The Web Columnist

For a city like Kolkata which doesn't get its fair share of International bands performing like other cities in our country do, Poets of the Fall was a huge opportunity for the youth of the city to experience and enjoy an evening of pure entertainment. But alas! something had to go wrong, and yes, it very much did.

As it has always happened in the city, rumors spread faster than actual information and this time yet again it happened for the sale of tickets. The event was organized by E365 Media Solutions. The company claims itself to be the pioneer of live events/concerts in Eastern India and yet this was the first time I've heard of them. This probably could be my ignorance, but there are few questions that I'd like to ask.

The sale of tickets was not hosted by E365 Media Solutions it was outsourced or rather delegated to IndiaStage, which is a company based in Bangalore. I can't fathom the reason why this was the case? Whereas cities such as Delhi and Pune had HRC manage the sale of tickets and to my knowledge the process of ticket distribution was very well managed and organized. Secondly the procedure setup for the purchase of tickets is perhaps the worst I've seen so far. There was no information portal whatsoever where important details about the event was mentioned. Why not? Isn't that the most basic thing to do while hosting events of such a scale? Nevertheless, the pre booking of the passes for the show had started a day prior to the actual sale of tickets. I remember calling up IndiaStage for pre booking my pass. Apart from having to deal with this extremely annoying southern accent of the operator I was left wondering whether my pre booking was even confirmed because I received no calls or emails. Luckily enough I happen to stumble upon the Facebook page for the event. Rumors had begun on the very first day about tickets being sold out. Much to my amazement I realised that I wasn't the only one completely bewildered about the whole event and how it was proceeding. As the days progressed people kept posting about the entire confusion that was culminating around this epic day. Irked pass holders who were unsure of how they were to receive their printed tickets to plain out frustrated ones who didn't get a hold of the passes. It was a huge mess.

Cometh the day... Cometh the Chaos!

The gates were to open at 4pm..well that's just one side of the story. Who knew people had to go through a stampede to get in. The Poets were to headline and they didn't take the stage until after 6pm. Well that's alright, they're the poets. What's irritating me is how disorganized and ill managed the entire program was. In adequate staff, inadequate space and a torturously long wait in the damned rain. To add to the frustration was the inadequate security measures and seating arrangements. I won't get into that much, this e-space falls short.

Nonetheless, the only saving grace of the day was Poets taking the stage and giving Kolkata what it deserves. A solid setlist! Worth the wait, Worth the money.

All said and done I would still take this opportunity to say Thank you E365 Media Solutions for the ground breaking concert. Its all uphill from here. Learn from your mistakes and get more awesome bands to the city of Joy.


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