A brawl involving a group of gig goers broke out at the Brighton Dome last night – but performer Marc Almond did not let it taint his set.
A security guard was reportedly injured during the fight, which broke out about halfway through Almond’s performance as he sang a cover of Kalmar Pal’s Gloomy Sunday.
Police arrived, and at the end of the gig, a group of men and women were seen being spoken to by officers, who had blocked off the eastern foyer.
One gig goer said: “Unusually there was a proper punch up. One of the bouncers appeared to be attacked half way through.
“The crowd were getting rather anxious near to where it was happening. But after a while, it was obvious that Marc wasn’t going to let it spoil his performance and merrily carried on singing.
“The crowd then decided to join in singing and clapping to the next song, a cover of Bobby Darin’s Dream Lover.
“You don’t expect that kind of behaviour at a concert of this calibre.
“The police were there in force at the end of the concert and a group were being held in the hallway of the entrance nearest the Royal Pavilion.
“It was cordoned off so there was only one exit for the punters to leave by whilst the police dealt with the matter.
“I’ve never seen the like at Brighton Dome in more than four decades of going to gigs there. But despite this, for everyone else it was an enjoyable evening.”
A spokeswoman for the Brighton Dome said: “We are aware of an incident that took place at the Marc Almond concert last night.
“The safety and wellbeing of artists, audiences and staff at our events is always our first priority.
“We are currently investigating and co-operating with local authorities following the incident.”
Sussex Police has been approached for comment. It’s not known yet if anyone spent the night in a not-so-soft cell.
It was an awful incident. Upsetting and frightening. I was sitting very close to the brawl. One man was beaten extensively in front of us, and people were terribly upset by what they saw and heard. The response from authorities was sadly rather slow, so concert-goers felt compelled to try and break up the significantly aggressive altercation. This meant that those well meaning individuals were also caught up in the brawl as the perpetrators lashed out at anyone who was trying to create some peace. If left us feeling unnerved. Everyone nearby was on edge. Such a shame, when all we had hoped for was to enjoy the concert. I couldn’t sleep last night. I felt so concerned about the poor gentleman who had been savagely beaten by what seemed to be a few thugs. I do hope he’s ok.
“..but performer Marc Almond did not let it taint his set.”
Ha ha. Very good
Sounds like they were having a
Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret 😳
I was a few rows in front. I go to so many concerts and have never seen anything like it, and that includes seeing bands like The Skids back in the 80s, where there was usually trouble.
We had people in front of us being very disagreeable too but luckily they got up and left.
Imo too many people don’t respect the artists or fellow audience members and think they can chat the whole way through. I’m getting put off seeing live acts and this may be the final straw.
tbh it’s probably the demographic. A lot of grumpy old people, which you’ll get at a show by an 80s act (I wouldn’t describe these performances as Gigs).
There is so much great live music today that we don’t need this yesteryear stuff. When Madness play Butin’s in Bognor, you can’t get close to the seafront for builder’s white vans with a rolled up copy of The Sun on the dashboard. It’s not dissimilar to a football crowd. There will be a punch up.
The best venue in Brighton is Chalk, imo. Great gigs. We are very lucky in Brighton with all the venues we have for relevant music.