That stinging sensation

Was it East and West colliding, or sheer bungling? Amira Howeidy digs up the dirt on last Wednesday's fiasco at the Pyramids
"Do you have any idea how much the ticket cost those people?" a short and pencil-thin member of the Interior Ministry's Special Security Forces (SSF), dressed in an oversized, dusty, black uniform, asked his colleague. "One hundred and 20 pounds" he said gravely. The look of disbelief on the policemen's faces was clearly visible, despite the darkness of the desert. British pop star Sting had just performed almost two hours of great music, against the spectacular background of the Pyramids, and now people were streaming away from the concert and into the darkness, the long shadows of ancient monuments their only company on the desolate road out of the Giza plateau.
Last Wednesday was a return trip for Sting, but this time around it was considerably more grand than when he performed with his original band, Police, in the Ewart Hall at the American University of Cairo (AUC) two decades ago. The concert was billed as a not-to-be-missed event and despite fears of the usual organisational problems, thousands of Egyptians, fans and otherwise, made sure they would be there to see it. But before it was all over, almost everyone, not just the two incredulous SSF members, would feel appalled by the way events unfolded the fateful evening of 25 April.
The next day, one disgruntled concert-goer, Amal El-Taher fired off an angry e-mail targeting the event organising company behind the concert, East of West. The open letter, entitled "East of West failed us," began circulating with great speed on the Net among the thousands of people who had attended the concert and were equally unimpressed with the organisation. "East of West completely failed in organising the event, stole our money, did not live up to their responsibility and gave us one hell of a time," the letter began. "Thus, the least I would like to do is to voice my opinion and give [the organisers] the negative propaganda they deserve."
El-Taher started from the beginning: there were no clear directives as to where to park or how to get to the concert. The buses, which were supposed to transport ticket-holders from the parking area to the concert were already full of people "and when [a bus] finally emerged, people had to run after it and fight with the driver to let them in." Many people, including herself, were briefly prevented from entering the concert by the police, who said that East of West had simply oversold tickets beyond the capacity of the place. When she finally arrived at the concert -- almost two hours late -- no one checked her ticket "and the Special Security Forces that cordoned the area had to stop the flow of people ... by force!!!"
"I could barely find a place to put my feet, or move my body! The greedy organisers oversold the tickets. It was like a sardine can," writes El-Taher. Worse, El-Taher says that the lack of crowd control enabled "some people to sexually harass others" and finally, she gave up. Before Sting's performance was over, El-Taher, who paid LE120 for her ticket, was too suffocated and decided to leave. Again, she found no bus to take her back to the parking area, so she had to walk the six kilometres "in complete darkness, except for the light of the stars."
"I'm sure many would agree that all this madness was simply the result of our misplaced trust in East of West," El-Taher concludes. Summing up her indignation, she says that she had been duped into thinking that since the organisers were "civilised enough" to sell tickets over the Internet and deliver them on time, they would be capable of ensuring even the most basic requirements of several thousand people gathered in one place -- people, she notes, who had "wasted their time and money, foolishly thinking they would have a great time."
But the many repercussions of last Wednesday's concert go further than angry participants. The nationalist sentiments of the Egyptian audience were put to test by Egyptian pop star Hakim, who was supposed to perform at 9.00pm, but never showed up until he stormed the stage minutes before Sting appeared, and threw a bombshell: "I was supposed to perform now but I can't because of Sting," the enraged singer snapped at a shocked audience. "Sting's band took my equipment offstage and replaced it with his. Whoever is willing to accept the insult of an Egyptian in Egypt can stay. Goodnight!"
Not more than an hour later, news agencies had made the matter known to the world, describing Hakim's challenge as a burst of anti-Western fervour. The wounded star, however, referred to it as the khawaga (Western man) complex. In a press conference held on Sunday at the Musician's Syndicate, Hakim argued that the concert's organisers had treated him badly and were only interested in making everything comfortable for Sting. "I was prepared to perform after Sting finished, but on one condition," he told reporters, "that Sting's crew, who threw my equipment out, put it back. [Sting] refused. He has dignity. I don't?"
Outrage over the organisational botch ups aside, nothing more inappropriate could have been said of Sting, who is known for fighting against all forms of white supremacy. The release of his latest album "Brand New Day" is itself testament to the singer's sense of diversity. Critics said that his single Desert Rose, performed with Algerian rai singer Cheb Mami, would never succeed because it put together a Western and an Arab singer. But the song was an enormous success and remained in the top 10 charts of both the US and UK for weeks.
But despite Sting's well-received performance and universal complaints about the concert's organisation, it was Hakim's refusal to perform that dominated the news. Hakim distributed two press releases listing his reasons for not performing, blaming everything on East of West. According to Hakim, he went to the Giza plateau at 2.00pm to do his sound check, but was prevented by security forces from entering. So he registered a complaint at the Haram police station, which summoned the concert's organisers. It was then agreed that he would do his sound check at 7.00pm, which he did, finishing up at 8.00pm. Although Hakim was scheduled to appear on stage at 9.00pm, he asked to postpone his performance until 9.30pm, because he still needed to return to his hotel, change and come back. "East of West agreed to that. I arrived at 9.35pm to find my band standing outside. They told me that Sting's band threw our equipment off the stage," Hakim said.
"I couldn't find any of the organisers and my microphone wasn't working. I went on-stage and asked the announcer if I could take her microphone. I then explained to the audience what happened. I told them that I am not willing to take part in this concert, because [the treatment] was not only an insult to me, but to Egyptians."
Although East of West's executive director Hany Soufrakis attended the press conference, he couldn't manage to get through one sentence without being cut off by his critics. Clearly, he was unpopular and Hakim had won everyone's sympathy. When Soufrakis, 29, said that the matter should be solved between the company, Hakim and the syndicate, his comments triggered the wrath of dozens of reporters. "We don't need all this [publicity] or this press", Soufrakis snapped. "And we certainly don't need you," reporters shouted back. "We didn't come here to listen to you. We support you Hakim, no matter what you do." The press conference dissolved into chaos, with everyone shouting at each other.
In his quiet Heliopolis office, an angry Soufrakis took issue with the Hakim saga. "He simply didn't show up on time. He arrived at 9.35pm, even though he was supposed to be on stage at 9.00pm," Soufrakis told Al-Ahram Weekly. "By the time he got ready, it would be 9.50pm. Sting was supposed to start at 10.15pm, and he needed time to be ready. Hakim is used to turning up late -- that's very typical of him. In fact, it's very typical of Arab artists," growled Soufrakis, who is Libyan.
Responding to criticism of the bad organisation, Soufrakis agreed that "indeed, there was a massive organisational problem." However, he blamed it on the "security people" who, six days before the concert, told him that they will "take care of everything and asked us to stay out of it." Their job was to secure entering and exiting ticket-holders and manage the crowds. "I objected," insists Soufrakis. "But we were left with no choice but to go ahead. When you're dealing with people as high up as the deputy interior minister, you are left with very little room for discussion. It just wasn't humanly possible to do anything in those last five days."
On the topic of the infamous lack of buses, Soufrakis again shifts the blame to security measures. People were waiting for hours on the plateau, in the dark, with dust kicked in their faces by the few full buses taking off for the concert, but newspaper ads ahead of the event had promised that ticket-holders would be shuttled to and from the parking area. "We wanted to avoid the chaos that happened in the millennium party [also held at the Pyramids, but in a different location], which is why we paid for three ads in the papers to guide the people." Ads advised people to park their cars in Al-Rimayah Square and from there, take the buses to the concert.
At the square, however, the few people who arrived at the suggested time of 7.00pm did not find any buses, nor anyone who knew what they should do. Soufrakis says that the buses were supposed to take the Fayoum Road entrance, which was built expressly for the millennium party and comes up behind the Pyramids, ending at the area where the Sound and Light performance is usually held (the place of the concert). Buses were then supposed to return by the same route back to Al-Rimayah in order to pick up more people, and so on.
But, according to Soufrakis, the security people decided that the buses should not go back and forth on the same route. They were ordered to return to Al-Rimayah via the narrow route through Nazlit Al-Siman, down the eternally congested Al-Haram Street and back to the Mena House Hotel -- which was blocked, again, because of the security people. "Instead of making four trips an hour, which should take up to 5,000 people, the buses were only able to make one trip every hour," Soufrakis explained. "After about an hour, they stopped the buses from going through and they opened the gates, allowing people to walk the six kilometres from the Fayoum road entrance to the concert. This isn't humanly possible. If they had told me a month before that this is what they were going to do, I would have posted people next to the buses at Rimayah Square to deal with this."
"Do you think", he added, "that after all this organisation and money spent that we wanted to have a fiasco on our hands?"
Of course, getting there wasn't the only problem. The place was packed with double the number of people that were supposed to be there. When asked how many tickets his company sold, Soufrakis said he didn't know yet, but that "the capacity we had set was for around 7,500 people, including the security forces. But there were between 10,000 and 12,000 people there. We have nothing to do with the difference between the two figures." Soufrakis conceded that the location was "full of logistical problems," but his justification is that the plateau is run by "four different governmental bodies."
Archaeologists, most notably Giza plateau director Zahi Hawass, have warned against the danger concerts of this magnitude could have on the ancient monuments, but the thrill of performing at such a spot is too hard to resist. Asked about Hawass's objections, Soufrakis responded, "We respect Hawass's argument, but we were not informed. Secondly, if this is the case, then they should ban the Sound and Light show, which is held every day in that same place," he added.
The young executive insists that the chaos is the result of "red tape." Which, he claims, included taxing Sting's equipment. But the widespread view remains that East of West was short of experience in handling mega-events. Soufrakis doesn't object, but argues, "It seems that nobody has adequate enough experience in this country to do anything properly. There is no experience that can prepare you for the hassle that I've been through." He adds: "I'm not saying that I'm faultless."
But with at least six security bodies, four ministries and a private sector company such as East of West controlling the concert, many expected something much better to have come out of it. So what went wrong? Is Cairo so incapable of competing with neighbouring capitals such as Beirut or Dubai, which host mega-events almost on weekly basis? One of the responses to Amal El-Taher's chain letter offers some answers: "The reality is that this is a small, inexperienced company," the e-mail read. "The desert of the Pyramids is not prepared for such events; the security people live in poverty, with salaries as small as LE90 a month ... and a government that fails to understand that this is the new millennium."
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