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.

If you can’t refund or transfer by the original vendor/venue I think you should be able to sell them on the fan to fan site Twickets.Live.
It’s a face value only official site, they are selling some Buble tickets at other venues.

You can have thousands of umbrellas up, nobody would be able to see anything, be continually poked in the face.

A plastic poncho is much more water proof and practice and can get for about 99p. The clear ones.

I went to an Il Divo concert with my mum in 2018 at Ragley Hall and it was like this! We were searched on entry and not even allowed to take water in! It was also in the heatwave around when the World Cup was on, so not ideal! It's their way of making money from the overpriced junk food trucks they roll in.

No chairs? Do they provide chairs then or are they expecting moshing, raving and crowd surfing at Michael Buble, or do they think the audience may be of an age when they might want a comfy seat?

I agree completely with the "no picnic" rules. You're there to listen to music being performed, not the sounds of other people chomping and slurping! Surely people can go without a meal for two hours

Then why do they insist on selling food and drink when you get there.

These things aren’t 2 hours long. People could have been inside the event for several hours before the music starts.

I was about to book an all day outdoor event in a park
We had been to something similar there a few years ago and one of my favourite bands was going to be playing.

I thought we could take a picnic and have a brilliant time.

Then read Food and Drink weren’t to be brought to the venue as for our convenience food and drink could be purchased on site.

Given it went from 10am-10pm and it would be hot and there were going to be 3 of us I was paying for I thought it was going to be too expensive.
I saw the event advertised with the No food or drink rule the day after I had been to a local outdoor show and was charged the best part of £20 for 2 lots of chips and 2 drinks by a miserable and angry woman who seemed to have a problem with everyone who came to look at what she was serving.

Its not as though any of the other vendors were happy people.

The only chairs at Rochester Castle are in the food area , so not somewhere you can just park yourself for the evening even if you manage to get a seat in the first place .

We had this at a local event, it was a new park type of thing, with supposedly a restaurant, which actually hadn’t been completed ( and is horrendously expensive, fine dining experience, which would be out of reach for us ) so they had food vendors, with a “show” later in the afternoon.
There were an number of afternoons when this place was open, and you could only go if you’d purchased tickets in advance
Two weeks before hand we received an email, no rucksacks, no picnics, no drinks, bag searches etc.

For a family day out in a park , all morning and afternoon, followed by an early evening show, this was really horrific.
With young children, you need lots of stuff, imagine if we had babies.

A week later, one week before our allotted time, we received an email saying of course drinks and rucksacks were allowed.

When we arrived on the day, there were big queues, and bag searches, which seemed completely over the top, to be honest.

One of the volunteer security guards, as he glanced at my bag said, the company had had to change arrangements quickly, as the week before there were had been so many complaints and arguing, caused by them confiscating drinks and food and picnics from people.

The actual day was very disappointing too, so we would never go there again, or anywhere which tried to be so restrictive

The more people write to them and say they can't stand for long periods or sit on the ground and are therefore wanting a refund the more organisers will take note.

I've never been to an outdoor concert where I've been able to take my own chairs, food, drink and so on.

At a festival or any lengthy event it should be illegal to not let you bring your own water or supply free water everywhere without queuing. Even at the airport now you can refil your water bottle.

Interesting. I'll look into this thanks.

Why on earth would you take a candle to a concert? How bizarre. Bit of a fire hazard.
We went to see the Stones on Saturday, there was a bag size rule, A5, but people were bringing in small backpacks. You could bring in unopened bottles of water or an empty one to refill for free.
Loads of people had blankets but I didn't notice any chairs where I was.
The food and drink prices were all reasonable we were there from 11o'clock then the gates opened at 2.
I'm glad people didnt have chairs and picnics hogging all the space.

I went to an outdoor gig recently and had no prior warning whatsoever that you couldn't take in any food or drink, not even water, only A4 sized bag, no umbrellas. It wasn't a long event, but due to gallstones (which I'm waiting surgery for) I have to eat small things regularly and nothing fatty otherwise it triggers an attack, which can be immensely painful. Had to hand over my pre thought out snacks at entry. Drinking water regularly helps, but obviously no water allowed so we had to queue for ages just to get water, which was in a wobbly plastic cup (no bottles allowed) so I had to then hold it for the entire gig while getting jostled by the crowd, and the only food available was deep fried or unhealthy shite. It made me feel extremely anxious. I've no control over the attacks except for what I eat and drink, so to feel comfortable I have all that readily available. What would they do for people with allergies, intolerances or special dietary requirements? What if I hadn't had an extra £20 available to purchase extortionate food and drink there since there was no pre warning? It actually really pissed me off.
Luckily all was fine, but I will be checking venue rules carefully if I book anything else again (though hopefully I'll have had my surgery by then!).
I also fully believe it's all about money and nothing else. I know the owners of one of the vendors and they had to price match their bar along with the other vendors to "gig" prices (more than double their usual price).

Totally ridiculous.

Op the water rule isn't about trying to get you to spend money. Its for safety reasons. Also big bags again safety reasons. Lessons have been learnt from the Manchester arena.

As others have said some places allow chairs and blankets and others do not. I guess it depends on the place, capacity of people and type of event.

It's been like this for years. No new information here

Id completely expect these rules at any gig. Always have always will.

Don’t forget the free access to tap wAter rule applies at these venues too so you can go to any of the bars or concessions (as the venue itself is likely licensed) ask for a cup of tap water and most likely you’ll be given a bottle for free as that’s more convenient for them. That’s what we do in my large outdoor concert venue and we host 20 + concerts each summer

Quite clearly this is to prevent a terrorist attack. I’m pretty sure I’d rather be safe than save a few pounds!

Why on earth would you take a candle to a concert?Bit of a fire hazard.

I remember going to boyband concerts in the 1990s and they got everyone to "get their lighter out" for the slow ballads. (Now everyone gets the torch on their phone) Thinking back, I'm amazed that was allowed! I was too young to smoke but I had my lighter just for the concert - I'm sure that was way more dangerous than taking in a cheese sandwich or a packet of crisps ! 🤣

I do think that chairs can be a problem and it needs a balance. Car fest last year was just awful, chairs allowed, we had day tickets and when we got to the stage area, early afternoon every spot anywhere near the stage had a chair on it, hundreds of them had no people sitting in them, took up so much space, people had clearly arrived early, set up chairs and then buggered off.

Latitude however, no chairs allowed in front of the stage, but huge seating rigs set up so if you wanted to sit you could, but no one was hogging space all afternoon/evening.

So does anyone know why organisers are doing this other than being tight-fisted greedy bastards ?

I have a knackered back at 43, I can’t stand up for hours and I need a bloody seat!

it's well and truely kicked off on facebook, and quite right too.

I nearly went up in a fireball at a gig years ago, I had my hair spiked up with half a can of hairspray on it and someone behind me used their lighter during a song.
We diced with death regularly in the '80's.

I have never once headed off to an outdoor concert and thought, “Oooh, I’ll take a candle in a jar”. I don’t know why but even the idea of that is making me laugh!

Oh I used to love going to the Ragley Hall concerts as a kid! Running around in the grounds all day and then the fireworks and music at night. I can't imagine it without a picnic or chairs though 😱Yanbu