Metallica Fans Riot Following Cancelled Concert
Metallica‘s first trip to India isn’t turning out quite the way they had planned. The metal mavens were scheduled to play their first-ever concert there Friday (Oct. 28) in the city of Gurgaon, but after 20,000 fans turned up and became irate after waiting several hours for the gig to start, a stampede caused barricades to collapse. Promoters then decided to postpone the show until Saturday, and that announcement, in turn, caused several fans to riot, rushing the stage and causing damage to LED screens, monitors and other gear.
Rolling Stone India reports that “things started heating up with a stampede at around 3:30 in the afternoon. The stampede caused the barricades to collapse, with several fans getting hurt in the process. As the crowd entering the venue continued to grow, the barricades in front of the stage also collapsed.
At around 6 p.m., the organizers announced that due to ‘serious technical difficulties,’ the show was postponed and Metallica would play at 4 p.m. tomorrow.”
Those “technical difficulties” were first thought to be related to production issues, but later reports suggest that organizers — and likely Metallica themselves — pulled the plug due to growing safety and security concerns following the barricade collapse. When this was announced, all hell broke loose, and some fans inside the venue gained access to stage area, tossing around equipment and even trying to set fire to banners near the stage.
The concert has since been officially cancelled and all tickets will be refunded in full.
Video posted below shows rioters attacking the stage, although none of the damaged gear looks to be professional sound equipment (maybe that was already destroyed). The second video posted is from a local Indian news report, which branded the incident “shameful.”