Everyone was talking about Manchester last weekend after a performance of The Bodyguard musical at The Palace theatre was shut down due to drunken and disruptive audience members.
In the widely-shared videos on social media, two women can be seen wrestling with security before being escorted out of the auditorium by police. The pair had allegedly been singing and shouting loudly during the show, much to the dismay of the cast and audience.
This is not the first time badly behaved audiences and crowds have disrupted, halted or completely shut down public events in Manchester. Gigs, sporting events and even the Christmas Markets have seen incidents over the years. Some of the crowd disruption was simply annoying or distracting, but others were more serious and led to arrests.
And Manchester is not alone when it comes to unruly crowds. Stories have been emerging in recent weeks from theatres all over the UK about badly behaved audiences. There have been complaints about excessive phone usage, drunkenness, heckling, as well as more extreme cases of disturbances, such as people having sex during a show.
Here are some other times when things got out of hand at events in Manchester. Have you been to any shows that were ruined by audience members? Let us know via our Facebook page.
1. Students at US election night event (Nov 2016)
Police had to shut down a US election night event at the University of Manchester’s Student Union bar in 2016 after a fight broke out between Donald Trump supporters and Hillary Clinton supporters at around 6am. (Picture: Tom Pennington/Getty Images) Photo: Tom Pennington
2. Soccer Aid streaker (June 2018)
Just before the penalty shoot-out at the annual charity football match at Old Trafford, a streaker briefly broke onto the pitch before bolting over the barriers where he was caught by the stewards. (Photo by Lynne Cameron/Getty Images)
3. Lewis Capaldi audience fight (Jan 2023)
Lewis Capaldi paused his gig at the AO Arena in January after a fight broke out in the crowd. The incident occurred during the slow-tempoed ‘Hold Me While You Wait,’ to which the singer reportedly commented: “What a weird song to fight to. Bizarre.” (Photo by Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)
4. Justin Bieber walks off stage (Oct 2016)
In October 2016, singer Justin Bieber walked off the stage after ordering fans to stop screaming during the performance. He did return to stage, but criticised audience members for not “respecting” him, saying: “Obviously Manchester can’t handle me.” He had made similar comments to audience members in London and Birmingham. (Photo: Getty Images)