To warn you about the way outdoor concerts are going?

[MontanaMountains]

I love an outdoor concert, or at least I did. I've been going to outdoor concerts for decades and have seen many different bands and artists. It's a lovely tradition of taking a picnic, camping chairs, a blanket incase it gets chilly, maybe a candle in a jar for a bit of atmosphere.

The first I noticed things were changing was a concert at Ragley Hall in 2019. No picnics allowed, no drinks allowed except a small bottle of water per guest. This is all so they can squeeze more money out of you through drink/food sales. At least we could take chairs!

I've just received a concert information email about the Michael Buble concert I'm going to next month. No chairs allowed, no food, no drinks (not even a bottle of water), tiny A4 size bag allowed per person. You may take a rug to sit on but may be asked to remove it when the concert starts. You can buy food and drink from vendors at the venue.

This has taken all the enjoyment out of this event for me. I'd really rather not go. I'm late 50s with a history of back problems and DH is mid 60s, and the thought of standing for hours holds zero appeal. I'd happily return/sell my tickets but it's no refunds and no transfer of tickets. We're stuffed.

I've got another outdoor concert booked in August and I'm guessing the same 'rules' will apply. Sad as it is but I think our outdoor event days are over.

Just warning anyone with a similar history that things have changed, so think carefully before you book.

Thanks for the heads up. We also enjoy opening air concerts because of chairs, picnics and fizz (sadly in that order now 😁)
Went to one last year and we had to empty everything onto a table (everything, picnic food, take chairs out of their bags, unroll picnic mat, and only a limited amount of alcohol allowed which was all counted and checked didn't make my friend lift up her boobs though...) we had emails saying that there would be long queues but they opened up early for it, I'm happy with this but wouldn't attend if all drinks were in cups, no chairs etc

I've recently been to a 3 x daytime event
There were no security checks
People brought their own chairs, pop up day tents, food, drink, rugs, blow up seating

There were vendors selling food, drink, inflatable seating, toys too

Not sure about big festivals, but we have regular outdoor music festivals near me, capacity 12 thousand. I see hoards of people walking to the venue with fold up gazebos, chairs, picnic baskets and cool bags.

I over heard a real life convo about this in the last week.
Outdoor gigs are not my thing, but does sound disappointing if you're used to that type of experience.

Not bringing chairs is quite annoying. I used to love going to outdoor concerts with a full picnic, chairs etc. seems part of the experience for certain acts.

the other trend that I find immensely irritating is the clear plastic A4 bag only. O2 had this in place for dancing on ice- a family show where plenty of people have toddlers and babies. A changing bag is pretty much a necessity for many of the target audience alongside stuff to keep said small children entertained on a train journey in to London.

It's not as if it's the sort of crowd that might get pissed on Stella and start throwing their deck chairs around in a drunken rage 🙄

If you have an umbrella up no bugger behind you can see. You just need to put your hood up (or go for a waterproof head scarf like older women used to wear in the 80s!)

A gig with chairs and picnics?! Surely that’sa festival. I cannot imagine how that would work at all.

It’s not two hours though is it? The doors open at 4pm, the concert starts at 8pm and finishes at 10.30pm. I don’t know about you, but adding in the 90 min drive to get there, that’s a long time to go without food….

besides, when we booked the tickets, they were selling picnic hampers for £75 a pop….

OP could you take a wheelchair to sit in? You'd be within your rights to if you can't stand for a long period.
It's so shit though I can understand why you're disappointed.

Concerts, festivals, marches like pride etc are all becoming less and less accessible to those less able, using walking devices, etc. Nevermind that you have to fork out silly money for a bottle of water

Went to an outdoor concert with restrictions. It was a classical one. They food vendors were clattering all the way through and the queues for refreshments were huge.

i would

allow chairs in certain areas only
allow sealed bottles of water
one small picnic bag

Nope. It’s been a thing for years. And it works fine.

I've been on the AXS (promoter) fb page and someone suggested this to another disgruntled ticket holder. Apparently you have to show your blue badge! So that's a non-starter. What if you'd just had a hip replacement or something so didn't have a blue badge?

Not all disabled people even have a blue badge.

I'm not sure it's the case for all outdoor concerts. We were at the Rolling Stones in Hyde Park on Saturday and there were lots of camp chairs. And lots of people sitting on blankets. It probably depends on the venue.

I'd love to say that we were organised with food and drink but Prosecco got the better of us beforehand and so we dined on hotdogs from a van instead!!

If it's the floors event you are allowed an h opened water bottle which can be filled for free according to the faqs

But if it is floors they also say there isn't enough parking

Lots of people sadly will not be able to afford it with petrol, tickets and then food. Sadly waiting in a long food lane missing the concert to get some horrid food ( greasy burgers at a tenner each) will spoil it. I’ve rarely had good affordable food from a catering van.

bit weird to bring a candle in a jar to be fair

I've never known anywhere ticketed that lets you bring in food except some festivals, I've been to many outdoor gigs, 3 so far this year, none have allowed seats or blankets

Who the hell goes to see Michael Bublè anyway? Voluntarily?

@NewYorkLassie seats get in the way of other people, if you want a seat book a seat or bring a plastic bag to sit on like I did at Hyde park

This made me laugh. I haven't confessed this to many, but the concert we went to in 2019, that didn't allow any more than a small bottle of water per concert goer, I had a Panda Pops bottle of gin under one boob, a Panda Pops bottle of tonic under the other and a couple of small cans of tonic tucked into my belt. They even had metal detectors checking bags and I was panicking that they'd detect the cans on me! I imagine they had a few noticeably buxom women at that concert.

Really cannot be bothered with greedy concert promoters. The catering pitches at events are worth £££ if the audience is captive and prevented from bringing their own food and drink.