Garbage And More Musicians Petition Against O2 Academy Brixton’s Closure, After A Crowd Crush Incident

A few months ago, an Asake concert held at London’s O2 Brixton Academy resulted in a deadly crowd crush, with two victims and several injured.

Because of the tragic incident, the venue’s license was also suspended by the city’s police, who are now trying to shutter the doors of the venue for good. Closed since December, they have deemed that it “has not been successful in identifying the remedial measures which need to be in place before the Academy can safely re-open.”

Musicians and fans alike are now pushing back, sharing their thoughts on social media and starting petitions to keep the venue’s doors open. The closure has also resulted in many tours having to be postponed or adjusted, given the unforeseen circumstance. Since this morning, one uploaded to Change.org has over 20,000 signatures.

Garbage shared a link to it, writing “Save Brixton Academy” on Twitter.

Others, like Primal Scream’s Simone Marie Butler added, “Brixton Academy is such an important and historic venue for south London and live music. There is a police a station literally opposite, surely with new management / infrastructure + security it can be improved ? instead of just shutting it down?”

The next O2 Academy Brixton license meeting is being held on May 15, according to NME.

Continue scrolling for some more reactions from musicians.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.