AC/DC Punchestown 28/06/09

just back

good gig, bit of crack
not a huge dc fan but enjoyed it

we arrived at the goffs park and ride at about quarter to six
and made the gig at 8.15 approx, nightmare

left early to get out as we had a ten yr old with us
and were not doing another two hours to goffs

the gig was fun but the rain damped it a bit
and the 45min q for a beer!

cheers

4

Eglinton wrote: »

Just back in Dublin.

Left Dublin at 4. Arrived at Goffs Park and Ride at 4.25. Queued for 1 hour 20 mins to get on a bus. It drove 1km to the ramp onto the motorway and was in total grid lock. We gave it ten minutes. No movement so we walked the rest of the way to Punchestown in the rain. It was a 9.68 KM walk according to the phone GPS. Took 1 hour 50 minutes and arrived at the venue a little after 8 totally shattered. Our bus never caught up with us. Grand total of 4 hours after we left Dublin! We left the gig a few songs from the end and just made the first round of buses at 11 o'clock ahead of a MASSIVE queue. Back in Dublin at 12. I would not like to be left in that queue.

Good gig in between though but I will never travel to another gig outside Dublin. Infrastructure and organisation cannot cope.

EDIT: The guys I was with were in Slane last week and they said the ACDC gig transport situation was far worse.

Sounds like hell.


Anybody with any pictures of the gig that they would like to share?

Got to Goffs at 1.30. Got to venue at 2.30. Ended up queuing for ages to get into area outside stage. Got in for 4.30. Blizzards were late going on but blasted through set. In front of barrier in front of vip zone was mental. Stuck it out though. Image of Angus on top of sound stage in the pissing rain lit by spots made it all worth it. Still on bus back to goffs atm. Gotta drive to limerick yet

Just in,great gig AC/DC on form as usual. Only gripe the moronic security attached to the bus queing, their system was a joke. Goodnight.

Just back now from the gig with the boyfriend and another mate,

AC/DC were fúcking amazing, never really been that into them to begin with but christ, talk about rocking out. They were unbelievable, a few real good crowd pleasers in there, loved the atmosphere, it was just brilliant... AC/DC fans are mental, seen some things at that gig that I've never seen in my life... :eek:

Blizzards were crap, I actually thought the radio was on for 3/4 of the time that they were on stage, they even said something along the lines of "We know you don't want to hear us, but we're gonna do our thing anyway"... At least that's what it sounded like, was fairly pissed at that stage.. The Answer were ok, couldn't really hear them tbh, something was weird with the sound, or maybe we were just too far back? I dunno...

Transport wise... well, I dunno. Getting there was grand, Mammy dropped us at Goffs to the park and ride, at around 2.30, we sat around and had a can or two and got a bus no bother. Traffic was a bit heavy on the way there, but otherwise alrite. Crazy bus of people ahead of us, at one point, they just hopped out of the bus and started walking? They were flutered by the looks of things, driver was swerving tryna avoid them... Got to Punchestown at about 3.45 maybe a bit earlier. Was waiting for AGES at the drop off point to get in, but gates didn't open til around half four I think it was, and then things got moving.

Getting home was a different kettle of fish altogether... We left before the encore because despite bf's protestations, I knew there'd be slim hope of us getting out of there before 1 if we didn't leave then. Felt bad when AC/DC came back on stage and did Highway to Hell which was amazing, we were nearly out of the main area but managed to get a good listen with a good crowd so didn't miss out on the encore too much. One thing I'll say for the way out, I thought it was very poorly lit, but was a bit pished so maybe that was just me?

Started queueing for buses back to Goffs at around half 11 and whatever was with our queue, the EMPTY buses just kept skipping us? We were all getting really annoyed, and then this WAGON skipped the queue and started singing and pissing everyone off, christ she was a pain, and she refused to get to the back of the queue, so three people didn't get on our bus because that muppet skipped the queue with her two mates and the steward did fcuk all about it, even though we were all shouting to get to the back... EVENTUALLY a bus came, and we got and it and it was a grand road back to Goffs, save for a few hold ups coming into naas itself but got back to Goffs and got my taxi and all. Home before 1 and in bed now with a cuppa. Very rock and roll.

Think I got away very lucky though, wait and see...


also apologies for the excessive and unnecessary detail, still a wee bit drunk

drove down with 3 mates. left dublin @ 5.30 and went down the N81 to blessington. found a handy spot about 1Km from the red car park and left the car there. went in and caught the start of 'the answer'. no great shakes IMO. ac/dc rocked and we stayed to the end, though we had edged to the rear by the end of the encore. got to the car at 12 and it only took 30 mins to get back up the (deserted) N81 to dublin. home @ 12.30, result!

Just back now, have to say it was a great show despite some moronic crowd surfers (the pyramids were good though despite a couple of painful looking collapses!) AC/DC were, well, AC/DC, they are the best live band in world, no contest. Have to say the sound was amazingly good for an outdoor gig. The Answer were solid, a good warm-up for the main event, and the Blizzards were, well, they were there.

As for getting in and out, well, it was as bad as I expected but not horrific, mainly because I didn't come in via the motorways. The guards really didn't look like they knew what they were doing though, as regards traffic management, and it showed. The weather was another downer, but it could have been worse too, I suppose.

All in all, though, the main event really was the main event, and as someone said, the shot of Angus on the platform with the rain caught in the spotlights was the image of the day for me (one I managed to capture quite well too, I'm happy to say).

queued for a bus to goffs shortly after 11 got to goffs at 2.... acdc rocked venue ****e never again ****ing joke, tired now and have work in three hours ! sleep!

AC/DC were excellent, and the sound was amazing. The stage is easily the biggest I have ever seen....and I will never forget the TRAIN OF ROCK dominating the back of the stage

Will have to echo the terrible and bitter complaints about the venue and transportation. Simply put...i'll NEVER attend a Slane or Punchestown gig ever again. They cannot get it right!!

It's a real stain on the gig that the last thing you remember is being herded onto a bus like a pack animal...only to find that 1000 people have crashed through the barriers and taken all the buses

We left Dublin at around 5:15, and it was after 8:30 when we got there. We basically walked from the exit off the motorway like 99% of the crowd. We walked all the way to Nass and on to Punchestown.

Who's feckin idea was it to attempt to bring all them buses down them tiny little back roads. No bus lane!!! Why encourage public transport if there is no extra provision for the buses at all.

atariman wrote: »

Gettin in and out wasn't that bad. Once you were in the town (Naas) you were ok.
We had a shedload of pints in Naas, started walkin about six, hailed a taxi that got by the cops half a mile out, and were there ten minutes later. Fair enough, leavin we had to go before the end to beat the crowd, but we only had to queue for about fifteen minutes before we were on a bus.
It's a gig with an estimated crowd of 80,000-100,000 so I don't know how people expect to get in and out easily if they don't plan ahead. Personally I had a blast. Roll on Oxegen!!:pac:

How long did it take you to get to NASS mate? Took us the guts of 4 hours, and we were walking for most of it. The buses never caught up with us....and within 5 minutes of entering the gig some drunken Nordie was starting on me mate

Still had a great time, sound was excellent and ACDC rocked. Left just b4 the encore and was in the first wave to storm Omaha beach. Got home to Dublin for 1:00am (I think we did well)

Had it with big gigs in this country tho...we simply are not able to run them. The infrastructure is not there...I blame FF for the whole thing *****rs

Fantastic gig, the lads are ageless. we must have been in the lucky few. Stayed for the encore, and walked to the car park then hopped in the car, and was home to laois in an hour. thought twas great. But we seem to have been the lucky (jammy) few. We were complementing the organisation and everything, oops.

Left Dublin 6pm, drove to Johnstown, parked up.
Took bike out of boot and cycled to punchestown - arriving shortly after 7
Same story on way back - left gig after fireworks with crowd, on my bike and back in Dublin before midnight.

Not a big AD/DC fan, but a super gig and one not to miss - certainly an experience

there's something else at play here folks. have been to gigs in punchestown b4 and seen many many gig crowds pass through over the last few years with no hassle at all. Up until yesterday was thinking that it was one of the better venues. Yesterday was by far the worst I've seen there. With Oxegen I know people arrive over a few days so that makes it easier but even previous once off gigs there was never this kind of traffic chaos. The police presence yesterday seemed well down on previous years - don't the promotors pay for this? Are there not minimum numbers that have to police these events. No point in blaming dublin bus - traffic was just not moving and thats down to promotors/guards. So the question is - are we seeing less policing of these events now? Slane and now this? Is it down to penny pinching? Having to leave a gig before the end to make sure you get home is a disgrace and seems to be coming the accepted norm - we should not be accepting that!!!