SLANE 2009 Oasis - All Discussion - No ticket sales.

real_red

was at the gig and had no problem...i went up on friday evening though and camped in a supervised field behind a bed and breakfast..cost 20euro for the 2nites and even got alovely breakfast roll thrown in on sat mornin

got to the gig early (approx 2pm)..had my ticket checked by the garda at the alcohol checkpoint and at the top of the lane..passed on the pit passes because a I've found from experience sound is never good up the front...watched all bands - kasabian, prodigy and oasis were unreal imho...even managed to get 2 pints and some food in between prodigy and oasis (and no i didn skip a que) so i find the hour queing stories abit exaggerated..stayed for the encore and sang along to married with children while watching the fireworks which i thought wer a nice touch..walked back to my camp site and the dublin bus situation did look mental so was glad with my choice to camp..

all in all i tot the gig was immense..delays are to be expected..i was at bon jovi in punchestown last summer and it took 4 hours to get home from there ( a venue much easier to organise than slane)

Puma89

Had a brilliant time at Slane this year! Sounds like most of the trouble at the end of the concert was at the Dublin exit. We left through the Drogheda exit at he end of the fireworks display and got a private bus, took us about 30 mins to walk to it . Were back in Galway by half 5 which was pretty reasonable. Have been hearing stories of people not getn back to Dublin untill half 6 which is crazy!

Got into the gig at about 4 o clock for the start of Kasabian, no delays at all really. Even managed to get a beer before we headed down the hill. Had a look at the Q before the start of the prodigy and it was ridicilous! Still ive no sympathy for the people who missed some bands cause they were Q'ng for beer! Did ya need one that badly, it was obvious that you would be Q'ng for at least an hour before the Prodigy.

siteman

dclifford wrote: »

Anyone else notice that when there was nobody on stage, the 2 screens on either side of the stage would change to say Oasis - Slane - Dublin 2009, or something to that effect.

Yea I did, wouldn't have had the problems if it have been in Dublin.

stefar

i've just scanned the threads and yeah, defo was a joke altogether, a bloody disgrace on the side of Dublin Bus - no one seems to have commented on the abuse the Dublin Bus drivers received from 100's of very angry & tired concert goers....the drivers seemed to be in some instances fearing mass attack...the crowds had plenty of reason to be distressed after walking up to 12k...Dublin Bus took the €20 and abandoned a huge amount of people down there...there was no signs directing people, no stewards, no security for drivers and they still had the cheek to sell one way tickets back to Dublin at the entrance to the concert...

anyway, I've on to Dublin Bus today demanding a refund, telling them they deserve to never be able to provide such services again and that they ought to refund and make a public apology for the disgraceful way in which they abandoned their customers, and the way in which their drivers had no one to help them manage the angry crowds demanding to get on the bus...
why don't people call them on 01 873 4222: i've been promised a return call from a manager to listen in detail to my complaint and request for refunds for me and 5 others that i went with.....Dublin Bus shouldn't get away with saying that there was 'traffic management issues' only...

Bluetonic

NickNolte wrote: »

Henry Mountcharles said on Liveline that the concert was a sold out last October. Why were there tickets available all last week on Ticketmaster?

A number of tickets are always held back for various people (band connections, staff, sponsors, locals etc.., ) connected to a concert. When these tickets are not taken up by these people they go on general sale.

In the majority of cases these tickets for large capacity sold out gigs will go back on sale the week before the concert, the added benefit of this is that it helps combat touting.

This has been happening for donkeys years.

mspacman

bigpoppa wrote: »

Tool moi? Mais Non!

I was actually at the gig and didn't have to queue for 90 mins for a beer? Do I detect some classic boards exaggeration perhaps ? I had several pints of Heineken and some nice food to boot It did take a while to get home but I was happy out after the gig. I think it took a good while cos there was like 80,000 people all trying to get home at the same time from what is essentially a remote country castle

A guy did spill some beer on my arm though at one point so I am going to burn my ACDC tickets now and hide in my house until Joe Duffy is on tomorrow and then I am going to call him. Twice. And let me tell you why, there were people at this gig. Lots of them. And some were drinking. I also saw someone with a pink cowboy hat and it made me cry.

Basically I am an Irish crybaby who lives in the lap of luxury and I expect gigs to be snuggly and safe like my bed at home. And as for Oxegen I am going down to it but they better have everything laid on perfect for me cos I am in effect a little prince who needs looking after.

This whole attitude about Ireland not being able to run gigs properly is wrong, it seems many people are just moaners

You are SPOT-ON BigPoppa!!!!!! The Irish are never happy unless they're moaning about something!!!! Did they all expect to be f*ckin teleported out of Slane or what?? They want that sort of service, they should go to the VIP area with all the "gimps" (Liam's words - not mine!!) next time!!!

F*cking EPIC gig....and less of the moaning, pull your heads in you moany shower of beeeeeeeeeps!!!!

Helix

NickNolte wrote: »

MCD really are an incredible shower. They're out spinning again.



I'd love to know how he knows that. It's a completely baseless claim. The staff stopped checking tickets and just started letting everybody in. Talk about insulting people's intelligence. If he had even said something like 'we closely examined CCTV footage of the entrance gates' or similar, at least that would be something. He's just making claims that he can't prove.

if security did their job he could prove it extremely easily

80000 tickets sold, which means if there were 80000 people there then there were 80000 tickets scanned onto their system on the day

the ticket scanning infrastructure is all connected because otherwise one ticket would be usable multiple times on different scanners, which isnt the case. the fact that mcd arent willing to pull up the scanning data means that they know well nowhere near 80000 tickets were scanned due to the massive ineptitude of the security working at the event

Helix

mspacman wrote: »

The Irish are never happy unless they're moaning about something!!!! Did they all expect to be f*ckin teleported out of Slane or what??

never been to a gig outside of ireland i take it?

the only reason anyone could make excuses for some of the nonsense us paddies have to put up with on our home turf is ignorance of the world that exists outside ireland

mspacman

Helix wrote: »

never been to a gig outside of ireland i take it?

the only reason anyone could make excuses for some of the nonsense us paddies have to put up with on our home turf is ignorance of the world that exists outside ireland

Er...WRONG! I went to see Oasis two weeks ago at Heaton Park, and been to gigs in other parts of the world as well.

There are countless gigs I can think of in recent years [in Ireland] where people have been mithering on and on, crying to Joe Duffy...blah blah f*ckin blah!!! (Oxegen the last couple years, the whole Barbara Streisand saga......)

It took us over three hours to get out of Heaton Park two weeks ago after the gig and noone was giving off about it. People were happy and felt priviliged at seeing one of the best bands in the world on top form!!!

mulveyd

I think the organisers showed blatant disregard for their customers' comfort & convenience and only little more than that for their health & safety. I am sure that they will have safety plans etc all lined up with I’s dotted and T’s crossed but from the customer's point of view, it seems that they acted within the letter of the law rather than the spirit of the law in this regard.

I travelled from Drogheda with Bus Eireann and so I didn't experience the same transport problems reported by those travelling from Dublin (although I have experienced poor transport with Dublin Bus from Marlay Park last year, but that's another day's discussion).

I arrived in Slane just before 4:30pm, our bus dropped us just on the southern side of the bridge so we didn't have a terribly long walk to the castle. We headed straight towards the venue and it was 6:50pm when we got through the turnstiles. (At this stage we had missed Kasabian - in fact, we heard them from the queue and I might as well have played them on my iPod!)

For long periods of time the queue did not move. There was mild crushing, people were pushing forward and pulling down the fences along the path and at times it felt like fights were going to break out as people were getting very frustrated.
There were also long periods when no members of event staff were visible and I recall saying to my friends that if someone collapsed or needed any help then I didn't know how we would get assistance. I feared there would be loss of life either from crushing or violence.
I was also concerned to see people in wheelchairs being pushed through by stewards - surely there was a better option for access for wheelchair users?
The presence of staff along the access route making announcements of how much longer until we reached the site entrance would have calmed people down.
Lack of information at an event is one of the most basic reasons why people will have a bad experience.

And so we reached the site.... and found 5/6 people scanning tickets in a bottle neck location and then we understood why it had taken almost 2.5 hours to get there! This was really frustrating as tickets had previously been checked on a wide part of the road on the southern side of the bridge - could scanning not have taken place there? Or even at the arch at the entrance to the castle grounds, then the queue would have moved freely up towards the concert site.

Now for the bar - we entered the bar area and joined a queue which was several metres further back from where the queueing lanes ended. By the time we actually reached the barriers, the 2 drink rule had been abandoned (which I think was a good idea, just to get people out of the bar area). People who had bought drinks were returning back down through the crowd with their drinks instead of being directed out to one side. Just as we reached the top of the queue (after 45 minutes), the stewards intervened and started a one-way system. It was the right thing to do, but too little too late. I think a snaking queue with one entrance & exit point, and 1 steward directing customers to the next available bartender would have been much more effective, freeing up stewards for other tasks. I think they should provide lids and cup carriers to avoid spillages (have you ever been to a gig at the Odyssey in Belfast - check that out as a perfect example of how to run a bar at a large event).

I also think the bar/toilet are was too close to the entrance - a bottle neck was allowed to build up by having them so close together as people headed straight into the bar area. The location of the exit from the bar area meant people leaving the bar had to merge back in with the crowd coming in through the turnstiles.

So finally we got some drinks and then discovered the bar had closed – and then it reopened and the price of a pint of Heineken had magically dropped to €5. I assume this was due to the lack of availability of change and to speed the serving process up. Good idea… but surely this common sense could have been applied from the outset? Setting the price at €6 was pure greed – I doubt they were selling it at a loss at €5, never mind €6! I also heard anecdotal evidence that people were being short-changed by bar staff. I didn’t have first hand experience of this myself but a lady I spoke to was short-changed on her first drinks purchase, and she said she felt sorry for anyone going up who had a few drinks taken already and wouldn’t even notice if they were short-changed. At one stage while queueing I also noticed a member of the bar staff drinking Heineken while working.

So around 7:45pm we finally made it onto the hill and I think we caught the last 2 numbers by Prodigy.

Oasis came on, they are an amazing band but the sound was absolutely terrible and didn’t do them justice. Another set of speakers further back may have helped (but I may stand corrected on that by someone with superior knowledge of sound engineering.)

As we stayed near the back, our exit was reasonably swift. It was rather annoying to be approached by a large number of traders selling bottled water, and I think they caused obstruction on the exit routes more than anything.

I am a regular at large music and sports events so it was not the case that I was intimidated by the crowd or had unrealistic expectations about the length of time to move people around the venue. Some simple measures that would not have cost an awful lot could have made it a far more pleasant experience for everybody.

I work hard for my money and for €80 I expect an awful lot better than was served up last Saturday at Slane. Simply put, it was shoddy, dangerous and greed-driven event management. “Rip Off Ireland” is alive & well.

Slutmonkey57b

mspacman wrote: »

People were happy and felt priviliged at seeing one of the best bands in the world on top form!!!

Posting knowingly misleading or factually incorrect information can get you banned.

mspacman

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

Posting knowingly misleading or factually incorrect information can get you banned.

Are you for real???

Hahaha, so I could be banned, because I express my opinion...that I think Oasis are one of the best bands in the world!

mspacman

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

Posting knowingly misleading or factually incorrect information can get you banned.

Or are you referring to the fact that people were happy leaving the Manchester gig???

Sorry, I know that may be an alien concept here...but they were happy. People were singing, jumping around the place, happy out that they'd just seen Oasis!!!!

Slutmonkey57b

mspacman wrote: »

Are you for real???

Hahaha, so I could be banned, because I express my opinion...that I think Oasis are one of the best bands in the world!

Insert sense of humour here.

lordgoat

The irish are never happy unless they are getting treated like sh ite and think that it's perfectly acceptable.

Just because some may find how they were treated acceptable does not give them the right to say that everyone else is just moaning. If you actually read the thread and then commented resptectfully rather than say 'the irish are never happy unless they are complaining' it would be a far better contribution to the thread.

mspacman

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

Insert sense of humour here.

Is that sarcaism I detect??

:P

Helix

mspacman wrote: »

Er...WRONG! I went to see Oasis two weeks ago at Heaton Park, and been to gigs in other parts of the world as well.

There are countless gigs I can think of in recent years [in Ireland] where people have been mithering on and on, crying to Joe Duffy...blah blah f*ckin blah!!! (Oxegen the last couple years, the whole Barbara Streisand saga......)

It took us over three hours to get out of Heaton Park two weeks ago after the gig and noone was giving off about it. People were happy and felt priviliged at seeing one of the best bands in the world on top form!!!

youve either been to very very few gigs outside of ireland, of youve been hideously unlucky because the bull that accompanied slane this year (i say this year coz it was never that bad in any previous years i was there) is certainly the exception to the rule, rather than being even remotely near to commonplace

The Blonde One

mspacman wrote: »

Er...WRONG! I went to see Oasis two weeks ago at Heaton Park, and been to gigs in other parts of the world as well.



People were happy and felt priviliged at seeing one of the best bands in the world on top form!!!

Having spoken to others who were at the Manchester gigs, they would disagree with you. They've said Oasis were in the middle of another bust-up, barely acknowledged the crowd, didn't leave the stage and come back for an encore, and generally gave a mediocre performance. Oh, and they also said the crowd there were unreal scummy. Trying to big up the Manchester gigs just to make the Slanes peeps feel even worse, not cool....

NickNolte

Coincidental that all these people defending this horror show all have 1 or 2 posts. :rolleyes:

Where some people will complain about people being moaners, the rest of us will accuse the same people of accepting being treated like crap. Swings and roundabotus. The cold hard fact of the matter was that the organisation of the event was appalling; particularly after a certain time at the Dublin entrance and particularly on the way home after the gig. Anyone who was there and disagrees is just not looking at the facts.

BTE72

mspacman wrote: »

Or are you referring to the fact that people were happy leaving the Manchester gig???

Sorry, I know that may be an alien concept here...but they were happy. People were singing, jumping around the place, happy out that they'd just seen Oasis!!!!

i think he was joking!

mspacman

lordgoat wrote: »

The irish are never happy unless they are getting treated like sh ite and think that it's perfectly acceptable.

Just because some may find how they were treated acceptable does not give them the right to say that everyone else is just moaning. If you actually read the thread and then commented resptectfully rather than say 'the irish are never happy unless they are complaining' it would be a far better contribution to the thread.

I'm sorry, but I think it is pretty acceptable to say that the Irish are never happy unless they're moaning.

E.g. During the boom years, moaning about how people are greedy/obsessed by money, saying we were "much happier in the 80s" - now we have a complete shift, moaning about the recession and we were so much happier during the boom years.

Heatwave two weeks ago, moaning about the heat, rain comes, moaning about the rain.

90,000 people go to a gig in a field - moaning about it being crowded.

I work in a customer service role and I'm telling you, it's depressing having to listen to people coming in moaning every day!!!!!! Never friggin happy. Fair f*cks to Joe Duffy, I don't know how he does what he does!!

mspacman

The Blonde One wrote: »

Having spoken to others who were at the Manchester gigs, they would disagree with you. They've said Oasis were in the middle of another bust-up, barely acknowledged the crowd, didn't leave the stage and come back for an encore, and generally gave a mediocre performance. Oh, and they also said the crowd there were unreal scummy. Trying to big up the Manchester gigs just to make the Slanes peeps feel even worse, not cool....

Were you at the Manchester gigs? Er no. So don't go on like you were, telling me how they were! Where did you hear Oasis were mid-bustup....on Xpose or some tripe? I will admit, they were better at Slane, but still amazing at Heaton Park! They didn't talk to each other much at either gig...they're rarely on speaking terms! So get your facts right in the first place.

The left the stage in Manchester for a minute or two, and came back on for the encore.

And as for the crowd, yes it was scummy. But so what, they didn't frigging harm anyone. We were all there to see Oasis and got what we went for, a superb gig!!

lordgoat

mspacman wrote: »

I'm sorry, but I think it is pretty acceptable to say that the Irish are never happy unless they're moaning.

E.g. During the boom years, moaning about how people are greedy/obsessed by money, saying we were "much happier in the 80s" - now we have a complete shift, moaning about the recession and we were so much happier during the boom years.

Heatwave two weeks ago, moaning about the heat, rain comes, moaning about the rain.

90,000 people go to a gig in a field - moaning about it being crowded.

I work in a customer service role and I'm telling you, it's depressing having to listen to people coming in moaning every day!!!!!! Never friggin happy. Fair f*cks to Joe Duffy, I don't know how he does what he does!!

Yes you can say that if you like. I have a problem with large generalisations. If you take the time to read this thread, i have, you will see that most of the complaints are by genuine people and are were worded and described articulately.

In this post you say people were saying that 90,000 people in a field were giving out about over crowding - completely inaccurate. Read the thread again.

When you have someone like you coming in here belittling their experiences by saying they are never happy unless they are complaining is quite a smack in the face.

I have edited out alot of crappy whingy pointless post but by the majority of people complaining are genuine.

Shabbah

real_red wrote: »

even managed to get 2 pints and some food in between prodigy and oasis (and no i didn skip a que) so i find the hour queing stories abit exaggerated.

Absolutely no exagerration when I say that we queued at bar for an hour and a half (precisely) just after Prodigy had started (and other bar had closed because it "ran out of drink" apparently )

How, in under God, does a bar run out of drink at an event like this, they had MONTHS to prepare, YEARS of experience, and they knew at least 80000 peeople would be there!

There's no harm in wanting to enjoy a few drinks at an event like Slane, there's no harm in it.......it's part and parcel of my enjoyment of a day like Slane! If it was advertised as a non-alcoholic event I would never have bought a ticket. I like to enjoy beer AND music together, so shoot me!!!!!

Queues at bar were dangerous and rowdy and overcrowded and full of aggression aswell......people, in general, were so bloody narky (all of which would have been avoided had the event been organised properly)

We were lucky, in that the Bus we hopped on afterwards had a cheeky(ish) no-nonsense driver who ploughed on as soon as bus filled up, none of this waiting around craic that other drivers seemed to do. Back in Dub around 1am or so....

The Blonde One

mspacman wrote: »

Were you at the Manchester gigs? Er no. So don't go on like you were, telling me how they were! Where did you hear Oasis were mid-bustup....on Xpose or some tripe? I will admit, they were better at Slane, but still amazing at Heaton Park! They didn't talk to each other much at either gig...they're rarely on speaking terms! So get your facts right in the first place.

The left the stage in Manchester for a minute or two, and came back on for the encore.

And as for the crowd, yes it was scummy. But so what, they didn't frigging harm anyone. We were all there to see Oasis and got what we went for, a superb gig!!

No, I wasn't there (never said I was), but fortunately I was blessed with ears and I'm able to listen to what people say. Go back and read my post, I never said they spoke to each other at Slane either. Oh, and an Xpose insult....that hurt me real bad :rolleyes:
Why should people take what you say as being the last word? Other people have opinions, if ya took a moment to listen to them you might learn something.

Ryaller

mspacman wrote: »

I work in a customer service role and I'm telling you, it's depressing having to listen to people coming in moaning every day!!!!!! Never friggin happy. Fair f*cks to Joe Duffy, I don't know how he does what he does!!

He does what he does because he gets paid a pornographic amount of money.
And yeah, I could tell you were in customer service from your unswerving "glass is half full" chipper argument against the bleeding obvious.

Silverfox

TheTubes wrote: »

Boardsie quoted on the indo site:
http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/news-gossip/organiser-denies-gig-marred-by-chaos-1783112.html



This may have been posted already today but a very quick flick through the last few pages says no.

That was me and it was pretty early on! :rolleyes:

SarahMary

I've just written my e-mail of complaint to MCD and copied in Slane Castle events. It was very cathartic!

This was my 7th Slane concert, so I don't agree with all the people who are saying that "You're at a gig, what do you expect?" I wasn't expecting "teleportation to the bus" as others have suggested, because being there heaps of times before, I knew that we would have a fairly hefty walk to and from the gig.

The main issue with me is that the gig's lack of organisation made it really dangerous for people. It was far more overcrowded than any other Slane sold out concert that I've been to. I was really disappointed with the organisation.

The music itself was absolutely fantastic, but unfortunately, I'm not going back unless major changes are made for the next Slane gig.

NickNolte

This is just turning into a tit-for-tat bitch fest now. The fact of the matter is that if you were stuck trying to get in at the Dublin entrance around the time Kasabian started or you waited until the end and had a return ticket for Dublin Bus then the chances are you're going to complain... and rightly so. The organisation at both of these points was nothing short of a disgrace.

I know a few people who drove to the gig, arrived early, got a good spot, got to the bar before the queues formed and they say they had a great time. From what I can gather, Prodigy and Oasis were excellent. I only caught the first half of the Prodigy before I left so I don't know. Suffice to say I'm delighted that I got back to the buses at about 9.45 and got back to Dublin in less than 6 hours!

Where the gig was good for some lucky people, there are thousands that suffered absolute torture - particularly trying to get back to Dublin. They have every right to complain about the disorganised shambles without being labelled as 'typical Irish moaners' by a bunch of ignorant upstarts.

grumpytrousers

lordgoat wrote: »

I have a problem with large generalisations.

EVERYBODY has a problem with large generalisations.

kev1967

first experience of Slane, (I'm 42) could be one of my first posts as well. was in slane early and strolled in, strolled up to the bar 4 or 5 times, once Kasabian came in the bars got very busy, 45 minutes for the last few drinks, didnt bother with any after 8.30

Left after the last song and got on the first bus eirean bus and sat on it for a long time, eventually got into O Connell St at 4am.

at 10.30 I was going to Slane every year by 4am I wasnt too sure, really enjoyed the day, would have liked more beer and had a hangover by the time I got to bed

happydayz182

hmm

Got bus up from tipp aroud half 8...about 45 minute walk to venue with a few breaks for cans in the sun with the boys.. Smoothly went into venue ,cheked for tickets around 3 times, for around two got fairly low down near the acts ..soaked up the sun enjoyed a great great day ..Blizzards good...glasvegas s***e decided to get sum grub after them and again back in plenty of time for Kasabian who were unxpectantly brill ...Then prodigy where there was mosh pits fighting punching and injuries wit minimial stewards ..Obviously recked so went for water after that and our group got a bit split up for oasis who were unreal

Getting out was slow but not impossible are really really frustrating

All the problems seem to be the dublin side as the navan side seemed to have been smooth..any reasons for this?

NickNolte

happydayz182 wrote: »

All the problems seem to be the dublin side as the navan side seemed to have been smooth..any reasons for this?

• The sheer volume of people travelling back to Dublin being forced down a narrow, muddy bottleneck.
• The fact that Dublin bus and the Gardaí (or whoever was supposed to be responsible for sheparding people onto the buses) were completely and utterly disorganised, causing thousands of people to find themselves without transport for hours on end and massive traffic jams because buses weren't leaving in order from the front back.

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

I must be a jammy fecker:D

I arrived from the Navan direction (my mate was driving), we parked in the macklin car park, I think thats what it was called. There was so many farmers flagging people into their fields to park! Arrived around 1:00 pm, had a few cans, went in around 2:15, walked in no problem. was searched, and had tickets checked. There was no queue at that time at our entrance, we walked straight in! Kasibian, Prodigy, Oasis were unreal, has to be said!:) After oasis, we were against the pit barrier near centre stage. We managed to get through the crowd and back to the car in 45 mins, and we were not running or anything, walked from where we were standing, had to queue for around 15 mins at the red exit, which wasnt too bad, i've queued for longer when leaving marlay park. once we got to the car, we seen a few cars going to the other end of ther field to an exit, which was not sign posted at all, we didnt didnt know if was an exit, but it was either take a chance or leave the way we came in, which was now full of people! Arrived back in maynooth with a pizza at 12:15! I didnt know anything about the crowd problems until i listened to today fm thismorning, and I was shocked!! I had no problems at all!!
However some of the complaints i've herd are really annoying, "Loads of people were drunk.......bla bla bla" I think people were excepting an electric picnic crowd, and they got an oxegen crowd
Some complaints had good points, like around 25 people clecking tickets for 80,000 people! how many gates does croker have? Also from what ive herd, dublin bus Fcuked up.

Anway, thats my 2 cents, I guess I was VERY Lucky!!!:D

8k2q1gfcz9s5d4

mspacman wrote: »

I'm sorry, but I think it is pretty acceptable to say that the Irish are never happy unless they're moaning.

isn't the weather shocking!!!:D

presetbandit

A few pics from that lane in the forest.
from the very few security guys of which were radio less so if something did go wrong and we are lucky it didn't we would have been fe@ked esp as the prodigy were on stage at the time the photos were taken.

who in there right mind would let such a crowd (80,000 plus)into a 4/5m wide lane that was running into a dead-end/bottleneck like this with more and more people joining in to the que,in my mind the people who planed this and the health and safety people that allowed this need a good kick in the arse.

i had a good day at this but lack of planning/security and the bar which was a joke took alot away from my day , also have to admit that the Hillsborough Disaster came into my mind a few times .

another gig that would see 85 euro better spent would be http://www.dourfestival.be/en

have been the last 2 years in a row, how and why do we have it so bad for price and quality over here.

Gavin "shels"

NickNolte wrote: »

[*]Henry Mountcharles said on Liveline that the concert was a sold out last October

Found that funny myself, cause tickets didn't go on sale till November.:D

mspacman wrote: »

Oh and please God to all those moaning....PLEASE don't come to Oxegen/EP...cos those of us who actually want to enjoy the gigs and the music don't want to be subjected to your mithering on!!! Next time Oasis come to town, don't bother coming either, wait for the DVD to come out, then you can watch the gig from the comforts of your own cosy sitting room!!!

Have you been to Oxegen before? I worked at it last year and I'll tell ye one thing is wasn't half as badly organised as Slane.

starbelgrade

Tatum Fit Technology wrote: »

I must be a jammy fecker:D

I arrived from the Navan direction (my mate was driving), we parked in the macklin car park, I think thats what it was called. There was so many farmers flagging people into their fields to park! Arrived around 1:00 pm, had a few cans, went in around 2:15, walked in no problem. was searched, and had tickets checked. There was no queue at that time at our entrance, we walked straight in! Kasibian, Prodigy, Oasis were unreal, has to be said!:) After oasis, we were against the pit barrier near centre stage. We managed to get through the crowd and back to the car in 45 mins, and we were not running or anything, walked from where we were standing, had to queue for around 15 mins at the red exit, which wasnt too bad, i've queued for longer when leaving marlay park. once we got to the car, we seen a few cars going to the other end of ther field to an exit, which was not sign posted at all, we didnt didnt know if was an exit, but it was either take a chance or leave the way we came in, which was now full of people! Arrived back in maynooth with a pizza at 12:15! I didnt know anything about the crowd problems until i listened to today fm thismorning, and I was shocked!! I had no problems at all!!
However some of the complaints i've herd are really annoying, "Loads of people were drunk.......bla bla bla" I think people were excepting an electric picnic crowd, and they got an oxegen crowd
Some complaints had good points, like around 25 people clecking tickets for 80,000 people! how many gates does croker have? Also from what ive herd, dublin bus Fcuked up.

Anway, thats my 2 cents, I guess I was VERY Lucky!!!:D

I'd a similar experience. The crowd that came in from the Dublin side were the same crowd that went to see Barbara Streisand.

BumbleB

mspacman wrote: »

I'm sorry, but I think it is pretty acceptable to say that the Irish are never happy unless they're moaning.

E.g. During the boom years, moaning about how people are greedy/obsessed by money, saying we were "much happier in the 80s" - now we have a complete shift, moaning about the recession and we were so much happier during the boom years.

Heatwave two weeks ago, moaning about the heat, rain comes, moaning about the rain.

90,000 people go to a gig in a field - moaning about it being crowded.

I work in a customer service role and I'm telling you, it's depressing having to listen to people coming in moaning every day!!!!!! Never friggin happy. Fair f*cks to Joe Duffy, I don't know how he does what he does!!

I came from the derry side even though Im from dublin as i knew that was going to happen.

I think everybody knows the score in Ireland .We've a pretty good record at being s**t at organising stuff so I always expect the worse.

No excuse however, the late pope john paul came to phoenix park years ago and 1.3 million people came there to see him and according to my dad there was no issues with transportation.

This isn't typical moaning . There was very real problems there THIS YEAR, Slane was more overcrowded than I've ever seen it definetely at least 100,000 + there. The bar was a fiasco. The stewarts were rubbish some of them ,one (Irish) w****r stewart was extremely very rude too me.They didn't even check my rucksack for drink.

I personally thought Oasis were rubbish and they were just going through the motions.

On a plus side it was a nice day and at least it didn't turn to a mudslide .I got a nice tan drinking in the field and met some lovely ladies also the prodigy were fab.

flas

another thing whih i found was crazy was me and 2 mates stopped a female gardai and asked her if she knew anything about where to get the bus back too dublin from after the gig after we had been walking for ages,her actual advice was to "plead and beg" one of the private bus drivers to let us on and bring us home,we were shocked,all we could do was laugh and keep on walking!

Neo#

flas wrote: »

another thing whih i found was crazy was me and 2 mates stopped a female gardai and asked her if she knew anything about where to get the bus back too dublin from after the gig after we had been walking for ages,her actual advice was to "plead and beg" one of the private bus drivers to let us on and bring us home,we were shocked,all we could do was laugh and keep on walking!

I was right beside you when you asked her I think. It made me even more angry!

ronbyrne2005

Maybe they could set up some temporary car parks in the fields on other side of River opposite the main stage and set up temporary bridges to get people across. Gravel could be put down on several large fields and busses arranged in best manner to faciltate easy and rapid departure.

ronbyrne2005

http://www.independent.ie/national-news/organisers-promise-review-to-tackle-chaos-at-oasis-show-1784839.html

THE organisers of the controversial Oasis concert at Slane have admitted there were problems and say they will work to prevent a repeat at future gigs at the famous venue.

The owner of Slane Castle also acknowledged yesterday there were "serious problems" at Saturday's event.

As concert-goers claimed they feared for their safety at the 80,000-capacity venue, Lord Henry Mountcharles pledged to address the issues raised.

Promoter MCD has also asked anyone with complaints to get in touch directly by email at contact@mcd.ie.

All the problems highlighted by fans will be looked at -- including transport, queues for bars, and access to the venue -- at a debriefing meeting to be held in the coming weeks.

MCD, Lord Mountcharles, Dublin Bus, Bus Eireann, and the gardai will attend the meeting; but it is understood that there will be no fans' representatives present.

Their stories continued to emerge yesterday with some telling how they waited in ditches in the cold to get home, while others told how they witnessed serious assaults and drug busts in the VIP area.

Others experienced overcrowding and some crushing, while one woman fan was kicked in the face.

MCD maintained that attendance and capacity at the concert was 80,000, amid claims that more had gained entry without having their tickets checked. They said ticket scanning checks were suspended for about 30 minutes shortly after 6.35pm at one entrance to ease queues and a build-up of people through the forest laneway.

"However, at the same time the gate behind them at the bridge entrance was closed thus ensuring that no one could enter the system knowing that ticket

BaZmO*

I find it funny that people that actually had no real problems getting to and from the venue keep slating those that did calling them typical Irish whingers. Just because you had a trouble free day doesn't mean that others did too.

Plus the excuse that it's just what's to be expected at gigs like this and it's always been like this is not good enough. What's wrong with wanting improved conditions?

There is no point in complaining about drunk and boisterous people or even people taking drugs cos that's something that happens at gigs and it will never change, but there should be a certain level of competent organisation that should be expected at events like these. Nobody is looking for a red carpet laid from O'Connell Street to the Main Stage ffs.

I think the organisers got very lucky that no one got seriously injured and also with the weather conditions.

On the plus side though I reckon this time they'll have to make some serious changes, it's just a shame that it takes serious fvck ups for things to change in this country rather than gradual improvements.

Slutmonkey57b

I've been to Slane before, and like a lot of people have said, it's not a venue for the faint hearted. I also don't think it's as good a venue as people like to say it is. Whether you're of the opinion that people should just suck it up, or that everyone should arrive at the venue on a litter carried by four servants, the picture below is the single most damning indictment of MCD and Mountcharles, because they have no answer to the following question:

If there is an emergency in the middle of that crowd, where are people going to go?
If someone needs medical attention, how are you going to get to them?
If there's a fire, or a panic, or a rush, how are people going to get OUT of there?


a) You can't, and they're not.

presetbandit wrote: »

dixiefly

In the indo they have mentioned that a woman got kicked in the face!! Anyone see that?

The organisers said they would improve it for the next time. They should never get a licence until they can spell out clearly their new improved systems. So so lucky that they wasnt a fatality.

All the investigations in the world wont help those effected by this. If cost cutting and running with less staff has caused this then the people running the event should not profit out of the cutbacks. The organisers should be forced to make a €500k donation to charity as a recognition of this.

Bluetonic

BaZmO* wrote: »

I find it funny that people that actually had no real problems getting to and from the venue keep slating those that did calling them typical Irish whingers.

It's nearly as funny as people who experienced no problems being accused of being employees of MCD by those who experienced problems. Fact is lots of people had no problems and lots of people had problems.

Slutmonkey57b wrote: »

If there is an emergency in the middle of that crowd, where are people going to go?
If someone needs medical attention, how are you going to get to them?
If there's a fire, or a panic, or a rush, how are people going to get OUT of there?

Why not ask the question of Meath County Council who granted permission for it to be used as an entrance?

BaZmO*

Bluetonic wrote: »

It's nearly as funny as people who experienced no problems being accused of being employees of MCD by those who experienced problems.

I know, I cringe when anybody says that. But then again everything is a conspiracy nowadays. :rolleyes:

Bluetonic

BaZmO* wrote: »

I know, I cringe when anybody says that. But then again everything is a conspiracy nowadays. :rolleyes:

paulocon

dixiefly wrote: »

In the indo they have mentioned that a woman got kicked in the face!! Anyone see that?

The organisers said they would improve it for the next time. They should never get a licence until they can spell out clearly their new improved systems. So so lucky that they wasnt a fatality.

All the investigations in the world wont help those effected by this. If cost cutting and running with less staff has caused this then the people running the event should not profit out of the cutbacks. The organisers should be forced to make a €500k donation to charity as a recognition of this.

Did I miss something or was there a massive humanitarian crisis on Sunday?

Got a text yesterday to switch on Joe Duffy and it provided a good hour of entertainment.. fair play to Joe as he managed to get the word 'fatality' in there at least twice. Loved the callers who started with the line 'I've been an Oasis fan since before I was born.. I'm in my late thirties and work as a banker in the City so I would consider myself sensible....'.

I went, had a great day and got home without any problems. From what I read on here, the issues that need to be addressed seem to be...

- Why did people queue 2 hours to get in and end up missing Kasabian? (MCD)
- What the hell happened with the buses? (Dublin Bus)
- Who came up with the bright idea of only handing out 2 pints at the bar? (MCD)

If you feel that strongly about what happened, sent a letter or email to the relevant company..

As for all the other stuff about drunkenness, drug-taking, walking, muck, isolated fights etc. it was a rock concert after all

If only the Joe Duffy show was around in the 80's.....
http://www.tribune.ie/archive/article/2007/jul/22/the-night-the-riot-police-got-my-cider/