AC/DC Punchestown 28/06/09

motorheadman

BrianD wrote: »

Here we go again. It's every body elses fault but our own.

It is time for the Irish music fan to square up to their own behaviour and lack of social responsibility. If the Irish music fan started behaving responsibly then we would not have these issues. Accepted that there will always be some organisation issues and failures highlighted but the majority of these issues are caused DIRECTLY by the behaviour of fans.

I liken it to the litter problem in this country. Who is the first people that the media or citizens will blame? It's always the council for not having enough bins or having enough staff. It's never the bleedin' obvious - the people who dropped it there. Irish people just never take responsibility and they constantly bemoan themselves that nobody saved them from themselves. Always somebody else to blame.

I would bet that MCD's plan for the event would be on a par with anybody elses worldwide for a one off event. Where they are going wrong is that they are underestimating the outrageous behaviour of Irish fans and the complete and utter disrespect that they show for each other, private and public property and event staff.

Time to wake up guys, you can't keep on blaming somebody else.

Are you actually for real? Were you there? The vast majority of the people at the gig were well behaved normal people!

At every event there will always be that 1 or 2% who disregard rules etc. To try and off the blame on the majority is so bloody typical, afterall there were all drunk etc...I don't drink and I am sure that most people there had low alcohol levels at €6 a pint!

If you work for MCD or something affiliated with them well and good but please don't insult my intellegence with posts like the one above.

melekalikimaka

do you honestly think that mcd dont make every effort to ensure your safety??? your all in lala land here... did people listen to the REPEATED announcements of leaving slowly...buses for all. NO, as a result gob sh1tes skip and jump barriers, then you actually blame this on mcd... get real

Slutmonkey57b

BrianD wrote: »

Here we go again. It's every body elses fault but our own.

True, but that also seems to be MCD's attitude from what I read of the Slane debacle. I have no time for the drunken scum that can't seem to accept that you don't have to be plastered drunk on your back to have a good time. That doesn't mean that the majority of fans (and I saw lots of families and women and kids there) are all responsible for that attitude.

I would bet that MCD's plan for the event would be on a par with anybody elses worldwide for a one off event.

If that's the case then why did they not plan:
For a clear, unobstructed road for the buses to travel on that they told people to get.
For lights at the exits so people can see where they're going in the darkness when the gig ends.
For enough space for the vast majority of fans who are getting the buses they told them to get to fit into safely.
Enough stewards to guide people where to go and control problems before they become disasters.

More to the point: This is not a "one off" event. MCD organise a huge gig for similar numbers at this site every year. They do additional gigs for similar numbers at this site on a semi-regular basis, and have done for a very long time. The whole operation should be clockwork by now.

Time to wake up guys, you can't keep on blaming somebody else.

You can't excuse poor organisation either. Nick Hornby said this very well in Fever Pitch: (from memory so probably not exact) "For years we put up with this and were told it was normal, we were told the people in charge knew what they were doing, that it was all ok and under control. It turned out they were clueless and just got away with it for years." This is exactly what has been observed last night and at Slane - the organisers totally lost control of a large crowd and didn't know what to do with them, where to send them, or how to deal with them.

If you put 80,000 stone cold sober people on the long walk through the forest in Slane, in the middle of the day, and started a panic in the middle - with a fire for example, what do you think would happen? How would the crowd react? How would they get out? What would happen to the people nearest the fire? The people behind them? The people still pushing their way into the venue? With fences either side and a thick wood all around?

"The crowd are misbehaving" isn't an excuse to grant free license to the organisers to mess up basic planning, basic staff>punter ratios, basic safety.

WarZoneBrother

Amazing gig I loved it, but I did end up parting 120euro just to get in. I lost/was pick pocketed my ticket (I am not sure) and had to buy another ticket off someone for 40euro (not bad)

Anyways the disappointing thing about the gig was the vast majority of pick pocketers and one lad put 2 hands in my pockets and then I turned around and he acted normal and later got kicked out for crowd surfing.

Also another thing is my mate was recording Hell's Bells and someone knocked his phone out of his hand. Ridiculous the amount of people that would go just to pick pocket etc. I was in the very top and had to move due to so many people squashing me. So we went to the top right and got a moshpit going for the last 30-40mins was awesome because if you fell someone would help you up then someone busted my nose. I was in the Monaghan jersey if anyone saw me!

Dyr

The really sad thing about gigs this size isnt people who attend that don't know the first thing about the band, its the people who attend that would be better off staying at home knitting chastity belts and writing letters to the papers that signed "Disgusted, harolds cross"

Slutmonkey57b

melekalikimaka wrote: »

do you honestly think that mcd dont make every effort to ensure your safety??? your all in lala land here... did people listen to the REPEATED announcements of leaving slowly...buses for all. NO, as a result gob sh1tes skip and jump barriers, then you actually blame this on mcd... get real

How is one man on a podium with a megaphone making announcements going to control a crowd that size in a panic situation? If MCD had employed as many stewards as I saw the previous year, any "gob****es" could have been contained before they caused large-scale problems. Last year, I saw hundreds. This year, hardly any. Where were they?

Those who were at Slane the week before, or heard about it, would have been well aware that just because the organisers said there were "buses for all", doesn't mean that there will be "buses for all".

I have done the Forest Walk in Slane. I know it's not safe. It's never been safe. Just like not having the river fenced off and patrolled wasn't safe, but wasn't done....until the day it went wrong. Nothing serious has happened on that walk yet. But it's only a matter of time.

fluke

Just thought I'd log in and say that AC/DC were brilliant. I was fortunate enough to see them at the O2 for the first time and I suppose there wasn't as much anticipation from this gig but i was looking forward to it!

Brian Johnson has never been about interacting in chatter with the band, that's his style...so i wouldn't take it personally! Phil, Cliff & Malcolm have always stayed in the background as the rhythm section. Angus was brilliant.

This differed from the O2 gig because that solo in the rain was iconic and and extra song (Dog Eat Dog) was a real treat.

The O2 gig on ther hand hand had a more intimate feel compared to last night and also I could see more at the O2 gig. I was at tiered seats too (though we stood for that too).

All in all great gig.

WarZoneBrother

WarZoneBrother wrote: »

Also another thing is my mate was recording Hell's Bells and someone knocked his phone out of his hand. Ridiculous the amount of people that would go just to pick pocket etc. I was in the very top and had to move due to so many people squashing me. So we went to the top right and got a moshpit going for the last 30-40mins was awesome because if you fell someone would help you up then someone busted my nose. I was in the Monaghan jersey if anyone saw me!

I have to say that you can tell what mosh pits are made up of fans. It's generally the ones where if someone goes down a number of hands go in to help them back up. When I saw QotST at Slane I got kicked in the head and trampled upon and not one person tried to help me up. Second time I saw them was in a smaller indoor venue and everytime someone went down in the pit everyone made sure they were ok and helped them up.

Del2005

BrianD wrote: »

Here we go again. It's every body elses fault but our own.

It is time for the Irish music fan to square up to their own behaviour and lack of social responsibility. If the Irish music fan started behaving responsibly then we would not have these issues. Accepted that there will always be some organisation issues and failures highlighted but the majority of these issues are caused DIRECTLY by the behaviour of fans.

I liken it to the litter problem in this country. Who is the first people that the media or citizens will blame? It's always the council for not having enough bins or having enough staff. It's never the bleedin' obvious - the people who dropped it there. Irish people just never take responsibility and they constantly bemoan themselves that nobody saved them from themselves. Always somebody else to blame.

I would bet that MCD's plan for the event would be on a par with anybody elses worldwide for a one off event. Where they are going wrong is that they are underestimating the outrageous behaviour of Irish fans and the complete and utter disrespect that they show for each other, private and public property and event staff.

Time to wake up guys, you can't keep on blaming somebody else.

melekalikimaka wrote: »

do you honestly think that mcd dont make every effort to ensure your safety??? your all in lala land here... did people listen to the REPEATED announcements of leaving slowly...buses for all. NO, as a result gob sh1tes skip and jump barriers, then you actually blame this on mcd... get real

We left after the show ended and walked out to the Dublin bus queue. Wasn't too bad when we got there and the lanes where still being used.

But I could see that the lanes where all being dumped to the side of the road where the buses where loading. They could have had designated bus stops and used the barriers to line people into these, like the bar which worked well. Instead they had a free for all with no stewarts around and the Gardai not doing anything except telling us to move off the road, when there where thousands of people pushing us forward.

There may have been buses for all but they had no plans on how to load them. We got to the head of the queue as directed by the few stewarts doing something and stood for an hour waiting for an empty bus, where they had been loading 10 min before we got there. All that came past where full and eventually someone told us to head up the hill to get a bus. No one from the stewarts or Gardai had a clue what was happening and I saw no Dublin Bus people anywhere. At one stage even the stewarts trying to hold us off the road where complaining about the shambles.

But hey AC/DC rocked and it was a great gig. Must have been lucky on the beer front, longest wait was about 20 min, and at the bar to the left of the stage you could buy all you wanted:D

seosamh1980

Best gig ever.
Was an excellent day. Some ups and downs so here goes

Got bus from Ballinasloe at 10.30, stopped in Moate and Kinnegad to get beer, one worked one didn't
Got to the venue nice and early, went straight to the queues and got pit bands , sat back, relaxed and had couple more beers.
Went in and didn't acknowledge the blizzards or the answer. Had some food and couple more beers.
In the pit for acdc was absolutely amazing.BEST LIVE BAND EVER. One guy in front of me insisted on putting his arm in the air for almost the entire thing only stopping to alternate between left and right arms.(little to be complaining about i know) Still got some good photos and movies though.
Made my way to the private bus park stopping to get a chicken roll which made me violently ill (wasn't the mix of beers and wine or the other food i had )
We lost an Aussie at the end of the night. Some of the guys on bus looked for over 2 hours for him but to no avail.
Were one of the last buses to leave and got back to Ballinasloe at 5 in the morning.

Would I do it all again? Hell yes!!!
Would I change a thing? Apart from getting sick behind the bus, No!!!!!:D:D:D

WarZoneBrother

Deleted User wrote: »

I have to say that you can tell what mosh pits are made up of fans. It's generally the ones where if someone goes down a number of hands go in to help them back up. When I saw QotST at Slane I got kicked in the head and trampled upon and not one person tried to help me up. Second time I saw them was in a smaller indoor venue and everytime someone went down in the pit everyone made sure they were ok and helped them up.

Yeah you really wouldn't think they would pick you up. I only got knocked a few times kept helping others up and that. Was a good moshpit and got better as it went along.

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

Deleted User wrote: »

There is no place at a gig for grown men getting sick all over themselves, passing out, starting fights and pushing young children around. I'm all for a few drinks and understand that alcohol and rock go hand in hand but there is a line.

If you need alcohol to enjoy a gig then you really shouldn't be there in the first place.

Well when there are 80,000 people at the gig, that is always going to happen. If sombody acted like that in the O2, they would be kickeed out. Its much harder to police in punchestown/slane/marly park as they are huge venus.

Take the gig yesterday which while amazing wasn't a patch on the O2 show. The reason being that the O2 gig was a fans gig. It was full of people like myself and my Dad who had it come down to it would gladly have parted with 300 euro for a ticket. I seriously doubt that many of yesterdays attendees would have done the same.

I kinda agree with this, but most of the people there were ACDC fans. The atmosphere in the pit (i was in the right one) was great, full of proper acdc fans. I would have paid 300 for a ticket to the 02, but sundays gig was announced before the 02 gig, so as a student paying rent, i couldnt do both. If you only had the "true" ACDC fans there yesterday, then they would only have been 30,000 - 40,000 people there. The other 40,000 added to the atmosphere.
Lets say there are 200 million people at a gig, and 5% of them are there to get drunk, thats still only 10 million:D

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

Deleted User wrote: »

I have to say that you can tell what mosh pits are made up of fans. It's generally the ones where if someone goes down a number of hands go in to help them back up. When I saw QotST at Slane I got kicked in the head and trampled upon and not one person tried to help me up. Second time I saw them was in a smaller indoor venue and everytime someone went down in the pit everyone made sure they were ok and helped them up.

you are 100% correct. I herd people say that is only an irish thing, other countries are not as helpful

m-i-t-s-u-k-o

Just thought I'd throw my two cents in..

Got a bus from Galway (bus we were on stopped a ridiculous amount of times but we still got pit passes so w/e)
We joined the queues for the passes and stayed in it till the gates opened, ran in, bought a tshirt and food before the queues got too long. Did notice the massive lack of BINS any where in Punchestown, still found a few stewards with plastic bags then to the..

PIT! Staked out our spot! Thought the Blizzards played their hearts out and after a bit the crowd sorta got into them. The Answer were fantastic, (I've never really heard them before but my bf said that that they played mainly new stuff, not as good as the old stuff, etc).. Anways..

Stood there for an age, soaked to the skin, shivering, hair looking like something from a glam rock/hair metal photo shoot and then suddenly the rain stopped, the video and the music played and I couldn't think of anything else but how epic they were.

It was over the top, it was ridiculous, it was unnecessary but it was AC(f*ckin)DC so it just made it all the more Rock and Roll and even more fun to watch! Yes they're all getting on, Brian's voice is quite obviously shot but they didn't disappoint, they gave it their all and it was specatacular!

Low points: Silly twits skipping queues, but where you have long lines you'll have queue hoppers and I saw at least one or two get grabbed and thrown to the end so all is good again..

Obnoxious slightly drunk c***s. Whatever about throwing people up the same two people to crowd surf they managed to whack EVERYONE around them very hard with some body part of the person they were hoisting and were then confused as to why no one around him would hold him up... And their stupid dancing. Fine, it's a rock concert, you wanna rock out, I did, everyone else did but still everyone else managed to keep some sort of consideration for the people around and not bash into them and expect them to be cool with it. Personally I got stood on several times, at one point punched in the face, elbowed in the stomach and my bf got much the same. The guys apologised once or twice but didn't get the message and when people started to yell at them their response was "It's a f***ing rock concert, don't like it? Get the F*** OUT!"

Anyways, after about 3songs of trying to ignore them we just moved back a bit, and we were able to enjoy ourselves again! I know that when you get 70000 people and add rock and alcohol you're gonna get a few people who think it's alright to act like c***s. But apart from those five/six people Anyone in the crowd I did talk to/interact with were lovely, they rocked out and enjoyed themselves too! One guy was even nice enough to lift me up so I could see Angus soloing after I allowed him to use me as a jumping post of sorts!

All in all an epic night! A few idiots but once awway from them there was no way they could have ruined a gig like that for me!


As for leavin, my bf and I left straight after the last songs, followed the very clear signs and got back to our bus (Private bus) and got out reasonably quickly so we didn't experience too much hassle!

Pedro2002

First time posting here, I was raging reading BrianD's post basically saying that we, the gig going public are to blame for a few drunkards and the utter farce that was last night...how dare you Brian! Last night was the worst gig I have ever attended in terms of organisation and complete disregard for customers. There's a little saying, it goes like this:"the customer is always right", in other European countries the saying is "the customer is King". If I pay a hefty amount of money to go to a concert, I would at least expect the basics to be adhered to, I'm not even that fussy, what I am is sick of this Irish, 3rd world attitude that it's all just grand and fek it sure it'll never change anyway.

Lets break this abortion of an event down into specifics for a second...

Last night cost me 76 euro. There were 72,000 people there from what I hear. So that adds up to a round figure of 5.5 million euros. Add to this the money that MCD make from all the vendors at the ground who pay to attend the concert and sell. Add advertisement revenue generated, I'm sure there's another few hundred thousand thrown in for good measure. Ok then the costs come in, band, insurance, venue, transpotation, security, advertisement etc...even if all these are factored in and given astronomical values, the promoter is still laughing their ass all the way to the bank...but even thats ok if they at least respect the fact that they are now responsible to some degree for the safety and comfort of their customers. But they didn't. It's like this...If MCD were a restaurant, last night they provided a place to sit, the knives and forks and glasses, but out back they were pissing in your soup...think about that for a second, it's a fundamental principle of the buyer/seller phenomenon i.e. I pay enough so I at least expect to be treated with some dignity in return.

Now I don't know about some of you, but these days 76 euro is a lot of f**king money and I am starting to get sick of the attitude that I don't deserve some sort of comfort level and dignity for paying my hard earned wages to go to see a childhood dream and may I add a truly amazing, professional, hard rocking monster last night that didn't let anyone down. I don't mind the rain, I don't mind drunk tools falling about the place, I don't mind people moshing or even a few lads having a scrap..why? because that's live music and concerts and if you're not prepared for an element of it then stay at home. That said I saw guys falling all over the place and pissing right in front of Garda yesterday who don't seem to have the willpower or maybe simply the power to do anything about it. Juxtapose that against a World Cup game I watched in Berlin a few years ago with 1 million pissed people packed in front of the Brandenburg gate, Brits, Germans, Swedes the lot...now that was messy, but anyone acting the way some people were acting yesterday were simply fired into the back of the drunktank.

So no I don't mind roughing it, it's a flippin pleasure watching Angus Young duck walk in the pissing rain, I could stand there for a week to watch that. What I do mind is waiting for 3 bloody hours for a bus while an understaffed, ill equipped, uncoordinated, miserly excuse of a concert promoter rips me off and basically pisses on me for my hard earned cash. I live in Dublin, it took me 4 1/2 hours to get to the venue thanks to whatever brainbox decided 2 tiny roads was enough to get 70000 people up it. Grand, thats fine but then the concert finishes and I walk nice and calmly up the hill and spend the next 3 hours waiting for a bus back to Goffs...another 45 mins to get out of there.

I feel sorry for the workers there yesterday,, most people were decent to them but I'm sure they were intimidated. It wasn't their fault and they were let down badly by their superiors.

To sum up...

F@@k you MCD, I seriously hope whoever is at the top of your cancer of an organisation is hit by a train tomorrow. Not only have we seen the price of concerts be dictated by you over the years, where we are paying twice or even three times more to see gigs than 10 years ago, but you now have become so powerful that you can do whatever you want with live music in this country, you truly reflect everything that is wrong with my beloved country!

tippspur

Best gig i was ever at..got soaked but so what it was well worth it, Angus Young is some ledgend how the fcuk does that man keep going,does anyone know what age he is for def,i'v heard 58 but that's hardly right is it ?

m-i-t-s-u-k-o

tippspur wrote: »

i'v heard 58 but that's hardly right is it ?

Wiki says 1955 was the year he was born so 54..

And we all know wiki never lies

tippspur

Pedro2002 wrote: »

First time posting here, I was raging reading BrianD's post basically saying that we, the gig going public are to blame for a few drunkards and the utter farce that was last night...how dare you Brian! Last night was the worst gig I have ever attended in terms of organisation and complete disregard for customers. There's a little saying, it goes like this:"the customer is always right", in other European countries the saying is "the customer is King". If I pay a hefty amount of money to go to a concert, I would at least expect the basics to be adhered to, I'm not even that fussy, what I am is sick of this Irish, 3rd world attitude that it's all just grand and fek it sure it'll never change anyway.

Lets break this abortion of an event down into specifics for a second...

Last night cost me 76 euro. There were 72,000 people there from what I hear. So that adds up to a round figure of 5.5 million euros. Add to this the money that MCD make from all the vendors at the ground who pay to attend the concert and sell. Add advertisement revenue generated, I'm sure there's another few hundred thousand thrown in for good measure. Ok then the costs come in, band, insurance, venue, transpotation, security, advertisement etc...even if all these are factored in and given astronomical values, the promoter is still laughing their ass all the way to the bank...but even thats ok if they at least respect the fact that they are now responsible to some degree for the safety and comfort of their customers. But they didn't. It's like this...If MCD were a restaurant, last night they provided a place to sit, the knives and forks and glasses, but out back they were pissing in your soup...think about that for a second, it's a fundamental principle of the buyer/seller phenomenon i.e. I pay enough so I at least expect to be treated with some dignity in return.

Now I don't know about some of you, but these days 76 euro is a lot of f**king money and I am starting to get sick of the attitude that I don't deserve some sort of comfort level and dignity for paying my hard earned wages to go to see a childhood dream and may I add a truly amazing, professional, hard rocking monster last night that didn't let anyone down. I don't mind the rain, I don't mind drunk tools falling about the place, I don't mind people moshing or even a few lads having a scrap..why? because that's live music and concerts and if you're not prepared for an element of it then stay at home. That said I saw guys falling all over the place and pissing right in front of Garda yesterday who don't seem to have the willpower or maybe simply the power to do anything about it. Juxtapose that against a World Cup game I watched in Berlin a few years ago with 1 million pissed people packed in front of the Brandenburg gate, Brits, Germans, Swedes the lot...now that was messy, but anyone acting the way some people were acting yesterday were simply fired into the back of the drunktank.

So no I don't mind roughing it, it's a flippin pleasure watching Angus Young duck walk in the pissing rain, I could stand there for a week to watch that. What I do mind is waiting for 3 bloody hours for a bus while an understaffed, ill equipped, uncoordinated, miserly excuse of a concert promoter rips me off and basically pisses on me for my hard earned cash. I live in Dublin, it took me 4 1/2 hours to get to the venue thanks to whatever brainbox decided 2 tiny roads was enough to get 70000 people up it. Grand, thats fine but then the concert finishes and I walk nice and calmly up the hill and spend the next 3 hours waiting for a bus back to Goffs...another 45 mins to get out of there.

I feel sorry for the workers there yesterday,, most people were decent to them but I'm sure they were intimidated. It wasn't their fault and they were let down badly by their superiors.

To sum up...

F@@k you MCD, I seriously hope whoever is at the top of your cancer of an organisation is hit by a train tomorrow. Not only have we seen the price of concerts be dictated by you over the years, where we are paying twice or even three times more to see gigs than 10 years ago, but you now have become so powerful that you can do whatever you want with live music in this country, you truly reflect everything that is wrong with my beloved country!

All the transport probs seems to come from the Dublin side for some reason, same thing at Slane.we traveled 140 miles from south Tipp to and from Slane and had no probs getting in or out we were home at 2 am well before most people got back to Dublin,same thing last night at AC/DC we traveled in a private coach and had no probs getting out apart from a few apes on our bus that got lost and held up us up waiting for them. i have to say i feel sorry for ye because it must be a nightmare putting up with that kind ot shyte...

hobbit stomper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTjaVm6t7k8

Photo Gallery @ Facebook.

tippspur

YT wrote: »

F*cks sake, all the complaints.

It's all part of the expierience. Had trouble getting there and back and a hundred other things I can complain about but I'm not going too, f*ck it, it was a great day and you's all got home in the end.

Dirty Deeds..wow

That's the right attitude..well said...

tippspur

hobbit stomper wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xTjaVm6t7k8

Photo Gallery @ Facebook.

Brilliant Hobbit, well done..:)

greys

GREAT gig, the best I've been to in a long time!

Loved the show, hated the rain, and felt sorry for all those left queuing for a bus on way back home. Had queued myself for about an hour, but felt really lucky to be back in Naas by 1am.

Well done AC/DC, I wasn't a fan but I am now converted! Amazing show!

peejay1986

I would love to meet the person who thought that 30 coaches were going to be enough to cover the park and ride to Goffs. When I go to Oxegen I always use the Dubllin Bus shuttle system and it is brilliant. Why? Because there is a constant queue of at least 20 buses ready to take around 100 people each. Quick and people can see the buses arriving so there's no hassle.

What I witnessed last night was a disgrace. There were coaches arriving at each queue once every 20 minutes and taking on 50 people. We literally were moving 2 steps every time a bus arrived. I got to the queue so early, I was there 10 minutes after the gig and well before most and yet I didn't leave until all the Dublin Buses bailed us out at 2am!!

The queuing system was awful. Most people didn't understand how to queue and the branched off sections caused confusion as people were moving in from all angles. It resulted in many children around me getting crushed. It was very lucky that no one was hurt. There was even a girl who seemed to take an attack and no one seemed to want to help her despite calls from those in the queue.

The park and ride system would be the perfect solution if they had double decker buses from the start. Once the Dublin buses arrived the queues were gone within half an hour. If they hadn't I honestly didn't see myself getting out before 4am.

Two people who I was getting a ride home with had walked to Goffs at around midnight and got there well before me. This isn't right! Because of the woeful organisation people preferred to walk the 5 or so mile in the dark (including some down busy main roads) instead of taking the recommended park and ride.

Whoever organised the transport for the event should be ashamed. Dublin Bus bailed you all out, the Gardai at our queue made sure to make that very clear to us.

Sparky29

Some broadsheet attention being drawn towards some of the problems of last night in the Irish Times, tucked away in an opinion piece regarding another topic, i wonder if this will create momentum on the subject?

WHY CAN’T WE learn from our mistakes? The debacle of the recent Oasis concert at Slane, where there was insufficient crowd control and people had to wait hours for buses to take them home, was repeated on Sunday night at Punchestown. My 12-year-old son adored the gig – I got regular mobile phone transmissions about AC/DC during the evening – but the ending could have been disastrous.
His father, who was with him, tells me there were barriers set up for many of the 70,000-strong crowd to queue for buses when the concert ended at 11.40pm, but then people broke through the barriers and it was every man for himself. My son told his father, for the first time in his life, that he was afraid. They patiently queued. At 1am, a steward took mercy on my husband and son and commandeered a bus. They rang me from the bus. It was packed, they said, with my son sitting on the baggage rack, my husband sitting on the floor, people standing in the aisles and others sitting on the stairs. If there had been an accident, I hate to think what would have happened.
Those dreadful bus accidents of the past, where people were packed in and had no seatbelts, haven’t made a dent in our psyche. It’s a small inconvenience, you might say – just as being unemployed or on a hospital waiting list is an inconvenience.

full article here: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/features/2009/0630/1224249776499.html

Bugg

Video I uploaded with some of Angus's solo in the rain

dingbat

melekalikimaka wrote: »

do you honestly think that mcd dont make every effort to ensure your safety??? your all in lala land here... did people listen to the REPEATED announcements of leaving slowly...buses for all. NO, as a result gob sh1tes skip and jump barriers, then you actually blame this on mcd... get real

This post is absolute proof that you weren't there at the time. The stewards made no effort to get people to go into the pens. No effort whatsoever. If they had done so and people jumped the barriers, you'd have a point. But the stewards IGNORED the queuing pens.

Sorry, but you're way, way off on this one.

wildsaffy

What Rock Concerts Are About:

1. Queues
2. Smelly toilets
3. Drunken Idiots
4. Waiting ages in between band changes
5. Rain
6. Getting Squashed
7. Bad sound for the poor supporting bands
8. Great music from the headlining band (AC/DC had GREAT sound)
9. Getting rained on
10. Feeling lucky to get home alive

If you don't factor all this in you should stay at home and knit a chastity belt. And DON'T take your kid to a rock concert and complain that the kid got scared......sheesh!

Now - the other extreme - can you imagine if everything was clean and pristine, ran to a timetable like clockwork, the sun shone, no one was drinking or smoking funny stuff, and you were home tucked up with your cocoa by 1 a.m. Pure rock and roll, baby....

AC/DC rocked! Loved it.....:D

p.s. I got my tits out too but the camera was pointing the wrong way!!! :rolleyes:

hobbit stomper

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l_lq4alZGqU

wildsaffy

What Rock Concerts Are About:

1. Queues
2. Smelly toilets
3. Drunken Idiots
4. Waiting ages in between band changes
5. Rain
6. Getting Squashed
7. Bad sound for the poor supporting bands
8. Great music from the headlining band (AC/DC had GREAT sound)
9. Getting rained on
10. Feeling lucky to get home alive

If you don't factor all this in you should stay at home and knit a chastity belt. And DON'T take your kid to a rock concert and complain that the kid got scared......sheesh!

Now - the other extreme - can you imagine if everything was clean and pristine, ran to a timetable like clockwork, the sun shone, no one was drinking or smoking funny stuff, and you were home tucked up with your cocoa by 1 a.m. Pure rock and roll, baby....

AC/DC rocked! Loved it.....:D

p.s. I got my tits out too but the camera was pointing the wrong way!!! :rolleyes:

wildsaffy

wildsaffy wrote: »

p.s. I got my tits out too but the camera was pointing the wrong way!!! :rolleyes:

Pics or GTFO.