SALON

Monday, Apr 26, 2010 6:27 PM UTC

Bieber fever strikes again!

The tween king sets off hysteria down under. Never underestimate the power of girls

By

Topics: Teenagers, Music, Justin Bieber,

Bieber fever strikes again!Justin Bieber

There are certain forces of nature not to be tangled with. Taiwanese tsunamis. Icelandic volcanoes. Justin Bieber.

When will humanity learn to steer clear of the dark power that is Bieber? Last November, the singer/blow-dryer aficionado released the Kraken-like fury of a throng of tweens on Long Island’s Roosevelt Mall when a mini concert turned into a stampede. Police were called in to disperse the crowd and Bieber had to cancel the appearance, leaving a devastated trail of pissed-off girls in his wake. How hardcore was the melee, which sent one girl to the hospital? Bieber’s manager was subsequently arrested for “reckless endangerment and criminal nuisance.”

So you’d think news that a storm front of “Baby Baby” was heading down under would have sent the young residents of Sydney plugging their ears and lashing themselves to masts to avoid disaster. But no. You can’t fight the Bieber!

In town to sing a few songs on Channel 7′s “Sunrise” program Monday morning, Bieber had attracted a crowd of over 3,000 eager fans who camped out overnight for a glimpse of their idol. The singer got through one song before security cut the performance short after “a dangerous crowd surge” spurred safety concerns. The Sydney Morning Herald reports “at least ten teenagers were taken to hospital suffering from ‘hyperventilation,’ while one girl sustained a fractured knee.” Anyone else want a piece of this?

Of course, whipped-up crowds are nothing to sneeze at. If you’ve ever been in the midst of a riot, however whimsical the provocation, you know they can turn deadly fast. So while the notion of a sweet-faced Canadian teen setting off the kind of frenzy normally reserved for political protest or mop-topped Liverpudlians seems unfathomably silly, woe betide the person who gets between those sleep-deprived, dehydrated, hormonally whipped-up 12-year-old girls and their charismatic icon. And honest to God, if you’re estimating a few thousand people are going to show up for an event, hire more damn staff to manage it or don’t be surprised if it gets out of control. Just get a load of the frenzy going on behind Bieber during his truncated Channel 7 appearance — and imagine how much worse it could have been.

So to mall cops, television stations and concert promotions around the globe, a few words of advice. First and foremost, never underestimate the deadly force of a legion of girls. And second, if you’re going to bring the Bieber, you’d better have plenty of backup.

Mary Elizabeth Williams

Mary Elizabeth Williams is a staff writer for Salon and the author of "Gimme Shelter: My Three Years Searching for the American Dream." Follow her on Twitter: @embeedub. More Mary Elizabeth Williams.

Next Article

Related Stories

More Related Stories

Featured Slide Shows

The week in 10 pics

close X
  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11
  • Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
    Credit: AP/LM Otero

  • Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
    Credit: AP/Matt Rourke

  • A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
    Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher

  • Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
    Credit: AP/Molly Riley

  • Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
    Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite

  • Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
    Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster

  • O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
    Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid

  • Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
    Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield

  • When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
    Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin

  • A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
    Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin

  • Recent Slide Shows

  • Share on Twitter
  • Share on Facebook
  • Thumbnails
  • Fullscreen
  • 1 of 11

Related Videos

Comments

 14 Comments

Comment Preview

Your name will appear as username

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href=""> <b> <em> <strong> <i> <blockquote>

follow salon

Most Read

Popular on Reddit

links from salon.com

vote
Who is "Company Doe"? Corporations accused of wrongdoing win battle to keep identities secret
41 points42 points | 1 comment
vote
"Slave descendants seek equal rights from Cherokee Nation": long, detailed narrative of legal and historical complications in red-white-black relations
31 points32 points | 1 comment
vote
Who is "Company Doe"? Corporations accused of wrongdoing win battle to keep identities secret
6 points7 points | comment
vote
Steven Soderbergh's Liberace biopic shows the famously flamboyant entertainer as a person, not a stereotype
6 points7 points | comment
vote
Experts: Fox News spying scandal a game-changer - I think that crackdown is ideologically driven and I think it’s hard to come to a different conclusion given the vigor with which this justice department has gone after people. So I think it is about a method of control that is badly misplaced.
3 points4 points | 6 comments

From Around the Web

Presented by Scribol
listener_new_rect The Listener: So long, Sookie Stackhouse

Recommendations