Ticket-holders blame poor crowd management after organisers open main gates at Jamuna Future Park
TBS Report
25 October, 2026, 02:10 am
Last modified: 25 October, 2026, 02:16 am
Thousands of people without tickets reportedly forced their way past security barriers at Rock N Rhythm 5.0: No Limits in the Zone on Friday evening. A much-anticipated celebration of Bangladeshi rock turned into a night of overcrowding and anger at Jamuna Future Park in Dhaka.
The concert was presented by TAAGA MAN and organised by Adventor Communications. It was scheduled to run from 3pm to 11pm at the venue's Carnival Arena. The line-up featured James and Nagar Baul, Ark, Warfaze, Aurthohin and Shunno, alongside guitarist Oni Hasan and a special appearance by AK Rahul.
The breaches reportedly came in bursts throughout the evening and peaked shortly before James was due on stage. As the crowd at the entrances grew out of control, organisers opened the main gates. The decision infuriated many who had paid for entry.
Ticket-holders complained that the crush left little room to watch the performances, and blamed poor crowd management.
Videos shared widely on social media showed sections of the audience chanting that the event was a fraud. Another clip appeared to show security personnel restraining and striking an attendee. Police were deployed and tried to clear the crowds massed around the entrances.
The chaos also drew criticism on social media over the organisers' security arrangements. One post from Powersurge guitarist Saimum Hasan Nahian compared the event with Germany's Wacken Open Air, one of the world's largest heavy metal festivals.
"Bangladeshi big gig organisers should learn," the post read. It then listed what it described as Wacken's arrangements for 75,000 to 85,000 attendees: 1,800 dedicated security personnel, around 400 extra police officers, around 900 paramedics and medical staff, and firefighters and emergency response teams. According to the post, all of them are part of an onsite workforce of about 5,000 people.
"I've said it many times before: at big concerts, if you don't keep 300 bouncers or security staff, your gates will be broken," the post said. "You can spend lakhs and crores of taka on so many big bands, and lakhs upon lakhs on stunts and high production, yet you can't increase the security budget even a little? That's unbelievable."
Nahian added that organisers who never consider such matters "should not even be qualified to organise shows like this".
Despite the turmoil, the show went ahead. As advertised there were many moments which were never seen before in Bangladeshi open air concerts–mostly some segments of performances featuring guitarists and others on lifting cranes hovering over the crowd. James and Ark vocalist Hasan, two of the defining voices of the 1990s band scene, both performed and drew an enthusiastic response from the crowd.
The organisers' account of how the barriers were breached, and whether ticket-holders will be compensated, remains to be seen.