B2ST Rising

It was chaos at 313@Somerset on Friday night when a swarm of die-hard Korean Pop fans descended upon the mall to buy tickets for Korean Pop Night 2010.

A fan fainted from the ordeal and was allowed to rest inside the mall, while another suffered from breathing difficulties but refused to leave for the hospital in an ambulance.

Police were also called in at 9.30pm to help manage the situation, and even traffic outside the mall was affected as drivers slowed to see what the crowd outside the mall's doors were clamouring for.

STOMPer Krushed, who was one of those queuing, writes in an email (Sep 5):

"It's the concert of the year! With all of my favourite K-pop bands like SHINee and Big Bang. I could not miss it for the world.

"Hence, I was there with my friends since Wednesday night, trying to see if we could somehow make it to the start of the queue.

"It was insane, I heard someone fainted and I am not sure if anyone was crushed by the crowd, but I saw police officers and even an ambulance.

"Everyone was shouting and squeezing. There was even a mad surge forward around 11.30pm when we all thought the security were finally going to let us in."

Another STOMPer, TiredofQueues also says:

"I am a big fan of K-pop, but this was so not worth queuing for!

"I wish the organisers had managed this properly, and thus we could have avoided being squeezed to death.

"I was somewhere near the front, and when the fans behind pushed, I had to use every ounce of strength to make sure I was not crushed against the barrier.

"Plus we could see the ugly side of Singaporeans -- pushing, shoving, shrieking, even lying down on the floor and sleeping in a public place, so unglam!

"It was such a relief when security and the police let us sit inside a holding area inside the mall at 1am, away from the madness.

"At 2am, the organisers finally decided to give out queue numbers which really helped to ease the crowd."

However, for some who had queued for days, like STOMPer WhyLikeThat, it was an unfair experience.

"I was practically 'living' at the mall since Thursday, waiting for my tickets.

"Later I found out each person was allowed to buy up to 10 tickets, really made me angry.

"Saw some people reselling their extra tickets at a much higher price, is that fair?

"Also I heard some of my fellow K-pop fans could not even get queue numbers although they were in the holding area.

"How can???"

*reference form STOMP*

signing off : CAMELLIA JANG (: