A member of staff was injured and police were called after a group of concert-goers got involved in a “melee” outside the Regent theatre after an incident during Saturday’s Alison Moyet concert.
A group of four concert-goers were asked to be quiet by a security guard after talking loudly during the first part of the concert, disturbing other concert-goers nearby.
They were angered at being told to stop talking and decided to leave the theatre – but another four people who had complained about the noise followed them out of the theatre.
There was then a confrontation outside the theatre. A spokesman for Ipswich council which runs the Regent said: “It was described as a bit of a melee because there was some jostling but it couldn’t be called a scuffle because there were no punches thrown.”
A female member of the theatre staff tried to separate the groups and persuade them to go home, but was pushed against a door and suffered bruising to the wrist.
She was not seriously hurt – and was back on duty with her wrist bandaged the next day when the Summer of Love concert brought peace back to the Regent and there were no problems with the audience!
During the melee the police were called. The spokesman said: “We told them the police were on their way and both groups left very quickly.”
The police did arrive at the theatre a few minutes later but as the people who had caused the problem had left, no further action was taken.
Alison Moyet herself was glad to see the back of the noisy concert-goers, telling the audience: “It’s okay, they’ve gone,” as they left the auditorium.
This is the second time in a few weeks that noisy audiences have disturbed Regent concerts – last month former Soft Cell frontman Marc Almond launched a tirade aimed at audience members who talked through his set.
The council spokesman said the theatre had protocols for dealing with problems: “We take the safety of our staff and audiences very seriously and will not hesitate to call the police if there is an incident like this.
“We also know that our audience members pay a lot of hard-earned money to come to enjoy some great entertainment at the Regent and we will take action to try to ensure that no one is able to spoil the enjoyment for them.”
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