SLANE 2009 Oasis - All Discussion - No ticket sales.

NickNolte

lordgoat wrote: »

To be fair it seemed he was unaware of all the problems and came across quite well. He was also quite gracious in how he conceded there were problems.

I agree. He did seem quite genuine when he realised that this wasn't just a case of a few malcontents overreacting and there were some severe problems with the organisation of the gig. On top of that, he had the decency to go on the radio and discuss it.

DenzelWishbone

MCD said this “It is a credit to Dublin Bus that they were able to facilitate the increased numbers, rather than having thousands of fans left stranded”.

How Dublin bus, MCD or the guards can claim any credit is an insult…The point is that thousands of fans were left stranded for up to 4-6 hours and longer, myself and 4 of my friends included. After we crossed the bridge at Slane there were no stewards at all, no guards and a total lack of organization at the bus stops - it was complete anarchy trying to get on a bus…it was the not knowing what to do or where to go to get a lift which was the worst, with nobody there to direct you, so many people wandering around lost, so many lying along the side of the road – it was a shambles and a disaster waiting to happen…should we keep walking, should we wait here, should we go back, will we ever get home tonight…We saw 2 guards the whole time in our 4 hour 10km walk out the road where we eventually did get a lift…one guard on a bike was getting hounded by people asking 'what should we do'... i saw him advise these two young girls “stop wasting your energy and sit there on the side of the road” - sit there in the dark on the side of the road!...it was pure luck that no-one got knocked down or raped or something...

The gig itself was fantastic for us, the majority of people were great and really friendly…I had sooo much fun and Slane is my favourite venue inside and i really hope it continues because its unique and special in many ways...but in the end the lack of organization and planning spoiled it for me and my friends this time … just sort out the transport and the organization getting in and getting out and more stewards inside the venue … and MCD you can kiss my ass crediting Dublin bus for that mess - you guys were very lucky this time

ItsYourTime

AlekSmart wrote: »

A big +1 to that.

However I do concur with Wile.E.Coyote in respect of peoples expectations in relation to attending such an event in a small town such as Slane.

I did one trip to Slane in the early afternoon and even at 14.30 things were going seriously awry in terms of crowd control and stewarding.

I have worked on Slane Gigs for 15 years and without doubt the single most Important issue is CO-OPERATION between the Agencies. :cool:

Excellent post! Looks like you have a good grasp of what needs to be done next time around!

I was at the gig and I had a great day up until the very end when I had to walk 8 miles and didn't board a bus until half 2.

I was lucky but I've a feeling my enjoyment had more to do with how it was planned by me and my friends. We travelled up from Cork on Friday evening and stayed in Dublin overnight. We got a train to Drogheda from Connolly at 10 saturday morning and had organised for an 8 seater to collect us and carry us to Slane. We had previously bought bus tickets for the trip back to Dublin. Where we were dropped we walked to the venue and queued at around quater to 12 that way at the North gate. We got passes for the pit and everything. That was a great start to the day. We sat around drinking in the sun until the start of middle of Kasabian and then made our way down to the pit for the rest of the concert.

I listened to Joe Duffy today and the compaints people were making. The main things I noticed were:

1. The majority of complaints were about Dublin Bus and transportation in general and how it was handled.
2. A huge chunk of the complaints about crushing and queuing and general disorder due to frustration were about the entrance from the Dublin gate.
3. Alot of people complained about the state of people who were off their faces, pi$$ing on the grounds and fighting.
4. A large portion of people complained about the police presense and the effectiveness of security.

As regards the first point, I was at The Rolling Stones in Slane 2 years ago and there was very little hassle getting a bus back to Dublin. Whether it was that extra crowds meant the buses were overwhelmed or the new laws oulined by AlexSmart meant they were light on drivers I don't know! But some sort of provision must be made for future concerts. Maybe Dublin Bus should be outsource a portion of their contract to private companies to ensure a better service and more buses.

As regards the second point, as I said earlier I went down to the pit about half way through Kasabian, at that stage there was probably less than 40,000 people in the venue. People complaining today said that they missed half of the Prodigy because the were stuck queuing at the Dublin entrance for an hour and a half! My question is why were they arriving at the venue at that time? Since the tickets were 80euros, you'd think in these times they'd get value for their money and make a day out of it? There was abviously a massive surgence to the venue at around 5 or 6 o clock. Was it a case of Dublin at Croke Park Syndrome? The attitude that the venue is so close that "we'll cruise on up there later." I feel next year there should be a big point made of urging people to get their earlier in the day. That will avoid a late surge to the gates when the headliners are coming on.

On the third point, nothing can be done about this. It's the culture! Nothing MCD, Henry Mount Charles or anyone else can do about it. Also if you have 80,000(+) in one place the number of idiots is going to be huge!

On the fourth point, this really needs to be sorted out. Whether it's the quantity of security, gardai etc or the strategy employed at the concert I don't know but something has to be done.

BrianD

Bill Finnerty wrote: »

MCD now accepting that major problems at Slane but STILL denying that there were 100,000 plus in the filed. Everybody knows that the field was totally overcrowded. I have been at 16 concerts in Slane, including all the sell out gigs and this was the worst in terms of crowd numbers.

MCD must now come clean and state how many extra tickets above the 80,000 were actually sold.

It was the most dangerous situation I have ever seen and thankfully there were not dozens of fatalities. There is evidence available to properly count the attendance and this must now be eaxmined. CCTV was recording the crowd at each entry point and if this is properly examined by an independent team them we will have a proper estimate of the numbers there.

Meath County Council or some other relevant authority must now investigate what occurred and who let it happen. We cannot wait until a tragedy occurs before soemthing is done.

All persons annoyed with the situation on Saturday should email MCD at contacts@mcd.ie. MCD have a habit of stating that only XX amount of people complained out of 80,000. Everybody with concerns must email them so that the numbers of complaints can properly reflect the real feelings out there.

I don't think I have ever come accross such pompous idiotic rubbish in my entire life.

Do you really think that a promoter is going to risk lives, legal damages and their reputation by putting an extra 20,000 people into the site as you suggest. That's the capacity of a Marlay Park or an additional 25% of the 80,000 stated capacity.

Let's take this a step further. Someone would have to print and distribute through Ticketmaster outlets all these extra tickets that you claim. That's 20,000 additional transactions.

Slane castle is a busy field with one expects it to be pretty damn packed and uncomfortable especially when the likes of Oasis are playing.

The handful of posters on this board who are whinging alongside the handful of people who ring liveline are hardly representative of the 80,000 people who came to a field in Meath, enjoyed some music and left. Perhaps you guys might be better off buying the live DVD when it comes out for Christmas instead of going to the gigs.

Sure there would have been delays, queues and long walks. What does one expect when you look at the site and location. Most of the complaints seem to be about the transport. The bus situation has always been a big drawback at the location - they have to line up on the N2 south of the village and it is a walk and everybody is heading there at the same time.

You know, if there was 10 people at the gig there would probably be as many posts and complaints on this forum and liveline.

BubbleWrap85

Just listening to Liveline now. That wally talking about the drugs - it is impossible to completely check for all drugs - one girl had it in her wallet.

To be fair, were things really that bad? I mean, I was there at the concert, at the back for the whole concert - left after the very last song, watching the fireworks.Okay so I walked a good bit for a bus, but I didn't expect to get picked up straight outside! A crowd of 80,000+ all trying to leave at the same time? Was it really that bad???

0141607

RastaRed wrote: »

+1
there was definately more than 80000 there, thats for sure

i was there.. i left early before oasis even came on.. there were at least 100,000 there for definate. what a washout

Wile E. Coyote

DenzelWishbone wrote: »

MCD said this “It is a credit to Dublin Bus that they were able to facilitate the increased numbers, rather than having thousands of fans left stranded”.

If you had posted the full comment on that I think you'll find that the the fans they were talking about were the 17,000 that turned up at Parnell Sq that day who hadn't bothered booking their tickets before hand.

It works both ways. You let them know that your going and they can have it properly organised. You can't seriously expect them to accomodate an extra 17,000 with no hassle.

kpbdublin

One of the saddest features of this fiasco is that a good portion of Ireland's youth would spend 90 minutes queuing for a beer, rather than seeing a band which they like.
If you pay 80 quid for a ticket, surely you would give your band priority.
These people cannot enjoy themselves without drink. The same is not true of Spaniards, Italians etc. Just go to Killiney beach and you will see them having fun without having to get into a decrepit alcoholic stupor.

NickNolte

BrianD wrote: »

Do you really think that a promoter is going to risk lives, legal damages and their reputation by putting an extra 20,000 people into the site as you suggest. That's the capacity of a Marlay Park or an additional 25% of the 80,000 stated capacity.

The bottom line is that they stopped checking tickets and it became a free-for-all. It's the organisers duty to scan tickets to prevent going illegal over-occupancy and they failed to do that.

BrianD wrote: »

Let's take this a step further. Someone would have to print and distribute through Ticketmaster outlets all these extra tickets that you claim. That's 20,000 additional transactions.

1. Henry Mountcharles said on Liveline that the concert was a sold out last October. Why were there tickets available all last week on Ticketmaster?
2. How many people tried (and succeeded) to sneak in without tickets? They stopped scanning them so I guess we'll never know.

BrianD wrote: »

Slane castle is a busy field with one expects it to be pretty damn packed and uncomfortable especially when the likes of Oasis are playing.

The facilities and services were a nightmare but I think most people are perfectly happy to accept that it was going to be packed. No big deal.

BrianD wrote: »

The handful of posters on this board who are whinging alongside the handful of people who ring liveline are hardly representative of the 80,000 people who came to a field in Meath, enjoyed some music and left. Perhaps you guys might be better off buying the live DVD when it comes out for Christmas instead of going to the gigs.

Handful of people? 1,000 replies to this thread would suggest differently.

BrianD wrote: »

Sure there would have been delays, queues and long walks. What does one expect when you look at the site and location.

Competent organisation and, of paramount importance, safety for the people attending the event.

BrianD wrote: »

Most of the complaints seem to be about the transport. The bus situation has always been a big drawback at the location - they have to line up on the N2 south of the village and it is a walk and everybody is heading there at the same time.

The bus situation, the fiasco at the Dublin entrance and the excessive queues for drinks/facilities seemed to be the biggest legitimate complaints. It all pointed to a complete and dangerous failure of organisation.

BrianD wrote: »

You know, if there was 10 people at the gig there would probably be as many posts and complaints on this forum and liveline.

Right... so you're ignoring that fact that loads of people are complaining by claiming the opposite. That's some seriously intelligent debating. Were you even there?

siteman

I went to Slane gig on sat, this my third time there. It seems to me that all the trouble with buses, queues into gig all arose at the Dublin entrance. I came from the Drogheda entrance and there was no problem at all in fact my wife and I commented how quiet the walk down was and this was at 5pm. We stayed there drinking on the street had great craic. We did look over to the bridge and comment that it looked extremely packd. I only went to see Oasis so didnt enter venue until 8.20 at this time I would say anyone could have got in because we were not stopped whatsoever and we werent searched either. Literally walked straight in. We ended up at the very back next to chipper and I would say that there was 90,000-95,000 there. Queued up for pints for 1 hr, while in queue people were allowed to blatantly skip and jump barriers to top of queue, security did nothing. People ahead on me allowed to get 3 and 4 pints but when I got was only allowed two. Just as well really I spilt most of them walking back.

I thought Oasis were great but had major issue with the big screens they were out of sync with the sound!

I remember my bro telling me that when he went to G'n'R in 92 that he came in from Dublin side and it was the same as sat. So obviously nothing has changed in last 17 years at that entrance when such a large crowd arrives.

But I would recommend people coming from Dublin in future should either get train or bus from Dublin to Drogheda and go in that entrance.

Mental Mickey

It seems to me that a sizeable MINORITY of the people who attended Saturday's gig, where more interested in getting s**tfaced rather than being interested in the music. To be fair to MCD etc, I don't think they were prepared for the amount of utter scumbags that were in attendance. Also, a point was raised many times during the Henry Mountcharles interview, in relation to the crowd size, and the marshalling of the event. IMO, a limit of 40,000 should be put on events like this. As for the marshalls, I have been at plenty of events, and they basically don't seem to give a s**t about their jobs, they are just there for the money at the end of the day. I went to Neil Young last night, and my ticket wasn't even checked at that event!!!!!????? The standard of marshalling at these kind of events needs to be improved greatly. If that means people being searched/frisked, then so be it. I'd be willing to go through that in order to make the experience enjoyable for myself and my fellow concert goers.

suzieb

Does the fact that this thread alone has received 79,969 hits not prove something seriously went wrong?

Len_007

siteman wrote: »

I thought Oasis were great but had major issue with the big screens they were out of sync with the sound!

Lag was probably due to the time it took for sound to travel up the hill, but I could be wrong, i guess someone will point that out to me if i am.

I got in around 2.30, and left after the first song of the encore, so missed all of the bottle neck. Was good, but not a patch on U2 '01...

NickNolte

MCD really are an incredible shower. They're out spinning again.

MCD spokesman Justin Green added: “We would maintain that there were 80,000 people in the venue.

I'd love to know how he knows that. It's a completely baseless claim. The staff stopped checking tickets and just started letting everybody in. Talk about insulting people's intelligence. If he had even said something like 'we closely examined CCTV footage of the entrance gates' or similar, at least that would be something. He's just making claims that he can't prove.

Regardless, even if 80,000 people were there, the whole thing was grossly mismanaged. Anybody who was caught up in the Dublin entrance fiasco (myself included) don't really care how many people attended the event. It was a death trap.

Safety is paramount

Well... you really dropped the ball on that one, Justin. But I suppose you can sit there smug in the knowledge that at least nobody died on your watch. :rolleyes:

Gardaí, Dublin Bus, MCD, Slane owner Lord Henry Mountcharles and officials in Meath will review the weekend concert over the coming weeks.

I'm really looking forward to 1) seeing if this happens at all and 2) finding out what conclusions and sound bites are released to the public afterwards. Anything less than an admission of utter incompetence and a full apology will be meaningless.

Slutmonkey57b

There seem to be a some very long winded posts from people with a low post count who had a seemingly great experience inside the event and have not a bad word to say about those parts of the gig that MCD are directly responsible for. I wonder why that is.

dclifford

The problem with the Dublin entrance as I saw it was the fact that the ticket checking point was narrow than the laneway and the rate of the people through the ticket checks was slower than the rate of the people entering the laneway. That is why they stopped checking the tickets and just let people through.

I think the reason why they didn't use the main roadway through Slane as the entrance was due to the state the place would have been left in. The area between the bus drop off and the Bridge entrance was left in a pretty bad way.

There was an enormous amount of buses, but nobody knew what the process was for boarding them. Once people started walking on the road the buses were trying to use it was going to cause delays.

NIBBS

Wile E. Coyote wrote: »

If you had posted the full comment on that I think you'll find that the the fans they were talking about were the 17,000 that turned up at Parnell Sq that day who hadn't bothered booking their tickets before hand.

It works both ways. You let them know that your going and they can have it properly organised. You can't seriously expect them to accomodate an extra 17,000 with no hassle.

Ok I'll say it one more time - Dublin Bus were responsible for running a bus service for a concert with an 80,000 capacity - correct ?

Now I know that it wouldn't be financially viable for them to have buses to bring 80,000 people back to Dublin at the end of the concert - and obviously there are a percentage of people driving, people using different bus services etc and people living locally or staying over, but there is no excuse for Dublin Bus not provisioning for a large number of people purchasing bus tickets on the day - its just normal, and they knew early in the day exactly how many people had bought tickets (or they certainly should know) so yes I'd expect them to be able to accommodate 17,000 people who purchase the tickets there and then, any other gig I've gotten a bus to people have purchased tickets as they were traveling (I always prefer to have tickets in advance)..........this wasn't the first large capacity concert they've serviced, so why or how would they be surprised by the demand for transport ?

dclifford

Anyone else notice that when there was nobody on stage, the 2 screens on either side of the stage would change to say Oasis - Slane - Dublin 2009, or something to that effect.

mspacman

Ok. I'm actually sick to the teeth of hearing people moaning about this gig. Can I just say firstly, Oasis played an absolute blinder of a gig. They got the setlist down to a tee. They were in top form and the gig was epic...even "biblical" as Noel would say!!!!!!!

Secondly, when you buy a ticket to Slane, you sign up to a long LONG walk into the grounds! The buses can't park right outside the gates, obviously, you're gonna have to walk a fair distance to get to/from the buses! Get over it and please don't go to Slane again, there's nothing worse than a bunch of moaning joe's after a gig like this!!!

Thirdly, those moaning about the amount of drunk people/drug taking going on...it's a gig, what do you expect!!! Seriously, I wonder what planet some people live on sometimes. So what, if people chose to get out of their minds on drink or drugs, as long as it doesn't harm/ruin your day, get on with it.

I reallly wish that this gig (a gig that will undoubtedly go down in history!) hadn't been over-shadowed by this typical moan-groan Irish way...you're never happy unless moaning! (And I'm Irish btw) Were you lot expecting to be teleported out of Slane or wha??? Next time, join the "gimps" (Liam's words!) in the VIP area and get your little helicopter in and out, then you won't have to walk with us plebs back to the buses.

Can I just say THANK YOU NOEL/LIAM for the gig of the year....absolutely sublime.

Oh and please God to all those moaning....PLEASE don't come to Oxegen/EP...cos those of us who actually want to enjoy the gigs and the music don't want to be subjected to your mithering on!!! Next time Oasis come to town, don't bother coming either, wait for the DVD to come out, then you can watch the gig from the comforts of your own cosy sitting room!!!

Lissavalley

First time I was at Slane since the red hot chilli peppers a number of years ago.

The queue in from the Dublin side was indeed bad. I seen 2 fights and a barrier being thrown on top of a stewart. Part of the problem was that 90% of people only wanted to see the final 3 bands so timed their entrance to see Kasabian, as we did. Maybe in future if they put some bigger acts earlier in future concerts. People who are complaining about drug use there obviously have never been at a concert before. The two go hand in hand.

The queue for the bars was catastrophic. Was 40 minutes queuing only to be told I could only have 2 pints. Unperturbed, I asked a fellow punter standing behind me to hold my two pints so I could order again from a different lady which he gladly obliged.

Few scumbags at it but they were still in the minority. Left after the last song. Kept walking til I found a bus. Hopped up the top and conked out.

Edit Didn't get searched/ticket scanned or anything. I don't think there was 100k there but nor was there "only" 80k. 90k would be my estimate

Woke up when we arrived at O Connell street circa 4 am. Not soo bad a day really but some tweaking needs to be made alright.

real_red

was at the gig and had no problem...i went up on friday evening though and camped in a supervised field behind a bed and breakfast..cost 20euro for the 2nites and even got alovely breakfast roll thrown in on sat mornin

got to the gig early (approx 2pm)..had my ticket checked by the garda at the alcohol checkpoint and at the top of the lane..passed on the pit passes because a I've found from experience sound is never good up the front...watched all bands - kasabian, prodigy and oasis were unreal imho...even managed to get 2 pints and some food in between prodigy and oasis (and no i didn skip a que) so i find the hour queing stories abit exaggerated..stayed for the encore and sang along to married with children while watching the fireworks which i thought wer a nice touch..walked back to my camp site and the dublin bus situation did look mental so was glad with my choice to camp..

all in all i tot the gig was immense..delays are to be expected..i was at bon jovi in punchestown last summer and it took 4 hours to get home from there ( a venue much easier to organise than slane)

Puma89

Had a brilliant time at Slane this year! Sounds like most of the trouble at the end of the concert was at the Dublin exit. We left through the Drogheda exit at he end of the fireworks display and got a private bus, took us about 30 mins to walk to it . Were back in Galway by half 5 which was pretty reasonable. Have been hearing stories of people not getn back to Dublin untill half 6 which is crazy!

Got into the gig at about 4 o clock for the start of Kasabian, no delays at all really. Even managed to get a beer before we headed down the hill. Had a look at the Q before the start of the prodigy and it was ridicilous! Still ive no sympathy for the people who missed some bands cause they were Q'ng for beer! Did ya need one that badly, it was obvious that you would be Q'ng for at least an hour before the Prodigy.

siteman

dclifford wrote: »

Anyone else notice that when there was nobody on stage, the 2 screens on either side of the stage would change to say Oasis - Slane - Dublin 2009, or something to that effect.

Yea I did, wouldn't have had the problems if it have been in Dublin.

stefar

i've just scanned the threads and yeah, defo was a joke altogether, a bloody disgrace on the side of Dublin Bus - no one seems to have commented on the abuse the Dublin Bus drivers received from 100's of very angry & tired concert goers....the drivers seemed to be in some instances fearing mass attack...the crowds had plenty of reason to be distressed after walking up to 12k...Dublin Bus took the €20 and abandoned a huge amount of people down there...there was no signs directing people, no stewards, no security for drivers and they still had the cheek to sell one way tickets back to Dublin at the entrance to the concert...

anyway, I've on to Dublin Bus today demanding a refund, telling them they deserve to never be able to provide such services again and that they ought to refund and make a public apology for the disgraceful way in which they abandoned their customers, and the way in which their drivers had no one to help them manage the angry crowds demanding to get on the bus...
why don't people call them on 01 873 4222: i've been promised a return call from a manager to listen in detail to my complaint and request for refunds for me and 5 others that i went with.....Dublin Bus shouldn't get away with saying that there was 'traffic management issues' only...

Bluetonic

NickNolte wrote: »

Henry Mountcharles said on Liveline that the concert was a sold out last October. Why were there tickets available all last week on Ticketmaster?

A number of tickets are always held back for various people (band connections, staff, sponsors, locals etc.., ) connected to a concert. When these tickets are not taken up by these people they go on general sale.

In the majority of cases these tickets for large capacity sold out gigs will go back on sale the week before the concert, the added benefit of this is that it helps combat touting.

This has been happening for donkeys years.

mspacman

bigpoppa wrote: »

Tool moi? Mais Non!

I was actually at the gig and didn't have to queue for 90 mins for a beer? Do I detect some classic boards exaggeration perhaps ? I had several pints of Heineken and some nice food to boot It did take a while to get home but I was happy out after the gig. I think it took a good while cos there was like 80,000 people all trying to get home at the same time from what is essentially a remote country castle

A guy did spill some beer on my arm though at one point so I am going to burn my ACDC tickets now and hide in my house until Joe Duffy is on tomorrow and then I am going to call him. Twice. And let me tell you why, there were people at this gig. Lots of them. And some were drinking. I also saw someone with a pink cowboy hat and it made me cry.

Basically I am an Irish crybaby who lives in the lap of luxury and I expect gigs to be snuggly and safe like my bed at home. And as for Oxegen I am going down to it but they better have everything laid on perfect for me cos I am in effect a little prince who needs looking after.

This whole attitude about Ireland not being able to run gigs properly is wrong, it seems many people are just moaners

You are SPOT-ON BigPoppa!!!!!! The Irish are never happy unless they're moaning about something!!!! Did they all expect to be f*ckin teleported out of Slane or what?? They want that sort of service, they should go to the VIP area with all the "gimps" (Liam's words - not mine!!) next time!!!

F*cking EPIC gig....and less of the moaning, pull your heads in you moany shower of beeeeeeeeeps!!!!

Helix

NickNolte wrote: »

MCD really are an incredible shower. They're out spinning again.



I'd love to know how he knows that. It's a completely baseless claim. The staff stopped checking tickets and just started letting everybody in. Talk about insulting people's intelligence. If he had even said something like 'we closely examined CCTV footage of the entrance gates' or similar, at least that would be something. He's just making claims that he can't prove.

if security did their job he could prove it extremely easily

80000 tickets sold, which means if there were 80000 people there then there were 80000 tickets scanned onto their system on the day

the ticket scanning infrastructure is all connected because otherwise one ticket would be usable multiple times on different scanners, which isnt the case. the fact that mcd arent willing to pull up the scanning data means that they know well nowhere near 80000 tickets were scanned due to the massive ineptitude of the security working at the event

Helix

mspacman wrote: »

The Irish are never happy unless they're moaning about something!!!! Did they all expect to be f*ckin teleported out of Slane or what??

never been to a gig outside of ireland i take it?

the only reason anyone could make excuses for some of the nonsense us paddies have to put up with on our home turf is ignorance of the world that exists outside ireland

mspacman

Helix wrote: »

never been to a gig outside of ireland i take it?

the only reason anyone could make excuses for some of the nonsense us paddies have to put up with on our home turf is ignorance of the world that exists outside ireland

Er...WRONG! I went to see Oasis two weeks ago at Heaton Park, and been to gigs in other parts of the world as well.

There are countless gigs I can think of in recent years [in Ireland] where people have been mithering on and on, crying to Joe Duffy...blah blah f*ckin blah!!! (Oxegen the last couple years, the whole Barbara Streisand saga......)

It took us over three hours to get out of Heaton Park two weeks ago after the gig and noone was giving off about it. People were happy and felt priviliged at seeing one of the best bands in the world on top form!!!

mulveyd

I think the organisers showed blatant disregard for their customers' comfort & convenience and only little more than that for their health & safety. I am sure that they will have safety plans etc all lined up with I’s dotted and T’s crossed but from the customer's point of view, it seems that they acted within the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law in this regard.

I travelled from Drogheda with Bus Eireann and so I didn't experience the same transport problems reported by those travelling from Dublin (although I have experienced poor transport with Dublin Bus from Marlay Park last year, but that's another day's discussion).

I arrived in Slane just before 4:30pm, our bus dropped us just on the southern side of the bridge so we didn't have a terribly long walk to the castle. We headed straight towards the venue and it was 6:50pm when we got through the turnstiles. (At this stage we had missed Kasabian - in fact, we heard them from the queue and I might as well have played them on my iPod!)

For long periods of time the queue did not move. There was mild crushing, people were pushing forward and pulling down the fences along the path and at times it felt like fights were going to break out as people were getting very frustrated.
There were also long periods when no members of event staff were visible and I recall saying to my friends that if someone collapsed or needed any help then I didn't know how we would get assistance. I feared there would be loss of life either from crushing or violence.
I was also concerned to see people in wheelchairs being pushed through by stewards - surely there was a better option for access for wheelchair users?
The presence of staff along the access route making announcements of how much longer until we reached the site entrance would have calmed people down.
Lack of information at an event is one of the most basic reasons why people will have a bad experience.

And so we reached the site.... and found 5/6 people scanning tickets in a bottle neck location and then we understood why it had taken almost 2.5 hours to get there! This was really frustrating as tickets had previously been checked on a wide part of the road on the southern side of the bridge - could scanning not have taken place there? Or even at the arch at the entrance to the castle grounds, then the queue would have moved freely up towards the concert site.

Now for the bar - we entered the bar area and joined a queue which was several metres further back from where the queueing lanes ended. By the time we actually reached the barriers, the 2 drink rule had been abandoned (which I think was a good idea, just to get people out of the bar area). People who had bought drinks were returning back down through the crowd with their drinks instead of being directed out to one side. Just as we reached the top of the queue (after 45 minutes), the stewards intervened and started a one-way system. It was the right thing to do, but too little too late. I think a snaking queue with one entrance & exit point, and 1 steward directing customers to the next available bartender would have been much more effective, freeing up stewards for other tasks. I think they should provide lids and cup carriers to avoid spillages (have you ever been to a gig at the Odyssey in Belfast - check that out as a perfect example of how to run a bar at a large event).

I also think the bar/toilet are was too close to the entrance - a bottle neck was allowed to build up by having them so close together as people headed straight into the bar area. The location of the exit from the bar area meant people leaving the bar had to merge back in with the crowd coming in through the turnstiles.

So finally we got some drinks and then discovered the bar had closed – and then it reopened and the price of a pint of Heineken had magically dropped to €5. I assume this was due to the lack of availability of change and to speed the serving process up. Good idea… but surely this common sense could have been applied from the outset? Setting the price at €6 was pure greed – I doubt they were selling it at a loss at €5, never mind €6! I also heard anecdotal evidence that people were being short-changed by bar staff. I didn’t have first hand experience of this myself but a lady I spoke to was short-changed on her first drinks purchase, and she said she felt sorry for anyone going up who had a few drinks taken already and wouldn’t even notice if they were short-changed. At one stage while queueing I also noticed a member of the bar staff drinking Heineken while working.

So around 7:45pm we finally made it onto the hill and I think we caught the last 2 numbers by Prodigy.

Oasis came on, they are an amazing band but the sound was absolutely terrible and didn’t do them justice. Another set of speakers further back may have helped (but I may stand corrected on that by someone with superior knowledge of sound engineering.)

As we stayed near the back, our exit was reasonably swift. It was rather annoying to be approached by a large number of traders selling bottled water, and I think they caused obstruction on the exit routes more than anything.

I am a regular at large music and sports events so it was not the case that I was intimidated by the crowd or had unrealistic expectations about the length of time to move people around the venue. Some simple measures that would not have cost an awful lot could have made it a far more pleasant experience for everybody.

I work hard for my money and for €80 I expect an awful lot better than was served up last Saturday at Slane. Simply put, it was shoddy, dangerous and greed-driven event management. “Rip Off Ireland” is alive & well.