If you thought Solis Lahore 2019 was an embarrassment, the Solis Islamabad 2020 might have tainted the Solis Music Festival brand name beyond repair.
People paid Rs 10,000 for the VIP ticket, only to get molested and sexually harassed by men who had gatecrashed the party. Not only that, the whole VIP enclosure fell, injuring scores of people, and resulting in utter chaos and misery for those who just wanted to enjoy good music.
Unlike the very first Solis Music Festival held in Islamabad back in February, 2019, this time nothing was in order. Tickets sold out before the artist line-up was even confirmed. Despite that, the organizers had no checkpoints in place to ensure the safety of attendees.
So people could bring in anything (which they did, as many attendees testified). In fact, even drunk people got in.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8k4INxp6tI/
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8oQwjkBFNO/
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Even people with fake tickets got in. That wasn’t even the worst bit. People were mugged and harassed at a music event in the capital of the country!
This is depressing. Pakistan does not have music festivals of these kind, and now we have given naysayers more reason about why international performers shouldn’t come here.
This was a horrifying experience for many
Here’s one account out of many of what a disaster it was:
A woman attending #SolisFestival last night shares her horrifying ordeal.
She + friends were harassed and sexually assaulted by male concert goers, gatecrashers. They were injured by a falling platform.
Event organisers failed on every level.
Who's going to answer for this? pic.twitter.com/hF5j0Q4I2v
— Hamna Zubair (@hamnazubair) February 16, 2020
Allegedly, the organizers went on to sell more tickets than what was the actual capacity of the venue! This time around the venue was the Pakistan National Council of Arts’ (PNCA) backyard.
This place is usually used to hold low key events like Music Mela and Euro Festival 2019. At Solis, the venue was so jam-packed that many VIP ticket holders were denied entry because there was no space.
Well if #solis management cant handle a crowd then why tickets were sold to people more than capacity of siting arrangements?This event meant to just mint money? Many people called and said how they were looted in name of VIP tickets.Not allowed entry rather thugs insulted them. pic.twitter.com/6Jb4dLxf1J
— Rj imran (@rjimranofficial) February 16, 2020
Bottom line is – the organizers bit off more than they could chew!
All Hell Breaks Loose
Matters didn’t really get out of hand until people starting climbing onto the lounge decks. Yes, there were no security personnel or bouncers to stop this! That’s when one of the VIP lounge decks crashed to the floor.
https://twitter.com/mayazafarr/status/1228745845383794690
https://www.instagram.com/p/B8n7Xz-nZVM/?igshid=v7glos0rvu85
That’s when the mob lost it. They started throwing bottles at the organizers due to poor management.
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This has left a bad taste. And rightly so.
https://twitter.com/NousherwanKhan/status/1228745058792484866?s=19
It’s not as though good electronic music gigs have not been held in Islamabad before. It all started when Diplo came to Islamabad to open for rapper Adil Omar.
That’s when actual electronic music enthusiasts came out to see the global renown DJ. Let’s not forget that time Marshmello swung by. What about all the times Turkish DJ Kantik played at events all across Pakistan?
What all these occasions had in common was a manageable crowd and air-tight security.
Why did the organizers fail this time?
The Right Thing to Do
As people were hurt physically and emotionally, they demanded refunds. Reportedly, the organizers bailed on the venue and left everyone unattended.
Attendees say that this is when the mob decided its a good idea to start breaking things. The vendor incurred millions of rupees in losses.
https://twitter.com/MirPAK5/status/1228789459984027649
https://twitter.com/malangi_sangi/status/1228725544767885319
But we also have to ask. Is this really just the organizers’ fault? We need to sit down and question who were all people who mugged, harassed and hurt people at the festival?
These people made a conscious choice to misbehave. The organizers could not have possibly hired as many security personnel as people. It wouldn’t have made a difference as they all went rabid.
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#Solis Brutal Murder of EDM and hosting International stars in #Islamabad. Complete video: https://t.co/zLNuGI6vP0 pic.twitter.com/KDwmkpD8MF
— Icons.pk (@PkIcons) February 16, 2020
Really sad to watch this #Solis #Islamabad pic.twitter.com/a7SY6poCVf
— Sadia Shaikh (@SadiaShaikh_) February 16, 2020
When the average person thinks of mixed events as an opportunity for the ‘wolf to get into the sheep pen’, there’s your problem right there.
Not only with solis but har us jagah jahan kuttey ka patta khul jaye or woh auqaat sy barh ho k start biting everyone. H r these sick ethnic people going to get on way? Holy fuck.#SolisFestival https://t.co/k9WSmrlXE6
— NomadoPsychic (@nomadoPsychic) February 17, 2020
Had the people behaved would the performances have continued without incident? Absolutely yes.
Yet they are the ones that chose to violate others’ sanctity and breach security.
All that the organizers can do now is issue refunds to everyone who was denied access even after having purchased tickets.
https://www.facebook.com/peyton.ketrova/posts/2533831120168253
Assalaam-O-Alaikum.
It is really a very sad news to learn about what happened at the SOLIS Musical Festival.Our crowd is not tuned to such gatherings and shows. These young crowds are hooligans no manners, no respect for girls / women and others.
It is also the fault of the organizers who did not make appropriate security arrangements and then over selling the tickets when there is not enough space for the crowd to even stand. It is really a very shameful matter.
The Local government should not allow such function if there is no proper security and other arrangements.
Hi i agree with all of the things written in your article but the only thing i cannot understand is why have you sterotyped your article title? Because inside your article you haven’t mentioned anywhere why this all happend due to people of pindi or as you say it pundi boyz
I have attended so many concerts in Karachi but never saw such a hing i dont know why but there were some gate crashes yet these molestation and groping thing has never happened may be a little chaos but not at this level. the issue i see here is the crowd that gatecrashed at the event were from Pindi side else i dont see any reason for Islamabad guyz behaving like this, secondly everywhere in the world there are boxers appointed for these events nobody is perfect nor is the world. keep ur arrangements inline and nothing will happen.