The celebrity DJ’s fans came up with some amazingly hilarious excuses to get into his housefull show. The smarter ones were seen “striking a deal” with security personnel. By Karan Bhardwaj
DJ David Guetta would have laughed his lungs out if he would have heard the excuses his fans in Delhi were coming up with to gatecrash his show. Sample this. Holding her boyfriend close to her, she stood tall in her stilettos. In this long queue to attend Guetta’s concert at Buddh International Circuit, she was looking every inch a diva flaunting her high-end gown and a branded bag. But as her turn came at the frisking point, she just bent on her knees and requested the security to let her in. “Tickets are over! We have come from Gurgaon to attend the show. I have rented this dress tonight. Please let me go!” she requested as tears rolled down her cheeks.
There were no sign of shame or embarrassment as she was one among hundreds of gatecrashers who had thronged the venue without paying for the tickets. While Guetta entertained his fans inside, much of the real drama was unfolding outside the entrance as non-paid guests turned up with some out-of-the-box excuses to sneak in. “My friend is inside and he has my tickets. I couldn’t call him as I am short on balance. Here, we are already facing roaming charges,” came an excuse from a stud. Bouncers, too, were amused but since the number of gatecrashers was high, they had no choice but to act strict. Many boys were literally thrashed while organisers had to intervene to calm down the situation as a few tried to enter forcefully.
“We try our best to refuse them politely. But while boys engage in muscle-flexing, girls start weeping at the entrance as if we had done something wrong to them. One of the girls threatened me of false charges of molestation if I didn’t allow her to enter,” said a bouncer on the condition of anonymity.As we were chatting with this bouncer, there came a loud voice warning the security staff, “My uncle is a senior cop. You will have to face the consequences if you do not listen to me.” The very next moment, a guy whispered to us, “Please give me two leaves from your notebook.” As we obliged, he immediately maneuvered paper into tickets and walked into the pavilion with pride while bouncers tapped those who didn’t have “tickets in hands”.
With musical concerts and comedy evenings becoming a phenomenon especially at NCR venues, gatecrashing has become a serious “business”. It has become an orchestrated opportunity for security, police and some from the organisers’ team to make some “extra money.” “Most concerts in Noida and Gurgaon take place in open grounds with limited capacity. So once the official housefull is declared, people
try all means to get in. They pay a certain amount of money to security attendants who ensure their entry till the last point,” said an event manager, who regularly organises musical concerts in Delhi. Rohan Singla, one of the fans at the event, told us how he and his friends attend almost every concert at the Greater Noida venue through different tricks.“Why would I pay Rs10,000 when I get the same thing in less than half of that amountIJ There are so many concerts happening and I won’t be able to attend each one of them if I start paying the full money. So why not strike a dealIJ It’s like a win-win situation for all stakeholders,” he said.
One of the bouncers confided how he made money when DJ Hardwell performed recently at the Buddh International Circuit. “It’s an organised money-making business. People are only allowed to sneak in systematically once majority of ticket-holders reach inside the venue. If a ticket costs Rs3,000, the gatecrashers pay as high as Rs1,000 per entry. We allowed many such groups, of five, 10 and 20 people and made ‘decent’ money from that event,” he said. Though big event players ensure no such “under the table” business,the “leakages” are inevitable. “Mostly, cops force us to make free entries while bouncers strike deal secretly. When you host an event of such a massive scale, such practices can be controlled but not finished,” said an official from a blue-chip event company.
(Some names have been changed on request)
Shout out
It doesn’t take much to look like a die-hard fan. Painted face, funky tee or even a mask can do the trick. So it was really tough to guess who was really a fan of Guetta and who was not. But what was interesting to note that everyone was a part of the madness and the craze called David Guetta.It was an evening when all roads seemed to be leading to the Buddh International Circuit where famed DJ called his fans to unleash their madness. Drinks overflowed, guys danced on roofs of their vehicles, several passed out at different corners of the venue. The EDM aficionados turned up in funky avatars, some wore neon masks while others sported Guetta’s merchandise with DJ’s name scribbled on their faces. The venue was packed with over 8,000 fans who shook their legs non-stop for over two hours. Some were happy taking selfies with Guetta’s standee while hundreds of messages (written several times) were scribbled on the message board. The DJ stood right in the centre of the huge stage with multiple screens where animated motion images, a regular feature in his videos, were put up as he played popular tracks like Dangerous, lovers on The Sun, Titanium et al.