Bruce Springsteen General Discussion Thread

Future concert tip - bring one or two water bottle tops with you. They're tiny, won't be found in a pocket. Then you have back up if they take the lids

I was in croker on sunday with my wife. Bruce was fantastic as usual, last time I seen him was 2016, he hasn't missed a step. The sound wasn't great but thats always the case in croke park.

We were on the Pitch, via the Blue Route. we were lucky to make it into the stadium for around 6:55pm. Our train was delayed, we were supposed to arrive into drumcondra at 6:10pm, but the train got delayed, it was closer to 6:30 when it got to the station. I thought the blue route was pretty slow, but when I heard the horror stories of the red route on the train home I can see how lucky we were.

My wife was shocked at the toilet situation, there were no ladies toilets within the stadium for anyone on the pitch, she had to exit the stadium, and use portaloos at the back of the cusak stand, that weren't segregated.
The cherry on the cake was the hotdog that gave me food poisoning.

Was their mens toilets on the pitch? I might have drank more if I'd known but maybe I am just as well as I'd have been drinking p1ss and making p1ss……

Also I don't buy the excuse that they had to avoid pints being spilt on the pitch, Croke Park I'm sure has an irrigation system which could have been run for a few hours to wash away the beer. It was only one concert. I think the promoters saw an opportunity to fleece the punter into paying €7.50 for a can.

yes, 20 buses would have probably made a big difference.

Thats 1000 people at a time, 5 minutes up and back, thats 6k per hour, would help the elderly and incapacitated.

Instead they closed the park and ride, had no shuttle buses, and for some bizarre reason one of the bridges was closed for road works.

Was more La Grange. Or most John Lee Hooker tunes.

Very similar issues arose at the Leinster rugby match in Croke Park a few weeks back - players ready to play, warmed up, kitted out etc. . The teams were not in the back monitoring the queues, but yet a sensible decision was made delay the start time so that people wouldn't panic and create a crush or stampede.

Looking back on it, it was fortunate that there were no incidents. I was in the queue going in and people were annoyed, but subdued annoyance. It would have just taken a couple groups of drunken people to rock up and go pushing their way in, to cause serious trouble. I was at a gig many years ago where a young girl died at a smashing pumpkins gig. It doesn't take a lot to create panic, and all rationale thinking goes out the window.

I didn't say anything about Bruce being concerned about selling shlte beer.

Well….

https://www.galwaybeo.ie/news/galway-news/garth-brooks-croke-park-queues-7570433

Yes but Aiken did those people a favour in that instance 😁

Closing the park and ride was inexcusable. It's truly a terrible location for a stadium, why didn't Cork GAA build it somewhere else, apparently there were other locations in the works back when redevelopment was muted. Ah well, at least we have the events centre.

All Irelands, no problem. Ever .

Too much convergence all together at the Jones' Road side and a massive backlog visible up at the other end trying to get into the Cusack / pitch when we arrived thinking we had plenty of time as we had seats .

We missed 20 mins of the start of the show queuing outside. Some people were starting to get annoyed and many were piling up on the road with no directions from stewards at all . One garda was shouting directions but nobody could hear him once the music started . Unreal . A bit dangerous with the crowd trying to get through barriers but thankfully people were sensible and didn't push .

The price of booze doesn't bother me but it was pretty steep to be missing out on part of the show because the promoter couldn't sort the scanners / ticket checks/ stewarding , I think .

Loved the gig ...in great form all round on the Hogan stand . And everywhere else .

Only empty seats were those in badly restricted view areas on either side of the stage and Davin behind the wheelchair raised accessibility stand .

Dublin got a good set list I think , Born to Run , Thunder Road , My Hometown and The River along with Rainy Night in Soho, made my night . Loved Because the Night too . And of course Dancing in the Dark ! Loved it all really :) Glory Days would have been the icing on the cake for me .

Could have done without the schmaltzy attention to fans who put their small children right up at the front and others who got up on shoulders right next to the stage to grab and claw at the man . Don't think that is the sort of fan that should be encouraged tbh .

But other than that he didn't put a foot wrong

And Brad watching Bruce from the box above in Premier added to the good vibes !

... a Lovely Night in Croker 🎵

🙈

I'm sorry but that doesn't wash. You mention "agreed queuing measures" - there was NONE. Literally none! There was a few barriers approaching the ticket check - but what about the mile in approach to that check?

I am not a promoter but I knew full well at 5pm there was going to be a huge amount of people queuing to get on to the pitch. So I was there for 5pm, in the hope of getting into the pit.

But somehow the promoters didn't know this and the absolute lack of a crowd control plan and a queuing system left people angry, but in true Irish manner it was under their breath anger so it didn't spill over. All it would have taken was somebody to do something stupid for chaos to ensue.

There should have been a line of barriers the whole length of Clonliffe Road for the Red Zone and stewards manning it the whole way. Then back the other side of the road if the queue gets too long. This seems so basic to me.

I'm less sympathetic to those turning up at 6.55pm expecting to waltz in. It happens at every event, and they had their seat and if they couldn't get their a few minutes early, well tough - but again, as an organiser you have to plan for it. And a promoter should know if the turnstiles open at 5pm for the pitch and then the crowd in the stands would start to file in for 6-6.30 while most of those on the pitch will be in by then. To me, this seems so basic.

But the part I really don't get is how they can't get people through the stiles quicker. More bodies, more scanners, more bodies, more scanners. Those things should take a second to scan and if it doesn't work then the system is not fit for purpose. I do like the mobile passes etc but if they slow down access to the ground it just isn't good enough.

only for recent shows. Garth in 2022 for example had access from ballbough to Forster.

Our prices for big gigs are roughly similar to other European cities. And much cheaper than the US.

Presume there's little point in making a complaint to Aiken?

Aiken taking customer complaint calls