Just hours before the Bangaloreans swooned to the performance by DJ David Guetta, city police pulled the rug under the performance by refusing to accord permission for the event citing security concerns. Guetta is in India on a four city tour and is performing in Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad as a part of Sunburn Festival. The concerts are being organised to raise funds for a charity cause.
Besides Mumbai, Hyderabad and Delhi, Guetta was supposed to perform a special charity concert in Bengaluru called #Guetta4Good and the numbers of the people expected to attend the concert were touted to be upwards of 10,000.
An official statement released by Karan Singh, the CEO of Sunburn said, “Due to the present law & order situation in Bengaluru following the events that transpired around New Year’s Eve, the authorities have recommended against holding the David Guetta concert scheduled today(Thursday) in the city. We at Sunburn tried our very best to make it happen but the authorities understandably are not prepared to take any chances. Hence today’s concert unfortunately stands cancelled.”
“We hope to reschedule the concert subject to approval from the artist and the respective authorities. We will be back with more information as soon as possible, he added in the statement.
“BookMyShow will be in touch with all ticket holders for the next steps. Other shows in Mumbai, New Delhi and Hyderabad are on as per schedule,” said release.
But the police said they have suggested that the event be rescheduled, not because of law and order fears, but because permission for the event was sought too late by the organisers and a local election is already being held in the area today.
“A big event happened here, in the same district. I don’t have enough force to handle 20,000 people. Keeping the elections in mind we have not given permission. If you organise such a big event, all logistical arrangements should be looked into and authorities should be spoken with as well,” said senior police officer Amit Singh.
