Nas: Get Down

High japes at the Nas concert last night after some clearly community-minded person let off two shots. Actually, it sounded more like a firecracker but the police found two empty shells so, er, guess not. I'm unafraid to admit that I shat myself - not only at the shots but as everyone ran to get away. The thought of 4000 people clamouring to get out by any means necessary? Thankfully, no one was seriously hurt.
So why would someone do that? Why let off shots in a packed venue? What does it do? What, exactly, does it achieve? Reports say that they fired into the ceiling, which generally indicates appreciation for a tune (yes, I know how middle-class I sound right now!) - if you're at a dancehall rave, maybe. That's not a cool thing to do anyway, but especially not at a hip hop concert by a comparatively conscious-ish artist (ok, maybe stretching that slightly, but NWA Nas ain't). And since when did hip hop have a tradition of firing a weapon when a good tune comes on? Nas wasn't even playing his own stuff at that point - L.E.S was spinning Lauren Hill!
I'm also not sure of the decision to bring Nas back out either- though perhaps it helped to keep people inside the building while trouble apparently brewed outside, thereby lessening more confusion and chaos. And it was kinda worth staying if only to see him get his boobs out. Damn, God's Son is in good shape. Anyway, despite reports saying the concert was immediately cancelled, Nasty returned to dive into the crowd and perform ‘Get Down’ with Dizzee. As producer Snips pointed out, you knew it was over when Quan came onstage and not only did his verse from ‘Just A Moment’, but Nas’ as well. By which point, thankfully, we were finally allowed to leave the venue, escorted by armed police. Which is nice.
People often moan there's nowhere to go out anymore, all the raves are shut down, people are locked out from playing London venues. But who do we blame? The people who refuse to put their patrons at risk from violence or violent acts, or the people that are directly responsible for perpetrating the myth that hip hop is violent? Having been to 100's, this incident won't put me off from going to another hip hop gig - but I can't blame a venue from being reluctant to book artists in the immediate future. Were something to happen, who would want that on their conscience?