Peggy Gou’s headline Boiler Room show shut down over crowd crush fears

A Boiler Room show in Seoul, South Korea, was evacuated by police over the weekend due to overcrowding and crowd crush fears.

Headlined by Peggy Gou, the event at Seoul's SFactory on Saturday (July 27) had been part of Boiler Room’s World Tour series. Other artists on the line-up included Elkka, Jyoty, and Soichi Terada.

According to Korea Times, emergency services received reports of overcrowding during the event, and subsequently dispatched 11 fire engines and 42 firefighters to the venue. Five attendees were also reportedly treated for breathing difficulties. No casualties or serious injuries were reported.

While exact details surrounding the halting of the event remain unknown, an eyewitness told Mixmag that the show was shut down "between 12:30AM and 12:40AM," just before Peggy Gou was due to appear on stage.

According to the witness, who has previously hosted events as a promoter at SFactory and asked to remain anonymous, the event faced crowd control issues ahead of the South Korea-hailing artist's headline set.

“The issue is that only so many people would have been able to see Peggy Gou at once," they say, adding their belief that congestion had begun due to crowds attempting to reach the third-floor location of her set, "causing a jam."

They claim that the venue asked attendees to use a one-way system on staircases at the East and West of the building and even created passages to enforce this. Still, fans allegedly began “cramming” the one-way system, causing a bottleneck into the room.

The witness also added their fears over the heat inside the venue, explaining: “It was 35 degrees outside and the humidity level was around 80%, we were in a tropical state. Everyone was sweating, everyone was angry, everyone was struggling."

In a statement posted on social media yesterday (July 30), Boiler Room confirmed these issues: “During the party we faced crowd-flow issues, causing safety concerns and led to the early closure of the event.”

“Contrary to what has been reported," Boiler Room adds. "We sold to the capacity that was instructed by our partner in Seoul and at the time the event ended we were under capacity.”

Xing Xing, who performed on the night ahead of Peggy Gou's set, said on Instagram after the show: "Boiler Room, turn the AC ON!! Still very overwhelmed about this night, it took me a whole ass hour to get from the DJ booth to out of the venue, I cant even begin to imagine what it was like for the audience... Hope everyone is out safe and sound."

Japanese DJ and live artist Soichi Terada, who was also due to perform at the event, posted photos of police cars outside the venue shortly after it was shut down.

Speaking to Mixmag, Soichi - who was due to perform after Peggy Gou from 3:AM until 4:AM - explained: "I understood that due to too many people who were eagerly looking forward to Peggy Gou, nobody could move, they had to abort the show before Peggy Gou nor me."

"The venue looked pretty large, but it might be smaller than her popularity," he said. "All of the technical staff were also very kind for the sound check and a plan for setting my gear away. I hope everyone including her were safe."

Videos of the ensuing evacuation were posted on Twitter. The show faced criticism online, giving a reminder of the tragic crowd crush incident in Itaewon, Seoul, in October 2022 which claimed the lives of 159 people.

Following the event’s evacuation, Peggy Gou said in a statement to Mixmag that she was "devastated" by its cancellation, but "the safety of my audience is of paramount importance."

"Boiler Room has apologised for failing to plan adequately and underestimating the crowd movement within the venue. In response, I have asked my team to immediately review the risk assessments for all my future shows and furthermore ensure there is a system in place to guarantee they are being adhered to," she said.

She added that she's now working on a "larger event" alongside her team to take place in Seoul in the coming months. "I am relieved no one was hurt and the duty of care towards my audience will always be my number one priority," she said.

Boiler Room also added in a statement that it takes safety “extremely seriously”, with “detailed measures in place at every event to ensure a situation like this doesn’t occur”.

“We are reviewing our systems internally to make sure this doesn’t happen again,” they said. “To our fans in Seoul, you and your city are incredibly important to us, and we’re devastated that we couldn't deliver you an event to the standards we hold ourselves to.”

Mixmag has reached out to SFactory for comment.

Gemma Ross is Mixmag's Assistant Editor, follow her on Twitter