My thoughts on the disaster that was meant to be a music festival
First, I want to say that I attended Bloc last year, coming all the way from San Francisco, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Thus, I felt it was a good investment of my time and money to come back this year. So many names on the line up, many of which we almost never (if not never) get to see in the States, seemed like a worthwhile investment on my part. And, given how awesome Bloc was in 2011, I had no reason to believe this would be any different. In fact, it should be easier as I could stay in London and not worry about transport to some far and away bit of Britain.
When I arrived, I could already see that things were fucked. That much of a line at 6 PM was a truly bad sign. It was moving somewhat rapidly, and it wasn't as long as I've experienced for some concerts, but I could see from the outside that the venue did not have the capacity to support all the folks in line, let alone all the people who would show up from 6 PM onward. That could be quite a number of people! Now, I'm not good at estimating numbers or volume, but I can only assume, as event producers, that that is your primary focus when throwing an event such as Bloc in a new location. Will it fit everyone? And will it fit everyone in the main arena at midnight when EVERYONE and their dog wants to see Snoop?
I could immediately tell that something was wrong as I entered the twisty windy bit of the entrance and we were herded through like cattle at an abattoir. I never like that feeling when I'm going into a show, but I accept it as part of the security pat down and screening process. It's just a part of life in the 21st century. Got to make sure no one has a weapon or a massive stash of drugs. Fine, whatever, let's get in and see Steve Reich!
Things went rapidly downhill once I went in. I saw Steve Reich (one of my long time dreams, thanks for that!) and I wandered over to the Ableton boat. I quite enjoyed the set up you had -- truly attractive with lots of thought to detail (skeleton horses! steampunk punch bar! fire breathing dragon!). It was lovely, really. But as soon as I wandered over that way, I could see that there wouldn't be much reason to hike over this way, as all the music was focused in one big area. I bet most people that night didn't even head toward that part of the event. Their loss, but also a big fail on the part of the Bloc producers and venue providers, as they didn't seem to account for this in their capacity planning.
Look, I know you need to recoup costs and all, but you have to assume all the people you sell tickets to will want to be in the main area during midnight; it's just a given and a law of physics of crowds. You have to make sure things are safe, that you have enough security and that you can sell water (and other drinks) quickly enough to sate the crowd. This just didn't seem to be accounted for.
Add to that the fact that you couldn't even get on the boat, even if you wanted to.
The worst thing I experienced at the event, other than the fear of being trampled to death when everyone pushed down the barriers to get in to see Snoop, was people smoking and pissing in corners. Since no one could leave the stage areas for fear of not getting back in, they were just peeing where they could and smoking everywhere. I really loved how Butlins had a place outside to smoke and plenty of nice bathrooms. Portapotties at 100 Pounds a ticket is a bit ridiculous. And coming home reeking of smoke? Not my cup of tea. Butlins was such a pleasant and fun experience. I met tons of people going outside for a quick breath of air and maybe a cigarette, if I felt like it.
Now, I don't want to paint a sob story, but I spend QUITE a lot of money to come over from SF and a huge amount of time flying and I looked forward to this with glee in my heart for months. I feel terribly let down. Most of the acts I wanted to see (besides Steve Reich and Nathan Fake) were on Saturday night, so I was sort of biding my time Friday and really anticipating Saturday. I didn't even get to see one act Saturday. Now, I don't think it's totally reasonable for you to reimburse me my plane ticket and all but truly I wouldn't have come to London if not for Bloc and now I'm left with a bunch of time to kill and a gaping hole in my heart where a music festival should have been.
Please, you should really have a fallback plan and a GOOD estimate of how many people you can realistically fit into an area, with enough security to actually deal with the crowds before even BOOKING a venue. You also should not even think about booking a venue or setting up a concert if you can't fit every single person into the main area during the main act. We paid good money to get to this festival, expecting to see a certain amount of artists. We have to be able to get that out of an event, or we're all going to be miffed. And canceling the event? Do you understand that I never, ever get to see SND, Orbital or Alva Noto in the US? It is so important to me to see them that I book a plane ticket and spend 11 hours cramped in a tiny seat just to get to this Island of Great Britain and then get over to the Pleasure Gardens, shove myself AGAIN into a tiny place only to have my dreams ripped away. I was and am terribly sad and hurt. I would expect this from a dodgy rave producer but not from a crew that has thrown several successful large scale events.
I also heard that you could easily scam a ticket since your ticketing system was unencrypted.
I would definitely like my money refunded ASAP. Please let me know if you're going to do that, and how you're going to do that. Otherwise, I will have to take matters into my own hands with my credit card company. But I'm trying to give you guys the time to sort things out. I'm not sure if there's anything else you can do to repair or assuage my sadness. Maybe you could encourage Orbital to come to San Francisco at some point in the future? Alva Noto and SND as well? Maybe pay for my plane fare next time I come to the UK? Not sure, but be creative!
And next time, seriously estimate your stuff and listen to the police when they say you're not going to be able to fit that many people into a venue.
Thanks for reading.
When I arrived, I could already see that things were fucked. That much of a line at 6 PM was a truly bad sign. It was moving somewhat rapidly, and it wasn't as long as I've experienced for some concerts, but I could see from the outside that the venue did not have the capacity to support all the folks in line, let alone all the people who would show up from 6 PM onward. That could be quite a number of people! Now, I'm not good at estimating numbers or volume, but I can only assume, as event producers, that that is your primary focus when throwing an event such as Bloc in a new location. Will it fit everyone? And will it fit everyone in the main arena at midnight when EVERYONE and their dog wants to see Snoop?
I could immediately tell that something was wrong as I entered the twisty windy bit of the entrance and we were herded through like cattle at an abattoir. I never like that feeling when I'm going into a show, but I accept it as part of the security pat down and screening process. It's just a part of life in the 21st century. Got to make sure no one has a weapon or a massive stash of drugs. Fine, whatever, let's get in and see Steve Reich!
Things went rapidly downhill once I went in. I saw Steve Reich (one of my long time dreams, thanks for that!) and I wandered over to the Ableton boat. I quite enjoyed the set up you had -- truly attractive with lots of thought to detail (skeleton horses! steampunk punch bar! fire breathing dragon!). It was lovely, really. But as soon as I wandered over that way, I could see that there wouldn't be much reason to hike over this way, as all the music was focused in one big area. I bet most people that night didn't even head toward that part of the event. Their loss, but also a big fail on the part of the Bloc producers and venue providers, as they didn't seem to account for this in their capacity planning.
Look, I know you need to recoup costs and all, but you have to assume all the people you sell tickets to will want to be in the main area during midnight; it's just a given and a law of physics of crowds. You have to make sure things are safe, that you have enough security and that you can sell water (and other drinks) quickly enough to sate the crowd. This just didn't seem to be accounted for.
Add to that the fact that you couldn't even get on the boat, even if you wanted to.
The worst thing I experienced at the event, other than the fear of being trampled to death when everyone pushed down the barriers to get in to see Snoop, was people smoking and pissing in corners. Since no one could leave the stage areas for fear of not getting back in, they were just peeing where they could and smoking everywhere. I really loved how Butlins had a place outside to smoke and plenty of nice bathrooms. Portapotties at 100 Pounds a ticket is a bit ridiculous. And coming home reeking of smoke? Not my cup of tea. Butlins was such a pleasant and fun experience. I met tons of people going outside for a quick breath of air and maybe a cigarette, if I felt like it.
Now, I don't want to paint a sob story, but I spend QUITE a lot of money to come over from SF and a huge amount of time flying and I looked forward to this with glee in my heart for months. I feel terribly let down. Most of the acts I wanted to see (besides Steve Reich and Nathan Fake) were on Saturday night, so I was sort of biding my time Friday and really anticipating Saturday. I didn't even get to see one act Saturday. Now, I don't think it's totally reasonable for you to reimburse me my plane ticket and all but truly I wouldn't have come to London if not for Bloc and now I'm left with a bunch of time to kill and a gaping hole in my heart where a music festival should have been.
Please, you should really have a fallback plan and a GOOD estimate of how many people you can realistically fit into an area, with enough security to actually deal with the crowds before even BOOKING a venue. You also should not even think about booking a venue or setting up a concert if you can't fit every single person into the main area during the main act. We paid good money to get to this festival, expecting to see a certain amount of artists. We have to be able to get that out of an event, or we're all going to be miffed. And canceling the event? Do you understand that I never, ever get to see SND, Orbital or Alva Noto in the US? It is so important to me to see them that I book a plane ticket and spend 11 hours cramped in a tiny seat just to get to this Island of Great Britain and then get over to the Pleasure Gardens, shove myself AGAIN into a tiny place only to have my dreams ripped away. I was and am terribly sad and hurt. I would expect this from a dodgy rave producer but not from a crew that has thrown several successful large scale events.
I also heard that you could easily scam a ticket since your ticketing system was unencrypted.
I would definitely like my money refunded ASAP. Please let me know if you're going to do that, and how you're going to do that. Otherwise, I will have to take matters into my own hands with my credit card company. But I'm trying to give you guys the time to sort things out. I'm not sure if there's anything else you can do to repair or assuage my sadness. Maybe you could encourage Orbital to come to San Francisco at some point in the future? Alva Noto and SND as well? Maybe pay for my plane fare next time I come to the UK? Not sure, but be creative!
And next time, seriously estimate your stuff and listen to the police when they say you're not going to be able to fit that many people into a venue.
Thanks for reading.