A Pearl Jam fan named Federcini posted on the Ten Club board about the band’s recent show:
ZIGGO DOME HORROR STORY
It took me few days to write this post.
I had to process what happened. I had to put myself back together to be able to tell this and to tell it as it should be told: with clarity. Because it is a very important matter.
When the first Amsterdam concert got canceled, though worried and sad for Eddie’s conditions, we kept on believing that the second date was going to happen according to schedule. So – let aside some general tension and the usual smart asses trying to dodge the queue – we decided to maintain the same order of the line that we established on date number 1.
Well aware that this second date wasn’t going to be managed by the Ten Club, we promptly contacted the security working for the Ziggo Dome to make sure that everything would work well, for us as well as for them. Since Boothy was there, we hoped that everything was going to be just fine, we got also reassured by the agreements we had in place with the people from Ziggo Dome to manage the line. Everything was actually fine until half an hour before the opening of the venue.
The security staff had us stand in line of 25, based on the order of our arrival. They even explained to us that they were going to open one door at a time to let us in in a fair manner.
But no. Few minutes before the due time CHAOS just begun.
Suddenly we’re told that they changed their minds and decided to open all the doors AT THE SAME TIME. All of them, those with us standing in line of 25 people, others with line formed by 100 people and also the lines with people who arrived just few hours before.
We were shocked, so we asked to speak to the head of the security of the Ten Club, Boothy. We were answered that the decision to open all the doors at the same time came directly from him. In person.
I can only speak for myself, but I attended tons of Pearl Jam concerts. In my experience, so far, any event managed by the Ten Club has been almost always perfect in terms of organization and respect of the fan base. So I personally do not believe for a minute that all this has been Boothy’s fault.
Anyway.
All the doors opened SIMULTANEOUSLY. If this story sounded bad so far, wait for what’s coming. It will seem to you like a horror movie just as it seemed to us.
Tickets were scanned; we got to the body search part and…
SOMETHING HAPPENED. A man, who by that time appeared to us like the Head of security for Ziggo Dome, went inexplicably crazy, started shouting at us, and violently pushed us outside. Tired and frustrated of waiting in line, in the streets, for three straight days (some of us had experienced already THREE cancelations) we reacted and shouted back. So violence increased: a friend of mine got shoveled around; another one’s ticket got canceled and this friend of mine was told he couldn’t enter the venue; another friend got pushed and hit even harder. And as for me, a petite girl who weighs scarce 110 pounds, someone lifted me up by the t-shirt (that I was given for present by Mike McCready, if it ended ripped I promise I wouldn’t be here writing this) and shoved me with violence on the door and then outside the entrance of the Ziggo Dome.
I’m shocked by the violence they used against me and many other people around me, a violence I had never witnessed in years and years of attending concerts. They treated us as if we were the worst terrorists in this world.
Eventually we passed this “security control” area and we finally entered the pit. We had 200 people in front of us, but what kept troubling us the most was that we couldn’t understand the reason of all this. Why?
I wanted to share this story not only because thanks to these individuals we got late to a concert for which we standed in line for three straight days, but mostly because we were ABUSED and ATTACKED in a violent way. And the latter must not go unseen.
It is unacceptable that people get treated this way by those who are supposed to make sure that everything happens safely. They call themselves “the security” for this purpose.
It is unacceptable that a tiny girl like me ends up lifted up, shoved against a door and then outside. I got injured. But I’m lucky because easily I could have ended up severely injured.
This is unacceptable.
The band we love has always fought for people’s rights; especially women’s rights, they have always been against any kind of violence. Our band has always payed attention that every concert they play happens in a safe manner. We always felt safe, protected somehow.
This time something very serious happened, our band will never accept this kind of behavior against their fans.
And we will not stay in silence.
I have been told that many others had a similar experience, so please, if you want, share your story here, so that everyone will know what really is the Ziggo Dome Horror Story.
