Over 50 Phones Were Stolen From Fans at a While She Sleeps Show

You know that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach you feel when you realize you can’t find your phone? Of course you do, we’ve all been there. Now multiply that by nearly 100 and you’ll understand what happened during While She Sleeps’ show at The Roundhouse in London on Friday, March 1st, when at least 50 concertgoers — possibly as many as 100 — realized their phones had been snatched by an organized group of pickpocketers.

The Standard reports that at least 50 attendees went to security during the show to relay the most unfortunate news, with one eyewitness claiming he saw at least 100 people trying to recover their phones. Concertgoers who had their phones stolen all reported being completely unaware that anything was awry until they realized their phones were missing, only to encounter dozens of others going through the same ordeal at the lost property section of the 1,700-capacity venue:

“Conor Burke, 23, a property manager from Peterborough, had his £300 grey iPhone 7 stolen. ‘I didn’t feel anything and I couldn’t see it on the ground,’ he said. ‘I went to lost property, stood there for an hour talking to other people and there was just a constant flow of people coming out saying we’ve had our phones nicked.’”

Security did what they could, searching everyone’s belongings on the way out of the venue and asking people to unlock their phone to prove it was theirs, but it was for naught: the thieves had already escaped (or, perhaps, it was an inside job).

There’s nothing else to say here other than “this sucks.” Be extra aware of guarding your pockets at shows, people.

[via Lambgoat]