The crowd gathered outside Brighton station after the concert. | Photo: @executive_hires/Twitter
Brighton Pride took place yesterday (4 August) among controversies and protests due to logistics.
Britney Spears headlined the annual concert in Preston Park. She took the main stage at 8:50pm, bringing her Piece of Me residency show outside the US, performing for the first time in England since 2011.
However, the show was one of the main reasons for controversies regarding its organization – or lack of thereof.
Britney show was a ‘ticket fiasco’
First of all, many fans couldn’t access the concert after buying invalid tickets from secondary sales website, such as Viagogo.
In what a Twitter user defined a ‘ticket fiasco’, many were denied entry despite having paid up to £450 to see Britney.
I hadn’t been given all of them which meant waiting in line again in the sun, poor information about events, a higher than usual and unacceptable amount of litter everywhere, and finally discovering after waiting an hour in a queue that I couldn’t take an unopened bottle…
— 🌟 Simon 🌟 (@TheSimonC90) August 4, 2018
‘I’ve had a really terrible time at Pride today,’ they tweeted.
In the thread, the user tells their own experience at what they called a ‘truly awful’ Brighton Pride.
And quite honestly with the entire ballache of getting tickets this year and being charged an extortionate rate only to be left having a meltdown halfway through the day I never want to return to Brighton Pride. This has just been too much today 😭
— 🌟 Simon 🌟 (@TheSimonC90) August 4, 2018
Queuing under the sun to get the wristbands and the lack of information and support put the user ‘in a horrible mental state’. In the end, they weren’t able to access the concert.
‘My partner and I were never even able to enter Preston Park so that’s £80 wasted…,’ they also wrote.
‘I never want to return to Brighton Pride.’
Leaving Brighton Pride was ‘dangerous’
About 300,000 revelers attended the parade and at least 57,000 went to see the concert on 4 August, making this the largest Brighton Pride to date.
After the performance, many got crushed and trampled on as they gathered outside Brighton station to leave the maritime town.
Fans described the scene as ‘dangerous’ and took to social media to express their outrage at the organization.
The videos posted on social channels show impressive crowds held at the gate to enter the station.
Worst pride organisation ever. It’s Britney at Brighton Bitch! @eveningstandard @bbcnews @skynews @britneyspears (disabled children stopped and people crushed getting through) wait for the bruise photos and the disabled law suits pic.twitter.com/dKl05sQ1Os
— Gareth Edwards (@GarethPEdwards) August 4, 2018
According to one user, ‘disabled children [were] stopped and people crushed getting through’.
Congratulations Southern rail, 57,000 people for Britney and apparently 3.2 trains running out of Brighton tonight. We managed to get on a train back to London but friends haven’t so far… You really fucked up #southernrail #BrightonPride #embarrassing #shitisfucked #wankers pic.twitter.com/WcyjcfDvku
— @cru_ella_devil (@ellabenson87) August 4, 2018
Users also criticized Southern Rail, the company operating trains in the south-west of England, for not providing an adequate service on the night.
‘Congratulations Southern rail, 57,000 people for Britney and apparently 3.2 trains running out of Brighton tonight,’ another video was captioned.
Maybe @PrideBrighton will learn from this and sell more tickets to Brighton residents… Pride shouldn’t be a Britney concert.
— Sara (@rainbow_tardis) August 5, 2018
‘Maybe @PrideBrighton will learn from this and sell more tickets to Brighton residents…. ‘another user commented.
‘Pride shouldn’t be a Britney concert,’ they also wrote, hinting that Pride is losing its true significance to turn into a musical festival.
Read more about Prides:
25 of the most adorable, colorful pictures of Brighton Pride parade 2018
