O2 Academy Brixton — Attraction in London

in the last month, i have been to this venue 3 times, the first two being not so bad but seeing knocked loose has completely ruined this venue for me. nothing to fault with the band but all due to security. i have watched knocked loose before so knew exactly what to expect going into it, but clearly my expectations were very different to my actual experience. Myself and my boyfriend were watching from the barrier (again, I have seen knocked loose before on the barrier so knew exactly what to expect in terms of crowd surfing and behaviours) and I understand that security stand infront of the barrier to support such acts but ended up getting injured due to behaviours of the security and not the crowd itself. Of course I expected maybe a boot to my head from a crowd surfer or having one on top of me, however I did not expect security to be holding my head down on the barrier by their arm, holding my arms whilst i’m trying to enjoy the gig (no excessive hand movements I was simply recording), all whilst being completely blatant to their behaviours. I understand they have to focus on helping crowd surfers out of the pit, but it has appeared to me that only 2 of the security guards in my area out of about 6 were actually able to physically lift people out of the crowd, and because of this about 70% of crowd surfers were dropped on my head purely due to incompetent security. If you know that a hardcore band is playing at a venue, you would understand that you need your strongest members of staff. I understand this wouldn’t be most security guards intentions, however using my head (and my boyfriends) as support to pulling people out of a crowd is unacceptable. I’m currently concussed but one different move and I probably would have snapped my neck. It was only when we were screaming at security to stop using our heads as support is when they acknowledged it. No apology or check backs on us or the other people in our area, they even started blaming us for pushing crowd surfers away from us and towards the front. Not sure what they expected us to do because we couldn’t really just let a crowd surfer lie on our heads whilst security did not have the strength to pull people out the pit. A rowdy crowd was fully in my expectations, but incompetent staff wasn’t. I frequent other hardcore gigs and have never suffered problems like I have at this venue. Other concert goers around...

I'll start by saying that I love this venue. View-wise I'd say it is the best in London, due to the tilted floor that allows a good view from wherever you are standing. I've visited several times - 4 times in 2011 to see A Day To Remember, All Time Low, Bring Me The Horizon, and You Me At Six; and 2 times in 2012 to see You Me At Six and L*stprophets. Yesterday was my first visit in 10 years, to see Phoebe Bridgers (my music taste has changed just a little bit!).

Phoebe was amazing, and O2 Academy Brixton was a fantastic venue to see her in. However, unfortunately, this is only a 3-star review due to one small yet anxiety-provoking issue.

The bag situation! I don't know when this rule came into play, but you can now only bring in a bag if it's smaller than an A4 piece of paper. My bag didn't make the cut, despite being this size minus the handle. After queuing and being searched, I was told I needed to pay to leave my bag in a cloakroom. I was led outside by a security guard to...a kebab shop. A kebab shop with hundreds of checked-in bags on the floor behind the till. I reluctantly left my bag here (minus valuables) and consequently spent a portion of the gig worrying that I wouldn't get it back instead of focusing on the music. When I went to get it after the show, all the bags were laid out all over the kebab shop tables and I had to direct the staff to find it, as they were struggling (luckily I could see it on a chair). It was so disorganised and did not feel professional at all!

I understand that rules are rules (although, as I said, I believed my bag fit in the size rules, and I saw others in the venue with bags the same size/bigger than mine!), but to enforce them, surely you need to have a better plan. Leaving bags in a local kebab shop is ridiculous. O2 venues either need to rethink this rule, magically find some extra capacity IN the venue to store bags, or make the rules more accurate (i.e. cut the mention of A4 paper and specify small bags that can fit purse, phone and keys).

I hope that my review is taken constructively. As I mentioned, I did have a lovely night seeing Phoebe Bridgers, it's just a shame about the...

The welfare team gave me a panic attack and I had to leave the venue because they wouldn’t stop following me around.

I was feeling a little overwhelmed in the crowd so asked if I could go to a side area to get some air which the security let me do. About five security guards and two or three welfare officers proceeded to surround me, sending me into a panic attack. My partner asked them many times to give me space as that was what would calm me down. They refused. I’m not blaming these individuals but the welfare training is clearly greatly lacking if their solution for someone overwhelmed and panicked was to ignore their requests for space and send them further into panic.

I got the courage to walk out through the crowd, and they all followed me. Some were trying to make space which was helpful but honestly my partner could have just done this, and it was just not what I was asking for.

I got outside to try and get more air but they were still standing at a distance staring at me - about three of the welfare team, again despite repeated requests from my partner who I was hiding behind at this post - then another came over and started questioning me and my partner and despite being told many times that I was overwhelmed and needed space and that we had already spoken to their colleagues (who were nearby so they could have verified this) would not leave me alone. I realised they would not leave me alone at all and that I would just continue having the panic attack if I stayed, so I had to leave, and missed seeing my favourite band that I’d payed £40 for. It was a really scary experience and if there had been basic training to understand what to do when someone is anxious or having a panic attack it would have been dealt with so easily. I was completely sober (besides one drink) and it felt like maybe they were just there to spot if people were on drugs rather than look after anyone ?...