Apr 19, 2014 03:17 PM
8983 Views
(Updated Apr 19, 2014 03:28 PM)
BMS was the event management agency of Yanni India world tour 2014. The concert at Bangalore on 18th Apr'14 was completely mismanaged;
Big confusion about entry gates- no signage, gates changed frequently. No announcements or PA system.
Once we entered the auditorium, no barriers demarcating the various categories of seats- for example, there was no barrier between the Rs.5000 category and the Rs.20K, 15K and 8K rows. It was a free for all. Cushioned seating was promised, but ordinary chairs of similar kind was given to all categories of tickets.
Since several rows of Rs.15000 & Rs.8000 tickets were empty, at 7.40 pm when the show was about to begin, people from the Rs.2500 & 5000 category just jumped on to these seats.There was no control, monitoring or reprimand what so ever from the BMS team present there.
Seeing the chaos, several foreign nationals who were present were laughing and in anguish, they were talking that this is the way India is run. This is a disgrace.
Their website promised a Yanni CD to every ticket holder - Rs.8000 and above. We did not get to see this CD even in our dreams. Why lie about something to cheat people?
Even the unoccupied Rs.8000 rows were filled with people from the lower denomination tickets. There was no proper upgrading system put in place so that people from Rs.8000 category would be upgraded to the 15K and likewise.
Gates were supposed to be opened at 6.00pm. Actually, the gates were opened only by 6.30 pm.There was no planning or coordination whatsoever.
It was stated that photo & videography is not allowed. Many people were standing near the stage and happily taking pictures/ filming the event on their phones.
We were told that food is not allowed. People were eating everything, including hot pizzas. What sort of system is this?
The only saving grace was the splendid performance by Yanni and team, which performed brilliantly inspite of BMS. Hundreds of people left the venue after the concert hurling abuses at BMS and Black & White team.
I only hope that musicians like Yanni and others do not refuse to come to India looking at such pathetic arrangements.
