Stage safety concerns force Bring Me The Horizon gig withdrawal

HALTED: Fans go up on stage as gig is stopped

The metal five-piece, which includes former Rotherham College students Matt Nicholls on drums and Lee Malia on guitar, walked off after apparent “shakey” movement in the flooring of the stage at the Ancol Beach City International Stadium, North Jakarta, on Friday.

The show was stopped and the following night’s second event was cancelled too.

Later frontman Oli Sykes explained: “While we were performing last night (November 10), we got pulled off after one of our songs due to concerns from our crew and some of the local crew that the staging… basically a lot of the venue was structurally unsound.

“It was bouncing so much that a lot of the video monitors, speakers, basically everything was bouncing at a really concerning amount and there were serious concerns that something would happen.

“The structure could’ve fallen and hurt people or worse, so we had no choice but to cancel the show,” he posted on Instagram.

Sykes said they tried to avoid axing the follow-up show: “We looked at everything we could do. We kinda suggested that we take our video screens away, we take out lights away and just play some kind of stripped back show.”

But it was to no avail.

When the first gig in the Indonesian capital was stopped - 11 songs into the setlist - fans did not take it well, many of them storming the stage, throwing bottles and yelling for refunds.

Kemal Palevi, who watched the concert had noticed the concert stage was shaking.

“Suddenly @bringmethehorizon pulled out in the middle of the show. The venue was really shaking really badly. Especially during the songs Can You Feel My Heart and Shadow Moses. Wow, it was really shaking...it was really scary,” he said on Instagram.

Singer Cove Reber – who supported Bring Me The Horizon – was critical of the fans’ behaviour, writing: “It doesn’t matter who is to blame, this behaviour is unacceptable. We came here to celebrate the music you love with you. Treat each other with love and respect.”

Promoter Ravel Entertainment blamed “technical difficulties”.

BMTH will be back live in Cardiff in January