The Capitol Hill Block Party was the place to be last weekend as some of our favorite queer artists took over the Seattle stage, but some fans are criticizing the venue for lack of preparedness.
On Friday, the small stage brought a big crowd with Chappell Roan, Remi Wolf, and Becky Hill headlining the festival. Chappell performed her newest unreleased single “Subway” and brought out RuPaul’s Drag Race star Sasha Colby to perform “HOTTOGO.” Remi performed songs from her new album Big Ideas, which dropped earlier this month, and Becky Hill stunned with her live vocals.
@anna_stanacc A HISTORICAL MOMENT! feels so good to see her this happy 🤧 @chappell roan @Sasha Colby credit: distantsolarsys on tt #chappellroan #sashacolby #hottogo #fyp #foryou #foryoupage ♬ original sound – anna
The fantastic performances have seemingly been overshadowed as concert-goers take to social media to voice issues with safety measures, poor planning, and crowd control. Complaints filled up the festival’s Instagram comments.
“This was the most poorly managed festival I have ever been to!” one person commented. “So unsafe!!! Seattle needs to do better!”
“They need to rethink everything about this going forward,” said another. “[V]enue size, scale, capacity, crowd control, medical services, water availability. It’s shameful.”
Medics reportedly struggled to push through the crowd and provide medical attention. Multiple people collapsed on Friday, causing Seattle Fire to call in an extra crew to assess three people at the same time, according to Fox 13 Seattle.
Capitol Hill Block Party said around 10,000 people were inside the festival gates for the sold-out shows. A spokesperson said they worked alongside Seattle police and fire department, hired more than 100 more security personnel, and had an evacuation plan in place for the crowd.
“Throughout the month ahead of the festival, we advised guests coming specifically for Chappell’s set on Friday to stay hydrated/fed and be mindful of their health,” the spokesperson said in a statement to Fox 13. “As we do every year, we encouraged attendees to bring reusable water bottles, sunscreen and be respectful of this shared space.”
“We also significantly enhanced our ADA section, which accommodated roughly 100 individuals with disabilities throughout the weekend to ensure our main stage was accessible and inclusive,” they continued.
Concert-goers disagree, and some claim the festival purposefully oversold the event beyond the venue’s ability.
“Selling more tickets day-of when you already sold 10k?? Blatant money grab with no regard for our safety,” said one commenter.
“You sold too many tickets,” stated another. “And too many vip tickets with no crowd control at all. Glad you made money.”
While it seems the issues didn’t extend past Friday’s sets, many fans are pushing for a refund. The festival has not responded to those requests.
