A combination of emails I have received, as well as the responses (comments) to the brief 2oceansvibe review of The Killers concert, suggests an overwhelming negativity to the way in which Big Concerts organised the event.

OR THIS ONE

They (Big Concerts) obviously received the same backlash, as they felt compelled to release the following statement yesterday:

Monday, 07 December 2009

Cape Town

Concert promoter Big Concerts, the organisers of The Killers concert, which took place on Sunday, 6th December at Val de Vie Wine and Polo Estate in Cape Town, have expressed their apologies to patrons who experienced traffic congestion when entering and exiting the venue.

Despite a rigorous planning and risk assessment process conducted by the organisers of the concert and regional traffic authorities, the road network around the venue was unable to handle the sheer volume of traffic congestion, which resulted from the event. This was the first time that the venue had been used to host an event of this size. As a consequence of last night’s concert, the experience gained by the organisers will surely be valuable for future events at Val de Vie and other locations in the area.

Additional traffic officers and parking ushers were called in to assist with the load challenge and everything possible was done to untangle the unfortunate gridlock.

It appears from reports that most ticket holders made it in time to see the Killers performance, despite the regrettable and unexpected traffic challenges that they experienced.

Big Concerts has requested that all complaints and comments be addressed to the organizing team by email at info@bigconcerts.co.za, in order to allow for the experience of fans to be considered and improved on for future concerts.

Ends.

The madness continued with spoof ads (above) doing the viral chicken all over SA email, as well as this post-statement email sent to Big Concerts:

To Big Concerts management,

I attended The Killers concert at Val de Vie Wine and Polo Estate on Sunday 7 December, and have to express how the concert was completely and utterly ruined by your incompetence.

We paid a lot of money for those tickets, and even more on flights and accommodation to get down to Cape Town from Durban, just for the concert. And 1.5 hours of The Killers in no way made up for the 2.5 hour queue to get into the estate, and then the 4 hour queue to get out.

Our last day in Cape Town was wasted because we only got into bed at 4am despite reaching our car to leave the concert venue at 10.30pm. And then I have to read your ridiculous press statements about “rigorous planning and risk assessment” – what a joke!

Anyone with a brain would have seen that one road in and out of a venue would never, in a million years, cope with the thousands and thousands of cars trying to get in and out. Trying to downplay this complete and total f*ck-up as “concerns of traffic congestion” is a farce.

No matter how early you left for the venue, you still got stuck on the one road (the only road!) into the estate. And you were worse off if you arrived in time because then you parked inside the estate and couldn’t get out. It’s hard to believe that everyone who gave up trying to reach the venue by car and walked over 5km to get there after parking on the side of the N1 offramp, were actually better off, because they could leave as soon as the concert finished.

Big Concerts should refund every single person who attended that concert for the total lack of planning. A child could have done a better job.

Adding insult to injury was the fact that the venue stopped serving alcohol before the concert even ended. If you wanted non-designated drivers to ignore the fact that they’re stuck there for the night, you might have kept it open. As it was, all that anyone could do was go and sleep in their car, or sit there and curse Big Concerts and Val de Vie.

“Outdoor events of this size, in particular those hosted in country settings with limited road access and infrastructure are inevitably going to be subject to challenging logistical arrangements.” So then why on earth would you host the event in an obviously inappropriate venue??

“And yet, despite a rigorous planning and risk assessment process conducted by the organisers of the concert and regional traffic authorities, the road network around the venue was unable to handle the sheer volume of traffic congestion, which resulted from the event.” Big Concerts says this like it came as a complete surprise. Who did this rigorous planning and risk assessment? Were they high? On acid? Recently released from a mental health institution?

There was no “road network” around the venue! There was one road in and one road out. We received no “personal emails or text messages” and even if we had, the only useful thing they could have said would have been to park as far away from the venue as humanly possible to walk. How early did you expect people to get there? The day before?

Yes, we made it to see The Killers on time, but we missed Zebra and Giraffe, couldn’t get to the overloaded bars to get drinks, couldn’t get to the overloaded (and disgusting) porta-loos to relieve our bladders, and couldn’t get home until 4 hours after the concert ended.

The whole experience seemed like Big Concerts was trying to skimp on everything and make as much of a profit while providing the minimum service. And the press statement just proves that Big Concerts is not only too incompetent to handle a big event like this, but also too incompetent to take responsibility for this whole debacle. If you’re going to try pass the buck, at least do it well. A vague apology and ignoring the facts just makes people angry.

That’s the last time I’ll go out of my way to attend a Big Concerts event. My whole experience of a band I love was ruined, as well as my last day in Cape Town. It was a waste of money and an enormous waste of time.

Big Concerts obviously can’t handle big concerts. Time to go back to the drawing board and offer concertgoers more than a weak ‘apology’.

Yours sincerely,Meegan R

[thanks lisha, andrew, kate]