ORGANISERS OF the Oasis concert at Slane last weekend say they will conduct a “detailed review” of any overcrowding problems at the venue.
Fans described “chaos” and “very dangerous” crowding at the venue on the main pedestrian route into it.
The capacity of the venue is 80,000 but there were claims that some fans were granted admission without tickets, swelling the crowd above this number.
Promoters MCD said last night that ticket scanning checks were suspended for about 30 minutes shortly after 6.35 pm at one entrance to ease queues through the forest lane way. MCD said it was “to ease the build up” of people entering at this location.
Owner of Slane Castle Lord Henry Mount Charles said he first became aware of crowd problems on Sunday night. “I am of course distressed to hear there were these problems,” he said.
He said he took on board the complaints people were making. “There is a part of the licensing process which is a detailed review of any issues which will involve looking at any complaints raised by the public to see how things can be changed next time.”
He said the review would involve input by the Garda, MCD, the River Rescue service and Meath County Council as well as himself.
Justin Greene of MCD said all the issues raised would be “immediately addressed at the post-event debrief meeting, and changes will be implemented as required [for] future Slane concerts”.
There were delays entering the venue, he said, “mainly due to the larger number of fans than expected that used public transport”. While this was to be welcomed, he said in future fans would be encouraged to buy their bus tickets in advance.
Later, MCD said checks were suspended at one location. It noted more than 830 security staff were on duty in and around the venue along with at least 390 gardaí.
In a statement, Dublin Bus said it provided 300 buses to and from the concert.
Gardaí said over the weekend they had not been aware of any organisational problem at the concert.
ANGRY FANS SPEAK OUT
DOZENS OF blogs, discussion boards and petition sites were abuzz yesterday as thousands of people sought forums to air their grievances about the concert.
On the popular discussion forum boards.ie, more than 500 people voiced their concerns. An online petition was set up at www.petitionspot.com while readers of the On The Recordblog on irishtimes.com also expressed serious concern about the concert.
Radio chat shows were inundated with calls, including RTÉs Liveline. The following are examples of the complaints:
Leaving Slane was painful. Walked about 8km. No sign of Dublin Buses - that ticket was useless. Eventually got another bus in the pitch black on side of road and got home at 4.40am. - Cillian McGrath
I went to Slane a number of years ago and thought it was a bit packed. This year was a joke. Basically we paid to queue and to walk large distances. Never again. I'm surprised there wasn't serious riots. The atmosphere was very tense on the way in - broken bottles everywhere. - Ciaran McK
People were turned away at the barriers but there was nowhere for them to go, the long forest walk was wedged. This is dangerous and it could end in tragedy at some stage. - Prendy
A 45-minute walk, followed by a two-and-a-half hour wait at the gates just to get in. Everyone was getting crushed, so eventually they had to just remove the barriers and left everyone in without checking tickets or bags!
- Linda Conway
I got truly frightened as it became clear the area was jammed. I couldn't turn around, couldn't move forward. I saw one girl fainting, another group of girls crying, while of course the countless people who were off their faces created a very niggly atmosphere. - JC
I was beside a fence which was pushed over by the crowd and I was trampled over by peoplet have been surprised if somone had been killed or seriously injured. This is just not acceptable..
- Emma Whelan
There were fights kicking off everywhere. It was very, very dangerous. When I got into the arena it was mayhem . . . There were way more than 80,000 people there. I am looking at my ticket here and it wasn't checked.
- Male caller to RTÉ's
Liveline
