MUSIC GREAT, organisation dodgy – Coke Colab
Well we didn’t get to go to this Saturday’s concert through some media bungling which we won’t even go into. We weren’t particularly interested in the music, except for Fat Boy Slim and Collective Soul, so we weren’t that dissapointed not to be considered or included. BUT that said we don’t like to let our readers down (which is why we like to go to events so we can report on them???) …
especially as we have readership all over the world that likes to know what’s going on here.
Lucky enough we have dedicated readers who send in their own interpretation of the event. The media are saying that 43 000 people attended (when last did you see so many white people in one place? Apparently there were only about 10 black people there – guess that what happens when you only cater to one genre of music.) YFM reported this morning that there were only 150 toilets or something and 3 bars and that both food and drink ran out. Not good. However we don’t believe everything that we read or hear, so thanks to CARINE a Representer for sending us this report on the event:
On Saturday, 18 March, a group of us went to the Coca Cola Colab Massive Mix Concert in Centurion. We were really excited about seeing all the fantastic bands at the event. We really would have enjoyed seeing all the bands except that we had to stand in queues for most of the day in order to get beer, water & food.
There were approximately 45 000 people at the concert but it was almost impossible to get anything to drink or eat. I can not understand how the organisers of the event could sell so many tickets and not provide the basics. To get a beer took anything between 2 to 4 hours. How can you hold a rock concert and only have about 2 bars? To try and buy water and cold drinks wasn’t any better. How do you expect to have so many people at a day event and not have the basics sorted out.
Everywhere you went people were complaining about the same thing. On one occasion a friend of mine tried to get an empty 2l Coke bottle, to go and fill it up with water in the bathroom. The guys at the specific kiosk refused to give him an empty bottle. At the same kiosk they charged people R40 for a 2l Coke!!! People bought cases of water and cold drinks when they eventually got to the front of the queues because who wants to stand in the hot sun for hours to get a drink?
We could see the VIP’s sitting underneath their Marquee sipping on their cold beers and enjoying the concert, whilst the rest of the crowd missed half of the bands, waiting in queues. The cheapest tickets were R400, so do the maths and see how much money got taken but not much was given back to the fans. If people are not allowed to take in their own drinks (not even water!) then you should surely ensure that people can buy water, drinks and food easily enough. I don’t mind standing in queues for a reasonable time, but 4 hours is a bit much for a beer.
We don’t get the chance to see many international bands but I have been to a few concerts and this one was definitely the worst organised. I hope that the poor people in Durban and Cape Town get to go to a better organised concert.
If I was one of the event organisers I would be ashamed to say that I was a part of this.
Come on South Africa. Get it right!!!
Then there’s the article in the STAR titled:
“Music: great. Organisation: poor. Fans: cross”
Music worshippers were asked to pay a heavy price for their devotion at the star-studded Coca-Cola Colab Massive Mix Tour concert in Centurion, Tshwane.
And, while agreeing that the world-famous musicians who rocked SuperSport Park at the weekend were worthy of dedication, irate fans said they were not aware that they would have to go without food, drink and toilet facilities to show their commitment to the gods of rock.
A massive 50 000-strong crowd forked out R395 for a ticket to the concert, touted as the biggest of its kind to be staged in South Africa.
But, speaking to The Star on Sunday, nearly a dozen music fans claimed that the poor organisation of the event had left them thirsty, hungry and, according to male spectators, forced to relieve themselves against the stadium walls.
It also emerged that several enterprising souls had taken advantage of overcrowded bar areas and long queues to start their own businesses – selling the R10 beers they had managed to secure for between R20 and R40.
“It was seriously mad… there were guys passing the beers to each other in relays and stopping anyone else from getting through. But people got so desperate that they paid,” student Jarvis Cleese told The Star.
“I’m so bloody angry I can’t see straight!” Peter Brýck wrote to The Star.
“The monumental incompetence of the organisers of this event is stupefying!”
According to Brýck, his woes started when he tried to buy drinks for himself and his friends, after being told that the group could not take their plastic water bottles inside the stadium because of “security concerns”.
“I covered the entire ground and found two, yes two of those Coke can-shaped Coca-Cola trailers – and both were locked.
“(There was) one area that was selling beer other than the three permanent bars on the grounds. Needless to say, these were totally overcrowded.
“Dismayed and disappointed,” a dehydrated Brýck said he decided to head home – without seeing a single band.
PricewaterhouseCoopers accountant Grant Cleghorn described the concert as “good… but the organisation was terrible”.
“I had to wait in a queue for an hour to get a packet of popcorn. A lot of people left the stadium to get Nando’s,” he said, adding that he and his friends had walked into the stadium without having their tickets checked.
Durbanite Mieka Smith was upbeat about her experience.
The Star has learnt that a group of renegade female concert-goers commandeered part of the male facilities when the queues to the female toilets became too daunting.
Big Concerts spokesperson Lara Cohen said she was unaware of the organisational problems experienced at Saturday’s concert.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY Liza van Deventer, The Star. CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE FULL STORY.
