Red Hot Chili Peppers - June 29th 2022

Ole olers were out in force.

I'm asking this one politely. Because old timers with long memories like me remember that criticism on Boards of a certain concert promoter in the past was met with injunctions and all sorts of legal threats. But did anybody have trouble getting home last night?

I was not at the gig, but I have friends who were. Up from the country. Staying in Dublin. No buses or taxis to be had, they said. Were they just looking in the wrong place? And of course, the lack of buses and taxis is not primarily the responsibility of the promoter. Still. One might expect that special arrangements might have been made.

My friends had to walk home. Albeit to the south side.

Anyone else have problems?

Very mixed feelings on that gig - felt kind of, lifeless? Songs were performed very well and setlist was okay, and great drumming from Chad. But Frusciante, and Kiedis in particular, looked very disinterested, with no real effort made to create a buzz with the crowd. Sound was also pretty poor. Frusciante's guitar was almost inaudible on some songs.

Overall I'd not be interested in seeing them again. Real shame as the Slane 2003 gig always looked spectacular.

I walked to Rathfarnham to get a lift so could've been a lot worse, but there was a general sense of hopelessness of everyone walking out of the festival.

The Gardaí and local authorities obviously had a strict traffic management in plan place but it seemed to cater more towards local residents than punters trying to get home. I left out the exit on Grange Road and that entire road was blocked off understandably, and flooded with thousands of people. Walked up past the Eden House pub and went right towards Rathfarnham and that road was also closed off to traffic including public transport. Eventually it reopened around the Circle K but traffic was heavy and congested as this was where a lot of people had arranged lifts and taxis.

Don't think it was the promoters fault although not sure how much say they have in that side of the planning. Marlay Park is an awkward place to get to and not really accessible by many forms of public transport, particularly when the buses are not allowed to run through some of the main routes.

Really good concert though and was impressed with the set up of it, no queues getting in, not many queues for food or bars or toilets and all seemed to move quickly, good sound I thought despite what others said here. I'm only a casual fan of the Chilli's and got a freebie ticket last minute but had a great night overall. Anderson Paak very good too!

From Marlay to Dundrum Town Centre or Balally Luas is no more than a 35 minute walk. More people need to head that way after concerts, instead of just walking in any direction and hoping for the best.

I live in Balally and went to GnR. There's a walk/cycle path from Marlay to Dundrum Centre/Balally Luas station. There was only a handful of people walking on it on Tuesday night. By the time I got to Balally I was the only one. If I was getting the Luas I would have been on it by 11pm.

So say 5000 people head that way, what's going to happen when there's still only one Luas every 15 minutes? Would have been half 11 at the earliest getting there after green day or RHCP, That leaves 4 Luas's for thousands of people.

This was my main issue. I really cannot believe how many great gigs are ruined by poor sound engineers. John's guitar was so low in the mix, it stopped a lot of songs from taking off. When he went for a solo the sound would increase and drop back down immediately after, it was awful! The band were playing a blinder. Especially Anthony he was in amazing form. I think it could have been a really great gig if the front house crew done a better job. Enjoyable all the same! 👍

I had the very same complaint about GnR (see the GnR thread here), Slash's guitar was completely drowned out. When we could hear it the sound was badly muffled and not clear.

It depends where you decided to stand. The more you stand to the side of the stage, the sound gets worse. Its unbelievable how mnay people gathered at the entance where the sound was terrible.

"Ideally as stated above there should have been 50 buses outside ready to take people to Dundrum, City Centre or even the Red Line Luas."

That's what surprised me when I heard. Because one time when I went out, I think to see Paul Weller some years back, there were loads of special buses laid on to take people back into the town centre. They were parked up in the park itself, I seem to remember. Certainly I had no difficulty back then, but that was in the good old days.

Feck it, when I went to see Bob Dylan/Neil Young in feckin' Kilkenny a few years back there were special buses laid on to and from Dublin. No problem getting up and down on the day.

All this takes is organisation.

I'd imagine it's at least partly a lack of personnel issue. A lot of professional drivers understandably got out of driving taxis/buses during the lockdowns.

Ah ok. Yeah was at Lansdowne to and it was pooh alright. As was the Phoenix Park whenever that was. With the Pixies.

Dublin Bus had to delay bus connects routes being opened for the last few months due to driver shortage. Bit deluded in that context To expect Dublin bus to magically have a 100 buses waiting to bring people back into town after the concerts.

Great gig, really enjoyed it, got a free gold circle ticket last minute. Had never seen them before so can't compare with other gigs but the band seemed on solid form and I found the sound surprisingly great.

Venue at times seemed a bit mobbed with people but it calmed down when the band came on and everyone found their spot. Queues for toilets, food and bar were grand, no issues there. Leaving the venue there was a bit of a crush getting out but once on Grange road it was plain sailing to Ballaly luas stop, got on no problem, no major squeeze etc. Had heard about the issues earlier in the week so just used a bit of forward planning (go to Ballaly instead of Dundrum as most will default to that stop) and had no issues. It goes without saying that they really should of had tonnes of dedicated buses heading back to the city and increase the luas schedule for an hour or so but thankfully it was all good in the end