Fans have begun airing their dissatisfaction over the alleged poor security and crowd control at Filipino folk-pop outfit Ben&Ben‘s recent homecoming concert.
The concert, which was held at the SMDC Festival Grounds in Parañaque City on December 18, was reportedly attended by over 65,000 fans, concert director Gary Valenciano shared on Instagram. The likes of KZ Tandingan, Zild Benitez and Juan Karlos were featured alongside Ben&Ben in a homecoming concert initially scheduled for September 3 as a send-off show ahead of their North America tour earlier this year.
The concert has since come under fire from attendees who allege a series of issues observed at the concert including poor security and crowd control. Festival-goers have taken to social media claiming that event security did not validate tickets at the entrance or check backpacks for dangerous objects, and allowed people to enter sectioned-off quadrants.
Worst concert I have ever been. Dogshow at free concert pala @BenAndBenMusic . Wala man lang kayo development nung last minute kayong nag cancel up to now?
No validation of ticket
No checking of bag
No proper segregation of people into their quadrants.Para saan pa binayad?
— engr.jelo (@jelojilo) December 18, 2022
The gates also reportedly opened two hours later than the announced time of 4pm, leading to long lines of people queueing outside the venue as evening fell. The marshalls at the event were also allegedly poorly briefed, pointing several attendees to the wrong entrance and failing to direct the queue in an orderly manner.
Nobody’s talking about how fucked up the queueing of ben&ben’s home coming concert kasi the area doesn’t have any signal but I got a clip from earlier bago kmi sumuko sa pag pila 💀 hindi pa ito yung 1/4 ng pila we saw na may na cut na line tas may another pila pa— pic.twitter.com/NQFO80DWw8
— cooking jona (@jonanawhut) December 18, 2022
The 65,000-strong crowd has also become a figure of contention, with some fans accusing organisers Ovation of overbooking the event. The complaints have led to some calling on the organisers to refund their tickets.
Ben&Ben and Ovation Productions have yet to address fans’ comments as of the time of writing. NME has reached out to both Ben&Ben and the concert organiser for comment.
Overcrowded, no checking tickets and bag. 😢
— yourfutureXlover_ (@strawberray_jam) December 18, 2022
Ben&Ben‘s Philippines send-off concert that was supposed to be held on September 3 was also plagued by unfortunate circumstances, with the southwest monsoon triggered by then typhoon Henry bringing floods and an unyielding downpour in Metro Manila on the date of the concert. Due to the timing of the downpour, the concert’s cancellation was announced late, leading to fans waiting outside the concert grounds assuming the concert was going forward.
“We want to extend our gratitude to those who showed and lined up outside CCP Open Grounds last September 3 despite the inclement weather conditions,” the organisers wrote in a statement at the time.
Prior to the homecoming show, Ben&Ben released a new single called ‘Dear’ on November 25, their fifth single for 2022. It follows the singles ‘Mag-ingat’, ‘Paninindigan Kita’, ‘Langyang Pag-ibig’ and ‘The Ones We Once Loved’.
See more reactions from concert-goers below.
4pm ang schedule ng gate opening, 6 BUMUKAS. Yung pila iisa lang. Pag pasok wala man lang label mga gates for tickets. Walang proper security check kahit mga walang tickets naka pasok???? Sige nga @ovationprod sana lesson learned to.
— ana 🍌 (@us8hakim) December 18, 2022
SCAM!!! Tangina niyo, @ovationprod. Site map, site map pa kayo. You did us and Ben&Ben wrong. A lot of people chose not to watch the concert anymore cos of your inefficiency. And I heard overcrowded sa loob. You had months to polish this but WHAT DAFUQ?!! #BenAndBenHomecoming2022 pic.twitter.com/9eTntZUXEe
— 🗣random thoughts (@xrandomtots) December 18, 2022
I just have to air this out. Ben n Ben is fantastic as always and they delivered. But it literally became a free concert because the security team is so lenient. Pwedeng pumasok ang walang ticket. Unfair saming nagbayad 😭😭😭 #OvationBulok
— Kristina Academia ⎊ (@kristinacademia) December 18, 2022
And the most unthinkable for me aside from the NO/WORST CROWD CONTROL is the NO CHECKING OF BAGS. Isn’t that a HUGE RISK OF SECURITY for that humongous crowd? How can you afford to just let anyone in? What exactly did we pay for? @ovationprod #BenAndBenHomecoming2022
— Jerome G. Cuyos (@jgcuyos042795) December 18, 2022
WORST CONCERT EXPERIENCE #BenAndBenHomecoming #benandbenxliwanag pic.twitter.com/MejhO5xQwJ
— Casper for LENI-KIKO 💗🌸🙏 (@casper3805) December 19, 2022