The hearing occurred amidst an ongoing period of uncertainty for the Brixton Academy following the devastating crowd crush at an Asake show last December that ultimately claimed the lives of two people and left another in critical condition. The event forced the Academy to shut its doors and led to the venue having its live music license revoked. This in turn led to a backlash amongst fans of the beloved venue, leading to a petition to reopen its doors amassing quite the success.

The first day of the hearing led to the venue refusing the accusation of racial profiling, with AMG’s legal representative Mr Philip Kolvin QC quoted as saying, “My client is probably the leading host of music of Black origin in this country. That’s a position that it values and would like to continue to be. Of the 13 different risks assessed by the Academy, none of them are racial“.

Lambeth Council barrister Horatio Waller QC agreed with Kolvin on the second day of the hearing, saying, “This new process should not lead to a tunnel vision situation where risk is associated with genre or race“.

Waller also confirmed yesterday that the venue could be re-opened if certain conditions were met. He claimed that AMG have performed a “complete overhaul” of their security procedures and attitude towards risk assessments since December and that these were “independently audited” by consultants and commended as “comprehensive and robust“.

Waller also states that “the council supports, in principle, the re-opening of the venue based upon new conditions“, with these conditions including a “new, revised system for ingress entry into the venue” and the “introduction of new barriers positioned on the highway”.

Mr Kolvin QC discussed in his closing argument the installation of strengthened doors at the venue. He stated, “At the time of this incident, the doors were unable to withstand a mass and violent attack. In other words, the premises were not a fortress, they were a concert hall. Even if you consider the doors should have been more robust at an earlier stage, that is a matter of blame which is for other processes to investigate. It does not require these premises to shut down any more than any other public or private premises that are compulsorily closed following accidents, even terrible accidents. The doors have now been strengthened so as to be resilient against pressure, even if it did occur”.

Following the conclusion of the public hearing, Lambeth Council have advised that a decision on the future of the venue will be made “within five working days”, according to NME.

When it came to the unsuspension of the venue’s license, the venue voluntarily decided on extending their closure for another three months. It was considered that an extra few months to unmuddle the problems at stake, in order to ensure the safety that customers deserve, was necessary.

The O2 Brixton Academy has been around for almost a century. Providing a space in South London which has dedicated it’s services as a cinema, a discotheque and a concert hall. It’s a venue which many people have relied on and where artists hold their best memories.

Just a week ago the MET Police claimed to have “lost confidence” in the Academy and have started working towards the official closing down of the venue for good. No doubt this has caused an uproar amongst artists, music lovers and people within the industry.

Many of them have spoken up through social media, expressing their disappointment. The attempt to do this has lead the public to launch a petition on Change.org to bring a halt to the Metropolitan Police’s wishes. In only a matter of hours the petition had over 25.000 signatures and is now at 50.000. The highest signed petition in Change.Org’s history.

People know the crush was caused by people – pointing out that the venue should not take the hit by having to close down. It is a fixable problem. Some even brought up the fact that there have been more deaths at the MET police than the O2 itself. Which is something to think about.

Comments on the matter have surfaced on social media; Some included Tim Burgess comment on Twitter “Lost count of the amount of times we’ve played Brixton Academy – it’d would be a tragedy to lose such an iconic venue”.

Sister Bliss posted “Brixton Academy – @faithless have graced the stage there many times – and yet a terrible tragedy happened there only recently. But it is hugely short sighted to shut the venue permanently- generating jobs, local economy- bringing the best music to London! #SaveBrixtonAcademy”. 

The rock band Garbage also had their say with a simple “Save Brixton Academy #SaveBrixtonAcademy https://chng.it/RFzJKsZF via @UKChange”. 

An endless amount of support for the space has been apparent. It has proved it’s important stance within the industry’s members and how it cannot go unappreciated. Further information will be revealed in the next coming weeks.

Click here to sign the petition.

The crush occurred after a large group of fans outside the venue attempted to force their way into the Academy, with the show going on to be cancelled.

A total of eight people were removed from the scene by ambulance with crush-related injuries, with two others being treated at the scene.

Police were called to the venue at around 9:30pm on the night of the 16th, after reports that large numbers of people were gathered outside the venue, which normally has a capacity of around 5,000 people, and were attempting to force entry into the show.  Scenes outside the venue were heated, with some witnesses estimating that up to 1,000 people had gathered without tickets outside the doors, clashing with security and  police, adn even trying to force their way through locked doors.

The concert was called off within just ten minutes of it having started, with Asake telling the crowd, “They said outside is fucked up already, so we have to end the show. I don’t know why. It’s not me.”

A further announcement from the team on stage went on to tell the crowd that the situation outside had become severe, with an estimated 3, 000 people attempting to enter the building.   The announcement was followed by booing from the crowd.

After the crush, Asake took to his Instagram with this message: “My heart is with those who were injured last night and caused any form of discomfort. I pray you get well soonest. I am also in the process of reaching out to individuals. I still do not have the full brief from the venue management themselves as to what led to the disruption at the entrance of The Brixton Academy, but we are thankful that all was peaceful in the end. For my people who enjoyed the beginning of my performance, I am sorry that it was cut short. Thank you for your unbelievable love London. I love you too much! I’m looking forward to seeing you again in a bit!”

Solomon Smith, who was present at the show, took to twitter to share his feelings:

Not Asake’s fault at all, it was more people who didn’t have tickets turned up with fake tickets… #Asake #Brixton pic.twitter.com/dxDzfCEUY7

— Solomon Smith (@sollysworld) December 15, 2022

The tragic event comes after the release of the Lagos musician’s debut album, Mr Money with the Vibe, in early September this year.  Since the release, the album has climbed to become the highest charting debut Nigerian album of all time on the Billboard 200 list, making it to No. 66 in September.

Following the death of one of the victims of Thursday night’s crush, a 33-year-old east London woman who was taken to hospital following the show, Asake is said to be “devastated”, saying on his Instagram, “I am overwhelmed with grief and could never have imagined anything like this happening”.

Police and the venue management are currently working together on a debrief as to why the situation escalated with such tragic consequences.

The BBC’s Mark Savage reported earlier today that Eilish asked the O2 security team to distribute water to fans before asking “Are you all ok? It’s hot, I know, Don’t try to save feelings”, and eventually pausing the show to ask fans to “Take a step back” and “Give everybody some space. If someone looks a little woozy, just tell someone.”

Thankfully everyone ended up being okay, after fans took it upon themselves to form a protective circle around the effected party and shined phone lights on them until security arrived, her set carried on as usual. However, it’s not the first time the star has had to pause a show to check on her fans safety. Back in February, she interrupted her Happier Than Ever tour show in Atlanta after noticing someone struggling to breathe and refusing to proceed until they could access an inhaler. She also had to stop her show later that month at Maddison Square Garden in New York saying “If you want to sit down, you are allowed. Go ahead, you’re good. Sit down, take a breath.”

Eilish is currently in the middle of her UK tour promoting new album Happier Than Ever. She will perform again at London’s O2 tonight before continuing on to Glasgow’s Ovo Hydro Arena on Tuesday 14th June, Birmingham’s Utilita Arena on the 15th, and returning to the O2 in London to finish the UK leg with two final shows on the 16th, 25th, and 26th. You can grab any remaining tickets here.