AC/DC Punchestown 28/06/09

Paparazzo

af666x wrote: »

+1 - so much ****, but my god it was worth it!

Walked up the N7 cos the buses were not moving - made it to the maxol garage in Naas and got some food. Grabbed a bus from Naas, stayed on that until Punchestown, queued for 25 minutes to get 2 tubs of chips, got soaked twice, and was at the front of the free-for-all bus charge at the end!

The organisation end of things was utter utter ****e, but I wouldn't change a damn thing about what happened! Best gig ever, hands down.

People complaining about the rain etc - what's the point? Check a forecast and bring a raincoat if it bothers you that much. I was in a t-shirt for the whole night and still had a great time.

You wouldn't change the 7 or 8km walk or the rain?

Ash.J.Williams

fourmations wrote: »

dont agree with this at all, its nice to have interaction
makes it more personal, people want to hear their heros speak to them

rgds

4

ha ha are you for real????

imagine Biran Johnson getting personal with the crowd...ha ha!!! "Ireland i love you" he's a 60 y/o geordie for f**s sake.

Rented Mule

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

ha ha are you for real????

imagine Biran Johnson getting personal with the crowd...ha ha!!! "Ireland i love you" he's a 60 y/o geordie for f**s sake.

Going back to the original point.

triv88

"The Jack" Punchestown 28/06 Great sound quality

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRhjPhw9-FE

There were so many babes on the big tv for this one ,the directer and camermen did well !!!

Boob alert @ 1.53

Angus strip tease @ 4.30 !!

Pedro K

Where do I start!!!

First off with the gig.

Amazing.

I was in the left pit

The supporting acts were there.
Give credit to the blizzards, they knew they were going into a potentially hostile situation and they made the most of it.
The answer were alright too.

AC/DC. Wow! What a show. They were fantastic. The opening video, bursting straight into rock and roll train. Fantastic.


Unfortunately it's marred by the Dublin Bus situation outside.

As we were making our way out we were being directed to use the correct queues as per the overhead signs by a man standing on a platform with a microphone, to which I started a "sing a song" chant

However, we filtered into the correct overhead sign lane and once we got outside to the "queue system" there was initially not a steward to be found, and the queue started branching off in every which direction. Nobody seemed to know if they were in the right or wrong queue.
And then the buses were loading on people from the right and left, so nobody knew where the top of the queue was.

Having been standing around for a considerable amount of time I eventually made it through up to the buses, went to get on one and me and my friend were pushed back off by the driver who said "full".

We waited and two more lots of buses passed us by.

On the next round of buses the barricades directly behind me were broken.

A few hundred people came rushing forward and I was crushed against the door of the bus.
Somebody got the emergency open thing on the outside (thank god because somebody could've been crushed to death) and there was a crush into the bus. No tickets checked of course.

The sheer lack of stewards, and competent ones at that, to maintain a decent queue led to an extremely damngerous situation in the end.

However, once the bus got moving there was no stopping it, and we all had a traditional Irish sing song on the top deck! :-)

All in all, it was a great gig, AC/DC truly rocked, but the organisation at the buses was dangerously bad!

chewed

Pedro K wrote: »

Where do I start!!!
However, once the bus got moving there was no stopping it, and we all had a traditional Irish sing song on the top deck! :-)

You must have been on the same bus as I was! We were singing songs and performing limbo dances with bog roll stretched across the aisle!

If it wasn't for the craic on the bus on the way home and AC/DC's performance the whole day would have been a disaster.

I hope people mean it when they say they won't be going to another MCD outdoor event. I certainly will never attend something like this again.

amacca

I always feel like Ive been taken advantage of at these events but that was without doubt the best show Ive ever been at. My new number two is the prodigy in semple stadium (97 I think)

Thought the parking was sheer extortion (€30) and then had to wait about 2hrs+ to get going out of the blue car park but it was 100% worth it. One of the worst concerts I ever attended was chilli peppers in the phoenix park (set list +encore published in national paper beforehand, going through the motions performance etc + only redeemed by the fact I got to see the pixies live)

But last night, from start to finish I got what I paid for. You have to admit they put on a show, theyre not afraid to play older songs [I was apprehensive they would play all new album stuff and just one or two of the oldies] With due respect to other posters who have seen them before and say they were better Im finding it hard to believe but Im also wishing I wasnt 8 or 9 at the time and could have gone to see them.

Only quibble I have really was the number of people around me in the crowd (I was in the pit to right of the stage) who stood almost motionless for a large part of the performance pausing occasionally to take photos. Does no one do a little non agressive moshing anymore?

30ft + inflatable lady of questionable morals sitting astride a giant rock n'roll train, cannons, air filled with what looked like rizzla papers, fireworks afterward and an afterglow of being rocked like never before to cancel out the wait in the blue car park.

Was having a boring summer but that was the.............Best concert ever!

Rented Mule

Pedro K wrote: »

Unfortunately it's marred by the Dublin Bus situation outside.

As we were making our way out we were being directed to use the correct queues as per the overhead signs by a man standing on a platform with a microphone, to which I started a "sing a song" chant

However, we filtered into the correct overhead sign lane and once we got outside to the "queue system" there was initially not a steward to be found, and the queue started branching off in every which direction. Nobody seemed to know if they were in the right or wrong queue.
And then the buses were loading on people from the right and left, so nobody knew where the top of the queue was.

Having been standing around for a considerable amount of time I eventually made it through up to the buses, went to get on one and me and my friend were pushed back off by the driver who said "full".

We waited and two more lots of buses passed us by.

On the next round of buses the barricades directly behind me were broken.

A few hundred people came rushing forward and I was crushed against the door of the bus.
Somebody got the emergency open thing on the outside (thank god because somebody could've been crushed to death) and there was a crush into the bus. No tickets checked of course.

The sheer lack of stewards, and competent ones at that, to maintain a decent queue led to an extremely damngerous situation in the end.

After the rush of people, I commented to one female member of the Garai that 'she needed to get the hell out of the way' and 'start helping people that need your help'.

The absolute arrogance and lack of the bigger picture by the stewarts and gardai was absolutely frightening.

If the barricades had not been broken down, you could have very easliy have seen a riot break out from the people in the queues.

Pedro K

chewed wrote: »

You must have been on the same bus as I was! We were singing songs and performing limbo dances with bog roll stretched across the aisle!

If it wasn't for the craic on the bus on the way home and AC/DC's performance the whole day would have been a disaster.

I hope people mean it when they say they won't be going to another MCD outdoor event. I certainly will never attend something like this again.

Ha.

My bus had no limbo dances I'm afraid!!

Gaspode

ACDC were great, but over 3 hours to get to the gig from Mountjoy square, come on wtf?
And to top it we had a crowd of d1ckheads behind us who obviously didnt realise that girls need to pee too, and went ape**** banging on the windows every time they saw the ladies headinf for the fields. Jesus, I was in foul form by the time I got to the gig, a mile back from the front, and not pleased at all. Ended up heading early to make sure I got a bus, and it was already getting out of hand in the queue. Not Dublin Bus's fault, just the idiots jumping the barriers and skipping the queue.
So many assh0les in the one field it was unreal!!

betonit

F%cking amazing performance! Just pure rock, no ballads , no strings just rock n roll (nothing against ballads or strings). I wasnt a huge fan but always liked them, i'll be buying a few cds over the next few weeks. He announced any song off the new album before he played which was great for not a huge fan like me. The new stuff was really good.

But I have to say it will be the last outdoor gig I will ever go to. More or less the same as what was said earlier and my sister was ast oasis last week and go the worst of it there too, so i wont be taking any more chances. I will seethem again here or the Uk but indoor in a big city.

Rented Mule

Gaspode wrote: »

Not Dublin Bus's fault, just the idiots jumping the barriers and skipping the queue.
So many assh0les in the one field it was unreal!!

In all fairness, it wasn't Dublin Bus' fault.

It was the way that the parking lot was organised by the promoter.

Cindoa

Aspro wrote: »

Sorry YT but I have to very much disagree. I know you're just giving the positive vibes and we Irish are a hardy lot but ffs after nearly 20 years of gig-going in Ireland and abroad this was the biggest fiasco I've ever seen. We're in a recession and we've paid our extremely hard-earned cash for a positive entertainment experience, yet because we're the gobshíte Irish who never complain and will put up with any sort of rubbish so long as we have a drink - we get a situation like yesterday.

Seriously, I don't care about the weather, the traffic, even the 2 hour walk to the gig - it's the fact we could have had another Hillsborough on our hands. Is it going to take a death at a large scale event like this before we wake up?

And imagine the tabloid headlines then - Stampede Death at rock concert - drunken idiots rampage - Minister says all outdoor concerts to be banned...

You're absolutely right - This just doesn't happen at big gigs in other countries. Who the h*ll granted permission for 70,000 spectators at this piss pit!? No way could that number of ppl access 80 Euros worth of the show in that kip. Only the Irish would turn around and say how grateful they are to be robbed, treated like cattle, parched, and marched around the country lanes like a chain gang after having paid for full transport. Demand a refund if you have any dignity at all!

Healium

I just put up a fairly short blog post with lots of pictures here:
http://bit.ly/1WkDko

No6

I had a great night, my self and the two brothers and my 16 year old headed up from Mayo, left at 12.30, the longest wait we had was in Goff's getting the bus to the venue, it took about an hour, the gig was fantastic, those boy's can surely rock, fantastic show I enjoyed every minute of it, getting the bus back was a bit tricky, the stewards dissappeared just when you needed them and we accidently wandered into the area for private busses but when we found the park and ride queues again had to go around again to a different also huge on, got to the end of that were told to go one way (the big one) found a little one, which was also going to goff's got on a bus in minutes, got to goff's in no time left at 12.30 and was home in Mayo at 3.45. Pot lucky by the sound of things but it worked well for me so I ain't complaining!!!

melekalikimaka

Cindoa wrote: »

You're absolutely right - This just doesn't happen at big gigs in other countries. Who the h*ll granted permission for 70,000 spectators at this piss pit!? No way could that number of ppl access 80 Euros worth of the show in that kip. Only the Irish would turn around and say how grateful they are to be robbed, treated like cattle, parched, and marched around the country lanes like a chain gang after having paid for full transport. Demand a refund if you have any dignity at all!

id disagree, worked, worked doing barriers, plenty of space and i was watching, the crowd was grand, people being ignorant cuse bus issues, not 'mcd' or dublin bus... would some of yas ever grow up...

Dcully

Anyone come across a vid of let there be rock from last night? It was epic.

KerranJast

melekalikimaka wrote: »

id disagree, worked, worked doing barriers, plenty of space and i was watching, the crowd was grand, people being ignorant cuse bus issues, not 'mcd' or dublin bus... would some of yas ever grow up...

Edited cause I sound petty

Anyway, I passed about 15 stewards having a conference near the Goffs queues discussing how to get people back into the barrier setup. I said to one of them forget it. The damage is done. They left one poor sap to hold back about 600 people from spilling out in front of the bus while they were nattering. Fantastically gig. Brilliant stagework and setup. Shoddy crowd management, stewarding and planning.

dr oatker

Aspro wrote: »

Sorry YT but I have to very much disagree. I know you're just giving the positive vibes and we Irish are a hardy lot but ffs after nearly 20 years of gig-going in Ireland and abroad this was the biggest fiasco I've ever seen. We're in a recession and we've paid our extremely hard-earned cash for a positive entertainment experience, yet because we're the gobshíte Irish who never complain and will put up with any sort of rubbish so long as we have a drink - we get a situation like yesterday.

Seriously, I don't care about the weather, the traffic, even the 2 hour walk to the gig - it's the fact we could have had another Hillsborough on our hands. Is it going to take a death at a large scale event like this before we wake up?

And imagine the tabloid headlines then - Stampede Death at rock concert - drunken idiots rampage - Minister says all outdoor concerts to be banned...

Wow, two Hillsboroughs in a week. That term is thrown about very lightly on here.

MickClince12118

I have to say im surprised that more people arent singing the answers praises on here cormac neeson is the best vocalist ive seen in my whole life, even with the answers sound turned way down he still came across clear and powerful, far better than johnson whom i like for his effort but neeson has the effort and all the talent a frontman needs and more, th bluesyness coming of their guitars and the power from the guitarist bassist and drummer was also something to be admired. I thought it was a tragedy that they werent given better sound.

Its not exactly like anyone was going to rival dc's reception there were 80000 people to see them there not the support so i think more respect shud ave been showed on Dc's part as i know some people were even too far back to here anything clear from them.

pablodunlop

MickClince12118 wrote: »

I have to say im surprised that more people arent singing the answers praises on here cormac neeson is the best vocalist ive seen in my whole life.

Robert Plant called, he wants his act and his hair back

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

Must say, the craic in the pit before acdc came on was unreal! the Ball flying around and the crowd surfing was great, one of the most upbeat crowds i have been in for a long time, I think everyone forgot that they were getting soaked!

pablodunlop wrote: »

Robert Plant called, he wants his act and his hair back

+1, but im not complaining! got to high 5 him at an answer gig 2 years ago, im so proud!

NullZer0

melekalikimaka wrote: »

id disagree, worked, worked doing barriers, plenty of space and i was watching, the crowd was grand, people being ignorant cuse bus issues, not 'mcd' or dublin bus... would some of yas ever grow up...

Yeah? There was a girl beside me taking a panic attack. The steward would NOT open the barrier or call a Garda over when asked. I left the gig immediately after hearing AC/DC. I got the bus to Goffs park and ride.

There was hardly any traffic on the road to Longford heading home. I arrived home at 6.45 thismorning. The only time that I was left standing was while I was waiting for park & ride bus.


FYI my home in Longford is just under one hour from Maynooth.

partyguinness

pablodunlop wrote: »

Robert Plant called, he wants his act and his hair back

LOL...:D

Thats exactly what I was thinking...

MickClince12118

people realy jump the gun about robert plant and cormac neeson, plants hair was as long yes but so is a lot of peoples, secondly robert plants has never worn the kind of shirts neeson wears and wore nothing but stuf exposing half his chest, his pants were much more flairy, he doesnt do robert plants moves cos they never belonged to him in the first place, robert plant was influenced by steve marriot where his moves and high wailing voice come from so yes neeson is using his influences in the exact same way as every band in the world does, also neesons favoured frontman is actually paul rodgers and in classic rock mag doesnt count plant among his top 5 favourites so everyone give this great IRISH band a chance and then maybe we wont have to listen to much more from the blizzards!etc

Sparky29

Madden Important Limousine wrote: »

Must say, the craic in the pit before acdc came on was unreal! the Ball flying around and the crowd surfing was great, one of the most upbeat crowds i have been in for a long time, I think everyone forgot that they were getting soaked!

Yeah the craic was amazing, as stupid as it sounds the crowd werent as good then when ac/dc came on as everyone was more concerned with getting pictures!:mad:

Such a deadly gig!

hidinginthebush

does anyone think that for a band that's been on the go for about 40 years they were a bit sloppy? i wasn't impressed by the gig at all. don't think it was worth €80 at all

MickClince12118

hidinginthebush wrote: »

does anyone think that for a band that's been on the go for about 40 years they were a bit sloppy? i wasn't impressed by the gig at all. don't think it was worth €80 at all

ehh no next question please!

egoboo

Yet another mess of a concert. You would think that the organisers would learn from previous mistakes ! If the organsers can't handle the project - give it to somebody else to manage. Que's to the bar 45 minutes, €6 for a pint, you cant bring your own booze so you are basically being forced to get ripped off.

The blizzards - sorry that was the worst band replacement selection choice ever made. Not many AC/DC fans at the gig were interested in the Blizzards.

As for traffic management - a complete joke. Lots of peoples nights were messed up due to frustration of sitting in traffic.

Not enough complainers in this country. People should speak out more and then we will get things done right.

As for AC/DC - what can I say - they were the only well organised thing on the night. What a band - they were tremendous.

Bluefoam

Anyone know how many people were there?

I've read in this thread that it was 80,000; 120,000... But my understanding was that Punchestown can only hold 70,000 and they were still adveryising tickets on the morning of the show?