The steps of one of Melbourne’s major train stations was the centre of an impromptu crowd karaoke session on Tuesday night, after thousands of rock music lovers broke out into song.
Footage posted to social media shows Red Hot Chilli Pepper Fans gathering outside Southern Cross station following the band’s concert at Marvel Stadium.
The rock group’s iconic song ‘Under the Bridge’ was belted out by the crowd as one of Melbourne’s most embraced buskers The Bass in Vader, or simply known as Darth Vader, struck a few chords on his electric guitar.
Another Red Hot Chili Peppers song ‘Other Side’ was also sung to keep spirits high as commuters attemptedto make their way home.
Despite Public Transport Victoria (PTV) adaptation of a classic Peppers song encouraging concertgoers to commute via trains and trams, there were reportedly no additional services to cope with demand.
“By the way, we tried to say, we’d be there, waiting for … you with a tram or train to take you to and from the Chilli Peppers concert,” a post to PTV’s Twitter account read.
VicTraffic also backed the call for commuters to travel via train, urging commuters to “go over and not Under the Bridge”.
However this wasn’t the case, with fans taking to Reddit to voice their frustrations at the “poor planning”.
“Due to Metro Tunnel works, there was only one line going from Southern Cross to Flinders Street and no trains that I saw going through the loop,” one concertgoer said.
“This caused thousands of people to spill onto the stairs. I walked with hundreds to Flinders Street. Absolutely awful planning for an event with 40-50 thousand (people) at it.”
Meanwhile another commuter added when they got onto an escalator to go to the train platform, the crowds were so intense that people were “smooshing” into each other because they couldn’t move away from the escalator base.
For those who didn’t take the train, congestion also spilt out onto the roads with some Red Chilli fans reporting it took them up to 40 minutes to get through the Burnley tunnel.
Chris Miller, spokesperson for the Department of Transport told news.com.au, Tuesday night’s large crowds from the concert were cleared within 54 minutes of the performance ending.
“Trains were departing every eight to 12 minutes,” he said, with the same to be expected tonight.
Meanwhile Metro Trains said 15 extra services will be added for tonight’s concert, with all platforms made available.
Commuting frustrations aside, fans raved about both Tuesday’s concert and the unofficial after-party on Southern Cross Station’s stairs.
“(The show) was honestly pretty great. Sure it doubled time home but it was a pretty unforgettable event,” a Red Chilli fan said.
“Darth was rocking out after the Chilli Peppers, (it) was a great atmosphere and everyone was singing along. Music brings so many people together,” a second said.
The much-needed positive feedback from fans was a welcomed change of pace following the band’s first Australia show at Sydney’s Accor Stadium on February 2.
Longtime fans described the show as underwhelming, arguing there were not enough hits with others threatening they wouldn’t watch another concert of theirs again.
“Wish I could take back my decision to go to RHCP. Absolutely gutted by that performance,” one person wrote on Facebook in response to a post from Accor Stadium celebrating the show.
“Well that was disappointing, definitely won’t be seeing them again!!!” declared another fan.
“Good experience (but) won’t see em again. Their set was new-song focused and the crowd struggled to feel it,” criticised a third.
The uproar prompted the band to change their set list which out of 20 songs, originally contained seven new tracks from the band’s most recent albums Unlimited Love and ReturnTo The Dream Canteen.
Meanwhile, only one song from their biggest selling album in Australia, Californication, was performed with hits like the renowned Under The Bridge being excluded from the list.
Fortunately, the call to add the iconic song in addition to hit Suck My Kiss, has clearly lifted the mood of fans whose rave reviews are fuelling the anticipation of ticket holders yet to see the band.
The Red Hot Chilli Peppers will be performing their last Melbourne show with Post Malone tonight, before heading west to Perth’s Optus Stadium on Sunday.
Story Credit: news.com.au