WORKING EVENT SECURITY;
THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE MEMORABLE Part III
During Elton John’s Goodbye Yellow Brick Road final tour September 21, 22 and 24, 2019 at Roger’s Arena, I had an aisle at the bottom of the floor. My main task was to keep the aisles clear, and check tickets for floor access. A grandmother in her mid-seventies got up from her seat and attempted to walk past me onto the floor. I politely asked to see her ticket, which she refused to produce. I stated, “You will have to go back to your seat”. She then attempted to push me aside to gain floor access but I held her back. Again, I asked her to, “Show me your ticket or go back to your seat”. She replied, “I’m seventy-five years old, what are you going to do about it.” “I will have you escorted out of the building, if you don’t behave and act like an adult” I replied. Meanwhile, this all went on in front of her embarrassed middle-aged daughter who apologized for her mom’s ill behavior and kept her in her seat for the rest of the show. Our security had explicit orders from Elton John’s tour management that he did not want to see security evicting anybody, which makes things difficult when dealing with unruly guests.
Another performer making things difficult for security was Theresa Caputo the so-called ‘Long Island Psychic’ who claims to speak to the dead. Again, I was on the floor for her show. I had specific instructions not to follow her within ten rows of chairs, not to be visible on the overhead monitor and to maintain complete silence. As Caputo stalked and preyed upon her gullible admirers, I was counting rows and watching the screen. The last instruction was the hardest of all to keep from laughing at this complete farce of a show. Michael Franti brought the Stay Human Tour to the Commodore Ballroom on August 8 2018. I love the Commodore Ballroom; it is an intimate setting with great atmosphere and an awesome sprung dance floor. Once again, I had the stage front including a small b stage and a ‘stair master at mid stage. Franti loves audience interaction as he wades into the crowd and invites numerous people onto the stage. When Franti moved onto the B stage, everyone gathered around like a free for all. However, the main stage required my verifying which fans he wanted out of the crowd, naturally all the women claimed that he had picked them. Altogether, he probably had forty invited guests on stage. Then had everyone join hands for the big kumbaya gathering to sing “Imagine”. Including me, I hate that insipid song.
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Smokey Robinson played the PNE Amphitheater in August of 2019 for the Summer Concert Series. Smokey is an old Motown performer famous for the perennial hit, “My Girl” and his work with the Miracles. The Motown sound, known for great melodies and upbeat vibe, which is usually conducive to older well-behaved audiences. However, I have observed, as a fan base gets older, they tend to be more entitled, and break down into two camps, the standees and the sitters. The rule being, folks can stand if they want, as long as they are in front of their seats. It is a rock concert not the symphony. Typically, most of the audience sit while small groups stand and dance for a few popular songs then sit down again. The sitting people then complain to security that people are standing and that they cannot see. My explanation that either sitting or standing was allowed did not satisfy everyone. To keep the peace, we allowed people to dance in the aisles at times. I believed everything was under control, until the end of the night when a fight erupted between a group of standees and sitters. I intervened along with the police to break up the combatants. The altercation resulted in handcuffs and two arrests. A fight at a Smokey Robinson concert over sitting or standing, this I could not believe.
Coldplay brought the Head Full of Dreams Tour to BC Place on September 29 2017. This time I had the stage left position on the floor. My role was to check access passes for back of house and keep general order around the stage area. This was a dream position as I had a full front row view of the stage and a spectacle of a show. The first indication I had that this was not going to be any ordinary show was the sheer size and magnitude of the stage, props and a crowd of forty thousand plus. As the night went on a steady stream of people came and went behind stage. A supervisor placed a guard behind me to keep an eye on the lower bowl seats for any floor jumpers. From previous interactions with this fellow, I knew him to be anxious and ineffective in public situations. During the show, I had one fan attempt to sucker his way past me with homemade credentials claiming he was, “the bands nutritionist”. “Nice try buddy, I don’t think so.” I later saw him at the end of the show, so intoxicated he required help to walk straight by two friends on either side of him. Some nutritionist, he should have followed his own claims.
Next, during the release of the sphere balls, a group gathered beside the stage. A woman approached me claiming to be part of the show but did not have proper credentials, so I turned her away. She moved back three steps then tried to charge her way through like a stampeding bull. I tackled her around the waste and we fell to the floor. As I reached for my radio to call for a roving team, she socked me in the jaw. The gloves were off; I put her in a leg lock and rolled to gain effective control and compliance. However, my anxious and ineffective partner stood there frozen and I had to maintain the hold for several minutes until a roving team took over for me. Furious about the lack of back up, I demanded, “Why didn’t you help me?” “I thought you had it under control,” he dumbly replied. Best practice is to do a restraint with the support of a partner however; the situation called for an immediate reaction. When a restraint situation is in effect, always assist a partner in need of back up. I reported him to my supervisor; I assume he never worked in any high profile area again.
Ineffective partners struck again in an indirect manner at BC Place when Paul McCartney held his Freshen Up concert tour on July 6, 2019. I told my supervisor that I was a McCartney fan and that I would appreciate a good spot on the floor, to which he obliged. Eighteenth row, center aisle doing crowd control, perfect! However, no more than fifteen minutes later, a second supervisor finds me and states, “We need somebody with a strong presence who can work back stage to check credentials”. Burned! the backhanded compliment that guarantees the inefficient person gets the good spot with light responsibility whereas, I do a professional job and get rewarded with the difficult spot checking pretentious VIP’s and little view of the show at all. Nevertheless, I hung out with the drummer, we had a good conversation, and as Sir Paul rode by on a golf cart, we exchanged wave’s hello. Not to mention, I did see Sir Paul’s earlier private show.
Most Recently, I worked the Cirque du Soleil show at the Pacific Coliseum. Having worked these shows in the past, I was expecting another quiet and non-eventful evening. The night began with the usual seating of guests and directing people around the arena to the various amenities. My position at the east doors prevented the guests from entering downstairs where the performers and equipment were located. All was calm until I went on my break, then the radio buzzed with chatter. “We have an emergency at the front doors”, “Call for a police team”, “He’s running away”, “We have him apprehended”. My supervisor immediately left from his break and I attended minutes later to see a crowd of people cordoned off by numerous security from the front doors. Glass and debris covered the area where a car had hit one of the pillars and crashed into the front doors. The car was a mangled mess of metal, plastic and glass wedged between the two doors. A coterie of fire trucks, ambulance and first responders attended the scene. Luckily, the second half of the show was about to begin and the majority of attendees were in their seats. Most people assumed the loud noise was a part of the show and continued about their way while those in the foyer near the incident began to converge. As we had little information or communication about the incident people began to speculate, was it a drunk? A terrorist? A mental health patient? Similar to the Lapu Lapu tragedy earlier in the month that saw numerous festival attendees mowed down by a mentally disturbed individual this person also had mental health issues. The show was delayed for thirty minutes until the situation was deemed safe, and then continued without further interruption. The event hit the news hour for the next few days. Many events are forgettable or nothing but a blur, others live forever.
The concerts and shows continue, no doubt there will be future stories and memories to share.
