Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The Metallica debacle in Delhi


Chaos rocks Metallica concert


The Metallica concert stood up to expectations of a different sort. Not the one that India was finally to see a live act by one of the big daddies of thrash metal, but that this region can never host successful concerts.

Arpita Nath

After the Bryan Adams debacle, the Akon concert had taken place breaking the curse of the no-show, but now it seems that the curse is back again.Concert organisers DNA Networks and Metallica's drummer Lars Ulrich sent a joint statement at 1am saying, "Metallica arrived in Delhi on Friday very excited and ready to play their first show ever in India at the F1 Rocks concert. However, immediately at the end of their afternoon press conference at a hotel near the venue, the band was notified that there was a serious question as to whether the show could proceed with regard to the safety of the concert audience. Metallica's first and foremost concern is always for the safety of their concert fans. Once the promoters of the show, DNA Networks, and Metallica determined that there was a failure of a security barricade in front of the stage that could not be adequately repaired, they reluctantly announced the postponement of the show until Saturday. Unfortunately, on such short notice the promoters were unable to secure a permit for a show on Saturday, therefore DNA announced that Metallica would not be able to play in Delhi. Within the next 24 hours a notification will be issued by DNA Networks regarding the process for full refunds. Metallica is deeply disappointed with this news and will continue to send updates as additional details are determined and confirmed."

Technical glitch, overcapacity at the venue, bad arrangement by the organisers, NOC issues, rowdy crowd, Metallica not happy with the backstage arrangements - every reason that you could think of, was cited for the cancellation - as soon as a representative from the organisers came on the stage and announced, "Due to some technical problems we are postponing the Metallica concert. Come tomorrow."
But this was no flimsy issue, as any die-hard Metallica fan would tell you. "I especially came from Gujarat for this concert. I had saved up money for the flight tickets, concert tickets, took 10-day leave from office, and not to mention my love for this band. Now they tell me a 'slight technical glitch' is the problem? Who the hell is going to believe that?" questioned Suneet Baboria, 24, adding, "There were around 26,000 people at the concert - that's what the people at the ticketing counter told me, and to send all those people back, is a shame. And if they didn't expect violence after that then..." What followed the announcement of the postponement of what was to be one of the biggest metal concerts in India - was violence and vandalism. "Four to five people got on stage and started burning the big Metallica poster that was tacked up, and the cops just looked away. This was followed by a breaking of barricades, stalls, and not to forget the hooting and screaming. Whenever someone would start it, 10-20 more fans would join in. It was absolute chaos," said DU student Vartika Modi, 23.
And that's not all that got damaged. "Guitars and drum sets worth thousands of rupees which were arranged on the stage were smashed to bits. Ticketing stalls, posters, parts of the stage were vandalised," said Yash Tripathi, 20, adding, "It was due to the disappointment. After the announcement was made, many metal fans started crying. Some fell on the ground and were howling. They kept looking at the stage for someone to come in and tell them otherwise. A lady came up to me crying, and asked, 'I came all the way from Finland for this, why they have to cancel?'"
After the announcement, a sea of youngsters in black T-shirts made their way out, and many of them camped at the IFFCO Chowk Metro Station in Gurgaon for quite some time. Spotted there were 16-year-olds Akshay Singh and his friend Kunal Jain, who had travelled from Ghaziabad to Gurgaon six hours before the concert time (6pm) to get hold of the tickets. "We're dead tired, but more than that so sad. We were there six hours before the concert, and informing fans 15 minutes before the concert that 'come tomorrow' is no way, we'd travelled half the city man!" 
Some fans said they knew better and had a back-up ready - the Bangalore concert. "I'll be flying to Bangalore tomorrow - a city which you can count on when it comes to organising big concerts. Delhi is never ready, and I don't know when it will be," said Ananya Agrawal, 24. 
That concludes it for Delhi, it seems.
Published: October 30 2011

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