(overall) good. Some were VERY good, one was tedious - however, that's
my personal taste. There were good things about the Festival, and some
very bad things. Well folks, this is another complaint about the
Festival - from a professional Event Management (and Security Licence
holder) perspective (hey! It's what I do for a living).
Let me start off by saying that organising a concert with one band and
support is a headache and a half (depending on the band) so 40+ acts
gets my standing applause and kudos. That being said - to take on such a
large enterprise means that you have a lot of marks to hit - and the
chances of missing them increases with each addition. That being said,
there are things which must be addressed next year or else this will
simply turn into another 'shambles' like this year.
Security. Whilst there were some guards who were doing their job, and
handling the irate people in the line at the front, perhaps some of the
ones perving on the girls for half ther day and not doing anything else
could be better served down toward the mosh-pit where half-baked morons
were running about finding things to peg at the artists onstage. I am
sure there are pics of half of these people, and to be honest, when the
missles didn't hit the bands, I wonder how people in the mosh felt when
those full cans hit them in the face? Find these guys and toss them out
- no refund. End of story.
Access. The lines to get in was a joke it took about 20 mins to trek to
the gate and then another 20 mins to get from stage to stage. Kudos to
the Guards who had to cope with the irate people - but the fact that
they had Police staggered around the gates (not the dog-squad police,
the regular ones) showed that there were concerns. However, having
people walking the lines and explaining what the holdup was would have
helped (not to mention having someone to stop people cutting in). Also,
the bottlenecks. I know that Sydney Park is under reconstruction, but
guys, some of these bottlenecks were a joke and indeed an accident
waiting to happen. Kudos for getting the walkway in at about 4pm, but
really - the hours before that were a problem. I assume the stage
placement was due to construction work, but having a map which showed
the fence-lines and obvious sign-posting directions (street-signs if you
will) would have helped.
Water. Enough has been said about this - and to be honest as a licensed
venue you have the responsibility to serve free water. You did that -
later in the day. Also, the reason for water is two-fold, rehydration
and cooling the body down, hence warm water is only half ther battle.
It's not whinging to demand that which the law says you must have.
Food. Too expensive and ran out way too soon. Perhaps the vendors can be
advised to increase by an hour or so the amounts they have to handle the
'dinner' rush. Not to mention the line-up for food/water was also a
joke. Either have more vendor locations and/or larger vendors.
Merch. T-Shirts are all well and good (though I missed out on getting a
Soundwave 2008 one - that's my personal complaint ;)) - but I wonder if
other merchandise can be supplied. CDs, etc...? impulse buying for the
band you just saw is a powerful marketing tool - and one which should be
looked at - that's just an idea not a criticism so much.
Alcohol. If that's what you're there for, that's what you get. Though to
only have beer at the end of the day - for those who don't drink it, is
a little sad. perhaps an increase in amount for next year? Also, what
was it with the no sunglasses in the middle of the glare? (That's just
me being curious) Something to do with intox rules? I mean I have an RSA
so this makes me curious.
Porta-Loos. Stages 1 & 2 didn't have any for the crowd. If you needed to
go, you needed to go - a long way away. I can hope that we are talking
about space considerations here, but a row on stage right of the Stages
would have helped a little, and perhaps a row at the back of the hill,
behind the fence (so idiots can't tip them over and have them 'flow'
down the hill). It means you almost (and many did) lose their seats for
some of the big bands, not to mention that getting to them was a trek
and then the wait. Further many had non-functioning 'locks' on the
doors, not to mention that they needed to be cleaned more regularly as
some were (to be brutally honest) disgusting.
Safety. Again I have to note the issues with crowd-pegging (throwing
missiles at other patrons and bands) which appeared to go on with no
Security presence or reprisals. All it takes is one law-suit of 'Breach
Of Duty Of Care' and the Festival loses BIG dollars. Crowd issues with
bottlenecked fences, causes for heat exhaustion and crush issues - wider
access would be safer. The mudslide outside of Stages 1 & 2 became a
hazard. supplying a water-stop was a great thing to do, well done, but
it caused a walkway hazard for quite some time thereafter. Just a
thought - some of that hard-plastic 'flooring' for the area would have
helped - and been safer. Can I ask, was the fencing and crowd-flow taken
into account in the Risk Management planning?
Bands. Replacements and last minute pull-outs are not the fault of the
organisers, all they can do is offer refunds - which is the morally
right thing to do (and the legality of refunds/not supplying refunds is
in the Terms and Conditions of Purchase - but always remember Caveat
Emptor 'let the buyer beware') - and book replacements. However,
scheduling (the nightmare of most people) is something that should be
seriously looked at - too many headliners on at the same time? Why? Just
because you might like one band on Stage 1 doesn't mean that you don't
like any other sort... on Stage 4 - 20+ minutes away. Have a care with
international headliners - as we may want to see more than one stage.
Clashes are not fun at all - especially when the stages are a Nullabor
trek apart.
These are the major things I noted on the day - I'm leaving out the
niggling little ones - as nothing can ever go precisely to plan.
That being said - I fully enjoyed Plain White T's (and want to see their
other show on Wednesday and I think I will). Scar Kids Scaring Kids were
a lot of fun and a nice padding band leading up to ...MSI who were great
onstage with a huge presence (even in the face of adversity - the
missile-throwing yobbo-element) and I will enjoy their sideshow tomorrow
night. Thursday (one of the replacement bands) were a force onstage
although a lot of their songs sounded similar ;) their 'Wall of Death'
was a sight to behold and they actually had a working circle pit.
Incubus were the major disappointment of the night (and I think MSI
would have been better in this slot) - Incubus were lacklustre and, to
be honest self-indulgently tedious with no presence and very little
charisma. Finally Offspring saved the night with a blistering set full
of all the good numbers, I think they knew they had to make up for the
previous band's lack of presence and so they hit the stage running.
Overall, I enjoyed the bands, and I had a really good time seeing them.
However, the seeming lack of organising/delivery of the Festival was a
major turn off to myself and many others.
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