Festivals
Fans left furious as BST Hyde Park shuts off stages
Swim Deep were among the artists whose sets were affected by reported chaos.
While tonight’s Libertines-headlined BST Hyde Park show was set to be a heroic return for the 00s indie giants, many fans are leaving with a bitter taste after being unable to see other artists performing at the event.
Organisers halted entry in to the Barclaycard Theatre, where Graham Coxon was to headline, in addition to performances from Swim Deep and Wolf Alice.
“Sorry to everyone who couldn’t see us perform at hyde park today”, Swim Deep posted on Twitter, “they had to close the tent for “health and safety” reasons.
“We played a show next door but couldn’t get everyone in because it was so small and the organisers wouldn’t let anyone else in.”
One fan posted his letter of complaint to Twitter, which cited Reverend and the Makers’ fans breaking the floor of the Theatre’s stage as the reason for its closure.
In addition, The Libertines’ set was paused repeatedly due to crowd control issues.
“The real kicker,” he reports, “was when The Libertines’ began their set with lots of vim and vigour before being interrupted once it became clear that members of the audience were being crushed and subjected to extremely aggressive violent behaviour by lots of drunken idiots. From that moment, it killed the mood and I noticed - though many haven’t - that The Libertines deliberately slowed the tempo of many of their songs (including ‘What Katie Did’ and ‘Can’t Stand Me Now’) to calm the crowd. This destroyed the vibe of the gig for me and I felt it all went downhill from there, with songs interrupted several times over the course of the night due to crowd safety concerns.”
Tomorrow night Hyde Park sees performances from McBusted, Backstreet Boys and Wheatus.
UPDATE:
Pop band 5ive, who were due to play in the Barclaycard Theatre later today (6th July) have posted a message on their Facebook, stating that their set has been cancelled.
“Due to structural difficulties on the stage,” they say, “we were performing on today at the Mcbusted Hyde Park show, the stage has had to be shut so we will be unable to perform, We are truly sorry but it is out of our hands.”
Lawson, due to headline the same stage, have posted a near-identical update.
BST Hyde Park have issued a statement on their website about today’s event.
“Due to a technical fault in The Barclaycard Theatre,” it says, “the safety officer has decided to close the venue until necessary repairs are made.
The following acts have been rescheduled:
Young Kato will now play in Village Hall 16:50 - 17:15
Hollywood Ending will now play on Summer Stage 14:00 - 14:20
Wheatus will now play on Summer Stage 17:45 - 18:30
Unfortunately, Lawson and Five will no longer be performing today.
We apologise to the artists and to the fans attending today for any inconvenience and disappointment this may cause.”
Latest News
Featuring SOFT PLAY, Corinne Bailey Rae, 86TVs, English Teacher and more!