Peggy Gou’s Seoul Boiler Room set shut down by police over crowd crush fears
Peggy Gou‘s Seoul Boiler Room set has reportedly been shut down by the police over fears of crowd crushing.
The Boiler Room event, which was held at Seoul’s SFactory last Saturday (July 27), was evacuated between “between 12:30AM and 12:40AM” before the South Korean DJ was due to headline the stage, according to reports from Mixmag.
Elkka, Jyoty, and Soichi Terada were also due to play the event.
In added reports from Korea Times, emergency services received reports of overcrowding during the event, whereupon 11 fire engines and 42 firefighters were sent to the venue. Five people were reportedly treated for breathing difficulties, but no casualties or serious injuries have been recorded.
A witness told Mixmag that there were crowd control issues before the DJ was due to headline, saying that the immense mass of people trying to see her on the third floor of the venue was “causing a jam.”
Despite efforts from the venue to use a one-way system or creating passages for concertgoers to use separate staircases, the witness claimed fans began “cramming” the one way system, creating a bottleneck.
The witness also added that it was “35 degrees outside and the humidity level was around 80%, we were in a tropical state. Everyone was sweating, everyone was angry, everyone was struggling.”
Boiler Room confirmed the crowding issues in a statement posted to Instagram stories on July 30, saying: “During the party we faced crowd-flow issues, causing safety concerns and led to the early closure of the event.”
“Contrary to what has been reported,” Boiler Room adds. “We sold to the capacity that was instructed by our partner in Seoul and at the time the event ended we were under capacity.”
Videos of the crowd has since garnered criticism online given the crowd crush that took place in Itaewon, Seoul in October 2022, during which 159 tragically died.
Gou has since released a statement to Mixmag, saying she was “devastated” by the Boiler Room cancellation, but “the safety of my audience is of paramount importance.”
“Boiler Room has apologised for failing to plan adequately and underestimating the crowd movement within the venue,” she said. “In response, I have asked my team to immediately review the risk assessments for all my future shows and furthermore ensure there is a system in place to guarantee they are being adhered to.”
Gou also added there would be a “larger event” to take place in the South Korean capital later, continuing: “I am relieved no one was hurt and the duty of care towards my audience will always be my number one priority.”
Boiler Room also added in a separate statement that it takes safety “extremely seriously”, with “detailed measures in place at every event to ensure a situation like this doesn’t occur”.
“We are reviewing our systems internally to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” they continued. “To our fans in Seoul, you and your city are incredibly important to us, and we’re devastated that we couldn’t deliver you an event to the standards we hold ourselves to.”
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Alex Rigotti
NME
