Music without Cops
Just by an incredible stroke of exceedingly good luck, we happened to
be in a town where one of our favourite bands was playing ot a small
rock festival. We had been visiting friends at the weekend, and when
we heard that Mnaga a Zdorp would be in town that night, we decided to
take the opportunity to see them for the first time.
The rock festival had already run ten hours, and the ticket takers
were long gone by the time we got there. The lesser known bands had
already played, and now the nationally known group was up on stage.
It was a pretty normal outdoor concert scene: people dancing and
bouncing to the music in front of the stage, some people sititing off
to the side a bit to relax and listen. There were plenty of people who
had had too much to drink or smoke and were passed out in the grass.
But one thing was missing. There was no visible security at the
concert. There were perhaps 400-500 people all crowded together at a
rock festival, but not one security person could be seen. Not one
policeman, not one private security agent. Admittedly, I came late to
the festival, and maybe some security had been there earlier. But
still, this was a well known band in the Czech Republic, and it was
the pinnacle of the festival. There was a good-sized crowd of semi-
intoxicated people, and the potential for trouble, one would have
thought, was ever-present.
The interesting thing is that no security actually seemed to be
needed. Sure some people were a bit drunk, and some of them were even
a bit aggressive, but I didn't see any fights break-out. The lack of
official security seemed justified by the peacefulness of the crowd.
All of this is simply unimaginable in the US the UK. At a concert with
a crowd of this size, the organisers would have to provide private
security. Their insurance company would demand it. In addition, the
police would maintain a very visible presence throughout the day, and
one would expect their services to be required several times in the
course of a fourteen-hour festival.
One often hears the lament these days that Czech society -- especially
youth culture -- is somehow more aggressive than a few years ago, and
I suppose that, in general (and in comparison to life under a police
state) this is true. But it is comforting to see that such agressivity
has not reached the chronic stage one sees in the US and UK, where
private security (guards and surveillance video-cameras) are such a
major growth industry. It is great to see that 500 people can get
together and have a good time without the need for uniformed peace-
keepers.
