Indians are angry at concert venues

When Amrita Kaur decided to attend Punjabi pop star Diljit Dosanjh’s concert in India this month, she was prepared to experience some discomfort.

Having attended several concerts in the past, Ms Kaur was looking forward to the “exciting chaos” that comes with large crowds at big events in India.

But what awaited her was much worse than she had imagined.

Crowd control was minimal and sanitation was non-existent. Congested mobile networks stopped working, raising concerns for personal safety. She said even going to the bathroom was like a gamble, as it meant spending the rest of the show queuing in front of “unhygienic, smelly booths”.

There was no public transport or parking at the site, a huge piece of government land in the northern city of Chandigarh, so Ms Kaur had no choice but to drive to a friend’s place nearby – and then get stuck in the inevitable, hours-long traffic jam after the end of the concert.

“You pay so much for a ticket, and what do you get in return? A urinary infection and a severe headache with bouts of music are possible,” she says about her experience.

This year has been a landmark one for India’s growing concert industry, with major tours by Dua Lipa, Dosanjh and Maroon 5 already thrilling audiences in stadiums and arenas. Other international acts such as Green Day, Coldplay and Ed Sheeran are scheduled to perform in the coming months.

In fact, music concerts of India received about 8 billion rubles ($94.1 million; £75.3 million) in revenue last year, a figure that is set to increase by 25% by the end of 2025.

Young, affluent Indians are not just willing to pay more to see their favorite music stars, they are actively seeking out these events. In 2023, over 400,000 people in India said they were traveled to other cities in India attend live events.

But despite the enthusiasm, many concertgoers say their experience was far from ideal. The issue hit the headlines earlier this week when a diabetic with incontinence problems said he ended up soiling himself at a Bryan Adams concert because there were no toilets on site.

On the same day, Dosanjh, who was on a national tour, shocked his fans by announcing that he would no longer perform in India until infrastructure at concert venues improved. Later, the singer clarified that he meant only one of the sites.

Since then, social networks have been flooded with similar complaints from concertgoers. From booking tickets on dodgy scalping sites for surprisingly high pricesto endure the hours of traffic before and after shows, often at full capacity, fans say they have to pay more than just money to see their favorite acts.

Those with the means now choose to attend shows in other countries for safer and generally more fun. “At Adele’s concert in Munich, the staff cleaned the toilets non-stop and they were extremely clean even after a three-hour concert,” says Ishika Gun, a lawyer in Bangalore. “If I have to spend that much money, I might as well go for the full experience.”

Organizers and promoters acknowledge the challenges, but say they also face broader infrastructure challenges.

That’s because India lacks venues dedicated to live concerts, forcing them to choose suboptimal venues or avoid certain cities altogether, preventing the industry from expanding, says Anmol Kukreya, co-founder of Skillbox, a concert entertainment company that has organized more than 300 concerts.

Unlike many Western countries, which have many concert venues, he says events in India have to be held in places like shopping malls, sports stadiums or public areas – all of which have their own limitations and many variables.

A mall may have better restrooms and dedicated parking spaces, but it won’t necessarily be able to accommodate large crowds of people the way a large barren area located in a remote corner of a city with poor connectivity could.

Nowadays, many music events are held in public stadiums to minimize some of the inconvenience – but this comes with its own problems, such as poor sound quality, crowd management issues and a lot of red tape.

State-owned venues are more suitable for larger events, but the process of booking them can often be a complicated “web of permits and licenses, which makes them less attractive”, says Mr Kukreya.

To bridge these gaps, organizers end up spending thousands of dollars building temporary infrastructure at venues — stages, temporary bathrooms and parking spaces — before each concert, which can incur serious losses, adds Tej Brar, founder of Third Culture and a Mumbai-based organization. . director of NH7, one of India’s largest music festivals.

And it’s not just business that’s suffering, but the live music scene as well, as a whole segment of smaller and independent artists are left out because they’re not “big” enough for people to want to pay exorbitant prices to see them.

“If they can’t get a crowd of 10,000 or more, they usually won’t get the show because the economics don’t work for the promoters.”

But recently, even large international music festivals with star groups and multi-million dollar budgets have been disappointing fans.

“That’s fine, but why don’t you have clean toilets?” asks Sreoshi Mukherjee, a Delhi-based journalist.

Ms Mukherjee, who attends music concerts across the country, was particularly appalled by the lack of toilets at Lollapalooza and Backstreet Boys, tickets for which cost between 5,000 ($59; £47) and 10,000 ($118; £94) rupees.

“There was a moment when the toilet ran out of both toilet paper and water. We had to buy water bottles to relieve ourselves,” she says.

Criticism is mounting against inflated ticket prices, which turn these events into high-profile cultural events for the few, but there are other affordability issues.

Most of the playgrounds are practically not adapted for people with disabilities – for example, for wheelchairs and audio description. At Dosanjh’s concert in Chandigarh, Ms Kaur said they had to carry their wheelchair-bound friend to the venue as there was no ramp or lane for access.

The BBC has contacted the organizers of all the events mentioned in the material for comment.

Other business representatives say there may not be a one-size-fits-all solution, but they worry about the longer-term impact on business. Now people are still willing to pay. But consistently bad facilities can change their minds.

“Word of mouth plays a critical role in event attendance, and negative feedback can damage an organiser’s reputation,” says Mr Brar.

But the responsibility to fix it, he adds, needs to be shared. “While the company takes responsibility for selecting the venue and setting the ticket prices, the venue must provide basic amenities. Adequate toilet facilities and dedicated cleaning staff should be the standard of the place.’

As the country prepares to host big names like Sheeran and Green Day, fans are hoping for a better experience.

And for some, the huge crowds and risk of potential infection still feel like a small price to pay to see their favorite star.

“There’s a thrill in the mess and chaos,” says Mohammad Sami, a student.

“It’s like being stuck on an island with hundreds of strangers, united by their determination to survive the night.”