Indian concerts are a masterclass in mismanagement—ticket mafia, overpriced water, bad network

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Analogous

Analogous

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A few months ago I accompanied my wife to a Sonu Nigum concert in Bangalore. We had seats booked (1000 per seat I think) we could not even enter the venue as there was a stampede like situation right at the entrance as they had started selling standing only tickets and there was no way to get to the seating area. Enduring pushing and shoving and angry crowds right at the entrance we could not enter. Fearing for our safety we left after 15 minutes. I wrote to the event organisers about this and they refunded the ticket money.

On the other hand the Shakti reunion concert earlier this year (yes, with Zakir Hussain) was well organised but the tickets I got were 10K.

theprint.in

Indian concerts are a masterclass in mismanagement—ticket mafia, overpriced water, bad network

People who travelled to Bangkok for Coldplay concert had no complaints. In contrast, India’s concert infrastructure has a lot of room for growth—even Bryan Adams agrees.
theprint.in theprint.in
 
It’s a country of 1.4 billion people but, nobody has even an inkling of idea how to tackle large crowds. There are stampedes on bridges, melas, concerts, Keerthans , almost everywhere . Overloaded buses, ferries, boats meeting accidents, are quite common here now. The country needs trains which can carry large number of people economically but, the govt is interested in showcasing those fancy looking long- nosed trains, as if India has “arrived “ .
 
Therefore the observation that you can only control crowd by pricing the tickets quite expensive for an average well to do Indian.
Anything less than ~5000, and I can assure you crowds thronging and utter mayhem at the venue.
 
That’s right. Prices are deliberately kept high so that a large number of people are “ gated out “ . This trick is used all over the world in high end restaurants, residential societies, clubs etc to restrict entry to only the privileged ones.
 
vnmathur57 said:
That’s right. Prices are deliberately kept high so that a large number of people are “ gated out “ . This trick is used all over the world in high end restaurants, residential societies, clubs etc to restrict entry to only the privileged ones.
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Perhaps mine is a minority opinion, but I don't think it's that at all. All that the organizers want is more money and their actions are driven by pure and simple avarice.This is coupled with the Indian public's willingness to accept mistreatment and poor standards and arrangements. its not as if the high paying ticket holders get any world class treatment.

but once customers respond with the wallets, the sellers change their behavior. For Eg Maruti finally introduced a 5 star safety rated car, after years, when their key safety feature was a place to put your favorite deity and invoke their blessings before any journey.

And on music shows: on all the building groups I am on, I see scalpers trying to unload tickets for coming concerts BELOW cost. so even here people are responding with their wallets. there is hope yet.
 
vnmathur57 said:
It’s a country of 1.4 billion people but, nobody has even an inkling of idea how to tackle large crowds. There are stampedes on bridges, melas, concerts, Keerthans , almost everywhere . Overloaded buses, ferries, boats meeting accidents, are quite common here now. The country needs trains which can carry large number of people economically but, the govt is interested in showcasing those fancy looking long- nosed trains, as if India has “arrived “ .
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you are overreading into it imo...its just greed on behalf of organizer, driver etc and lack of any motive for law enforcers or government to do anything apart from collecting taxes

everyone has a very good idea about managing crowds but as their are no rules or law enforced....they keep filling everything till they can ...bus, train, concert, theater, ferries....sell as many seats as you can

and given we are who we are...people always find a way to cramp into the space and make it work
 
alpha1 said:
Therefore the observation that you can only control crowd by pricing the tickets quite expensive for an average well to do Indian.
Anything less than ~5000, and I can assure you crowds thronging and utter mayhem at the venue.
Click to expand...
I think you have a point there. High prices keep away those who can not afford this. It becomes an exclusive affluent event much like Malls and gated communities.
Keeping the hordes and mobs away would be a fitting description for the times we live in.
Rather than charging reasonable rates, strictly limiting numbers and ensuring seat allocation i- which takes more effort, planning and reduced profits..
 
Often the answer/solution to an current problem lies elsewhere, not in the immediate situation and those responsible at the scene alone.

The future in our cities seems to be driven by an attitude of keeping everyone discontented and blaming others/someone else and an ethos of envy and anger….“if I can’t be happy why should anyone else be?” Mostly we tend to not be able to look and see beyond the short term and settle for small scraps or just resign ourselves to being powerless and pray for things to change magically somehow.

The rich and powerful need workers living in poverty to keep them in comfort and style. The impoverished probably are amused when the rich are put to inconveniences. They really can’t do much else. Inequality has been the norm for a long long time and there seems to be no way to change the prevailing attitudes for the existing generations.

The only thing that thrives In this scenario misgovernance, incompetence, corruption. The buck always stops at the top whichever way anyone tries to spin it

Maybe we need kids to call out that the emperor is naked.
 
Analogous said:
Often the answer/solution to an current problem lies elsewhere, not in the immediate situation and those responsible at the scene alone.

The future in our cities seems to be driven by an attitude of keeping everyone discontented and blaming others/someone else and an ethos of envy and anger….“if I can’t be happy why should anyone else be?” Mostly we tend to not be able to look and see beyond the short term and settle for small scraps or just resign ourselves to being powerless and pray for things to change magically somehow.

The rich and powerful need workers living in poverty to keep them in comfort and style. The impoverished probably are amused when the rich are put to inconveniences. They really can’t do much else. Inequality has been the norm for a long long time and there seems to be no way to change the prevailing attitudes for the existing generations.

The only thing that thrives In this scenario misgovernance, incompetence, corruption. The buck always stops at the top whichever way anyone tries to spin it

Maybe we need kids to call out that the emperor is naked.
Click to expand...
The problem is the sheer size of the population. No matter how many trains you launch, roads, buildings, gardens, colleges you build it’s always going to fall short. You put any emperor on the throne it will not matter till growth rate falls.
 
Sadly, the man who came closest to an expert “emperor” who initiated reforms that resulted in decent growth for a term died yesterday
And he was called the “accidental PM”
Maybe we need more such accidental leaders rather than trust voters to make wise choices
 
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