Currently on tour in Australia I Prevail frontman Brian Burkheiser is making CSC headlines again, and again, it's for another Facebook rant. However, both times, we have been on his side.
Last time Brian made headlines he called out everyone who questioned I Prevail's success, this time he's taking on another issue: crowdsurfing.
Image: Facebook
Clearly he is upset about security not catching kids who crowdsurf to the front, and some guy who "worked security" wasn't having any of Brian's rant.
Here's my issue with this. EVERY venue in Boston has signs saying that crowdsurfing is not allowed. How many of those venues toss kids for crowdsurfing? ZERO.
Brian responded to the comment saying:
Crowd surfing is a norm at most rock shows now a days and MOST venues allow it. This was one of the many occurrences my band has had where guards stood by the side of the stage and literally watched kids fall to the ground without even moving a step to catch them. Eric Vanlerberghe and I had to hop on the guard rail twice tonight to save people from falling over and dropping 7 feet on to their heads. At the end of the night we both didn't see a young girl surfing(the only one surfing at that time) until the last second and she was volted over the rail and was very close to landing on her neck and suffering a severe injury, luckily she landed on her back from the looks of it and got up with what looked like just a bruise.
Don't kid me wrong, there are TONS of venues with amazing security who I respect immensely, those dudes are the unsung heroes of the show. However I refuse to let venues provide the kids with an unsafe environment by hiring dudes who have no fucking clue what they are doing. I won't let someone suffer a severe injury because of a venues lack of care for the fans.
Exactly. Security is at a show to PROTECT the fans. Letting kids fall on their neck because "crowdsurfing isn't allowed" seems like a bullshit reason for not doing your job. Bands will choose to not return to a venue because of issues like this. It doesn't seem fair to screw the fans twice.
Thank you to all the security guards here in Boston who do their job, and do it well. Thank you for always telling my photographers and I when to expect a busy pit, and thank you for always catching crowdsurfers before they fall on their neck and/or kick me in the back of the head while I'm trying to take photos. Brian's argument is completely valid here