Business News Gigs & Festivals Live Business

Gatecrashers cause problems at Wireless

By Chris Cooke and Andy Malt | Published on Monday 6 July 2015

London’s Wireless Festival became the Fenceless Festival for a minute or two on Friday night after a festival-goer on the inside unlocked a gate allowing a number of rowdy gatecrashers to invade the event’s Finsbury Park site without tickets.

In a video of the incident, event security are seen trying to stop people on the wrong side of the festival’s fence from pushing open a large gate. When security take a breather from those efforts, a festival-goer on the inside sneaks in and opens a latch, allowing dozens of people to rush in before security re-appear to close the gate and push back some of the stragglers amongst those who have illicitly gained access.

Commenting on the gatecrashers, a spokesperson for Wireless promoter Live Nation told reporters: “This was an isolated incident that was dealt with quickly where no one was hurt. The perpetrators were removed on an otherwise hugely successful first day. Organisers of Wireless Festival take security very seriously and work closely with ShowSec Security, local police and other agencies to put procedures in place to ensure the event maintains an enjoyable and secure environment for all its customers”.

While successful site invasion may have been an isolated incident, there were plenty of other attempts by non-ticket holders to access the Wireless site, with other video footage showing event security and police – and on one occasion one brave solitary policeman – fighting off wannabe gatecrashers as they surge towards a gate in the festival’s grand fence.

Meanwhile, on the inside of the Wireless fence, people who actually paid to see Nicki Minaj play the festival yesterday were disappointed as travel problems meant she missed her stage time.

Minaj had been due to perform for an hour at 7pm last night, but failed to appear after her flight from Denmark, where she had been forming at Roskilde the previous day, was delayed. Festival organisers were eventually forced to admit that they didn’t really know what was going on, a message flashed up on the screens at one point telling the audience: “We are told that she was due to be speeding down the M1 from Luton Airport as we speak, but have lost contact with her. We are hoping that she will be here soon”.

When she did finally arrive, after 9pm, David Guetta was already on stage for his performance, so she joined him to play their single ‘Turn Me On’, telling the crowd: “Our plane couldn’t get out because of the weather but I want to tell you how much I fucking love y’all. I want to tell you how much I appreciate you guys for showing up from day one”.