Early BIRD ticket UPDATE

[raltag]

Hi all, i thought you might appreciate seeing this.

Does not look good folks:

i sent this to festival republic this week.

"Hi Jennifer

Please can we have an official update on the status of the early entry tickets for reading festival 09, as stated below and on numerous festival related forums a large quantity of people are intending to turn up on Wednesday approx 2000+ afaik most of these have NOT purchased a coach ticket as they are impractical.

Have festival republic secured additional license? and if so when/how do we acquire early entry permits?

What provisions have festival republic put in place for the inevitable influx of festival goers that will arrive without early permits on Wednesday? Will they be allowed to queue and wait till Thursday? Sleep in the car/ car park specifically thinking white car park which is effectively a field on the far side of the thames. Will early entry be available on the door Wednesday?"

the RESPONSE:

Dear *********,

As it currently stands we have completely sold out of early bird tickets, day and weekend tickets. There will be no contingency tickets held back to sell on site this year. None. If people turn up hoping to buy one they will be disappointed and sent straight back home. There will be no holding area for them and there will no facilities provided.

They will not be permitted access to the car parks on Wed without an early bird and weekend ticket and they will not be allowed to sleep in their cars in our car parks, or around the local area. There are very heavy parking restrictions around the local roads and they are likely to be towed or ticketed.

Anyone turning up on site this year without the correct tickets actually in their hands will be turned away.

We have applied to sell extra early birds tickets and weekend tickets but we will not get a decision on that until sometime this month, July. We may not get permission at all. If we are lucky enough to get permission, then we will sell that extra batch immediately. People should keep an eye on our website and the Reading local press webistes for updates on this.

If people are unsuccessful in getting an early bird ticket from this proposed extra batch, but already have a weekend ticket, they SHOULD NOT GO TO SITE UNTIL 8AM THURS MORNING.

No early birds, day tickets or weekend tickets will be sold on site this year. I can’t reiterate that enough.

Thanks

Edited August 1, 2011 by eFestivals
removal of personal details

[beLIEveR]

They really are putting their foot down on saying that there will be no ticket sales on the weekend. If this truly does extend to earlies as well (I'm skeptical, but don't bank on being let in) then I really hope it turns out to be an absolute catastrophe, promting a serious rethink next year.

Wednesday night is the best night, and if this really is true, and they've sold as few earlies as they'll have us believe, then they'll have effectively killed the Wednesday off for literally thousands of people. Most of my friends aren't going this year for a wide variety of reasons (lineup, an extremely poorly timed wedding, joblessness, etc). But if in future they have no choice but to wake up at 4am on Thursday morning, they probably won't be returning.

[kittycat100]

I think this has come about because they have tried to fix 2 issues with one solution.

Issue 1 is the sheer number of people that turned up on the door for the last 2 years, prompting a decision with Reading council that there would be no tickets sold on the door. In and of itself not necessarily a bad thing.

Issue 2 is trying to get people to use more green transport, ie encourage use of coach packages etc. Again not a bad thing,. but they did this by making it the only way to get early entry in the general sale.

I think they can keep with not selling tickets on site with no real problems if more people are able to buy early entries. There hasn't been a problem with the number sold in advance in previous years, the problem has arison because it was made public that there would be tickets available on site, so many ticketless folks turned up to buy them, causing chaos.

I predict there will be a nightmare on wednesday again, and next year the early entries will be back on general sale.

I think the only way to get more people on coaches will be to make them the best economic option for more people, or offer a package with the train too maybe. And make these tickets the same price only fractionally more than normal ones.

[googlebrain]

Bollo*.

They may not be selling tickets at the door but security are bent as fu** so you will be able to get in one way or the other.

Also if thousands turn up like last year how will they be able to manage this.

I myself will be turning up with my mates on Wednesday evening.

If they don't let me in i will wait till they do, they cannot send me home.

If i want to wait then i will!!

I suggest you ignore the scare tactics from the corporate entity and use common sense.

Think outside the box and you will find a way!

[kittycat100]

I would imagine the Police will have a dispersal order in place for teh Wednesday, which will mean they can disperse people from the locality who don't have a valid ticket for wednesday entry. If you refuse to go you could be arrested.

Of course they might not... who's to say. But why be a d*ck and turn up without a ticket, when so much has been said about it.

it was all the people turninmg up without tickets in the past couple of years that has made this ahppen in the first place. If people still insist on doing it then they might not get the license at all next year!

[00042213]

I would imagine the Police will have a dispersal order in place for teh Wednesday, which will mean they can disperse people from the locality who don't have a valid ticket for wednesday entry. If you refuse to go you could be arrested.

Of course they might not... who's to say. But why be a d*ck and turn up without a ticket, when so much has been said about it.

it was all the people turninmg up without tickets in the past couple of years that has made this ahppen in the first place. If people still insist on doing it then they might not get the license at all next year!

[Joshuwarr]

I would imagine the Police will have a dispersal order in place for teh Wednesday, which will mean they can disperse people from the locality who don't have a valid ticket for wednesday entry. If you refuse to go you could be arrested.

Of course they might not... who's to say. But why be a d*ck and turn up without a ticket, when so much has been said about it.

it was all the people turninmg up without tickets in the past couple of years that has made this ahppen in the first place. If people still insist on doing it then they might not get the license at all next year!

[00042213]

I have never done it before and this is the first year I have decided to go early. If they had pre warned about early birds then this would be a different matter but we had planned to go Wednesday this year and we are determined to do so. I have put a shitload of money into this festival over the year so to reiterate MY point, I WILL be there Wednesday and they WILL let me in

[Joshuwarr]

Good luck mate i think you might need it !

[beLIEveR]

I think this has come about because they have tried to fix 2 issues with one solution.

Issue 1 is the sheer number of people that turned up on the door for the last 2 years, prompting a decision with Reading council that there would be no tickets sold on the door. In and of itself not necessarily a bad thing.

Issue 2 is trying to get people to use more green transport, ie encourage use of coach packages etc. Again not a bad thing,. but they did this by making it the only way to get early entry in the general sale.

I think they can keep with not selling tickets on site with no real problems if more people are able to buy early entries. There hasn't been a problem with the number sold in advance in previous years, the problem has arison because it was made public that there would be tickets available on site, so many ticketless folks turned up to buy them, causing chaos.

I predict there will be a nightmare on wednesday again, and next year the early entries will be back on general sale.

I think the only way to get more people on coaches will be to make them the best economic option for more people, or offer a package with the train too maybe. And make these tickets the same price only fractionally more than normal ones.

Edited July 7, 2009 by beLIEveR

[googlebrain]

"I have never done it before and this is the first year I have decided to go early. If they had pre warned about early birds then this would be a different matter but we had planned to go Wednesday this year and we are determined to do so. I have put a shitload of money into this festival over the year so to reiterate MY point, I WILL be there Wednesday and they WILL let me in "

Thats the attitude i like to see, buy the ticket take the ride!!!!!!

I have never before given a shit about the Police i'm not starting now.

They may ask me to move on, i will go round the corner and smoke a big fat join* until they give up or fuc* off. i did it last year and will do it again.

If you can't be arsed to try fair enough but dont get pissy because others want too.

When did rock music give a shit about commercialism and establishments.

One more thing, for £185 i'll turn up when i like!!!!!

[Joshuwarr]

This festival is jsut finding different bloody ways to rip us off. If it wasnt for stupid tossers on the Sunday and self-righteous money grabbing artists then maybe the situation would be different and we could go to the festival knowing we're not being ripped off and also knowing we're safe.

[Paul ™]

Anyone going on the Wednesday without an early entry ticket are going to be very dissapointed

[Budweiser]

Anyone going on the Wednesday without an early entry ticket are going to be very dissapointed

[beLIEveR]

This festival is jsut finding different bloody ways to rip us off. If it wasnt for stupid tossers on the Sunday and self-righteous money grabbing artists then maybe the situation would be different and we could go to the festival knowing we're not being ripped off and also knowing we're safe.

[kittycat100]

If you can't be arsed to try fair enough but dont get pissy because others want too.

[howlin_pete]

Has there been some problem with wednesdays in recently? or is it just to ease up congestion coming into the site? I always thought they wouldn't turn away an extra £10 from everyone so I'm guessing this isnt the festivals decision

Edited July 8, 2009 by howlin_pete

[kittycat100]

Has there been some problem with wednesdays in recently? or is it just to ease up congestion coming into the site? I always thought they wouldn't turn away an extra £10 from everyone so I'm guessing this isnt the festivals decision

Edited July 8, 2009 by kittycat100

[beLIEveR]

I'm all for them being nazis about selling actual tickets on the gate, Yes, it will disappoint some who have quietly, harmlessly being using that facility for years, but it's welcome move frankly.

Still, there is nothing in any of those documents explaining why the early bird licence is restricted to as few as 7,500 (and I can say that Reading has breached this each and every year for as long as I've been going on Wednesdays) nor do those reports acknowledge that it's perfectly normal for people to turn up on the day with weekend tickets but no early entry, without a problem.

Edited July 8, 2009 by beLIEveR

[howlin_pete]

Cheers for the info. Me and my mates were planning on going down Wednesday and buying on the gates as per usual but will probably reconsider to be honest. Personally I don't mind going down on Thursday, less money spent I don't have and if there not letting many in shouldn't have too many problems finding a campsite

[beLIEveR]

My real issue is not that people talk of turning up without tickets to try to get in, I can understand the desire to get an extra day on site, but the fact that this action, especially in the numbers that it seems likely to be, can really disrupt my journey/entrance to the site with my ticket and could be detrimental to the license next year.

[kittycat100]

Covering that point specifically, I don't see how the official breakdown of 7,500 on Wednesday and the vast majority of 67,500 on Thursday can possibly be the best way to manage the volume of people.

[beLIEveR]

They would have to be, if the festival is indeed already sold out. Besides, I would've thought that people who wanted to buy early entry and coach had relatively little difficulty doing so; those who have Thursday coaches probably do want to come on Thursday.

I just wish they had a different rule for the buses. Coaches have their own special area, and their own gate. By that token, I don't understand why the council would want to limit the early entry capacity for them, especially as if they are co-ordinated their arrival time could be strictly staggered, so in say a ten minute window only one coach is going to arrive, and one more is going to leave. No problem.

Obviously FR are bound by what they've negotiated or been told, but 7,500 seems a very reasonable limit if coaches were exempt. Given that a co-ordinated coach service is by a mile the best solution for the council (one coach=a train carriage worth of seats, or anywhere from 15-25 cars), I don't see why they would want to impose restrictions on it. By the same token, while they don't want too many people arriving by car or train, if everyone is ferried directly into the festival site, they're not going to spend as much money in local businesses, in which case the 7,500 limit seems very sensible for those people.

[kittycat100]

You make good points. I'd never thought of coaches being good for arrivals in that way. just the traffic and 'green' issues.

[beLIEveR]

You make good points. I'd never thought of coaches being good for arrivals in that way. just the traffic and 'green' issues.