest. At Leeds Met they seem to spend most of their time talking to each other.
Regarding the crushing: I'm not sure how and why the gig seemed so over sold but there are a lot of venues where there have real bottlenecks. Sheffield Leadmill - a venue lots of people love but I don't - is terrible for this. You can often barely get in and out of the big gig room but if you manage to shove across to the other side of the stage, there's usually loads of space. Stuff like this needs sorting out.
Agreed on both points. The bar staff last night were quite amazing - just bimbling about in slow motion.

As for the bottle neck. Not quite like that last night but I know how that happens. Yes it was rammed by the doors - I mean, totally impenetrable - but on the raised bit by the side I could see across the whole dancefloor and it was packed solid, but particularly dense by the exits. If someone had had a panic attack - not unlikely in such a ludicrous situation - or, God help us, there'd been a fire alert or even a real fire the idea of people being killed trying to get out isn't far fetched as it was that crowded. Like I said - in over 33 years of going to gigs I have never known such a crush.
redcloud
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Re: Mark Lanegan in Leeds

Post by redcloud »

:shock:

Jesus Christ! I'm speechless by this review and agree that you should demand a refund. I too have been to a couple places/gigs where they were so crowded you felt something terrible could happen. I know that horrible feeling of "what if"...the dread and the weight of it all ruining your experience. You did the right thing by leaving.

Damn. What a bummer.
Shaun
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Re: Mark Lanegan in Leeds

Post by Shaun »

I would phone them up and explain what you saw and what was happening and ask for a refund (minus the rip-off fees because you'll never get that.) When they refuse ask them to reconsider and to talk to the venue manager and to get back to you (leave your contact number) as you are going to be contacting the H&S executive to lodge a formal complaint. Quite sure they will soon be looking to reimburse you. After reading your description of events, I'd have called the emergency services as soon as I got out.
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runcible
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Re: Mark Lanegan in Leeds

Post by runcible »

Shaun wrote:I would phone them up and explain what you saw and what was happening and ask for a refund (minus the rip-off fees because you'll never get that.) When they refuse ask them to reconsider and to talk to the venue manager and to get back to you (leave your contact number) as you are going to be contacting the H&S executive to lodge a formal complaint. Quite sure they will soon be looking to reimburse you. After reading your description of events, I'd have called the emergency services as soon as I got out.
I am certainly going to take this further - both asking for a refund and also contacting some sort of H & S. If they do that again and again there is no doubt a tragedy will occur.

I did consider calling the emergency services but I could see that causing a situation on its own as the house lights would have gone on and it only takes one person to panic for the whole thing to end in disaster.

I'm still shaking my head at what happened. Absolutely mayhem packed gigs I have been to - Poison Idea, bizarrely Echo and the Bunnymen first time round, the moshpit on the Nevermind tour, even the GLC thing at Brockwell Park with The Damned and New Model Army - don't compare to the worry we all experienced last night.
nickh
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Re: Mark Lanegan in Leeds

Post by nickh »

Reading the description of that gig Mark made me feel really uncomfortable and then, quite angry.

I wouldn’t go as far to say that I am even mildly claustrophobic but I am not overly keen on confined spaces and feeling like I can’t get out but at most venues you can find a good spot where you can hear and see OK without being in a too crowded area.

I have been racking my brain trying to think of even a vaguely similar situation and in 28 years of seeing live bands I can’t think of an event that has got even close to that. Even in the less H&S conscious mid eighties in places like the down-stairs bar at the Hammersmith Clarendon Ballroom (where the stage was a piece of carpet and if you were near the PA it was your job to stop it falling over) it still wasn’t a frightening place to go.

I would be kicking up a huge stink I think if I had gone along to something like last night.
runcible
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Re: Mark Lanegan in Leeds

Post by runcible »

Major letter of complaint has been sent. I'll let everyone know what reaction I get.
BVCP206
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Re: Mark Lanegan in Leeds

Post by BVCP206 »

Looks like a blessing in disguise that I couldn't make it, sounds horrendous :shock:
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flokie
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Re: Mark Lanegan in Leeds

Post by flokie »

I was at the sold out Glasgow ABC gig - packed, but not overcrowded, and still space to move about. Worst over-selling I've heard about was Gruff Rhys in Edinburgh (Bongo club iirc) last year. I've never felt in danger due to overcrowding at gigs and no one ever should.
This sounds absolutely dreadful, good on you to send them a letter of complaint.
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