It was supposed to be a wonderful night filled with great OPM but everything went downhill. Here’s what went down at the Coke Studio Homecoming Christmas Concert. And hopefully, this would serve as a lesson for y’all event-goers.

Coke Studio Homecoming Christmas Concert gave such an amazing lineup composed of best among the best OPM artists we have today. It’s matic that this event will be packed with OPM lovers especially with a free admission, right?

This supposedly fun and memorable concert, however, turned into a huge disaster. And here’s what went down the much-awaited Coke Studio Homecoming Christmas Concert. Hopefully, this would serve as a lesson for everyone as well.

The Coke Studio Homecoming Christmas Concert

Personally, I really wanted to attend this much-awaited event. But with such big names in the event and no registration to secure your slot? That was a red flag for me.

December 7 early in the afternoon, the Coke Studio Homecoming Christmas Concert kicked off. Thousands of attendees arrived at the Mall of Asia Concert Grounds to witness our very talented OPM artists set to perform that night.

The artists who were supposedly gonna perform for the Christmas concert was:

–December Avenue

–IV of Spades

–Quest

–KZ Tandingan

–Moira dela Torre

–Kriesha Chu

–Khalil Ramos

–Juan Miguel Severo

–Lola Amour

–Any Name’s Okay

-and Martin Riggs

Such big names in the country’s music industry, right? No wonder everyone gathered for this free admission event. Us Filipinos are a sucker for free things anyways.

December Avenue is known for their many hit songs and was able to perform at the Coke Studio Homecoming Christmas Concert. They also graced everyone with a collaboration with the famous artist and celebrity, Khalil Ramos.

What went down:

By 5 PM, the management announced that the venue reached full capacity and admission is temporarily on hold.

30 minutes after this, it was followed by an announcement that the gates are permanently closed to ensure everyone’s safety.

This stirred up the crowd as they began to get mad at the management and the security. Quest, one of the artists, bravely stepped up on stage. He asked everyone to calm down right after the announcement. Instead, this resulted in the masses to riot even more.

By 6:51 PM, Coke Studio announced that the concert would be delayed for two hours due to technical difficulties.

30 minutes after this, Lola Amour and Any Name’s Okay announced that they will no longer be performing due to technical difficulties.

The Cancellation

Finally, by 10:16 PM, Manila Bulletin announced that the event is rescheduled to the first quarter of 2019. Coke Studio confirmed and said the decision all came from them and the Philippine National Police, SM Mall of Asia, the government of Pasay, and all of the artists that are part of the event.

Quest yet again stepped up and asked for the understanding and cooperation of everyone. But the crowd present at the Coke Studio Homecoming Christmas Concert turned a deaf ear. Instead of being calm and accepting the turn of events, they showed how hard headed they are.

People were booing, cursing, screaming hates, and throwing bottles onto the stage. Pretty unacceptable don’t you think? Those who did such should grow up and be disciplined. Just because they could get away with what they did doesn’t mean they should do such horrors.

Later that night, artists such as Saab Magalona, Ben&Ben, IV of Spades, and Any Name’s Okay tweeted about the event and wishing everyone would be able to go home safe.

Below is the official statement of Coke Studio:

The lessons of this event

Coke Studio Homecoming Christmas Concert was all about experiencing the holiday season even more with Pinoy music. Yet what was supposed to be a very amazing night turned into a nightmare. But of course, along with these horrible instances are the lessons that came with it.

1. Organization

The management and the organizer of the #CokeStudioChristmas evidently has a fault in the turn of the events last Friday.

By bringing such big OPM names to their Christmas Concert, they should have anticipated that a lot of people would come and watch their performances. By making this event free, the number of attendees would be even bigger. Which was actually an estimated of 15,000 attendees.

Since Christmas is all about giving and being thankful, I really can’t say anything about the generosity of this management. However, there could’ve been ways to prevent this chaos in order to assure a fun-filled, successful, and safe event.

The management lacked organization in handling their huge Christmas Concert. Come to think of it, if they really wanted this event to be free, they could’ve instead conducted an online registration to secure “limited” slots.

This way, the event wouldn’t be mobbed and the only ones who’ll arrive at the concert would be the ones who actually have slots.

But of course, with or without registration, people should still learn about cooperation and discipline.

https://twitter.com/andrei_wiliam/status/1071087312044355584

2. Cooperation and discipline

Obviously, there wasn’t any cooperation and discipline amongst the crowd who attended the Coke Studio Homecoming Christmas Concert.

The crowd was wild and wouldn’t obey the guidelines and safety protocols given to them.

I am in no way disregarding the efforts the attendees exerted. Some came from far away places and lined up all day under the scorching sun. But still, this is no excuse to act indecently and rudely.

The event could’ve had a chance to be saved if people willingly cooperated. And instead, they showed such public displays of hate for not getting what they want.

Too much cursing, yelling, complaining, pushing, climbing barricades, and even throwing bottles. That’s the kind of “cooperation” and “discipline” that the attendees showed.

The management failed in organizing properly, that is true. Yet most especially, the people failed in showing cooperation, discipline, compassion, and understanding. And then we wonder why our country is not progressing? Lol.

3. Be grateful

Hello guys, this is a FREE concert that’s filled with our favorite OPM artists! Everyone should be grateful that they’d get the chance to watch them perform live without an expensive door charge.

You think that people would actually show their gratefulness and appreciation, huh? Well, that obviously didn’t happen.

It’s already a free event. All everyone had to do was get there, exert effort because well, its free already free… and obey the rules. That was all, and they could’ve had a very amazing and memorable night. Instead, everyone was hassled and disappointed.

4. Learn respect

Jose Villanueva III or more known as Quest bravely stood up and gave the bad news to thousands of the attendees at the Mall of Asia Grounds. Here’s the video of him delivering the announcement despite being disrespected during the entire time he was up on stage.

Everyone was booing and cursing. No one was listening and some even had the audacity to throw their bottles onto the stage. Still, Quest didn’t give up. And to calm everyone down, he graced everyone with a performance.

Hands down to Quest. So much admiration for this brave man.

He didn’t back down and took one for the team. No one, NO ONE, deserves to be treated with such disrespect.

Respect for ourselves guides our morals, respect for others guides our manners.

Truly hands down to Quest. And I hope that those who attended and contributed in such indecency would come to their senses and come to realize the impacts of their actions.

Overall, I truly hope that what went down at this Christmas Concert would serve as a lesson to event organizers and event-goers. It’s not bad to have fun, as long as people know what’s right and wrong.

Were you at the event? Did you see what went down at the Coke Studio Homecoming Christmas Concert? Or do you have thoughts and opinions you would like to share? Leave a comment down below or give us a message on our Facebook or Twitter @UDoUPh.