Music Festival | Disappointing Stadium Music Festival

[Hereford Voice]

We have received some disappointing reports and reviews about the event at Edgar Street on the weekend.

Headline act Tulisa did not appear instead was replaced last minute with Tinchy Styder with many people complaining that they had to wait for up to 2 hours just to get a drink.

Did you attend Stadium Music Festival Sunday in Hereford and how was it for you?

Below are just a few comments left on our Facebook page.

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Kelly Louise Holder

Absolute shambles! With the whole not being able to get a drink situation we left to go get a drink elsewhere to then come back as the guy in the ticket booth said as long as we had our wrist bands then we could get back in. Come back to be told we weren't allowed back in even with our tickets and wristbands! Absolutely ridiculous refunds should be given!

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Jolene Rachel Edge

I’ve been every year that there’s has been a festival the last two have been with this recent organiser. Yesterday was a shambles delays getting in as they didn’t know where there staff were to 3 hr wait for drinks and sold out of most drinks even water before 8pm!! I really have enjoyed it in the past and great that it’s local but won’t be attending again with these organisers!!

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Julie May Smith

Yes have gone to all 3 music events hosted there first one was vantastic, second not as good but still went on 1 day & enjoyed it! But yesterday well wish I hadn't bothered!! Not because of the pods or benches that didn't bother me, the drinks situation was bad n the acts well not impressed can't see me going to another !!!

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Tina Green

Really really disappointed, I have been to this event every year and it has been amazing, has been such a good day with no issues. Understandably covid restrictions needed to be implemented but I had no issues with the pods. I thought that was well organised. However, the drinks situation was diabolical!!. We arrived at 4ish and the app wasn't working to get a drink. Being 5 months pregnant , sat in the heat, not being able to get a drink is totally unacceptable. The little portable bar set up outside which was organised to manage 1500 people was so poorly thought of!. We were told there was only 15 bar staff. 1 bar person to serve 100 people!!. Absolute joke!. We left about 15mins after arriving as we're told there was a 2 hour wait for drinks. We decided to come back in just after 8, which we had to beg the door staff to let us back in as they wasn't going to!. Managed to order drinks but again 2-3 hour wait so again we left!!. Really was a shit show of an event. I'll be surprised if this event happens again as soooo many people left and this festivals reputation is out the window!.

Even though we received many complaints about the event, some people still had a great time.

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Nicky Green

We loved it, yes it wasn't perfect but it was what you made of it, live music, good friends, sunshine and laughter what more could you ask for, thankyou to the organisers I bet it was hard work to put together x

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Kelsey Davies

So the whole drink situation was crappy. Half of our drinks never turned up. 4 hours waiting for those that did turn up. 

However, it was the first sense of normality in well over a year and I actually had a really good day/night. The headline act not showing isn’t great but it was replaced with someone in my opinion, much better. 

I personally just think they could have thought more about staff and bars. There was one bar, 10 drink runners for roughly 1,500 people, organisers surely could have seen it coming. Maybe they should have just allowed everyone to bring their own drinks. 

But all in all, I had a fantastic time and will be going again next year!

 

[Alex]

Went with my mates, total shitty event and unorganised, will not go again.

[Hereford Voice]

The organisers have issued the following statement;

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Stadium Fest Statement

Hi all, Thank You for your patience, we have read all the comments on social media over the weekend and messages that we have been sent. With Stadium Fest being one of only THREE events on in the UK this weekend and the biggest of them all, we will now address everything brought to our attention but unfortunately We will NOT be offering refunds for tickets, of course the people who have bought drinks that never arrived is a completely separate matter so we will of course look into this further for those people.

•General Build Up

Stadium Fest had been postponed twice in a twelve-month period due to the COVID-19 pandemic and we were always going to face huge challenges in getting this event on, but we kept working day and night to get the go ahead. Originally, we were going to be a 2,500 capacity event with a bar running the whole length of the pitch but two weeks before the event that was deemed unsafe.

Once legislation around the bars changed, no company within a 180 mile radius of Hereford wanted to do the bar. However, we managed to get one with 10 day’s notice on the strict instructions of a bar being situated outside the stadium and table service through an online app. During the build up to Stadium Fest 2021, the costs of infrastructure went up by over £10,000 and revenue streams cut by more than 50% but we continued to push on.

As soon as we were given the green light on Thursday evening to proceed, emails were sent out and a safety video produced. Due to our concerns of table service causing issues, we implemented a VIP early entry scheme and got all burger vans and Ice Cream vans on site to stock up on extra soft drinks. There was also bottled water and always tap water available during the event.

•Queues

We were wary of queues appearing since no one had been out to an event of this scale in close to two years. The biggest issue was the forming of bubbles of 30 plus people in the queue when emails and guidelines stated the pods were a maximum of 24 people. This then needed a larger steward presence and council support to get under control. As seen across the UK during the pandemic, it is difficult to make people adhere to the rules, but we did everything we physically could to do this. We also got 1,600 people in the stadium before 5pm with all the additional checks taking place that would normally not happen in a non-global pandemic event.

•Bar Issues

Within 2 hours of the site being open, over 1,500 orders had been placed on the app. Because of one-way systems, pods of people and in general the behaviour of some customers, we took the app offline for two hours to manage the demand. At this point we let people out to the neighbouring pubs and supermarkets, and we also advised people that soft drinks were available from the vendors on site through the PA on stage. We also provided bottled water to highly vulnerable groups with staff continuously walking around the site with the medical team.

As soon as the backlog was managed, the app was reactivated until last orders at 10pm. One of the biggest issues here was caused through crowd behaviour moving benches around, asking bar staff questions about non bar related items and not adhering to the rules. Therefore, numerous safety announcements went out throughout the day stating if people did not adhere to the 2-metre rule and follow one-way systems then the event would be closed down. All drinks orders were processed and delivered to the correct bar codes before the end of the event even though the bar staff were completely overwhelmed by the demand and size of the stadium area with orders not only at 324 tables but in the seats too.

•Numbers in pods

The layout was designed to allow people to mix in their social groups and for much of the day this worked. However, with some people deciding to take the law into their own hands, this caused a domino effect with people moving around when they should not. We unfortunately had to eject three groups from the event for not adhering to the social distancing guidelines and threatening behaviour to staff.

•Artist changes

Due to Covid 19 and two event postponements, things were always going to change as the line up was first booked in January 2020. First off Ian Van Dahl couldn’t make it due to quarantine rules as he was coming from a foreign red list country, so we sourced a like for like replacement with Micky Modelle and we announced it a couple of weeks in advance.

After an administrative error by booking agent after postponing the event twice already, Atomic Kitten were no longer available to do the show, which of course was catastrophic, trying to source a credible / similar act with not long to go was always going to be hard but we though Shola Ama was a great replacement and we have now made contact directly with Atomic Kittens management and had confirmation of them performing for us in 2022!

And of course, Tulisa.... We was informed by the management team at 12pm on Sunday that she wasn’t going to be able to make it due to an illness which she will of course be the one to explain about as it’s not for us to discuss her personal health situation but of course this was a huge blow to us and as well as everything else we had to deal with we then had to start ringing around to source a credible replacement and luckily we was able to secure Tinchy Stryder! We didn’t post about this in the event page because we were waiting for and still are waiting for Tulisa to get better and make her announcement but like we have said this was something completely out of our control, but we did provide a like for like replacement on such short notice.

Finally, DJ Hixxy couldn’t make it for personal reasons and we wish him all the best, he shared the post on his own social media and as we had spoken to him earlier in the week that there was a chance he might not make it, we had a replacement DJ on stand by.

•The Future

Stadium Fest delivered a covid safe event with all appropriate measures put in place. We reacted at all times to issues that occurred on the day and constantly liaised with medical teams, stewards and the local council. Even though less than 5% of our customers on Sunday have complained, social media is a damaging tool especially when one or two are desperate to have their opinions listened to.

Due to our constant contact with medical and safety professionals, we were one of three events signed off to take place this weekend in the UK and we were allowed to continue the event when at 4pm we could have shut it down.

However, we cannot control customer behaviour and unrealistic expectations during a global pandemic so at this point we need to assess how things pan out before making any decision on Stadium Fest 2022 as the event is not viable unless all social distancing guidelines are removed. Therefore, the majority of stage three events have now been cancelled.

We would like to return to Hereford next year but of course we couldn’t do it with restrictions again, we have been out of work for 15 months and this was the first event of its kind and everything was stacked against us, we are really sorry about the bar situation and for anything else that had gone wrong.

If we were to return to Hereford next year, all ticket holders this year would be offered cheaper tickets as a gesture from us.

Once again we are sorry and we hope this clears a few things up.

This is the last we will say on the matter.

Take Care

 

[Victor Wright]

One of the worse statements I have ever read. Not their fault at all