Indians angry at concert facilities

When Amrita Kaur decided to attend Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh’s concert in India this month, she was prepared to be uncomfortable.

Having attended several concerts in the past, Ms Kaur was looking forward to the “chaos” that comes with large crowds at major events in India.

But what he expected was worse than he thought.

There was little social control and no sanitation. Mobile phone networks went down, sparking fears about personal safety. Even using the toilet felt like gambling, he said, because it meant spending all that time queuing in front of “dirty, smelly cubicles”.

The place, a large government estate in northern Chandigarh, had no public transport links or parking space, leaving Ms Kaur with no choice but to drive her car to a nearby friend – and then get stuck in the impossible. , traffic jams for hours after the concert.

“You pay a lot for a ticket and what do you get? A possible urinary tract infection and a bad headache with some music,” he says about what happened to him.

This year has been a big one for the burgeoning Indian music industry, with major tours by Dua Lipa, Dosanjh and Maroon 5 filling previously packed stadiums and arenas. Other international acts such as Green Day, Coldplay and Ed Sheeran are set to perform in the coming months.

Instead, Indian music made about 8bn rupees ($94.1m; £75.3m) in revenue last year – a figure expected to rise by 25% by the end of 2025.

Young, successful Indians are not only willing to pay more to see their favorite music stars, but are actively seeking out these events. In 2023, more than 400,000 people in India said he went to other cities in India to participate in life events.

But despite the excitement, many concertgoers say their experience was less than positive. The issue hit the headlines earlier this week, when a diabetic patient with incontinence said he defecated at a Bryan Adams concert due to a lack of toilets at the venue.

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

Since then, social media has been facing the same complaints as concertgoers. From booking tickets on dodgy scalping sites a incredibly high pricescourage for many hours before and after the show, often with a full bladder, fans say that they have to pay a lot of money to see what they like.

Those who have the means are now choosing to go to shows in other countries for safety and fun. “At Adele’s concert in Munich, the staff cleaned the toilets continuously and it was clean even after the three-hour concert,” said Ishika Goon, a Bengaluru-based lawyer. “If I have to spend a lot of money, I can go and find out.”

Planners and promoters acknowledge these problems but say they also have many structural problems.

This is because India does not have enough venues for concerts, forcing them to choose smaller venues or avoid certain cities altogether, all of which hinder the growth of the industry, said Anmol Kukreja, co-founder of Skillbox. entertainment company that has organized over 300 concerts.

Unlike many western countries where concert venues are abundant, it is said that events in India have to be held in places such as shopping malls, stadiums or public spaces – all of which come with their own limitations and many changes.

A shopping mall may have better toilets and designated parking, but it can’t hold the same amount of people as a big empty square in a far corner of the city where bad connections can happen.

These days, most music events are held inside stadiums to minimize some of the hassle – but this comes with its own set of challenges, such as poor sound quality, crowd management issues and a lot of red tape.

Government-owned venues are suitable for large-scale events, but the process of booking them is often “a web of licenses and permits, which makes them invisible”, says Kukreja.

To bridge these gaps, planners can spend thousands of dollars on building temporary facilities – a stage, a temporary swimming pool and a parking lot – before any concert that can cause major damage, adds Tej Brar, founder of Third Culture in Mumbai and director of NH7. , one of the biggest music festivals in India.

And it’s not just the business that suffers, live music is also affected, as a whole section of small and independent artists are left behind because they are “not big enough” to make people want to pay a higher price to see them.

“If they can’t draw crowds of 10,000 or more, they usually can’t get shows because the economy doesn’t work for the organizers.”

But lately, even the biggest international music festivals with star-studded lineups and million dollar bills have left fans disappointed.

“That’s all well and good, but why don’t you have clean toilets?” asks Sreoshi Mukherjee, a Delhi-based journalist.

Ms Mukherjee, who attends concerts around the country, was shocked by the lack of washrooms at Lollapalooza and the Backstreet Boys, tickets for which cost anywhere between 5,000 ($59; £47) and 10,000 ($118; £94) rupees.

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

Criticism of high ticket prices turning these events into minority culture has been widespread, but there are other issues as well.

Many places have limited accessibility for people with disabilities – such as wheelchair access and speech recognition. At Dosanjh’s Chandigarh concert, Ms Kaur said she had to carry her wheelchair-bound friend to the venue as there was no ramp or walkway.

The BBC has reached out to the organizers of all the events mentioned in this article for comment.

Some in the business say there may not be a one-size-fits-all solution to these problems, but they worry about the impact on business. Right now, people are still willing to pay. But the instability of insufficient space can change their minds.

“Word of mouth plays a very important role in the event, and a wrong response can damage an organizer’s reputation,” says Brar.

But the responsibility to fix this, he adds, must be shared. “Although the company is in charge of selecting the venue and ticket prices, the venue must provide basic amenities. Adequate laundry facilities and dedicated cleaning staff must be the right place.”

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

And for some, the large crowd and the risk of infection remain as a small price to pay to see their favorite star.

Mohammad Sami, a student, said: “There is excitement and chaos.

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