AC/DC Punchestown 28/06/09

gandalf · 30-06-2009 9:35pm

Just sent a complaint into Kildare County Council via here http://kildare.ie/CountyCouncil/CustomerCare/

If someone can let me know which Government Department we can complain to let me know. Have also mailed newstalk.

Am considering the HSA but they only cover workplace accidents and safety so I doubt they cover events. Any one know who would cover events from a safety aspect?

Bobeagleburger · 30-06-2009 9:39pm

Starie1975 wrote: »

I've an email address set up Concertsafetyinireland@gmail.com. Send all your stories to it, pass it on to all your mates and ask them to do the same. Anybody who was at slane should sent on to that e-mail address too. I'll compile all the mails and send them on to all the press, Kildare Co.Co, Meath Co co and anyone else you guys think I (or we) should send it to. Not trying to be a do gooder or be a winger but I think we should do something about what happened.

Complain about what?

All I remember is the gig of the year. The long walk etc etc is a distance memory

lordgoat · 30-06-2009 9:53pm

rarnes1 wrote: »

Complain about what?

All I remember is the gig of the year. The long walk etc etc is a distance memory

You can read right? Then use that ability to read the long list of complaints posted by people. Again, the same as in the Slane thread, i find myself having to deal with annoying posts from you. Anymore of them and they won't be in this forum.

If you wish to reply to this do it by PM.

Loopy · 30-06-2009 11:59pm

Jesus, I cant believe some of these stories..
We too went and thought AC/DC absolutely rocked but the organisation was a farce.
Park and Ride my arse..
Took an hour to get into Goffs
We then walked for an hr and half to punchestown down back roads as the queues for the shuttle were an absolute joke.
Queued again for beer for 40 mins and then 20 mins for a burger.
By the time they came on I was shattered..:p

Luckily, we got collected at the gig and amazingly walked out the gate walked for ten mins and lift was waiting my sis-in-law - how the hell she found where to go is beyond me as she hadnt a clue where punchestown was.. And shes only a teenager...

Something should be done about MCD
Greedy bastards have no concept how to run an outdoor gig

I cant believe there was 1 tiny exit for 80,000 people
Where in the name of God would you get it?

Having said all that, the band were fantastic...

Latchy · 01-07-2009 12:34am

I believe Slane was a bit of nightmare this year to .Like way to many people there than should have being .These promoters would not get away with it in other countries but sometimes you think in Ireland they do .Glastonbury may have it's faults but compared to slane / punchestown it's well organised .

Ciaran · 01-07-2009 12:44am

AC/DC were awesome as most have said, but like nearly everyone else I had a nightmare getting out. The queueing for the Goffs buses was a joke; a huge crowd of people trying to squash into little funnels by the buses with barely any movement until the Dublin Buses saved the day. There were hardly any stewards either, I'd be afraid of what could have happened if the crushing got any worse.

I got in reasonably early (before the gates opened) so didn't have big problems on the way in, it was pretty slow from Naas to where the two routes merged but not much worse than what I expected tbh.

Numina wrote: »

Here's a question for everyone. Did anybody even see one black person there?Because out of the thousands of people that I passed, not one of them was black.

Strange question. There was a black guy in front of me (just behind the pit barrier on the right) before AC/DC came on.

Latchy · 01-07-2009 12:45am

Originally Posted by Numina
Here's a question for everyone. Did anybody even see one black person there?Because out of the thousands of people that I passed, not one of them was black

Hundreds of them in Glastonbury ......some were even on the stage

al123 · 01-07-2009 1:11am

well its 2 days after the concert and I am still in bits after the longest walk to punchestown.Got off the bus around 4 on the motorway and walked untill about 8 ish, missed the blizzards and did not think the answer were that great. Took us over half an hour to buy the overpriced pints, and dont even get me started on getting back to dublin. Acdc were unreal, but the whole getting there and back completely ruined the whole experience. People are right to complain about the services, for the amount of money that were paid for the concert and bus tickets it was a joke. Surprised no1 got hurt. Definately best and worst concert iv evr been to. Never again would i set my foot to a concert in punches or anywhere outside dublin.

grimm2005 · 01-07-2009 3:45am

I'm surprised so many people had trouble getting to the gig. We left town about 1:15, in punchestown around 2:30, queued till around 4/4:15 (which was worth it when we got pit passes), had a burger and a beer with no queue and chilled out on the grass till the music started.
Sounds like it was worth gettin there a couple of hours earlier from all the horror stories. The buses back were the only problem, although by the sounds of it it coulda been worse. twas about 1hr30 wait for a bus and then about another 1hr30 before back in dublin. The crowd organisation was horrendous alright but not enough to spoil the night for me

fritzbrilly · 01-07-2009 8:37am

ac/dc were and always will be amazin, everyone who was there was there to see them, that bloody field they put us in was a joke u would put ****in sheep into it and the beer and food wass crap and usual ireland rips off the people.....................long live ac/dc thank god they rocked

GlindaGale · 01-07-2009 8:51am

Ciaran wrote: »

AC/DC were awesome as most have said, but like nearly everyone else I had a nightmare getting out. The queueing for the Goffs buses was a joke; a huge crowd of people trying to squash into little funnels by the buses with barely any movement until the Dublin Buses saved the day. There were hardly any stewards either, I'd be afraid of what could have happened if the crushing got any worse.

Hang on, Dublin Bus saved the day? What? In my opinion, they were the biggest problem. We were queing for an hour and a half at the top of the Dublin bus queue and were then told to go down the other end as they were only letting people on there. We walked to the other end of the queue only to be told to go to back to the top of the queue as they were no longer letting people on the busses at that end. It was a disaster, I saw so many half-filled busses leaving the venue and they were letting people with no tickets on, therefore creating a riot which blocked the way of the buses, creating a huge traffic jam at the exit. When we finally got on a bus, we had to sit on it for an hour and a half before it even moved.

You're right about the stewards, I saw very few and the ones I did see were overwhelmed by the sheer volume of people in the queue. I saw one poor steward bawling her eyes out as some guy in the queue had hurled abuse at her and his girlfriend slapped her! Ridiculous.

Ronan|Raven · 01-07-2009 9:31am

I think he was referring to Dublin Bus saving the day at the queue for Goffs park and walk.

As soon as the Gardai arrived on scene and took over and got the dublin bus double deckers down to us things actually moved in a relatively fast amount of time. If they had a fleet of double deckers for the park and ride it would have been cleared in no time.

You left the gig followed the overhead signs that were just about visible with the amount of lighting went around the maze of barriers designed to funnel you into the area for goffs and then after seeing one or two stewards you arrived into a mass of people, surely it would have been a better plan to hold people back in the funelling section and then filling up each boarding area..

dcr22B · 01-07-2009 9:37am

Firstly, sorry to hear about all the horror stories for people who bussed it to the gig.

My story was a hell of a lot simpler and strangely much less stressful.

Left the IFSC in the car after being at the Dubs match in Croke Park at 6pm, arrived in Johnstown at 6.50pm (just caught the back end of the ridiculous traffic snarl-up at J8/J9 of the N7). I'd already devised a backroad route on the map before leaving (and had verified it with the Gardaí in Naas last week to make sure the roads weren't open). Arrived at the Blue Car Park at 7.15pm and parked down in Section B5.

Gig itself, no more needs to be said about it than what was already mentioned here.

Walked back to the car afterwards arriving at the car for 11.45pm and exited by 12am (despite being told that we would have to wait at least an hour before exiting). Home for 1.30am!

That said, I'll always be driving to these kind of gigs from now on or avoiding them like the plague and sticking to urban gigs.

GlindaGale · 01-07-2009 9:46am

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

I think he was referring to Dublin Bus saving the day at the queue for Goffs park and walk.

As soon as the Gardai arrived on scene and took over and got the dublin bus double deckers down to us things actually moved in a relatively fast amount of time. If they had a fleet of double deckers for the park and ride it would have been cleared in no time.

Oh right, I was unaware of that, I was obviously too busy whinging about my own situation at the time to notice anybody elses, I have heard that the park and ride was a joke!

Bluefoam · 01-07-2009 10:25am

dcr22B wrote: »

Walked back to the car afterwards arriving at the car for 11.45pm and exited by 12am (despite being told that we would have to wait at least an hour before exiting). Home for 1.30am!.

To get back to B5 by 11.45 you would have to have missed the encore!

I don't see the point in paying €86 for a gig and not staying for the full show... AC/DC were incredible, I wouldn't have missed a moment of it... & would have accepted another 3 hours wait just to get one more song out of them....

dcr22B · 01-07-2009 10:47am

Bluefoam wrote: »

To get back to B5 by 11.45 you would have to have missed the encore!

I don't see the point in paying €86 for a gig and not staying for the full show... AC/DC were incredible, I wouldn't have missed a moment of it... & would have accepted another 3 hours wait just to get one more song out of them....

Maybe it wasn't 11.45 pm but we definitely saw the encore and the fireworks as well and we were out of the car park within 15 minutes.

I fully agree with you about paying so much and leaving early.

Quint · 01-07-2009 11:05am

I sent a complaint to MCD via their feedback thingie. More complaints the better, usually no one actually bothers complaning and even though MCD know it was a disaster, they can say "we only had 2 complaints from 80,000 people".
I'm mailing kildare CC, these guys shouldn't get licences for concerts with such bad organisation

budhabob · 01-07-2009 11:08am

dcr22B wrote: »

Maybe it wasn't 11.45 pm but we definitely saw the encore and the fireworks as well and we were out of the car park within 15 minutes.

I fully agree with you about paying so much and leaving early.

We did similar, saw the encore and fireworks, walked back to the car (the lack of drink taken meant we could overtake all the wobblers), took us bout 15mins to get out of the car park, and 40mins home to portarlington. happy days.

opinionking · 01-07-2009 12:52pm

it seems most of the people here would be best suited to a pusscat dolls, or maybe a mcfly concert????

why would you go to acdc if you cant put up with a bit of rain and maybe some traffic....

I travelled from Limerick and had no troubles at all, was there for blizzards and home at 4, am i complaining like all of you??

No.

To the ones who the rain didn't bother and enjoyed it, thumbs up, it was ****ing unreal.

DUBACC · 01-07-2009 1:00pm

Defo the best gig i've seen in years. I can't comment on getting to and coming from the gig by bus but, as i mentioned earlier in this thread, we drove in and it was simple. An hour from bray to the blue car park and same coming home.

TheDemiurge · 01-07-2009 1:07pm

opinionking wrote: »

it seems most of the people here would be best suited to a pusscat dolls, or maybe a mcfly concert????

why would you go to acdc if you cant put up with a bit of rain and maybe some traffic....

I travelled from Limerick and had no troubles at all, was there for blizzards and home at 4, am i complaining like all of you??

No.

To the ones who the rain didn't bother and enjoyed it, thumbs up, it was ****ing unreal.

It was such an amazing and surreal experience for a gig, agree with you there.

I think people are just concerned that someday there could be a serious incident that could be the straw that breaks the camel's back on outdoor gigs happening in the future. The atmosphere down at the buses at the end was like out of a Holocaust movie.

Having said that, can't stop thinking about how amazing AC/DC were. I can't see any gig in the future comparing with Sunday.

Ciaran · 01-07-2009 1:10pm

Ronan|Raven wrote: »

I think he was referring to Dublin Bus saving the day at the queue for Goffs park and walk.

That's what I meant, yeah. The Dublin Bus queues were just as bad from I've heard.

You left the gig followed the overhead signs that were just about visible with the amount of lighting went around the maze of barriers designed to funnel you into the area for goffs and then after seeing one or two stewards you arrived into a mass of people, surely it would have been a better plan to hold people back in the funelling section and then filling up each boarding area..

I'm pretty sure that maze of barriers before you got to the 'queues' for the park and ride buses was exactly as it was on the way in. I don't think they moved those barriers at all.

Pedro K · 01-07-2009 1:14pm

opinionking wrote: »

it seems most of the people here would be best suited to a pusscat dolls, or maybe a mcfly concert????

why would you go to acdc if you cant put up with a bit of rain and maybe some traffic....

I travelled from Limerick and had no troubles at all, was there for blizzards and home at 4, am i complaining like all of you??

No.

To the ones who the rain didn't bother and enjoyed it, thumbs up, it was ****ing unreal.

Eh, did you actually read half of the posts?

Traffic is traffic, it happens.

Rain can't be controlled, I personally didn't mind the rain at all, and had good fun once I got on the bus with everyone else on it.

However!

The lack of competent stewards created a dangerous situation. THAT, unlike the rain, could have been controlled.

Slutmonkey57b · 01-07-2009 1:44pm

I complained to MCD, demanded some compensation (I don't expect an acknowledgement much less any compensation), and wrote a very long complaint to Kildare Council, sent it to some of the councillors too, and wrote to the planning department requesting information on MCD's licence. There were no stewards around to deal with the crowd, it was a disaster waiting to happen.

blastman · 01-07-2009 2:08pm

opinionking wrote: »

it seems most of the people here would be best suited to a pusscat dolls, or maybe a mcfly concert????

why would you go to acdc if you cant put up with a bit of rain and maybe some traffic....

I travelled from Limerick and had no troubles at all, was there for blizzards and home at 4, am i complaining like all of you??

No.

To the ones who the rain didn't bother and enjoyed it, thumbs up, it was ****ing unreal.

You're not complaining because you have no reason to, good for you, but not everyone in a crowd of 80000 or so is going to have an identical experience. Some people don't actually like being cold and wet, but no-one said the band were crap or blamed MCD because of it.

LostinBlanch · 01-07-2009 2:28pm

I'm glad to hear people complaining to mcd or to dublin bus or kildare co co. I wouldn't hold out much hope for getting any satisfaction though.

But if enough people took out actions in the small claims court against the organisers, Dublin Bus etc for not providing the service advertised etc it would cause them to pay attention and hopefully not have such fiascos in the future. It only costs €15 and it could work.

EDIT: or at the very least put pressure on them, and negative publicity etc.

EDIT 2: If this post causes probs for boards (not that it should but just in case), mods please delete.

Dcully · 01-07-2009 2:54pm

As bad as the after show disaster was another big issue was there was no stewards or security to be seen.
I kept thinking what if someone was seriously unwell where we were standing?
I saw a first aid sign off in the distance but in all seriousness any paramedic or first aid would be 20-30 minutes getting to us such was the crowd.
This sort of scenario simply cannot go on.

Why is it only concerts in venues like slane and punchestown that there is little security or medical personal to be seen?
Anytime ive gone to Croke park or similar there was security and first aid everywhere.
Yes i realise there is a difference between a stadium and a field but surely there has to be a certain standard and number of security and medical staff strategically stationed around the field?
I would of thought this was even more important in a field than a stadium.
It was like putting 80,000 cattle into a field with little or no care for their safety.
Never again will i go to Punchestown or Slane.
Some of the 22 of us that went to ACDC are going to Oxygen, most including my brother are considering offloading their tickets.
Furthermore i saw plenty of people just walk by the girl that was scanning my ticket,nobody seemed to care or try to stop them.

ACDC rocked but the rest was a disaster waiting to happen.
Im pretty sure U2 at Croke park or Springsteen in RDS or any other stadium concert will be so much better organised.
These field or non stadium venues should be banned until much better planning,logistics,security,emergency services, etc are put in place - simple as.
Us Irish take too much lying down and dont take action or complain enough,thats exactly why we had to endure such chaos at ACDC.

On the strength of this thread ive had a newspaper reporter contact me looking to speak some more, [im guessing others have too] im seriously considering taking up the offer if it might just might save a life sometime.

Sinderella · 01-07-2009 3:01pm

I've sent my complaint via the 'contact us' on the MCD website but I noticed above it that it says comments about an event you have been to should be sent by post. I'm wondering is that their excuse to ignore us lol!?

I might send them a letter too.

TBH, I'll be very annoyed if they don't reply. I sent a complaint to them before and got a response and offer of free tickets, albeit to a choice of one gig, one that was on the night they emailed me, so there was no way I could go. :rolleyes: At least I got a response.

I'll be writing to Naas Town Council and KCC if I get no satisfaction from MCD. I live in Naas so they can FO if they think I'll let it drop.

Has anyone had a response from them?

I'll post it if I get one.

KerranJast · 01-07-2009 3:03pm

Dcully wrote: »

Some of the 22 of us that went to ACDC are going to Oxygen, most including my brother are considering offloading their tickets.

There should be less logistical problems at Oxygen because it'll be spread over a whole weekend.

Dcully · 01-07-2009 3:08pm

KerranJast wrote: »

There should be less logistical problems at Oxygen because it'll be spread over a whole weekend.

Yes indeed but the whole experience has not given them any faith and seemed to have turned them right off Punchestown.

AC/DC Punchestown 28/06/09

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