Operational playbook

Multi-Day Festival — 25,000 Attendees / Day

A 3-day outdoor music festival in downtown Montreal with 25,000 attendees per day, two stages, one pit, three licensed-alcohol zones and a headliner with an active stalker file. The client needed a crowd-management and emergency-response plan that would pass the Ville de Montréal Service de sécurité incendie review and the headliner's management tour rider.

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At a glance

Event: 3-day music festival, 2 stages, 1 pit
Attendees: ~25,000 per day, 75,000 total over weekend
Province: Quebec (BSP)
Contract type: Event security (full-festival)
Team deployed: 96 agents + 8 supervisors + 2 incident-command leads

The challenge

Previous year the festival had two pit-crush incidents during the headliner set, a 22-minute medical response for a cardiac event and one minor stampede at the main gate on night 2 when ingress was bottlenecked. The city was watching. The headliner's tour rider mandated a named close-protection lead with touring-security credentials.

Our approach

Ingress redesign

Two additional gates commissioned, staggered wristband-check lanes, and a pre-event marketing push advising attendees to arrive 90 minutes before doors. Doubled effective throughput on night 2.

Pit and barricade staffing

One guard every 3 metres of barricade, rotated every 45 minutes. Pit supervisor on radio with stage-management; agreed stop-show protocol if pit pressure exceeds a defined threshold.

Medical-co-located response

Pre-deployed medical tent inside the fence line, co-located with security command, with dedicated runner team. Crushing calls bypass radio queue and go straight to command.

Close protection for headliner

Named CP lead with touring credentials, two-person trailer-to-stage escort, dressing-room watch and media-avoidance route pre-walked at load-in.

Documented incident command

Single incident commander per shift, written shift-change brief, 15-minute radio check-in and published stop-show thresholds. Ville de Montréal SSIM fire officer embedded at command for the headliner set.

Outcome (3-day festival)

0
Pit-crush incidents
vs. 2 prior year; stop-show threshold never triggered
3m 42s
Median medical response time
vs. 22 minutes for the cardiac call prior year
−78%
Ingress bottleneck complaints
vs. prior year social-sentiment sample
2
Stalker-file interdictions
Both identified at the gate, denied entry, logged and shared with SPVM
No findings
City after-action review
SSIM officer signed off on-site at wrap

What we actually deployed

96 BSP-licensed event agents across 2 shifts
8 shift supervisors (1 per zone), 2 incident-command leads
Touring-experienced close-protection lead for headliner
Co-located medical tent with dedicated runner team
Pre-event site walk + stop-show protocol signed off by city
Post-event after-action report delivered 72 hours after wrap

FAQ

Do you write the event safety plan or just staff it?

We can write it. For events over 5,000 we typically co-author the event safety plan with the promoter and the host city, and we present it to the SSIM (Montreal) or the fire services of the host municipality.

What is a 'stop-show threshold' and who triggers it?

A written crowd-pressure threshold agreed with stage management. If the pit supervisor or a barricade guard flags crowd compression beyond the threshold, the stage manager is radioed to address the crowd and, if needed, pause the set. Authority is documented in advance.

Can you cover a headliner with a tour rider security clause?

Yes. We have close-protection specialists with touring experience and can align on credentials, dressing-room protocol and media-avoidance routes with the principal's management in advance of load-in.

Have a similar problem? Let's talk.

Send us your context and we'll reply with a plan specific to your situation, backed by our PSISA and BSP licensing and $5M general liability coverage.

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