consequence.net: Some festivals are shitty in a strictly metaphorical sense, but the 2021 Elements Festival had no such luck. Logistical nightmares turned into a fecal frenzy, EDM.com reports, and the Lakewood, Pennsylvania music gathering also saw water shortages, 16-hour lines for entry, no planning for torrential rains, and a parking lot swallowed by a muddy pit.
2 comments:
I just cannot wrap my head around festival disasters like this. The amount of planning, time, and money that goes into putting on and producing a festival like this would seemingly ensure a smooth operation, with backup plans if needed. And yet, this event was still a complete disaster. Based on the article, it appears that several root causes combined to make this as much of a disaster as it has proven itself to be. I am not surprised that the overselling of tickets was one of the causes. As much as I’d like to be optimistic that it was unintentional, I am almost certain that they festival producers just wanted to squeeze every last penny of profit they could out of this event. It is always about the money. However, the sanitation issues are a disgusting and disturbing surprise. I can understand that they rented a number of portable toilets that was relative to the theoretical maximum capacity, but if they oversold tickets, they should have rented more. Oh wait, that means less profit for the producers. Funny how that works. Nonetheless, the fact that it got to a point where people were just taking dumps on the floor, next to cars, really anywhere – is ridiculous. I hope the lawsuit from the attendees is successful. They deserve it.
Thanks for reminding me that I need to watch that Fyre Festival documentary. It is genuinely wild to me that some people have the audacity to engage in planning these events and then let them completely fail instead of cancelling them when they know it is looking bad. I like that the author compared Elements to Bonnaroo in the beginning of the article. I totally support Bonnaroo’s decision to cancel, and given the stature that festival has compared to Elements, it would have definitely been best for them to follow suit. The stories in this article are abhorrent. Literal shit and sewage all over the festival??? HOW on earth was that deemed acceptable by the festival planners? Ten hour lines and lying about their COVID protocol? A hot mess if I have ever seen one. I really hope that these people get their money back (and that their lawsuit is successful).
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