The deaths of 10 people who were crushed in the crowd at Astroworld in November 2021 have changed the landscape for concert organizers and performers in a way that is hopefully making large events safer for audiences. In the past, artists like Oasis had a "showstop procedure" in place, as this article in The Guardian on concert safety makes clear, tours now make the performer central to keeping everyone safe.
Live Design talked to Steve Allen, the tour manager who first devised the showstop procedure with Oasis and the founder of Crowd Safety, about the role of production professionals in audience safety.
Live Design: Who should receive training in crowd safety on a tour?
Steve Allen: That depends on what your role is.. If you are backline, lighting crew, sound crew, rigger, or the caterer, why would you need to have any training on crowds? The key personnel involved in a showstop (from a touring production) would be as follows:
- The artist
- Tour security, if they are switched on and competent with crowds/show stops, not to be confused with artist protection, as their role is only to look out for the artist.
- A stage manager who would have to be permanently at the side of stage during the entire performance. This is not a popular option as they often want to prep for load out during the gig.
- The front of house sound engineer and lighting director
The person with the role of showstop takes on a significant link in the chain that will be thoroughly investigated should something go wrong. The risks increase based on the profile of the artist, the demographics of the crowd, the venues that they are playing (home crowd/festivals etc) and so the level of risk can often be determined from the outset.
I firmly believe that the artist has a moral responsibility/duty of care to reduce the risk to those attending. This doesn’t mean they have to undertake crowd management plans but they must cooperate and communicate with the promoter, who in turn communicates with the venue. The tour agent facilitates all of this in advance but then this is addressed on a day of show safety and security meeting, all pretty standard stuff.
Showstop procedures that should be addressed may include crowd safety issues, emergency issues (such as a terrorist coded message threat via the police) that require an evacuation, a medical emergency, or even the artist stating that they won’t stand for women being assaulted in the crowd or fights in the audience as examples. They will want to be notified of this happening (if they don't see it) and stop the show temporarily to address this.
LD: What should a touring professional expect to happen if there are problems in the crowd?
SA: Depending on what the problems are, if it has got tot he level of the artist's rep being notified and, as per the day of show safety/security meeting, if the situation needs intervention from the stage you could do a two level set up. The artist addresses the issue verbally at the end of a song, pauses, and if it hasn’t stopped the problem, then bring up full house lights/white light.
If it is an emergency situation, crowd or other, then the showstop is immediately engaged where the lighting director automatically puts house lights/white light up and the front of house sound engineer makes sure the artist's mic is the only one working (if compliant artist). The artist will then give the message that their rep is giving them to explain what to do. This is based on the protocols agreed at the day of show safety and security meeting.
Ultimately, the wrong decisions, or wrong language used, can be detrimental and incite an issue so this must be taken seriously to avoid the trial by media onslaught, poor safety outcomes, and potential criminal or civil charges
LD: If touring professionals are interested in doing additional safety training where should they look?
SA: Safety is such a huge area - if it is crowd safety, gone are the days where this industry relied on the local bouncer in a crowd safety shirt. Today, the crowd safety ‘expert,’ of which apparently there are 1000s and growing in number by the day as it is the new buzzword, should have extensive experience of crowds, underpinned by sector-specific and reputable qualifications, with professional memberships.
There is a far greater risk of a crowd-related incident than there is of a rigging failure, where the lighting truss or PA drops, so ensure you have the right people onboard proportionate to the risk the touring artist represents. History shows that if the wrong call is made, the tour will stop immediately, crew is out of work, the artist will feel terrible, there is media intrusion into the key participants and a blame game ensues, and the person who was happy to take the responsibility is now questioning themselves.
There are a growing number of organizations that suddenly offer showstop training but I would strongly suggest going with a company that has a proven background in implementing showstops. If you have to demonstrate you have been trained, you can show that the provider has a background in delivering safe outcomes to band management and, potentially, to a judge.
Crowd Safety delivers group training in a number of safety areas including crowd management and showstop, as well as consulting on specific tours and events.