Security, Queuing, etc

[IBee]

So, what bought that on? Long queues at times for comedy, Tipi and Big Top. It was a real pain, one of the things I like about EOTR is being able to go quickly from one stage to another, but if I wanted to really see something at the comedy stage and I had to plan ahead and make sure I got there in plenty of time.

 

[domjon]

11 minutes ago, IBee said:

So, what bought that on? Long queues at times for comedy, Tipi and Big Top. It was a real pain, one of the things I like about EOTR is being able to go quickly from one stage to another, but if I wanted to really see something at the comedy stage and I had to plan ahead and make sure I got there in plenty of time.

 

Who did you have to queue for? Didn't go to the comedy tent but never queued for any bands all weekend myself.

Beautiful weekend tbh

[IBee]

Long queues for comedy most of the weekend. Various times queues for Tipi, and at least once for Big Top (King Gizzard). At the tipi, if you went out for a piss at the wrong time you couldn't back in. I was in the Tipi on Thursday night and was surprised to find out later that a lot of people were not allowed in, as it never seemed that full.

[juliadevitt]

saw quite a few queues for Tipi late and a couple for Big Top. I thought it was strange as the festival seemed slightly less busy this year. 

Still Queues for the loos but nothing major if you picked your times right. No queues at all for showers if you went there during the afternoon.

We left early this morning, did anyone suffer getting out later on?

 

 

[Lord Buckley]

Saw queues for Ezra Furman on the Thursday night, the comedy on Friday and Saturday and King Gizzard on Sunday.

Not sure what's going on but it does make it feel different. 

[Fat_Buddha]

Long queue for BC Camplight, even though Wild Beasts were on in Big Top, also a massive queue for some winsome girl while it was persisting down.

If they want there to be more room, they'd do better to persuade the daft apeths who insist on sitting down playing cards or having a nap from taking up loads of space, even when the place  is packing out.

[eagles69]

Most of the time the weather was the issue. People were using the Tipi and Big Top to shelter from the rain. Went outside to watch Seratones and it was empty. I never let the weather stop me venturing out but it was obvious I was one of the few

[IBee]

The Comedy stage is outside so it wasn't people wanting to get away from the rain there.

On Sunday daytime, when you did get in, stewards were telling people to go careful as it was steep, and on Sunday night there was a medic standing there.

They had people standing at the gate with clickers counting you as you went in, that never happened before.

I'm wondering if they were told that they had to tighten up with regards to limiting capacity to get a licence.

[buddiepaul]

The queue for Stewart Lee was right back to the Beavertown bar, and the comedy area was already full.  The stewards at the queue said that it was 1 out one 1 at that time, but yet the queue still got larger.  did anyone here get in to see him?  Was it rammed?

I decided just to go back to one of the other stages instead.

[benali]

The comedy stage was clearly too small. People were queuing from about 2pm to get into see Stewart Lee at 1630 which is unfair. 

I think they need to get stewards inside the Big Top directing people to the sides because there was plenty of room especially at the right hand side for King Gizzard.

 

[eagles69]

Never done the comedy and never liked where it was. The comedy stage is in an awful location. I believe they were worried about capacity alot more than normal and mayb some of the bands were on wrong stages.BC Camplight was an obvious mistake.Really wanted to see him but my mate wanted to see Wild Beasts who I had seen before.King Gizzard was another when I left saw people waiting outside

[eagles69]

I concur about King Gizzard when I left loads of space more in there for Steve Mason

[eagles69]

Never affected my time though as if I knew a band was gonna be popular left a little earlier. Always got in 

[IBee]

5 minutes ago, buddiepaul said:

The queue for Stewart Lee was right back to the Beavertown bar, and the comedy area was already full.  The stewards at the queue said that it was 1 out one 1 at that time, but yet the queue still got larger.  did anyone here get in to see him?  Was it rammed?

I decided just to go back to one of the other stages instead.

I did see Stewart Lee- I was in there earlier and when I went out I saw the queue, and decided that I really wanted to see Stewart Lee, so I got something to eat and went back and queued and stayed there until he came on. I would probably have seen some bands otherwise before heading back to the comedy stage later.

It wasn't that packed, a few people sitting to the side but not that many, you could have got more people in.

It looked like the queue for Josie Long was about as long again.

 

Edited September 5, 2016 by IBee
mistake

[gatch71]

I reckon the Comedy Stage issue was that the queueing was a result of the strength of the Saturday line-up, or at least the fact that a number of the artists have a strong TV presence, and poor stewarding.

We were there when it opened and there was a small queue waiting to get in. During the first two acts the compere kept asking people to move to the front because the stewards weren't letting people in because it looked busy at the back.

We then left after two acts, with the seating comfortably less than half full and there were at least 50 people queueing outside, which we thought was bizarre.  I suspect the fact that people were queueing then attracted more demand creating a bit of a vicious spiral.

Think this then carried over to Saturday with people thinking they wouldn't get into the comedy unless they queued early - again we were there at the start and the queue was very large by the time they opened the gates. The Saturday issue would probably have been solved if they'd just let people in a bit early and also there'd have been less of an issue if the Saturday line-up had performed on Friday (and so before the Stewart Lee, Arthur Smith - even though he cancelled - Hardeep Singh Kohli demand) there would have been no queueing for it at all.

[Lord Buckley]

It definitely wasn't the weather. All the queues I saw were when the weather was fine. 

[SweepingTheNation]

I know Frankie Cosmos had a big queue but that was when the rain really started on Saturday. King Gizzard etc had queues but the queue for his Rough Trade signing earlier snaked back to the covered eating area so that was probably expected. There was a period on Friday when the central Big Top entrance was no-entry, which was odd.

[paulwa]

I never got stuck in a queue once, nor did I see any when it was dry, but I had planned who I wanted to see, got in early and generally stayed for full sets. If you try and catch a bit of everyone you're going to end up at the back.

[shoebox]

We stayed in the Tipi for 4 acts on Saturday, due to the weather, from Bas Jan through to Basia Bulat, and I seem to remember a pretty hefty queue outside then. Luckily for me, when I popped out for the toilet, I went back to the exit of the Tipi and they let me straight back in. There were also queues before King Gizzard, but security handled it well, and were guiding people to the sides of the tent as they let them in.

I really didn't see any evidence of overly officious security and everything seemed, to me, sensible and considered. 

[IBee]

I know one person who couldn't get back into the tipi after going to the toilet on Thursday night, her bag and phone etc was in their with her friends, and she was threatened with being escorted off the site.And it really wasn't full Thursday night. 

Seems like the main problem is the tipi and the comedy stage. Perhaps if there were some way of putting some toliets in the Tipi area. I love the comedy stage, but it does seem to getting more popular every year, perhaps they need to rethink it. Same in a way, first time I saw the stage it made me laugh with delight.