Police were called to a Sydney music venue after the line for the concert of former One Direction star Liam Tomlinson took an ugly turn.
Specialist officers, including from the public order and riot squad, were called to Qudos Bank Arena just before 7am on Friday following reports of a crowd issue.
A NSW Police spokesperson said one person was removed from the venue with a broken wrist and two more were taken away with heat exhaustion.
No incidents were recorded, but police were on high alert after reports of injuries in a stampede at Tomlinson’s concert in Brisbane on Tuesday.
Hordes of fans waited outside Qudos arena before Louis Tomlinson’s Sydney concert. Picture: TikTok
The crowd was estimated to be in the thousands. Picture: TikTok
One social media user said it was ‘insane’ to see ‘so many riot control guys’ and police officers at the Sydney venue while they were waiting outside.
However, they understood the necessity after hearing threats being issued among frustrated fans.
‘There were a lot of, honestly, death threats going around, which is crazy,’ the fan said on TikTok.
Hordes of eager fans arrived at the Qudos Bank Arena, in Sydney’s Olympic Park, before dawn in hopes of securing a wristband to mark their place in line for when the gates open.
One video showed a massive crowd of people sitting outside the arena at 4am on Friday morning as they waited in line for the wristbands in the hopes of getting closer to Tomlinson.
But the waiting actually began on Thursday morning – more than 24 hours before the concert was scheduled to begin.
Louis Tomlinson is playing Sydney for the first time on Friday
It was 100 people long at 11am on Thursday but grew to an estimated 3,000 people on Friday.
A fan shared a video showing hundreds of concertgoers lined up at 10am waiting for the wristbands.
‘Help us, I’m dying of heat,’ she captioned the TikTok followed by a crying face.
Young music lovers could be seen with scarves draped over their heads to protect themselves from the baking heat as they waited to progress in the line.
However, it looked as though many of the hopefuls were thwarted by long lines and the heat on Friday.
Scores of Louis Tomlinson fans took to social media to express their disappointment with the system and the lack of support for waiting fans.
‘This is not for the faint hearted,’ one TikTok user wrote as a voiceover declared.
‘It’s hell in there. It’s horror.’
Another young fan slammed Qudos as ‘the absolute worst venue to exist’.
‘We love Louis but we do not love everything that happened today,’ she wrote.
Two people were treated for heat exhaustion. Picture: TikTok
Some fans waited for hours but still missed out on the precious wristbands. Picture: TikTok
Many of the passionate fans were turned away without wristbands or with wristbands that had such high numbers that they wouldn’t make a difference.
Photos of overheated and frustrated crowds mirror similar scenes in Brisbane earlier this week, where young fans reportedly came to blows over the wristband allocation system.
‘Girls were in tears because they lined up for hours and didn’t get anything,’ Annie said on TikTok.
The concert in Sydney is the first of three Tomlinson will perform in the city.
