Anyone see Bonnamassa at Hammersmith Thursday?

[FELINEGUITARS]

I did and what w weird experience it was
The gig itself was fine and pretty much what I expected - playing was good and the sound was excellent for a change

So what was weird?
It seemed way overcrowded as I went in
It was like there were twice as many people there as should be
i've been going to Hammy Odeon/Apollo for 30+ years - maybe 200+ gigs and never known it that packed
At the back it was so packed you couldn't move at all - you couldn't get through- get to the bar or to the toilets - no chance.

It was so amazingly uncomfortable that everybody seemed pissed off- you couldn't see a thing (or breathe at times)
I was convinced that it had been oversold with twice the number of tickets made available to what the hall should hold - I swore it was like Hillsborough mk 2 waiting to happen

Went to speak to someone in charge that it must have been oversold as there is no way Hammy O can be that crowded
They asked security who confirmed that it wasn't oversold at all but said it was all the old farts down the front insisting on having lots of space around them.
Like they all had personal space issues....

So upon hearing that I fought my way down towards the front and amazingly near the front there was enough room between people to put tables and chairs in.

Somehow they had filled up the front bit in front of the barrier all spaced out, and then the rest of the people assumed that the font bit was full and everywhere behind that barrier was rammed tight.

So I ended up standing with space all around me for the second half of the gig by virtue of being down the front.

It all seemed so back to front. Is there something about the Joe Bonnamassa diehards that I don't know about?

[Philly Q]

Sounds bizarre!  I don't understand how they were maintaining that space at the front, what was stopping other people pushing in to the space?

(I must admit I don't really know the downstairs at Hammersmith, I've always been upstairs in order to be able to actually see something!)

[FELINEGUITARS]

There is a metal barrier about 1/3 of the way back to prevent a crush from happening all the way to the front.
It probably was the bar that separated the font section from the next sector when it was a seated venue

Probably the last row of people in the front sector were leaning against it to support their ageing bones and the row behind assumed that the space in front was indeed full when it wasn't actually crowded and as more people filled in from behind the whole area behind that barrier became very crowded while in front it was very spacious

[richard]

Had a similar experience when I saw Johnny Winter there a couple of years back. The last time I'd been there was about 10 years before to see Jeff Beck but there was no comparison with the JW gig. I had to queue for 20 minutes to have a piss. Wherever I stood I was shoulder to shoulder with irritable people who had no room to stand comfortably. No chance of getting anywhere near the front. I left after about 3 numbers - the sound was bloody awful anyway.

[TheyCallMeVolume]

Weird that all the old farts wound up down at the front. Felt like camping out for a while?