No Rock And Roll Fun

WHO HAS THE MOST HORRIBLE FANS?: It turns out that death metal fans are pussycats compared with Westlife fans, who are accused of punching, kicking and spitting on two women at a Belfast gig. Readers of a gentle disposition may wish to move on to the next item rather than read the following description of violence involving a plastic glo-stick:

"[F]our girls were sharing two seats between them and the whole way through the concert they were digging Emma in the side and trying to push her out of the way because there wasn't enough room." said one of the victims, Frances Stroud
She said one of the girls, who was aged about 13, was swearing at her and her sister and pushed 18-year-old Emma.
"The two of us went flying out of the row and she then punched Emma in the side. We asked her to stop, but she then hit me a full dig on the nose and whacked me round the side of the face with a plastic glow stick. I tried to take it off her, but then her friends got up and started to punch me in the face."
Frances said two security guards pushed her and Emma into the row.
"I said: 'I can't move in, because there is no room for me to move into'. The security guard screamed in my face: 'If you don't get into the row I'm going to throw you out'."
She told the security guard about being punched in the face and being hit with the glow stick. She said the guard told her "he was not really bothered".
Another member of staff asked to see their tickets and was satisfied they were in the correct seats. However, when the younger girls said they did not have any tickets for the seats they were just told to squeeze up.[...]
Frances said that in a further bout of aggression from the young girl, the security guards "were all standing there laughing".
"I went over to them and asked were they not watching this, and one of them said: 'We don't really care - cheer up and give us a song'.
The girl was spitting in my face and I put my arm up to stop her from punching me - I couldn't hit her back because she was only young - and she bit my arm." The girls said the security guards dragged them out of their seats and rushed them out of the Odyssey just before the end of the concert.

Apparently the venue seems unable to shed any light on any of this - they told BBC News Online that "the lady who took the incident report is off for a few days", which suggests the management of the venue is taking it about as seriously as the security guards. Perhaps the worst aspect of this is the way security threw the alleged victims out before the end of the show - almost as if they were afraid there might be comeback from all of this. Time and time again, security staff forget they're there to protect everyone and spend too much of the night trying to cover their own arses. There are some great front of house staff, but the whole profession is let down by the sort of people who'd rather throw innocent victims out rather than deal with a few thirteen year olds who shouldn't have been in the venue in the first place.