The Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) has bolstered its Safer Spaces Charter through new partnerships with UK charities targeting LGBT+ abuse and spiking. AIF’s Safer Spaces campaign, which was originally launched in May 2017, sees festivals commit to a charter of best practice developed with input and guidance from a range of expert charities including …
O2 Academy Brixton reopening petition hits 50,000 signatures
A petition to save the O2 Academy Brixton from permanent closure has reached 50,000 signatures. Musicians including The Chemical Brothers and Blur’s Graham Coxon are among those to have added their names to the list calling for the venue to be reopened after its licence was suspended in January following the death of two people …
M&S Bank Arena Liverpool makes changes after gig chaos
Liverpool’s M&S Bank Arena has revised its layouts ahead of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest after admitting to “unacceptable” crowd congestion at a sold-out gig in November. According to an internal report seen by the BBC, ACC Liverpool, which runs the 11,000-capacity venue, acknowledged that people had been left in extremely long queues for the …
Claims of not enough medical staff at O2 Academy Brixton crush
Only half the recommended number of medical staff were on duty on the night of the crowd crush at the O2 Academy Brixton, according to a report from the BBC. Two people died as a result of a crowd crush at a gig from Afrobeats artist Asake in December. According to the report from the …
2022 in review – March
Belgium’s Tomorrowland festival proved the popular return of live music events, after organisers sold 600,000 passes for 2022. The event had been cancelled for the past two years due to the pandemic. The ticket sales were a mixture of new sales amounting to 200,000 and rolled-over tickets from postponed events. English Premier League club Leeds …
2022 in review – March
Belgium’s Tomorrowland festival proved the popular return of live music events, after organisers sold 600,000 passes for 2022. The event had been cancelled for the past two years due to the pandemic. The ticket sales were a mixture of new sales amounting to 200,000 and rolled-over tickets from postponed events. English Premier League club Leeds …
Doja Cat stops live set to help distressed audience member
Artist Doja Cat stopped her set at Lollapalooza Argentina for almost five minutes this weekend, after noticing an attendee was in distress in the audience. The festival was being held at the Hippodromo de San Isidro in Buenos Aires and featured performances from other artists including The Strokes, Machine Gun Kelly, Miley Cyrus, ASAP Rocky …