Propagandhi Tour

[kate cake]

I have never felt so fucking embarrased and ashamed as when the police started trying to carry a guy down the steps who had clearly passed out or something, and people started spitting at them and pushing them down the steps. Even worse when some old guy starting chanting 'scum,' fucking unbelievable! I over heard some guy next to me saying 'this is why I hate punk.'

Just no sense what so ever.

Anyway, Propagandhi were good for the songs I saw, glad they played lots of new stuff. I'm just gutted that they're not doing any more northern dates, that would've sweetened the blow a bit.

[kate cake]

Oh, and what a shit venue.

[Petefkas]

I have never felt so fucking embarrased and ashamed as when the police started trying to carry a guy down the steps who had clearly passed out or something, and people started spitting at them and pushing them down the steps. Even worse when some old guy starting chanting 'scum,' fucking unbelievable! I over heard some guy next to me saying 'this is why I hate punk.'

Just no sense what so ever.

Anyway, Propagandhi were good for the songs I saw, glad they played lots of new stuff. I'm just gutted that they're not doing any more northern dates, that would've sweetened the blow a bit.

thats unbelievable! fucking hell.
i really wanted to come to this, glad i didn't now.

[kate cake]

I'm not sure if he was passed out or being carried away but it was still just really really cringeworthy. Think people had G20 fever.

I'm glad I went but hopefully will be able to get a refund, because it was an expensive gig and petrol money etc, plus overpriced drinks and huge venue....not a great night really!

[Gav]

I sold my ticket for Sheffield earlier in the week. I've never felt more smug

[Stu-CC]

I'm so gutted about last night! I can understand that the fire was a safety hazard, but I think the bouncers should have told people what was happening. I waited outside for 40 mins, only to be told to fuck off by the police. It was really badly managed, and I will definetly by trying to get my money back. I can never listen to "Back to the Motor League" again because that was the song they ended their set on, bastards! Fuck the O2 academy, never going back!!!

[No Rules]

okay - i was the promoter of last night - and just to put the story straight before 8,000,000 various tales appear online this is what occured..

as propagandhi started playing back to the motor league (sod's law - the song i most wanted them to play) the dimmer rack caught fire - i don't mean a few sparks i mean as in flames shooting out. the venue has an alarm system which automatically contacts the fire station when it detects fire (as obviously on club nights etc, these areas aren't monitored) as soon as the fire service is called the venue HAS to do a full evacuation by law.
so far so good - we thought we'd go out, the fire service would come - the rack wasn't on fire anymore, so the fire service would check nothing else was on fire etc and if needs be they would finish their set under minimal lights whatever, hence why the venue only made people go out onto the main steps, ready to readmit.
Now's where it all goes pear shaped, for some reason 2 riot vans of police also arrived at the venue, slow night perhaps.. they went and positioned themselves between the audience and the venue, and the fire service went in, we'd been led out via some weird fire escape route from back stage, but were all stood by the propagandhi bus, awaiting the next announcement.
After about 15 minutes the head fire guy tells the manager we can go back in - he was happy the fire was localised, and there was no further problem, so the manager came up and told us that he was happy to let propagandhi go back on and finish their set, and that he would hold the club night which followed back, to wait where we were and someone would lead us back the way we'd come - this sounded great 90% of the audience had stayed where they were, so no one was going to have to miss out = however at precisely this moment in time a police officer was announcing to the crowd on the steps that they needed to disperse and that the academy wouldn't be reopening that night?!!?!?! further not helped by one of the academy bouncers deciding he was actually the manager and telling people to go away as it was time to start setting up for the club night. both of these statements were made off their own bat - we weren't told, and neither was the manager of the academy who was as stunned as us!
The fire brigade went - satisfied they'd done their job, but the police officer in charge refused to allow re-entry, we were outside for another 20 odd minutes before finally being re admitted but only to allow everyone to start stripping down the band equipment. the manager was taken off and proceeding to get a master bollocking from some police guy over the way they'd not evactuated people to the designated fire point (opposite the venue that bus shelter)

to be honest the communication from the venue wasn't great, but i think they were being told various things by various people so as they were ready to say one thing, the police would just start saying another, i'd have thought the fire brigade carried the clout in reopening venues after a fire, but it would seem they don't! and obviously once the police started saying there would be no readmission and then people started chucking stuff and smashing windows, we were never going to be able to get everyone back in - and all that happened was the police called for more back up...

refunds - i have no idea where the police officer who announced this got that idea from as they simply didn't ask anyone connected with the show or venue anything at any point during the proceedings - as it stands the venue settled the show with propagandhi, who were paid their full fee (including break), and had played over 60% of their set so i have no idea their stance on refunds/ part refunds or whatever, but the academy should be the first port of call for info.
as to the size of the venue - propagandhi would like to apologise for getting popular, but unfortunately this happens once bands grow - everyone would prefer to only hold shows in 200-300 cap venues, but they're only here for 5 days, and specifically requested a minimum capacity.. they outsold the small academy 2 venue with a month to go so the show was right to be in the main room

and the most bizarre point of the night was after the evacuation, when propagandhi was stood waiting for the news on whether we could re-enter, the singer from black widow was stood to one side in his cape and shit looking completely out of place!!!

feel free to email stu@no-rules.co.uk for that is i or pm me here; with any other questions and i'll try to answer them, provide contact details or whatever...
i'm sorry how the night ended, i've been looking forward to this show for ages, and this is a first for me, i've put on over 100 shows in the past 4 years, and then 2/300 more when i booked for the corp before that, and i've never had this situation arise, it's always a nightmare as in the grand scheme of things i have very little say, as it's not my venue, but we'll try and learn from what happened, and i'll also help with info on refunds etc
hopefully see you at the next, touch wood - flame free show...
Stu

[gillisfab]

Thanks Stu for updating us. I didn't know it was you who put it on - I've been to your gigs before and they've always been really well organised

Thought it was good to see the band in a bigger venue, actually. I saw them last time they played the UK and it was smaller and not so good. The sound was great and there was a decent old moshpit going down. Shame it ended so soon.

I went to the box office this morning to enquire about a refund and was told that a decision hadn't been made yet and would on Monday when the senior management would be in. I'm not holding my breath.

[No Rules]

Venue organisation / fire procedures were terrible though - we were at the back near the bar and couldn't hear what the guy standing on the stage waving manically was saying. Apparently it didn't occur to anyone to grab a microphone and say 'hey, there's a fire, please leave'. It was just word of mouth and that, pretty much, was the problem. While we were standing outside nobody bothered to explain what had happened which understandably pissed people off.

i must say this is the one area i totally agree with - we weren't much better informed than you!

however i think the fire caused the loss of all the PA, as it all auto cuts out... not sure though - but yeah - keeping people informed would have helped.

again - the refunds thing = i do know the actual general manager was away, he's back in work on monday, so that is probably why they are saying the decision will be made then. and again - as the band were paid in full, i'm not sure the academy will be refunding, i'm pretty sure a full refund won't happen, both supports played and propagandhi had completed over half their set..
it's a tricky one tbh...

i may see if i can work something so that if you come to another show i'm promoting at the academy (the slackers and leftover crack as it stands) and can provide proof of purchase, you get 50% off your ticket price off or something... it's just an idea though so don't take it as gospel, as obviously it affects the way those bands will get paid... hmmmmm

[punx4life]

Words cant express how gutted i am. I mean i have been to tonnes of shows and normally something like this wouldnt have bothered me so much. But travelling a total of 500 miles, taking two days off work for my favourite band to see them for only the 3rd time and then this to happen, i was disheartened to say the least. Now im not annoyed at the promoter, the band or whatever but being left in the dark and the confusion of what was even happening was a bit of a shambles. I couldnt care less about getting a refund at the moment and the huge crowd chants of "refund refund" were quite baffling at the time, i just wanted to get the fuck back in and see them finish.

The insane thing is this was hand on heart shaping up to be one of the best gigs i have ever seen. Me and the friends i travelled down with were tapping each other on the shoulder every 2 min saying how good the sound was. They had been playing amazing songs and i was just in total awe. Hairs stood on end on at least two songs up tillthis point. I couldnt honestly believe how good it was. So yeah. How long will it be before Propagandhi come back again

[Tom Aylott]

Riot pigs eh? Madness.

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[pintorock]

last nite was a mare!! however the gandhi were awesome last nite and the sound was amazing. and i appreciate the explanation from mr promotor guy. Thats gone a long way to help although i agree that the door staff and the pigs went totally the wrong way with the way they handled people. if clearer directions and info had been given to the crowd right from the outset people wouldnt have got pissed off and started getting aggro. when the cops started arriving en-force i kinda knew the show wouldnt be continuing.
What did the band make of it??
ive seen em a cpl of times before but a few of my mates had never seen them and they were very pissed off particularly as we were originally going to groezrock until these dates were announced.

and the quote of the day from a guy outside was 'im so pissed off coz that 2nd pill kicked in as they stopped playing!!'

[RedM]

It was a disappointing end to the evening for sure. Being ageing punkers we don't get out to many shows these days and had been looking forward to this for some time. Having seen them more than a few times over the years it was great to see that they keep getting better and better.

It was a shame about the fire but shit happens. It could have been handled better by the venue though. The attitude from some of the crowd once outside was appalling but that's kids and alcohol for ya.

We had a nice chat with The Rod so the evening (for us) ended in a Propagandhi related way. Oh well, back into hibernation with a mug of cocoa.

[Wai]

I'll be doing merch for random hand on the rest of the tour, so if anyone wants to come and say hello that'll be cool.

[Space Godzilla]

You there tonight then Wai? Ill come bother you fo sure

[shireman]

I travelled down from Glasgow for the Propagandhi gig last night as it was the closest (but by no means cheapest to get to)venue to me and there was no way I was missing only their 3rd (as far as I know) tour of the UK.

Thought the situation was handled very badly. Why when the promoter/stage manager/whoever is was came on to tell everyone to move outside did he not use one of the 3 mics in front of him instead of shouting and waving his hands?!? At no stage was anything conveyed to the crowd of what was happening. The fire brigade disappeared as quickly as they had arrived, so it was obvious the problem of fire had been dealt with.

Not looking for scapegoats, but it would now appear the policeman and/or bouncer who under no authority told people to move on as the show was over should have their arses handed to them on a plate. If the promoter is telling the truth (no reason to doubt him...as this stage anyway ) then these are the guys are the ones to blame for the show not continuing. I am also absolutely sickened to hear that a club night still ran in the venue as scheduled when a matter of mere minutes previously the situation apparently was irretrievably damaged.

You're damn right I'll be getting a full refund, but this of course will not make up for the huge disappointment and incovenience suffered.

I may be wrong, but the band will have been paid in full as they would've been on a guarantee. Meaning they get paid a certain pre-agreed ammount regardless of whether they've sold 10 or 1000 tickets. That's the chance the venue takes, and it usually pays off as it's a calcualted risk and that's how it works all over the place. And Propagandhi were probably getting paid a reasonable ammount as the bands wage will be reflected in the ticket price. I think the venue would have some nerve not to refund the tickets and I will be pursuing that as far as I can. (Purely because the independent police complaints division wouldn't take my complaint seriously about the police quite clearly just taking the huff with some of the crowd and it's chants!)

[Charpunk]

There weren't any riot geared police or dogs! Not surprised more coppers turned up, 2 or 3 alone woulda been mincemeat.

Some guys (and it was guys) were being knobheads. Losing half a set is better than risking being burnt to death (obv we weren't at risk of this but no one outside knew that).

For those that wanna know:
Supporting Caste
Coach's Corner
Haille Selassi
and we thought Nation States were a bad idea
Speculative Fiction
Less talk more rock
Back to the Motor League
Song I didn't know cos I suck

[No Rules]

Thought the situation was handled very badly. Why when the promoter/stage manager/whoever is was came on to tell everyone to move outside did he not use one of the 3 mics in front of him instead of shouting and waving his hands?!? At no stage was anything conveyed to the crowd of what was happening. The fire brigade disappeared as quickly as they had arrived, so it was obvious the problem of fire had been dealt with.

as stated before - i think when the automatic call goes through to the fire service and the fire is detected, the stage power get's shut down - logically really - to ensure more stuff doesn't catch fire - i'm pretty sure they would have realised the mics would have made themselves heard

f the promoter is telling the truth (no reason to doubt him...as this stage anyway

ah yes - i come on here to lie professionally... if you have any reason to doubt me please email me or pm me, obviously i've worked with bands putting on shows for 10+ years by being a duplicitous lying schemer.. all i've done is come on here to explain why and what happened...

I am also absolutely sickened to hear that a club night still ran in the venue as scheduled when a matter of mere minutes previously the situation apparently was irretrievably damaged

the club night didn't run as scheduled - it actually opened at midnight = if you'd read my post - which apparently you have as you're giving me the benefit of the doubt - you'll see the fire service gave the venue okay to restart the show (i reckon this was probably about 9.50ish) - but at that time the police had made the decision to disperse the crowd - which i'm sure they can drag up some law under which they're allowed to - and their decision will have been aided by the antics of a tiny minority of the people outside.. over reaction - yes - but one which was going to be inevitable once they felt threatened...
like i said - the venue itself was more than happy to allow the show to continue and would have pushed the club night back until whenever to ensure that it did.. i have no idea why the police said one thing and the fire brigade another.
the club night happening was inevitable when they finally got the all clear, as the club i imagine was trying to salvage something from the friday night.. it would have been 11-11.30 by the time propagandhi could have played as once we got back in the police still wouldn't give permission for anything other than equiment to be stripped etc.. once the police made thier announcement that the show was over 70-80% of the audience dissapeared..

At no stage was anything conveyed to the crowd of what was happening

again as stated previously - i agree with this point - it's not my venue, so i'm not going to be shouting from the steps about what i thought might happen, and their general manager was being dragged from pillar to post by police/fire brigade/his staff/punters etc... but yes - there should have been a better way to inform people

i think the police were telling people about refunds to simply make them go without smashing anything else up, i'm sure if they said "oh, the management will make a decision on refunds monday morning" it would simply have inflamed some more of the leery people into more shouting and jostling

ultimately the show was stopped for all the right reasons, i'd rather be sat here typing this & having this discussion, than the venue made a snap decision to continue with the show and the club had burnt down.. with us all in it...

like i said i have no idea how refunds will work, i was informed on the night that i could settle the show with the venue (ie get my tally for tickets sold) and thus pay the band, and that the venue would take on all responsibility for any refunds as it was their fault the show was unable to continue, but that they were making no decision until monday morning, when they'd had time to sit and go through all the details. i imagine they have insurance for this type of thing happening... i'm just taking the pessimistic outlook - ultimately i think it won't even be the sheffield staff who make the decision on refunds - it'll be some lawyer associated with the academy group in london...

this whole situation sucks, but it would be good if we kept the discussion to what actually happened.. as charpunk said - riot police and dogs...hmmmm - the police did arrive in a riot van - but that's cos they're normally positioned around town in them, but and i could be wrong, i didn't witness any police in full riot gear, just those bright jackets and their peaked caps..

[punx4life]

You seem a really nice guy and i appreciate you even telling us half of what went on here. At the end of the day im just gutted i didnt get to see Propagandhi play a full set. Seems like there were quite a few of us Scots folk down there. Lets hope they can get someone to book a show in Glasgow next time.

[wiggles60]

I stood outside singing 'establishment, establishment you always know what's best'. No-one else joined in the pro-police song!

Shit the way it all ended but to be honest Cop Out were mint so that'll do.

[chrisw]

I stood outside singing 'establishment, establishment you always know what's best'. No-one else joined in the pro-police song!

Shit the way it all ended but to be honest Cop Out were mint so that'll do.

[Minty]

Bristol was sooo good. Really one of the best gigs I've been to in recent years, and it seemed like I wouldn't actually make it today. Really good atmosphere all night. Good viiiibes, man!

The Arteries kicked a whole lot of ass, which went down to an awesome reception...plus Jamie is a cool guy. Can't wait till they play The Croft in June. It all got a bit mental when Random Hand got into full swing, the start of the set seemed to not go so well which suprised me a little. And what can you really say about Propagandhi? They played nearly every song I would have wanted them to play with the incredible tightness you've come to expect...and I got to stagedive, like half the rest of the audience.

So fucking glad they played The Bangers Embrace. Song rules hard. All the new stuff sounds so good live and loads of people already know it off by heart. The older ones certainly ruled the roost though.

[Tom Aylott]

Can't wait til tomorrow!

On the subject of the police- sounds like the sensible approach from the emergency service to me...

People need to be less upthepunx and just play ball sometimes, I dunno who people are trying to impress sometimes!

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[chrisw]

Anyone know if the tubes are running okay tonight? also is angel the nearest stop to islington academy or is it highbury and islington?

[ATTACK!sam]

Can not describe how excited i am for tomorrow!