Has anyone else had their concert virtually ruined by completely over the top stewards having a go coz someone is texting or something? Last night (28th) I was singing along to The Beautiful Ones when a steward (who really missed his vocation when the Nazis were defeated in 1945) leaned over to have a go at someone. This kept happening. I am outraged! The irony is that my mate has an O2 phone and even he got a good bollocking!

Do a load of poor quality youtube clips of Prince shot from miles away with a 1.3 megapixel camera really threaten sales of Prince's latest concert DVD (which will probably never get released anyway)?

If I could be arsed, I'd write a letter to the O2 team. But knowing that I will not get a response, I will just console myself by knowing that I bid farewell to our steward by saying, "Guten arbent, mein fuhrer!" I'm not sure he got the joke.

eightiesmusicculture said:

well not that this happened to me but i noticed the guys round the stage were shining lasers at people who had their phones out LOL

what does "Guten arbent, mein fuhrer mean anyway?
[Edited 8/29/07 14:05pm]

Guten Abend, mein Führer
means
Good evening, my leader (with Führer of course meaning Mr. Adolf H.)

Ahhh Thanks Lol the stewards for block 111 were atcually really nice and polite

what does "Guten arbent, mein fuhrer mean anyway?
[Edited 8/29/07 14:05pm]
[/quote]

It means good evening, my leader literally. However, because good old Adolf was called 'Fuhrer' most people tend to associate fuhrer with our favourite Fascist dictator from Europe in the 1930s/40s.

As for the heavy handed staff, we can kind of expect it I guess considering there are signs up warning that people will be ejected if they are caught. I actually saw some real heavy handedness myself last night when some bloke appeared to be just waving his phone during 'Purple Rain' like people wave their lighters during the ballads. His friends were waving lighters at the same time just to put a bit of context to the tale. Anyway, this O2 bloke came over and was telling him to come to the end of the row and eventually walked over and was shouting at him telling him he was being ejected.

The O2 guy had to back off though because other people started complaining about the commotion as it was very distracting. I was about 3 rows behind all this and even I could hear this guy barking commands.

Ah well.

Ah Tonia got there before me! Never mind.

Write to them anyway- you likely will get a response.
if one of their staff detracted from your enjoyment of the show you paid them for you should tell them, or it will never get better for anyone. Especially you.

with regard the laser pointers. i was childishly using my free planet earth cd to deflect them the other night. it was like the planetarium. just with you know. better music.

glyn said:

glyn said:

Thats so funny

tonia said:

Thanks for the explination.

GoldiesParade said:

yes thank you i can imagine the look on the guys face

Having been numerous times now...
I think the O2 staff on the whole are pretty good at their job and most seem friendly! Unfortunately the venue seems to attract drunks! I have seen a few incidents of tension between members of the audience and also audience and staff who are only trying to do their job! It seems like alcohol in XS seems to be a real issue! concert goers on the whole seem responsible but there's this minority of pissheads who spoil it for the rest... as always!

As for the laser pointers.... Totally agree... It says DO NOT film or take pix! So don't bloody do it! The pointers if u notice are aimed at the person and also their camera/mobile phone lens...To disrupt the image... This also of course points them out to the stewards to warn them!
They were pretty sharp at aftershow... Where a guy was marched out from the front rows as they saw him using a digital recorder! He was ejected!
Unfortunately same evening (25th) there was a piss head being drunken and i would say obnoxious and disorderly... Dancing knocking into ppl aorund him... Dropped a 1/2 full pint glass on floor while doing so! He really ruined the eve for my g/f as he kept bumping into her and spilling beer by here feet... I told him 'just chill a little' and he hurled abuse at me! I of course ignored him... He then got his mobile out... and was trying to take a pic.... security took him away.... Hooray! BUT about 10 mins later... he was back with more drinks!
The O2 are not acting responsibly... he should have been ejected... he was pist as a newt and a nuissance... and certainly should not have been served! (prob his mates were!) and he would not have hesitated to start a fight!

Anyway rant over! O2 sort it out!
[Edited 8/29/07 14:43pm]

I have to say I don't think I'd like the stewards job - my uncle used to work over at Earl's Court and had loads of problems.

I had a taster of the idiot drunks myself when I used to do mobile discos. These drunken louts seem to forget people are only trying to do a job frequently. The amount of times I used to get threatened for one thing or another was ridiculous and in the end put my DJ career at a firm end.

The one thing I can never understand why it is that people go out to a concert/show and just look to start a fight. You unfortunately expect that kind of behaviour at nightclubs but when you're talking about a night out having spent at least £30 on a ticket, I just can't believe people have no sense of decorum.

The stewards have a tough job though some of them can be heavy handed - then again, towards the end of my DJ career so was I

glyn said:

Funniest Post Ever



p.s Yes, they're absolute jobsworths.

glyn said:

I'll have to remember that when the heavies at the Indigo are blinding me while shining at the twat with the camera standing two people back.

I was chuckling to myself in the indigo2 last night where I frequently saw other fans pulling down (drunk) hands that went up clutching cameras - doing the stewards' job for them. Imagine if he'd come on, done one song, got flashed by a few cameras and we'd have missed out on that planned set just due to a couple of people that can't seem to follow the 'no camera' policy!

danpartyman86 said:

Point(s) taken. I'm all for ejecting pissed up dickheads - and at the first three gigs I think they achieved the right balance. But last night was totally OTT. Maybe it was because I was standing near the aisle? I don't know. But the last thing you want is some moron shouting in your ear during Little Red Corvette, D&P and other ballads. Arrrrgh!!!

eightiesmusicculture said:

I know I just defended the stewards but I more than agree that they were a little heavy handed last night. Whereabouts were you? I was in block 113 right in the middle of a row and all throughout the show I could see the 'brownshirts' (or in this case '02shirts') marching up and down the aisles - that must have been awful for you if you were on the end. However, like I say at one point some poor bloke about 5 rows in front of me was being told to move to the end of the aisle to be ejected - he refused and so the O2 guy barged his way through at least 5 people and was bellowing. All of this throughout Purple Rain and because the guy was doing what his mates were doing and waving his phone in lieu of a lighter. The crowd got their revenge though as you can read in the earlier post.

Unfortunately by the sounds of things the O2 stewards have had some right idiots to contend with particularly at the aftershows and like I was towards the end of my time as a DJ, they probably assume everybody needs the heavy handed treatment. I don't think it's always the best approach myself on reflection - hell at times I was really standoffish to people who were probably coming to tell me I was doing a good job. I certainly learnt bellowing at someone over loud music is not the way to get your point across.

I've had problems too - first night I went I was essentially front row on the floor, but got pushed back behind 2 rows of people near the end as a steward decided to single me out and wanted me to go wayyy back. I refused, pointing at my chest and my seat, back and forth, given it was so loud, but that didn't quite sink in and he kept pushing and pushing. Given I was stone cold sober, polite, and those who were now in front of me had seats way back and were causing problems, this could've spoiled the night if he'd done it earlier.

And no sign of security in Saturday's concert in my lower tier block - one guy was filming on his phone, held high in front of my face, for just under 15 minutes. Annoyingly, it was a crap phone also, so the end result could've been a night in his local Karaoke contest for all the good it did him....

It can be a pain but they've tried the civilised way of doing things and people have just ignored it.

On the opening night, there were announcements up saying the artist wishes that nobody takes any photos, the show is for your memories. There were cameras and mobiles everywhere that night and people were clearly ignoring the request from Prince. The stewards seemed to be doing next to nothing.

On following nights, the warnings changed and no longer mentioned the artists wishes but said flat out that photography was not permitted. People were still taking pictures but this time the stewards were asking them not to. I still saw people flat out ignoring the stewards and eventually the steward gave up and they carried on filming/taking pictures.

By my 3rd show they were asking on the way in if people had cameras and from the 4th show they were doing searches and taking cameras away from people. Yet people were still taking photos and generally taking the piss in the main show.

At my second aftershow on the 18th, they were starting to get serious about cameras and I saw two people get escorted out of the crowd. At the 28th aftershow, there seemed to be many less cameras and the ones that I saw were getting pounced on by security very quickly. The woman behind me got a camera out and I tried to warn her but she ignored me. Within moments she had a tap on the shoulder and got told not to use her camera. A couple of minutes later she went to use it again, not realising that the security guy was still standing right behind her. She got escorted away. She must have been really upset as she'd previously been saying how amazing it was and what a wonderful view she had. She can't say she wasn't warned.This level of enforcement now seems to be moving into the main shows.

While I might agree that the stewards were being a little over the top, what else can they do now?

We've had

1) The artist wishes that there is no photography.
2) Photography is not permitted.
3) Searches and personal warnings on entrance to the arena.

I don't really see what other course of action they can take other than the heavy handed one. They have tried the nice approach and it didn't work. It's a shame that people are getting their concerts a little spoiled by stewards doing their job but I find it hard to blame the staff.

The blame has to rest with Prince and his strange fear of cameras. While I can understand him not wanting flashes, I really don't see the harm in non-flash photography and especially not mobile phone cams. If he wasn't so bothered, the staff would not be getting more aggressive on this point.

glyn said:

That's hilarious!!! Great use for the free Planet Earth CD ( I have about ten of them myself now)

I think some of these stewards have had a grand total of about five minutes training and are clearly on some sort of power trip.

point is...cant people get through a 2 hr max show without having to text on mobiles anyway?if u wanna shine a light during purple rain get a lighter!if u get ure mobile out expect to be reprimanded for it!there was a couple of plonkers near me on tues 28th with their mobiles out taking pics of p on stage at aftershow at the front!it's plonkers like that who ruin the show if p spotted them he would have fucked off and i wouldn't blame him..how hard is it to follow a few basic rules?how hard is it to keep your phone in your pocket when the show has started?

I don't see what's wrong with shining the mobile phone light instead of a lighter. It's less dangerous for a start. When I saw George Michael in concert he openly encouraged it during Spinning The Wheel and all the lights were multicoloured. See, it looks quite cool apart frm his rubbish dancing: http://www.youtube.com/wa...kZz1Mju4AU
[Edited 8/30/07 6:01am]

RockChick6 said:

Yippie - I'm in the good block on 16/9

cammille said:

Fully agreed. Too many twats seem married to their mobiles these days. And all these footage shooting mobile stuff is pathetic too. Try watching the concert instead and use your memories.

danpartyman86 said:

Yep. I was 116 row N. Purple Rain ruined due to the lighter/phone thing too. Can't even remember the solo. Was it any good?!

johnny124 said:

Good gag!

Mr Hayes took a photo at last Saturdays aftershow,security didnt throw him out! The buggers!!!!!

RockChick6 said:

Come on I am sure the laser thing is part of the lighting scheme of the show!!!

Mirabelle said:

can i sneak in your pocket please? ill be good