Tritonal is in the middle of a great set when suddenly the music cuts off. The crowd, thinking we were about to see a epic entrance by Dada Life – grew louder and louder. Shortly after a voice came on the sound system and announced that everyone must leave or they will be arrested. So what went wrong?
(Update: Show Rescheduled/Refund Policy Released. Click Here)
Venue:
Anyone who bought tickets to this show was a bit worried when they received a email on Friday alerting us of a last minute venue change. Its not entirely clear what happened, but the buzz at the show is that they needed a venue that could accommodate more people. When we look at the stats Mana Production Village is 100,000 sq. ft. and SOHO studio is only 70,000 sq. ft., so there must have been another reason.
Here is what went wrong with the Venue:
Walking up to the venue was a daunting sight. There were two, seemingly endless, lines wrapping around the entire block with no real indication where the starting points for each one was. Essentially you had to find the one spot where people were facing back to back, that was the end of both lines. Clearly if both lines meet at the same point you have a problem. With police helicopters overhead, officers on the street and passing patrol cars were ordering people off the street and onto the sidewalk. When your line exceeds an entire block, where do you expect people to stand? Needless to say there was not enough sidewalk to hold this crowd of banana suited ravers.
Here is what it looked like just minutes before being shut down:
The most surprising part about this show getting shut down is how much room was left inside. I found myself looking around and telling my friends, “I can believe its actually still kinda cool in here.” I expected it to be a disgusting sweat-box with a 1970 A/C Unit, it was a nice surprise. There was room to move, beer stands in the back and plenty of room to dance. Not characteristic of a “No One Else Gets In” party.
Here’s what went wrong with the planning:
You cant tell me that Committee Entertainment was caught off guard when thousands of people arrived at the venue eager to get in with a bottle neck at the entrance. At each door were 2 small 18-23 year old guys with a small Dada Life sticker on their shirt to let you know they are official. They were slowly checking id’s 4 people at a time and of course taking tips from shaved chest bros to skip the entire line. When we asked “How much it cost to skip the line like those guys just did”, the answer was “You can’t afford it.” Perfect, they not only hired 2 people to control the flow of ticket holders, they hired people more interested in taking kick-backs than speeding up the line.
When you do finally get into the entrance way, there were 2 more people somehow magically scanning the bar code with their fucking eyes like some sort of ticket terminator. They clearly didn’t know whether you just hit print 10 times on your one ticket or if you paid in full. How can you say you tried to manage ticket sales if you weren’t even requiring proof of purchase.
Now obviously you should never rush the gates of a concert, be a dick to the people who can end your party, or riot in general but that is the ugly truth but given that the event was not oversold and the entrance was speedy – there would not have been a riot (at least that’s my opinion)
Instagram Video of the Gatecrash:
Conclusion:
Being told that you will be arrested if you don’t leave an event you paid $50 for is a bad feeling. Even worse is walking into the streets to be greeted by fucking swat team riot police as if a murder just occurred. My personal opinion is that Committee oversold this event and put as little money in the event as possible. Would it kill you to have a efficient team working the door to get your loyal customers to an event they paid for months in advance. With that said, I do applaud Committee for vowing to make it right and offering refunds per a status update on their facebook. That won’t make up for the money spent on hotels and the gas money from people traveling – Only time will tell how this pans out. I think I speak for everyone in attendance when I say: “Damnit, that was going to be a good show”