Asake pays tribute to Brixton Academy crush victims at return gig

Asake started his first UK gig since two people were killed in a crush at one of his concerts with a three-minute tribute video.

Rebecca Ikumelo and Gaby Hutchinson died after a crowd surge outside the O2 Academy Brixton in December last year.

Afrobeats star Asake paid tribute to the pair when he returned to London on Sunday night.

The video ended with an appeal for anyone who had any information about the crush to get in touch with police.

Rebecca, 33, and security guard Gaby, 23, were killed in the crush at Asake's first UK gig on 15 December.

The Met Police investigation is still ongoing and the south London venue has been closed ever since, with its licence under review by Lambeth Council.

Officers are also still appealing for information and say a 21-year-old woman remains in a critical condition in hospital.

Asake returned for the one-off show at the O2 Arena, which has a 20,000 capacity and is four times bigger than the Brixton venue, on Sunday night.

He kept fans waiting, arriving on stage about an hour and 20 minutes later than planned, and started with a three-minute tribute poem to Rebecca and Gaby.

"Up at 02:30 thinking Gaby Hutchinson could be me," the poem read.

"Rest well and be free, rest in peace Rebecca, our sister."

Police officers were also handing out flyers outside the gig, encouraging witnesses to come forward.

Rachel Otto was at the Brixton gig and returned to see Asake on Sunday.

"After going to the Brixton event that was tragic, I just wanted to come back and see the artist that I love," she tells BBC Newsbeat.

Rachel knew one of the victim's family and says she had the family on her mind at the concert.

"It's bittersweet," she says.

"It's just a reminder for the family that a life was lost."

Rachel hopes what happened in Brixton will lead to a change in safety at gigs.

She says it's "very frustrating to see that it's still taken a long time to for them [police] to conclude that investigation".

"I hope it's a learning curve for everybody."

Toye was also at the Brixton gig and says "it's hard to think back to it".

"I'm very sad about the events that happened there."

Toye was nervous about coming to see Asake again but says the security was better than at Brixton which reassured him.

"The organisation with that gig, it wasn't good at all," he says.

"But I see the security here is doing it properly."

He says it's important that fans can still celebrate Afrobeats music after the tragedy.

"Afrobeats is here to stay, it's not a passing thing so this could be the start of something really new."

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