Indians angry at concert facilities

When Amrita Kaur decided to attend Punjabi pop star Diljit Dosanjh’s concert in India this month, she was prepared to experience some discomfort.

Having attended several concerts in the past, Kaur was looking forward to the “exhilarating chaos” that accompanies large crowds at big events in India.

But what awaited him was much worse than he had imagined.

Crowd control was minimal and sanitation non-existent. Overloaded mobile networks stopped working, raising fears about personal safety. Even using the bathroom seemed like a gamble, she said, since it meant having to spend the rest of the performance standing in line in front of “unhygienic, smelly cubicles.”

The venue, a huge government-owned plot of land in the northern city of Chandigarh, had no public transport links or parking space, leaving Kaur with no option but to drive her car to a nearby friend’s house, and then stay. trapped in the inevitable. A traffic jam that lasted for hours once the concert ended.

“You pay so much for a ticket and what do you get in return? A possible urinary infection and a severe headache with some music attacks,” he says of his experience.

This year has been a big one for India’s burgeoning concert industry, with major tours by Dua Lipa, Dosanjh and Maroon 5 filling stadiums and grounds already thrilling audiences. Other international acts such as Green Day, Coldplay and Ed Sheeran will perform in the coming months.

In fact, Indian music concerts generated around 8 billion rupees ($94.1m; £75.3m) in revenue last year, a figure that will rise 25% by the end of 2025.

Young, affluent Indians are not only willing to pay more to see their favorite music stars, they actively seek out these events. In 2023, more than 400,000 people in India said they traveled to other Indian cities to attend live events.

But despite the excitement, many concertgoers say their experience was far from ideal. The issue made headlines earlier this week, when a diabetic patient with incontinence issues said he ended up soiling himself at a Bryan Adams concert due to a lack of bathrooms at the venue.

On the same day, Dosanjh, who has been touring across the country, surprised his fans by announcing that he would not perform in India again until the concert hall infrastructure was improved. The singer later clarified that he was referring to only one of the places.

Social media has since been flooded with similar complaints from concertgoers. From booking tickets on dubious resale websites to surprisingly high pricesIn addition to braving hours of traffic before and after a show, often with a full bladder, fans say they have to pay more than just money to see their favorite acts.

Those who have the means now choose to attend shows in other countries for a safer and generally more fun experience. “At Adele’s concert in Munich, the staff continuously cleaned the toilets and they were super clean even after a three-hour concert,” says Ishika Goon, a Bengaluru-based lawyer. “If I have to spend that much money, I might as well go for the full experience.”

Organizers and promoters acknowledge the problems, but say they, too, are hampered by broader infrastructural challenges.

This is because India doesn’t have enough venues dedicated to live concerts, forcing them to opt for suboptimal spaces or simply avoid certain cities altogether, preventing the industry from growing, says Anmol Kukreja, co-founder of Skillbox, a Entertainment company that has organized more than 300 concerts.

Unlike many Western countries where concert halls abound, he says events in India must be held in venues such as shopping malls, sports stadiums or public grounds, all of which have their own limitations and many variables.

A shopping center may have better bathrooms and designated parking areas, but it won’t necessarily be able to accommodate large crowds like a large barren lot located in a remote corner of the city with poor connectivity would.

Nowadays, many music events are held inside public stadiums to minimize some of the inconvenience, but that comes with its own challenges, such as poor sound quality, crowd management issues, and lots of bureaucracy.

Government-owned venues are better suited for large events, but the process of booking them can often be a complex “web of permits and licenses, which makes them less attractive,” Kukreja says.

To address these gaps, organizers end up spending thousands of dollars building temporary infrastructure at venues (the stage, temporary bathrooms and parking spaces) before each concert, which could lead to serious losses, adds Tej Brar, founder of Third Culture and the, based in Mumbai. director of NH7, one of the largest music festivals in India.

And it’s not just the business that suffers, the live music scene is also affected, as a whole segment of smaller, independent artists are left out because they aren’t “big enough” for people to want to pay. an exorbitant price to see them.

“If they can’t get crowds of over 10,000 people or more, they typically won’t have shows because the economics won’t work for the organizers.”

But lately, even major international music festivals with star-studded lineups and million-dollar budgets have left their fans disappointed.

“Everything is fine, but why can’t they have clean bathrooms?” asks Sreoshi Mukherjee, a Delhi-based journalist.

Mukherjee, who attends music concerts across the country, was particularly horrified by the lack of toilets at Lollapalooza and Backstreet Boys, whose tickets cost between 5,000 ($59; £47) and 10,000 ($118; £94) rupees.

“There was a time when the bathrooms ran out of toilet paper and water. We had to buy bottles of water to relieve ourselves,” he says.

Criticism of inflated ticket prices that turn these events into intellectual cultural experiences for only a few has been growing, but there are also other concerns about accessibility.

Most places have few or no accommodations for people with disabilities, such as wheelchair access and audio description. At Dosanjh’s concert in Chandigarh, Kaur said they had to take her friend in a wheelchair to the venue because there was no ramp or accessibility lane.

The BBC has contacted the organizers of all the events mentioned in the story for comment.

Others in the business say there can’t be a one-size-fits-all solution to all problems, but worry about its long-term impact on business. Right now, people are still willing to pay. But persistently poor facilities could change their minds.

“Word of mouth plays a crucial role in attendance at an event, and negative feedback can damage an organizer’s reputation,” says Brar.

But the responsibility for solving this problem, he adds, must be shared. “While the company is responsible for choosing the location and setting ticket prices, the venue must offer essential amenities. Adequate sanitary facilities and dedicated cleaning staff must be a standard at the venue.”

As the country prepares to welcome big names like Sheeran and Green Day, fans are hoping for a better experience.

And for some, the large crowds and risk of possible infection still seem like a small price to pay for seeing their favorite star.

“Disorder and chaos cause excitement,” says Mohammad Sami, a student.

“It’s like you’re trapped on an island with hundreds of strangers, united by their determination to survive the night.”