Fleetwood Mac - RDS

Fitz*

First time seeing Fleetwood Mac and loved them. Was a surprising younger than I thought crowd. I was standing and about 2/3rds of the way back and thought the sound was very good to be honest. Maybe the vocals a bit low but could hear everything ok and no problems from me. Really glad I got to see them as I think they are one of 'those' acts you just have to see live.

The section of Mick on the drums - amazing. Clearly designed to give the girls a break but we'll worth it. And he loved it too!

As for the venue - very bad planning of bars and queues and entrances to the pitch. The whole having to show your ticket again going into the pitch, after already showing it at the entrance only caused more trouble. The beer hawkers on the pitch has no idea of what was going on. At one stage I placed an order and started to open my own bottles, and others that had paid cos she was so overwhelmed with any order that was larger than one bottle of rockshore! Don't get me started on the groups of 3 people ordering one drink each and paying for one drink each with card each time. Just creates longer queues and hassle!

Ireland needs a cashless/cardless system for food & drink like the continent do for gigs/festivals.

maximoose

FitzShane wrote: »

Ireland needs a cashless/cardless system for food & drink like the continent do for gigs/festivals.

Malahide had contactless at all the bars/food trucks this year, slowly catching up

Ferris_Bueller

Unfortunately I didn't enjoy the gig that much, it wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be but as I said last night it was mainly due to the venue more than anything else. It was my first time at a gig in a stadium so maybe I just wasn't expecting it, but I felt the organisation was terrible. Going to the toilet initially was where the night began to unravel for me, trecked through the crowd over to the entrance I came in and was about to go out to the toilets and the steward says to me "if you go out here you won't be allowed come back in, you will have to use the toilets on the far side", then I walked around to the far back corner and the queues were pandemonium. Mens moved quickly enough but my girlfriend was probably queuing for 25 mins, missed a good few songs during this time and I was pretty raging.

Then going back in to try and find our friends just wasn't happening, crowd too congested and didn't fancy squeezing through thousands of people, we decided to take up a space closer to the back then and I started to enjoy the gig a bit more. About 9.20 we decided to go and get a drink, again queuing for 20+ mins, overall missed probably 45 mins of the gig because of queuing. I get that it happens with large crowds but compared to The Cure on Saturday it was chalk and cheese, never took more than 5 minutes to go to the toilet or get a drink. Anyone know the capacity of the RDS compared to Malahide?


Fleetwood Mac themselves were good, strong setlist, energetic and the sound was good enough. Wasn't particularly mad on Free Falling or Don't Dream It's Over and probably would have preferred them playing two more of their own songs. They finished so early as well, 10.10 when they finished up? I was fully sure they were going to play another couple of songs afterwards.

Disappointing personally but ah well, these things happen I guess , I'm still glad I went. I definitely won't be rushing back to any other concerts in the RDS however.

Fitz*

maximoose wrote: »

Malahide had contactless at all the bars/food trucks this year, slowly catching up

While contactless is defo handier, I mean like a system where you can prepurchase tickets and then use the tickets in the venue and there is no change needed, the time between getting the card machine etc. Reduces queue time massively. 1 ticket = beer, 2 tickets = spirits or a burger etc.

delbertgrady

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

Anyone know the capacity of the RDS compared to Malahide?.

The RDS is 35,000 and Malahide is 21,000. In my opinion, Malahide works really well because it's an open space and all the facilities are located on the sides and to the rear, so there are never any major bottlenecks created, as often happens in the RDS.

Due to the layout of the venue, there are a few pinch points in the RDS that lead to delays. They try to combat this by having one way systems, but when you've so many people, congestion is inevitable.

Ferris, don't ever go to any big concerts if you think the rds was bad!

Naked Lepper

FitzShane wrote: »

While contactless is defo handier, I mean like a system where you can prepurchase tickets and then use the tickets in the venue and there is no change needed, the time between getting the card machine etc. Reduces queue time massively. 1 ticket = beer, 2 tickets = spirits or a burger etc.

i hate those token systems

the likes of the big grill festival use them and you end up with loads left over and cannot get your money back

its basically a way for the event organisers to milk more cash out of people

contactless payments only is the way forward

Mrs Shuttleworth

bubblypop wrote: »

Ferris, don't ever go to any big concerts if you think the rds was bad!

In fairness to Ferris, the RDS is a b*tch of a venue unless you're seated or in Gold Circle.

The longstanding sound issues in there seem to have been addressed though.

PaulieC

Mrs Shuttleworth wrote: »

In fairness to Ferris, the RDS is a b*tch of a venue unless you're seated or in Gold Circle.

The longstanding sound issues in there seem to have been addressed though.

Venue was no better or worse tan any other IMO. Those complaints sounded a bit snowflakey to me :P

endainoz

Mrs Shuttleworth wrote:

In fairness to Ferris, the RDS is a b*tch of a venue unless you're seated or in Gold Circle.

Mrs Shuttleworth wrote:

The longstanding sound issues in there seem to have been addressed though.

Yeah I don't remember it being that bad for Metallica way back but as stadiums go, RDS is obviously quite old and not really fit for purpose, gigs in the Aviva or Croke park are much easier to navigate and to empty/fill due to multiple exits/entrances. I found it very congested as said before, wonder is it even possible that the standing tickets were oversold?

As another poster said the que at 8pm to get on the pitch was shocking. Shame I missed the chain cos of it as we went out for a bathroom break at 7.45 thinking we'd have plenty of time to get back, needless to say we didn't and got back in right at the end of it. They had been checking tickets individually but the crowd got so big they had stopped and let everyone in. So in theory if you had a seated ticket you could have made the pitch and wouldn't have been turned away. I wonder if people actually did this and that was the reason for the congestion?

Stadium gigs are grand, sound was fine for me but maybe Dublin should use other more modern venues. But for me if I did have a choice, give me a wide open field over a stadium any day!

Ferris_Bueller

PaulieC wrote: »

Venue was no better or worse tan any other IMO. Those complaints sounded a bit snowflakey to me :P

:pac: fair enough maybe they are. As I said first time at a gig in a stadium, but have never had issues like that at any festivals, any smaller concerts or in Malahide/Kilmainham!

PaulieC

endainoz wrote: »

Yeah I don't remember it being that bad for Metallica way back but as stadiums go, RDS is obviously quite old and not really fit for purpose, gigs in the Aviva or Croke park are much easier to navigate and to empty/fill due to multiple exits/entrances. I found it very congested as said before, wonder is it even possible that the standing tickets were oversold?

As another poster said the que at 8pm to get on the pitch was shocking. Shame I missed the chain cos of it as we went out for a bathroom break at 7.45 thinking we'd have plenty of time to get back, needless to say we didn't and got back in right at the end of it. They had been checking tickets individually but the crowd got so big they had stopped and let everyone in. So in theory if you had a seated ticket you could have made the pitch and wouldn't have been turned away. I wonder if people actually did this and that was the reason for the congestion?

Stadium gigs are grand, sound was fine for me but maybe Dublin should use other more modern venues. But for me if I did have a choice, give me a wide open field over a stadium any day!

I was waiting for the Mrs. and missed the Chain also due to the surge at 8PM. I presume that happened because the Stage time changed pretty late so lots of folks didn't know about it ? Also, the pitch should have been filed primarily from Anglesey Road rather than letting people in to the pitch via Merrion Road as that also contributed to the crowd.

I don't the pitch was oversold, there was plenty of space from about halfway back. In short, I don't think the venue is the problem, but the organisation is.

Zardoz

endainoz wrote: »

As another poster said the que at 8pm to get on the pitch was shocking. Shame I missed the chain cos of it as we went out for a bathroom break at 7.45 thinking we'd have plenty of time to get back, needless to say we didn't and got back in right at the end of it.

It was poor form bumping up the stage time from 8.30 to 8pm on a weeknight.
No excuse for it when they only play just over 2 hours and the curfew is 11.

Exclamation Marc

You would hope that concerts in the RDS will improvement once the stadium is eventually redeveloped.

PTH2009

Exclamation Marc wrote: »

You would hope that concerts in the RDS will improvement once the stadium is eventually redeveloped.

When is that starting ???. I thought it was this summer

Exclamation Marc

PTH2009 wrote: »

When is that starting ???. I thought it was this summer

Unfortunately it has been "this summer" for three or four years now.

They're awaiting a response on whether they're able to obtain government funding so I believe it's on hold pending that (since 2018).

Rmgblue

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

Unfortunately I didn't enjoy the gig that much, it wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be but as I said last night it was mainly due to the venue more than anything else. It was my first time at a gig in a stadium so maybe I just wasn't expecting it, but I felt the organisation was terrible. Going to the toilet initially was where the night began to unravel for me, trecked through the crowd over to the entrance I came in and was about to go out to the toilets and the steward says to me "if you go out here you won't be allowed come back in, you will have to use the toilets on the far side", then I walked around to the far back corner and the queues were pandemonium. Mens moved quickly enough but my girlfriend was probably queuing for 25 mins, missed a good few songs during this time and I was pretty raging.

Then going back in to try and find our friends just wasn't happening, crowd too congested and didn't fancy squeezing through thousands of people, we decided to take up a space closer to the back then and I started to enjoy the gig a bit more. About 9.20 we decided to go and get a drink, again queuing for 20+ mins, overall missed probably 45 mins of the gig because of queuing. I get that it happens with large crowds but compared to The Cure on Saturday it was chalk and cheese, never took more than 5 minutes to go to the toilet or get a drink. Anyone know the capacity of the RDS compared to Malahide?


Fleetwood Mac themselves were good, strong setlist, energetic and the sound was good enough. Wasn't particularly mad on Free Falling or Don't Dream It's Over and probably would have preferred them playing two more of their own songs. They finished so early as well, 10.10 when they finished up? I was fully sure they were going to play another couple of songs afterwards.

Disappointing personally but ah well, these things happen I guess , I'm still glad I went. I definitely won't be rushing back to any other concerts in the RDS however.

I feel like I wrote this myself.
Worst venue ever. Have tickets for foo's in August too! Malahide and St Anne's Park far more suited.

Mrs Shuttleworth

Zardoz wrote: »

It was poor form bumping up the stage time from 8.30 to 8pm on a weeknight.
No excuse for it when they only play just over 2 hours and the curfew is 11.

Yeah wonder what the reason was for that. They finished at 10.10.

Bellerstring

https://m.independent.ie/entertainment/music/music-reviews/fleetwood-mac-at-the-rds-review-one-of-the-standout-shows-of-the-year-38218737.html
Baz is waxing eloquently as per usual..

Zardoz

Mrs Shuttleworth wrote: »

Yeah wonder what the reason was for that. They finished at 10.10.

Probably so the band could get a flight out of Dublin after the gig.

flasher0030

Mrs Shuttleworth wrote: »

Yeah wonder what the reason was for that. They finished at 10.10.

That's some shlte. Part of the draw for these type of gigs is the night time element that you generally get for the last hour. A sort of romance to it, created partly by the stage lighting. To finish just after 10 is just wrong. Should be just kicking off in 5th speed at that time.

flasher0030

I'm sure now they can well afford a hotel somewhere in the city - at charging over 100 quid a ticket to get into the show. If it's the band's decision, makes it worse.

Furious-Red

flasher0030 wrote: »

That's some shlte. Part of the draw for these type of gigs is the night time element that you generally get for the last hour. A sort of romance to it, created partly by the stage lighting. To finish just after 10 is just wrong. Should be just kicking off in 5th speed at that time.

It was 4 songs shorter then the last dublin shows

delbertgrady

Furious-Red wrote: »

It was 4 songs shorter then the last Dublin shows

Ah, the Lindsey factor.

Big Love, I'm So Afraid, I Know I'm Not Wrong, Never Going Back Again...

Wrongway1985

Furious-Red wrote: »

It was 4 songs shorter then the last dublin shows

6 if you count that they took 2 songs out and substituted with covers.

Suckit

Bellerstring wrote: »

https://m.independent.ie/entertainment/music/music-reviews/fleetwood-mac-at-the-rds-review-one-of-the-standout-shows-of-the-year-38218737.html
Baz is waxing eloquently as per usual..

I can't listen to him/read his stuff. I'm not even sure what his title is. Is it 'smoke hole blower upper'?

PTH2009

delbertgrady wrote: »

Ah, the Lindsey factor.

Big Love, I'm So Afraid, I Know I'm Not Wrong, Never Going Back Again...

big factor for me missing those songs. Sadly with his health problems the tour may not of even happened if he was still in the band. Best of luck too him

Saw the full band in 2015 so that makes me happy. Very good crowd up there last night tbf going by social media

retro:electro

So no reason to think they won’t tour again? I remember thinking after 2015 that they wouldn’t tour again but it seems time has been good to them. I’d like to think they’ve another one in them.

Tommo3434343

PaulieC wrote: »

Venue was no better or worse tan any other IMO. Those complaints sounded a bit snowflakey to me :P

Hardly snowflakey to make legitimate complaints about piss poor organisation and the fact that the RDS is a very poor venue. Going for a drink and a piss taking the guts of 30 mins is a bit beyond the pale. It took longer for girls as well. All fair enough complaints.

All that aside, great gig. Fleetwood Mac were all on form.

AndrewJRenko

retro:electro wrote: »

So no reason to think they won’t tour again? I remember thinking after 2015 that they wouldn’t tour again but it seems time has been good to them. I’d like to think they’ve another one in them.

Christine is 75. Would you want to be touring at 77 or 78.

I doubt if they'll tour again.