“If You Wanna” go and see The Vaccines live, apparently it isn’t in fact “All Right” to not know the name of the band’s frontman.
Here’s a new one for venues looking to sort out the good guys from the bad guys in their crowds – take a cue from the Venue Cymru in Wales. Six people were refused entry into the indie-rock group’s gig at the Llandudno, Wales venue after security guards began pop quizzing punters about the band in a new and strange way of weeding out pickpockets.
As The Daily Post reports, Venue Cymru had received tip offs of possible thieves scouring audiences of the gig. Their proposed solution to dealing with the five-finger discounters? Advising security guards to test concert-goers about the band in order to differentiate between those who were true Vaccines diehards and those who were in attendance for all the wrong reasons.
Naturally, fans were left furious after security guards refused entry to those who couldn’t name the lead singer of the band (that’s Justin Young, for the record) or come up with the titles of the group’s two albums (that’d be What Did You Expect From The Vaccines and Come Of Age).
Looks like the question that the group asked its fans with the release of their first album can finally be answered. What did you expect from The Vaccines? To be allowed entry into their gig. Did it happen? Not unless you have a penchant for stalking the band’s Wikipedia page. What did you expect from The Vaccines? To be allowed entry into their gig. Did it happen? Not unless you have a penchant for stalking the band’s Wikipedia page.
The Daily Post further goes on reveal how one poor punter, 32 year old Andy Bellis, who had already bought tickets to the gig with the intention of actually seeing the band, was simply pulled aside after presenting his entry to door staff.
“They asked if I knew the lead singer’s name and could I name their two albums and some songs. I couldn’t think off the top of my head so they kicked us out, took the tickets off us and said we couldn’t watch the band because we didn’t know enough about them,” says the bewildered fan.
“I thought they were joking at first as I’ve never heard of anything like this in my life. There was no reason why I shouldn’t have been let in. Now I’m outraged, I can’t believe it has happened,” he added.
Fuming fans contacted the venue after the debacle and have received little feedback. Other discontent concert goers have also taken to the band’s Facebook page looking for answers.
One fan said that it was “hellish how you treated your fans in Wales. I won’t be buying tickets for any of your shows ever again.”
The Vaccines responded to one of the many complaints on their Facebook page by advising those affected to email the band with details of what exectly happened to them.
Meanwhile, a joint statement from the venue and SJM Concerts was issued on the Venue Cymuru wesbite saying:
To clarify the circumstances regarding the refusal of entry to this show of one fan the concert’s promoters and venue would like to apologise unreservedly. Mr Bellis was it now appears an innocent and unwitting victim of an operation aimed at stamping out organised criminal activity. We will obviously be contacting him privately regarding the matter.
In cooperation with the relevant authorities, Venue Cymru and SJM Concerts were working to prevent possible large scale and pre-meditated targeting of concert goers by mobile phone and wallet thieves. This is not a localised problem specific to Llandudno but a national issue affecting genuine honest concert goers who deserve to be able to enjoy their evening without fear of pickpockets or loss of personal possessions with the distress that causes.
Working alongside Showsec , our concert security provider, we were advised to be vigilant and, in specific cases, challenge at the point of entry individuals intentions where clarification was required before admittance. At no stage was refusal to any show ever based solely on a “music quiz” as suggested but this was a way of establishing quickly a definitely genuine fan from one with no knowledge of the act in question. In this instance a mistake was made in refusing entry however other ejections or refusals on the same show proved conclusive and indicated that the 2500 sold out crowd had been protected from criminal activity by this extra vigilance.
Our priority as event organisers and venue operators is always the safety and security of our audiences and will remain so. We will work continuously with the police and licensing to deliver that on a national basis.
The Vaccines as a band I would hope share the above sentiment. we would however like to make clear the band were not instrumental or involved in the security operation on the night here and we would apologise unreservedly for any negative association this has brought about.”
