ASEAN music fest cancels due to overcrowding
The ASEAN Music Festival was canceled on Tuesday night due to unexpected overcrowding at the Ayala Triangle Gardens. The incident happened while the first set for the night Parokya ni Edgar was performing.
Photo from Annil Villanueva
The Southern Police District (SPD) estimated that there were 15, 000 people who came for by this free concert.
The desire to get near the stage to get rid of the chairs and steel barriers created a stampede. The organizers pleaded the crowd to settle down and stop pushing the barriers in order for the concert to continue.
The police initially said that the crowd was hard to manage until it can no longer be controlled; the organizer asked for the event to be canceled.
"For reasons of public safety, we have stopped the show. People are leaving to go home. We are sorry for the inconvenience," SPD Chief Supt. Tomas Apolinario said.
Do not underestimate the local music scene
ASEAN Music Festival organizer Annie Luis of the National Commission for Culture and Arts (NCAA) wanted to highlight music from ASEAN member states and contemporary music made by artists and musicians from Laos, Vietnam, Brunei and Malaysia.
The festival was a promoted event that coincides with the ASEAN Summit and "it serves as a breather from the formal proceedings of the five-day meeting of world leaders.”
In the line-up, there are six local bands namely Franco, Silent Sanctuary, Sandwich, The Ransom Collective, Parokya ni Edgar, and Ben & Ben showcased their talents in the music festival plus nine music acts from the ASEAN countries.
Parokya ni Edgar frontman, Chito Miranda said, “Sana [next time] hindi na ma-understimate kung gaano kabuhay ang local music scene. Di daw kasi nila ine-expect na ganun kadami ang pupunta kaya di nila napaghandaan nang maayos.”
["I hope next time our local music scene will not be underestimated. They (the organizers) did not expect the number of goers that's why they didn’t have enough preparations."]
The other bands tweeted through their social media accounts their gratitude to be part of the event as well to the people who came out to watch them perform on this free concert.
