Stone Roses - Reunited! (Dublin Date) - *NO ticket sales/requests - Discussion only*

sydthebeat

The Walk

It was the phoneix park for gods sake. Everyone knows what walk to expect and if you didnt, then you didnt do your homework. After experiencing a few slanes, the walk was fine.
I was back home in Portarlington at 2:05 am.... im certainly not complaining. There was no mad panic at the Luas either, which i was sort of expecting... good idea then not to open the heuston stop.

The Mud
See above, phoneix park.. well advertised that it was going to be muddy. In fairness ive come out of other gigs in a lot worse state. If you got mucked up to the eyeballs its probably because you feel around drunk in it.

Toilets
as a guy, absolutely no problem..... never had to queue. They could have advertised the urinals better however.

Bar
My main gripe. I was at the bar 3 times from 6 onwards. First two times no problem at all.. straight in and out.. however during the wailers it was obvious the numbers queuing were ridiculous.... with no remedial plan. Im not messing when i say it took 45 minutes to queue... 15-20 is just about acceptable but over that is simply stupid and bad planning. When i eventually got inside the barriers everything went smoothly... and the bar staff were never under pressure... makes me wonder what the reason for the single entrance was after all. separate entrances / exits make sense, but not 2 m wide ones!! It was ridiculous when people exiting carrying beers had to try and find a way through the queues to get in.

Sound
Absolutely no issues at all, if anything i was well impressed. I had seen the shambles that was the chillies a few years ago there so i was expecting bad again... but the band were magnificent and the sound was excellent.
Im wondering if people had come expecting to listen to stereo CD standard PA system?

Ians Vocals
Jesus i dont know what some people are complaining about. They obviously havent ever heard any roses songs live before if they though his vocals were bad last night. I was well impressed again... and "dont stop" isnt exactly the easiest to reproduce live so we'll let him away with that one.
Oh and i wasnt drinking so i cant be accused of 'selective hearing'

Security
Visual and active... exactly how id like the security to be.
I did see the bit of a commotion near exit 2 and, while im not sure of the specifics, i do know there was a child of about 10-11 so i think it was a father trying to get him out somehow... but it ended with punches be thrown between about 4 adults and 4 security staff... very unprofessional that they let it get to that stage.
It was ridiculous that they would have a large "exit" sign up anyway and not open it after the gig... youd wonder if the organisers ever actually studied up on "crowd" mentality. if it was an emergency exit it should have been denoted as such. But in general the security did well in getting the very drunk people out of the areas

crowd
i certainly didnt experience the 75% "disinterested muppets" talking the whole time. I can say 100% of the whole crowd around me sang and danced the whole night through.... there was a great communal feel to it.
No one threw beer or piss over me, yes there were a few 'falling over drunk' people *shock horror* but everything was jovial.

all in all im fcuking delighted i got to see the roses in such good form.... great gig!!!

Prettyblack

Paparazzo wrote: »

sure what did you expect? A line of taxis outside the venue?

That's what I got! I was so happy! :-)

markiemark2005

Prettyblack wrote: »

That's what I got! I was so happy! :-)

I managed to get a Dublin bus, the secret is to use the Ashtown exit. A brisk 10 minute walk from the gig to the bus stop. Plenty of taxi's were there at the gate also when I walked past.

lukin

markiemark2005 wrote: »

Prettyblack wrote: »

That's what I got! I was so happy! :-)

I managed to get a Dublin bus, the secret is to use the Ashtown exit. A brisk 10 minute walk from the gig to the bus stop. Plenty of taxi's were there at the gate also when I walked past.

I had to walk all the way into town via Chesterfield Avenue. The stewards directed us out that way after the gig saying there were "shuttle buses and taxis straight ahead" but there wasn't a single one to be seen anywhere.
I don't mind walking,I'd just like to know why they told us such bare-faced lies.
A friend of mine went the opposite direction to Chesterfield Avenue when he came out (turned right,not left) and got on a bus no bother.
It was my first time at a gig in the Phoenix Park,I'll know better than to listen to the stewards the next time.
It didn't spoil my enjoyment of the gig but it was just annoying that's all.

Kiera

Econoline Van wrote: »

jungleland86 wrote: »

Crowd were 75% completely disinterested muppets, I actually had to move right up the front just to hear the band properly, people were just talking ALL THE WAY THROUGH. Getting really sick of Irish "big gig" crowds.

!

+1

Impossible to enjoy the music unless you were near the front. Even then there was a lot of messing, talking, photo-taking. Not against people enjoying themselves, but you'd nearly herd them into some playground somewhere and let them do it there. Some people paid the money to actually hear the Stone Roses.

You sound like one contankerous aul fcuk tbh. I'm glad I wasn't near you or the fun police during the gig.

lee_baby_simms

Kiera wrote: »

You sound like one contankerous aul fcuk tbh. I'm glad I wasn't near you or the fun police during the gig.

Steady on now.

Bringbackrafa

might sound stupid and off topic but where do you buy wellies for men. Everywhere I have gone have a great selection for women but none for men

jack presley

sydthebeat wrote: »

Bar
My main gripe. I was at the bar 3 times from 6 onwards. First two times no problem at all.. straight in and out.. however during the wailers it was obvious the numbers queuing were ridiculous.... with no remedial plan. Im not messing when i say it took 45 minutes to queue..

Ians Vocals

Oh and i wasnt drinking so i cant be accused of 'selective hearing'

You're either a very good friend for queuing up 3 times, once for 45 mins while your mates got beer or you're mad for queuing that long to get a water/Coke

threein99

Bringbackrafa wrote: »

might sound stupid and off topic but where do you buy wellies for men. Everywhere I have gone have a great selection for women but none for men

I usually get them in Dunnes for electric picnic

The Nal

Browns vocals were better last night than they were at Heaton Park on Sunday. Made of Stone on Sunday was a tough listen. He sang it well last night.

Usual MCD mess leaving though. Thanks for coming. Now **** off in whatever direction you want across the park. We have your money. But thats to be expected.

Pastel_Princess

Guys what's the best entrance to go in via if you want to get into the pit fast? And is there much of a distance to get to the concert area once past security?

markiemark2005

Pastel_Princess wrote: »

Guys what's the best entrance to go in via if you want to get into the pit fast? And is there much of a distance to get to the concert area once past security?

Ashtown, from the concert security to the pit ya should be able to make it in about 10 mins.

seachto7

clubcrown wrote: »

a couple behind us spent the whole time chatting each other up and got seriously annoyed at some guy who bumped into them accidentally while dancing. So he mooned them

At one point she asked him if the stone roses were the ones who played "that Loaded song" and he said he thought they would probably do it in the encore

Did Brian and Vogue come home for the gig?

sydthebeat

jack presley wrote: »

You're either a very good friend for queuing up 3 times, once for 45 mins while your mates got beer or you're mad for queuing that long to get a water/Coke

thanks

i was there with the wife and sister in law...

and water / coke was simply to get... just popped over to one of the food vans.

clubcrown

seachto7 wrote: »

Did Brian and Vogue come home for the gig?

Funnily enough they were southside hipster types alright.............I'm still laughing at the lad mooning them, she was so completely horrified, her fella had to convince her not to leave

In general though, I found it to be a really good crowd, at least where I was. Good fun all round.

altrock

How brilliant was that! Everything was great, even Ian's voice! Got right up the front with an unexpected pit wristband and got to shake Ian's hand. Belfast looks so tempting.

Toast

Bringbackrafa wrote: »

might sound stupid and off topic but where do you buy wellies for men. Everywhere I have gone have a great selection for women but none for men

Best selection of sizes I've seen was at Homebase if you've something 11+. Most garden centers or army surplus stores will carry up to 10 at least if not 11.

sink

I thought the crowd was great particularly for the second half. I got a taxi from town to the Halfway House right by the Ashtown entrance and from there it was literally a 5-10 min walk to the gig. I started making my way at 11pm during the last song as I had to catch a train at Connolly, I went back out the Ashtown exit and hopped straight into a taxi and from there is was 15-20 mins to Connolly, I arrived with plenty of time. If you weren't familiar with the area you might not have know about the Ashtown exit as it wasn't very well signposted but all you needed to to was look at a map before you went.

dok_golf

Sound wasn't great. First two songs were a little ropey. Rest of show, feckin amazing. Waited 17 years for this, worth every cent. P.S. The Wailers were excellent.

Macy0161

I thought the band were top notch, and again thought Browns voice held up ok. A few bum notes, but generally ok.

Didn't have a problem getting beer during the wailers. Wasn't really queuing as such, just back and forth through the mud in the barriers. Step up from Heaton Park organisation on that front.

I thought there was quite a high knobhead quota in the crowd, looking for a fight at the drop of a hat in my experience. It did take a bit of the gloss off for me to be honest. Worse experience than Heaton Park, which if you looked at the make up of the crowds going in to both you wouldn't think Dublin would be worse.

I don't have a problem with the walk/ walking. I do have a problem with the route they sent us on when exiting, and the complete lack of lighting on that route. Beggars belief that they can get away with just dumping 40,000 out without any lighting on one of the main exit routes.

The mud - well my jeans and walking boots were destroyed with mud, but my feet stayed dry. We were warned, so not really a complaining about that - worse than I thought they'd get away with though. I do think it's pretty poor for the first day of the run of gigs. They could've/ should've put more stone and/or straw down. It's going to be some state for the next concert, and the final one will be a total mess. Again, you'd wonder how they get away with it from a health and safety point of view. Festival sites get in states over a period of time, that's different from starting in that condition imo.

Finally, was it just me, or was the stage at the top of a slope? Why didn't they have the site the other way around so the slope was down towards the stage?

On reflection I would've stayed on for a second night in Manchester rather than bothering with the Dublin gig. The band were as good, but the overall experience was poor for me. I don't think I'd go back to a gig in the Park.

RGDATA!

Econoline Van wrote: »

+1

Impossible to enjoy the music unless you were near the front. Even then there was a lot of messing, talking, photo-taking. Not against people enjoying themselves, but you'd nearly herd them into some playground somewhere and let them do it there. Some people paid the money to actually hear the Stone Roses.

+1
the muck/long lines/long walk etc, not a problem for me - i was just glad we got a dry evening. Glad so many here seemed to really enjoy it.
However, I wasn't that far back and I thought the sound wasn't near loud enough and the mix a bit dodgy (eg. couldn't hear Mani at all for large chunks of it). Weird crowd also - the entire gig there were people walking around or generally acting oblivious to the band until there was a singalong chorus.
Lesson learned - should have got closer to the stage

JoeyJJ

Savage gig however they're aren't too many bands that will make me go to the Park again for a gig. Just don't think its the most enjoyable venue. My poor legs walking in the wellies for ages Wouldn't have missed it for anything.

clubcrown

RGDATA! wrote: »

+1
the muck/long lines/long walk etc, not a problem for me - i was just glad we got a dry evening. Glad so many here seemed to really enjoy it.
However, I wasn't that far back and I thought the sound wasn't near loud enough and the mix a bit dodgy (eg. couldn't hear Mani at all for large chunks of it). Weird crowd also - the entire gig there were people walking around or generally acting oblivious to the band until there was a singalong chorus.
Lesson learned - should have got closer to the stage

I suppose you'd have to think about the makeup of the crowd - while a lot of the usual heads were there, you also had a ton of people - couples - in their late 30s / early 40s who don't go to gigs any more except for a special occasion such as this.

It tends to happen for big outdoor gigs with older bands, you get people treating it as a big social outing rather than coming for the music, if you see what I mean. Lots of people hugging each other and talking about how they haven't seen each other since school, how are the kids, etc etc.

It was the same for Springsteen in the RDS a few years ago, and Paul Weller last year, its irritating, but to be expected. You just have to find the right people to stand beside

Prettyblack

Not opening the exits was the biggest complaint I had. There were 4 or 5 to the right of the gig, we headed there when Resurrection was over, but they were closed. A large crowd formed around one, the guys in the yellow vests opened them slightly to let someone out, then of course the deluge of people coming forced them to open them, in fact I heard one of them say "oh well, plan b".

Savman

The level of forgiveness for MCD is staggering tbh.

http://www.hotpress.com/news/Barbra-Streisand-s-series-of-unfortunate-events/3893310.html

http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/independent-woman/celebrity-news-gossip/lord-henry-admits-to-serious-problems-with-slane-gig-1784839.html

And let us not forget the great Oxegen debate which led to a banning of all MCD talk on boards. Some people have a very short memory.

But hey, if you want to don the 'Rose' tinted glasses (no pun intended) and continue to encourage substandard service for your money then go ahead. I wish these things didn't taint an otherwise enjoyable gig but they certainly do when you live in the real world. I don't believe the Public Transport companies should get off the hook either, ever since Dublin Bus pulled all midweek Nitelinks to cut costs.

Anyway, it was a good show, the Wailers sounded great and the Stone Roses I can tick off my bucket list at long, long last :cool:

bigpoppa

Why don't you get off your ****ing arse and bring in some international stars then and show us how it is done? You might find it harder than pasting in links to a web forum. there was a time nobody played here

Such moaning, gigs are tough sometimes people will "talk and take photos" and when large amounts of people want beer there will be queues (this also happens in pubs at Xmas time for example) You also dont have to drink, you can have a few pints after and before?

Moan moan moan moan moan moan bored of it, stay at home and watch your ****ing telly if you dont want to be inconvenienced

sydthebeat

bigpoppa wrote: »

Why don't you get off your ****ing arse and bring in some international stars then and show us how it is done? You might find it harder than pasting in links to a web forum. there was a time nobody played here

Such moaning, gigs are tough sometimes people will "talk and take photos" and when large amounts of people want beer there will be queues (this also happens in pubs at Xmas time for example) You also dont have to drink, you can have a few pints after and before?

Moan moan moan moan moan moan bored of it, stay at home and watch your ****ing telly if you dont want to be inconvenienced

bullcrap.

Its not like we're asking to reinvent the wheel here, when you see how things are done right, its simply a case of copying it.

look to the electric picnic on how to run a proper outdoor gig of circa. 30-40 thousand people.

clubcrown

bigpoppa wrote: »

Why don't you get off your ****ing arse and bring in some international stars then and show us how it is done? You might find it harder than pasting in links to a web forum. there was a time nobody played here

Such moaning, gigs are tough sometimes people will "talk and take photos" and when large amounts of people want beer there will be queues (this also happens in pubs at Xmas time for example) You also dont have to drink, you can have a few pints after and before?

Moan moan moan moan moan moan bored of it, stay at home and watch your ****ing telly if you dont want to be inconvenienced

Think you're missing the point - the music was great - the organisation was poor in comparison to how gigs are run elsewhere. I've been at a few gigs of this scale in the US and in various EU countries, and they seem to manage all of these things with ease. Proper exits, proper beer, proper security, proper lighting.

Why can't we run outdoor gigs properly in Ireland? Its not about being inconvenienced, its more that if every other country can do things properly, why can't we?

If you're happy to pay for crap service, you'll always get crap service.

leaveiton

Exiting out of the Ashtown Gate last night was fine, was it? Just asking because from what I've gathered from here it seemed to be okay. Going to the gig on Sunday and was hoping to leave through that way to get on to the Navan Road, did anyone have problems or was it all fairly smooth sailing?

Thundercats Ho

Got in just as justice tonight started. Really enjoyed their set. Mcgowan coming on was entertaining...

Thought the wailers were absolutely amazing. So glad i saw them.

What an opener i wanna be adored was, holy sh1t!!
The only sound issue i found was that Ians mic was a little low. He had a few bum notes but was overall very good. The band were so fvcking tight i couldn't believe it.

After the 1st couple of tunes, the crowd settled down, but the second half was something to behold. everywhere people just dancing and singing, there were some serious good vibes. It had a definate sense of nostalgia to it, it was great.

I thought the set up in general was pretty good. Plenty of choice for food, i wasn't drinking so didnt give a fvuk about the bar queues, no problems gettin to the jaxx (maybe the queues for the girls were worse?) so overall not bad. The walk back was a killer though in fairness.

Even with so many people being wasted (and some were seriously gone, to the point that paramedics had to help out) i didn't see one bit of trouble.

Overall a fvcking amazing day, and much better than i had expected it to be.