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. - Carine
Big Concerts Response:
Criticism has been levied against the lack of
catering and vendor services against the organisers and sponsors of the
Coca Cola Colab Massive Mix concert held at Supersport Park Centurion on
Saturday 18th March, 2006.
It was a specific condition of the venue hire
agreement between the promoter Big Concerts and Supersport Park that Big
Concerts was obliged to use the stadium's catering and vendor services.
The stadium's representatives were made fully aware
of the number of people attending the concert and Big Concerts received
the assurance that the facilities to be provided by the stadium would be
fully capable of meeting the requirements of concert goers.
Big Concerts as South Africa's premier concert
promoter, having promoted over 1000 concerts in the last 15 years
including the likes of U2, Michael Jackson, REM, Whitney Houston and Bon
Jovi has always concerned itself with the quality of the presentation as
well as the quality of the facilities available to it's patrons. As the
concert was the first major festival staged at Supersport Park, Big
Concerts relied on the contractual arrangements and the reassurances
received from the venue representatives in relation to the catering and
vendor services and believed that everything necessary would be done to
ensure adequate hydration and catering for the festivals patrons.
Whilst not in any way responsible for the problem
that occurred during the concert, Coca Cola, 5FM and Big Concerts would
like to apologise profusely to those people who were inconvenienced during
the festival at Supersport Park and trust that they enjoyed the musical
performances provided as much as the bands who performed them did.
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