The promoters behind Barbra Streisand's first Irish performance have blamed bad weather and "opportunistic" fans who took reserved seats for chaotic scenes at Saturday's concert.
Many concert-goers, who paid up to €550 for their tickets, had to endure massive traffic delays arriving and leaving the concert at Castletown House in Celbridge, Co Kildare. After last week's heavy rain, conditions at the car park resembled a mudbath and stewarding was said to be inadequate.
At the scheduled start time of 8pm, large numbers of fans were stranded in their cars on the way to Celbridge and some abandoned their vehicles on the motorway to rush to the concert on foot. Only one of the four gates into Castletown House was used for general access, while the main gate was reserved for VIPs.
Ms Streisand postponed the start for almost an hour but even then many concert-goers missed part of her two-hour set.
When they did make it to the arena, some found their seats had been taken by others, who refused to move. Aggrieved fans said they were unable to find stewards to intervene. Afterwards, drivers struggled to find their cars in a poorly-lit field and many vehicles got stuck in the mud.
One concert-goer told The Irish Times it took almost two hours to travel to the concert from nearby Straffan, and three hours to get out of the car park after the show. "The concert was brilliant, the organisation was terrible. Whoever sanctioned it, using only one gate of Castletown House, should be brought to book," he said.
Another fan took 3½ hours to get to the concert from Dundrum, Dublin, and the same time to get home. "It was chaos outside, and chaos inside. People just rushed up to the front; you could just walk up and hob-nob with the rich and famous in the €500 seats."
However, promoters MCD Productions insisted the problems affected only a minority of fans. In a statement, it expressed regret that some ticket holders were "unable to have a great experience at this once-in-a-lifetime event. This was primarily due to adverse weather conditions, the worst in 100 years, which added an extra dynamic to the already difficult driving conditions as a result of major road works on the M50/N4, despite the implementation of the approved Garda Traffic Management Plan for the event."
MCD acknowledged there were "severe" traffic jams and car park delays, in spite of "months" of planning and consultation with Kildare County Council and the Garda Síochána. Cancelling the concert was not an option, it said, as Streisand's touring commitments made rescheduling impossible.
"It was felt that despite the less than perfect weather and traffic conditions, her fans would want the concert to go ahead.
"Some fans who arrived late to the show encountered problems with their designated seating. This was due to a small number of opportunistic fans taking seats which were not assigned to them and refusing to move when requested by authorities."
When the concert was originally promoted, MCD said it planned to sell 12,000 tickets; yesterday, however, it said 17,000 people had attended.
The agency said concert-goers seeking to raise issues should write to MCD.
