Like many people, Lee Lih Long isn’t a fan of large crowds or long queues.
He’d probably shudder at the thought of being surrounded by people, waiting in long lines to enter the stadium or use the restroom.
Even concerts aren’t his scene.
Ironically, Lee’s job requires him to be on the ground — amidst the very crowds he tends to avoid — helping to guide people to enter or exit the Singapore Sports Hub safely.
Because of his aversion to crowds, he can empathise with those in the queues on a deeper level.
Ensuring crowds enter and exit the stadium safely
As the lead of venue operations (precinct), Lee oversees a wide variety of events, ranging from smaller ones like school runs to larger-scale events such as concerts and the New Year’s Eve countdown event Let’s Celebrate 2025.
His team is responsible for open areas around the Sports Hub as well as managing ingress and egress — ushering crowds in and out of the venues before and after an event.
Before each event, he and his team work closely with relevant stakeholders to ensure thorough planning.
The collaborative planning extends to the event-day execution as well. For example, they work closely with SMRT to release the crowds into the MRT station in batches for crowd size management.
During the event, Lee supervises operations on-site, ensuring everything runs smoothly.
Taylor Swift, Coldplay, Seventeen — you name it, Lee has been there, ensuring crowds are moved safely and efficiently.
His mind is often preoccupied with questions: What information do people need? How to make the waiting experience more pleasant?
“Because it's really painful to wait, right? Nobody really would want to queue unless your hobby is waiting,” Lee quipped.
This drive to alleviate the pain that people in the queues feel led Lee to come up with a fresh idea one day.
A light bulb went off during the Coldplay concert egress
If you’ve attended an event at National Stadium, you would notice the staff using megaphones to guide crowds to the correct gates or directions.
During Coldplay’s iconic stop in Singapore, the crowd was larger than anything Lee had ever seen.
The egress was particularly challenging, as patrons were held in batches before entering the Stadium MRT on their way home.
Feeling for them, Lee came up with the idea of playing music through his phone and using his microphone to amplify it.
The idea was to lighten the mood and distract people from the restlessness of waiting.
As the melody of “Viva la Vida” filled the air, the crowd seemed to perk up and even began singing along.
Lee’s music set off an impromptu karaoke session.
After that night, his team thought it was “a good and unique way” to manage crowds and continued to use it at subsequent events.
DJ LL
Lee’s colleagues even gave him the nickname “DJ LL” because he was in charge of curating music for egress.
Lee, however, humbly brushes off the title, saying he simply arranges for songs to be played through a speaker (an upgrade from his microphone).
As his expertise lies in older bands and Chinese songs, Lee relies on his team for events involving artists that he’s not so familiar with like Taylor Swift or K-pop acts.
Together, they prepare a playlist of around seven to 10 songs before the event.
Although they could easily pick the top songs from music streaming platforms, Lee prefers to curate the playlist to ensure fans will love and sing along with the tracks.
Lee is grateful to have a team that enthusiastically supported his idea.
Internet sensation
Concert goers’ happiness and energy during egress still amazes Lee, as he did not expect such a favourable reaction from them.
Some fans enjoyed the post-concert experience so much that they even posted clips of the singalong on social media.
Such as this clip of fans dancing to Seventeen’s Water during their Singapore concert in March 2025, which went viral:
Lee often receives these clips from his wife, who is a K-pop fan and is “secretly very proud” of him, he said.
A major testament to their hard work came when the team won the "Unsung Hero" award at TheStadiumBusiness Awards 2024.
It was the only venue in Asia to win an award at the event.
The award recognises an individual or team that “delivers consistently outstanding service, commitment and results at a stadium, arena or major sports and entertainment venue”.
The team beat six other nominees, including international contenders from Arsenal FC, Miami Heat, The Trusts Arena, Croke Park, Scarlets Rugby and Newcastle United FC.
For Lee and his team, though, the award is just an added perk that comes with putting their patrons first and keeping them safe and happy.
Share your best post-concert memory during egress
What’s your best memory of exiting a concert at the Singapore Sports Hub?
Share your memory and stand a chance to score tickets to your idol’s next show.
To participate, describe your favourite experience leaving a concert at the Singapore Sports Hub, use the hashtag #wayoutparty in a public post, and tag @sgsportshub on Instagram.
The contest runs until Apr. 30, 2025.
Three winners will be notified by May 7, 2025.
Winners must reply by May 14 with the concert of their choice listed on the Singapore Sports Hub website.
Tickets are non-transferable, cannot be resold, and must be collected in person at Singapore Sports Hub.
Terms and conditions apply.
This sponsored article by Singapore Sports Hub made this writer want to dance in the rain.
Top photos courtesy of Lee Lih Long
