Sunday’s Sting concert was a successful one in more than one ways. Apart from people getting ‘stung’, the concert was greeted by a much a sober crowd and the traffic arrangement was also brilliant. I spoke to H.P.S. Virk, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic), “There were around 3,000 cars parked at the venue and still there were no traffic hazards. To my surprise even the crowd was very decent and we had no problems in handling them.”

In fact, the backdrop to the concert was also very good. “With the Pitampura TV tower, Metro line and commercial complexes as backdrop to Sting’s concert, it looked as if the concert is happening in abroad. Delhi can be compared to any big city abroad,” he said.

Perhaps he was in the opinion of making Pitampura, a permanent venue to such concerts. Even I second it. I have seen shows happening at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium. It’s totally maddening. Apart from the usual traffic snarls, it’s also not wise to use a sports infrastructure for such events. Pitampura has an edge. That is it has Metro. Sunday’s concert lasted exactly two and a half hours. Which means people could have easily boarded a metro to watch the concert as it was already over by 10 pm.

Although Shaggy too performed at Pitampura and his concert ended up late. All the people rushed towards metro station and found they had missed the last train. I think during such international concerts, DMRC should run some special service for the commuters. Meanwhile, it was surprising to see music fans coming from Punjab, Bombay and as far as Himachal. And according to an official, “There were around 3,000-4,000 people from surrounding areas of Pitampura. Lot of foreigners too came for the show.”

However, the best part of the concert was the crowd was refined. No trouble happened at the spot. It seems Delhi is changing.