Ed Sheeran fans angry after people collapse in hot Melbourne stadium

Ambulance Victoria confirmed that a number of people were treated by first aiders at the venue for dehydration

Ed Sheeran fans have criticised officials at Melbourne's Etihad Stadium after they refused to open the stadium roof, with several concertgoers fainting as temperatures soared in the venue.

According to Yahoo 7, several fans were carried out of the stadium even before the musician had come out on stage, with attendee Ally Meli adding: "I had called Etihad Stadium myself and was told that there was no air conditioner and that the promoter had chosen to keep the roof closed."

Temperatures in Melbourne reached 35 degrees on Saturday, when the concert took place, with approximately 65,000 people packed into the stadium to see Sheeran.

Melanee Jardine said her seat on level three gave her a "bird's eye view" of events. "In the first act they had to stop and get security to help someone who had fainted. Then it just kept happening all show," she said.

"We had a young girl in our row pass out from the heat too. It was terrible and unnecessary when they had access to having the roof open."

Ambulance Victoria confirmed that a number of people were treated by first aiders at the venue for dehydration. One woman was taken to hospital due to a leg injury.

People flooded social media with their frustrations over the heat, while also complaining about the fact bottles of water were being sold at $5. Other attendees, however, have said security guards were handing out bottles for free to some fans.

"Terrible that I spent over $250 dollars to take my children to Ed last night. Only to spend the entire evening fanning them and bathing them down with water due to the heat inside your stadium!," one user wrote. "Ended having to leave because my children had headaches from being so hot. Really poor form Etihad."

Another wrote: "Water was $5.30 per 500 ml bottle! No air conditioning, no air. And they wouldn’t allow lids on my bottle. You are making enough profit on $10 beers and seriously overpriced food. Do you have to make 400 % on water? Greedy! Shameful."

An Etihad Stadium spokesperson has said the roof was closed at the request of the touring management. "Patrons health and safety is always our number one priority and we were continually monitoring the situation. The temperatures inside the stadium was not at a level that put Ed’s fans at risk," they said.

"Free water stations were available throughout the venue for fans to continually hydrate throughout the concert and they were encouraged to do so. On the stadium floor there was free water being handed out throughout the night to fans."

Sheeran also performed on Sunday night. He will perform once more at the Etihad Stadium on Monday night, with shows in Sydney and Brisbane, before the tour heads to New Zealand.

A representative for Sheeran has been contacted for comment.

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