Pop superstar Atif Aslam’s London concert was marred by mismanagement and chaos as several issues spoiled an otherwise magnificent performance by the singing sensation.
Around 1,000 fans of Atif Aslam waited for about three hours outside the Eventim Apollo in Hammersmith, west London on Saturday. The fans started queuing from 6:30pm for the gate opening at 7:00pm but at least 1,000 of them were unable to get inside in time for the concert as they were told by the venue management that their tickets could not be scanned on the machine for entry.
After waiting patiently for over 90 minutes in frigid weather, the fans began protesting and some of them scuffled with security. Neither the security, nor the venue management had any answers to the fans’ questions.
Concerts in Rotterdam, Birmingham, London and Manchester were organised by the Holland-based BrightBeat, but fans complained the management company’s staff disappeared from the venue and had no answers. The concert started at around 7:30pm but hundreds of fans remained stuck outside the venue until 9:30pm.On the other hand, around 2,000 fans were able to pass through the security checks and managed to get to their seats before 8:00pm. Inside the venue, hundreds of ticket holders found that their seats had already been occupied by the people who also carried the same number of seats in the same row and in the same bays.
Shejahat Khan of BrightBeat, the company which had arranged this event, blamed the ticketing firm and the venue for the mismanagement. He said around 780 tickets were not passed to the venue on time by the ticketing firm. He said the firm, which sold tickets of the event according to its contract with BrightBeat, failed to live by its obligations and created huge discomfort to people who had bought the expensive tickets.
When asked that the event was organised by BrightBeat and it was the responsibility of his company to facilitate the fans, Khan said he was let down by the ticketing company but conceded that there was chaos both inside and outside the venue. “Throughout, my management team tried to resolve the issue. We had to print nearly 800 tickets at the last minute and the scanning machines didn’t accept these tickets. We had to set up a new system to get the people in. I accept that there were failures.”
Asked if BrightBeat would be reimbursing those who were unable to get to their seats and missed more than half of the concert, Khan said nobody would be reimbursed but “we may probably offer free tickets to fans in [the] future”.
Inside the sold-out venue, Atif Aslam’s devoted fans—men, women, old and young—remained in their seats or stood throughout until the singer sang his last song at 11:00pm. Accompanied by his full band, he performed his legendary Bollywood songs and Coke Studio reworks. He sang his top hits live including his world-famous Coke Studio hit ‘Wohi Khuda Hai’, ‘Tu Jaane Na’ and ‘Tera Hona Laga Hoon’.
Aslam ended the concert with an extended version of the first Jal song ‘Aab Tau Aadat See Hai’ that brought him and Goher Mumtaz to fame for the first time in 2004. The News reached out to Shahzad Aslam, who is the brother of Atif Aslam for comment but he has yet to respond.
