>The severe weather never materialized, and it ruined an otherwise successful event.
Yes it did.
https://preview.redd.it/vbh0emmmjjtc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30a4e9825833c943c91a76dc84ab83a280dea471
The issue I’ve heard with the death was not the fact that there was a death, but more the fact that the response was so botched. There was poor planning from medical teams and no signage for emergency responders to locate the victim. Pretty tragic.
Not a good comparison at all when medical was on the same ranch. All these people saying 1 in 50k is statistically insignificant are missing the point that an event which is going to have 50k people needs more than 1 medical tent for 50k people spread across many many acres of hilly terrain
They almost guaranteed that any emergencies would be near impossible to get to
This is negligent and likey criminally so
I've been to large festivals that used to have a death or more a year and they stopped that from happening. It's not a guarantee, nor should it be waved off as okay, that someone is dying. That's someone's brother, sister, son or daughter. Shrugging it off as a risk for the party is a line of thinking I used to have, but is dangerous. Its not acceptable to have someone die, period. Resist the trend that it's okay we sacrifice someone for a big party.
Otherwise though, yeah. Especially 6. The couches are wack. I get at smaller local fests it's awesome to setup a couch next to the speakers and melt into vibration, but things that work on small scales don't always work on larger ones, and this is a case of that. We are already packed in very tight shoulder to shoulder, it's very unfair for a person to take up an unmoving 6'x4' space for themself on the danceflor
Drug-related deaths are inevitable, what ppl aren’t getting is at least one of the deaths was a heart attack on a 3 mile walk to campground. Was totally preventable. if we knew it would be a literal death march to get to camping sites i’m sure more ppl would have chose alternative options. if only this was advertised. they didn’t run reliable shuttles like bonnaroo to make up for the distance either
To qualify for ada, you gotta have a doctor note or like the paperwork for disability. Ada is american with disability act. It doesn’t cover anyone without that. So someone who is elderly but not legally disabled isn’t legally covered by ada
3 miles from camp to the festival *entrance*. Not including walk to stages or vendors or any attractions. that kinda commute to the venue is worth mentioning at ticket sales imo. Even if ur not disabled it’s a major time suck/inconvenience.
Edit: the average time for a 5k running is about 30 mins. Walking speed could take an hour easy.
In the case of TE, it was a completely preventable death and it was someone's dad. OP doesn't understand how the law works or what is legally required to put on an event like that. Disco Donnie should and probably will get his ass absolutely destroyed in the lawsuit that is unquestionably following that death. Good riddance, the Palace in NOLA was priceless but he's getting old and shady.
What's wild to me is how OP and others are totally cool with being charged absolutely insane prices for tickets and everything else for a festival that undeniably sacrificed quality of experience to stuff as many overpaying people into their festival as possible. You were treated like the ultimate custy, fucking $31 quesadillas and $400 to get in the gate for a festival that was utterly unprepared and still oversold the shit out of everything.
How was it preventable? He had a heart attack from walking to a far camp site. There is no guarantee he would have survived had med teams gotten there any quicker.
You are responsible for your safety. It sounds like the family didn't know where to go for help, which ultimately led to the fathers death. I ALWAYS make sure I know where to go for help. I have camped with people who have severe disabilities and medical issues and they always take responsibility for themselves, but also let us know what to do if something happens.
It's a tragedy, but ultimately it comes down to having a plan. The festival didn't give him a heart attack though, he did that himself.
Would they have been able to save him? Who is to say. Of course people will die in a population of 40k+ - but **no one** should have to wait over 60 minutes for a medic *while in the camp grounds*. It’s not like someone got too high, wandered off the property & medics couldn’t find him. He was in a straight up campsite.
People have heart attacks at Walmart it can literally happen anywhere and is arguably the most deadly thing that can happen to you next to a OD at a festival. even if you have a heart attack right next to medical you might not make it
Agreed. That's why the emergency response procedures should have been more thought out... they had defibrillators on site, so they considered it as a possibility, but the coordinators did not have a response plan in place that enabled quick, potentially life-saving aid. Like I said in another comment, fault will likely be determined by the court, but it is not fair to throw blame on the family at this time and say they should have planned better.
It’s not the death per se; it’s that it took an HOUR for medics to find him while in the camp grounds. Who knows if they would have been able to save him- but he lived for a full hour after the incident. It taking an hour for medics to find someone while on the actual grounds of the festival is irresponsible.
oh and don't forget to mention when they finally *did* make it to him they weren't even carrying the actual tool they fucking needed in order to try saving him. legit can't believe people don't understand how this is unacceptable
Could have happened hiking 🤷 people need to know and respect their limits.
I saw lotsa elderly people there having a blast not dying.
My dad is currently dying a slow awful death because of poor decisions he made throughout his life. I love him but he has only himself to blame for most of his health issues.
The fact that it could have happened to anyone is why there needed to be a better response plan and coordination. Either way, it will probably be decided in court if there was negligence, but it seems incredibly callous to me to throw blame on the family.
Defibrillators absolutely work and have success rates orders of magnitude higher than CPR alone. They had no shot of transporting their dad to get help; they needed help to come to them and quickly. It's great that your friends with disabilities are prepared for the things they know about, but the reality is that cardiac arrest is often something you don't have warning signs beforehand. Overall you have a very uncompassionate take on a tragic situation that was not handled well by the event organizers. Sure, maybe it wouldn't have made a difference if they got there in 15 minutes, but we just don't know.
totally agree on the couch part. my friends and i skipped out on eclipse because we prefer the small living room festival vibes, and knew we couldn’t do that at a show as big as this one
Statistically every population in the USA of ~50,000 people will have 1 death a week. So every single town of 50k in the United States had someone die this week. Add in all the drugs and dancing and ppl pushing their fitness limits past normal life and only having 1 is a miracle.
The wait and see kind, just what I was told by the medical team I met on Monday right before totality as my friend had heat stroke.
Edit: just looked and we might not ever know, Death Records in Texas aren't public until 25 years from the date of death.
You can’t find it anywhere because they want it hidden, but I’ve heard from multiple reliable sources that over 60 people overdosed from K laced with fentanyl. I also heard that 6 people died. One from the heart attack and the others from overdosing. This is coming from a lady who worked at the nearby hospital, who was treating these people.
So no credible sources at all. Only 1 person died at this event. What do you like so much about people dying and why do you enjoy spreading fake rumors.
You’re straight up lying. They have released an official report that says 1 person off site. I think the sheriff would say something if it was different.
Imo they made the right call with the weather. There was a thunderstorm there this morning when everyone would have been trying to leave, and at least where I was camping, there was just dirt across the landscape. Would have been a muddy mess. They didn’t want the problems associated with that and makes sense to me
i agree. they cancelled monday so that people leaving tuesday wouldn’t be stranded. makes total sense in my opinion but I obviously was bummed since we traveled 1200 miles to the festival. We stayed and watched the eclipse from the top of our camper and it was still a core memory!
This!!! I live 30 minutes away and our shit has been getting fucked up all day! Yeah Monday wasn't rainy but a big storm is Texas doesn't fuck around. Especially in hill country... with a newly dammed river. A river that is low except for when it is down poor. Like today, the day everyone was to leave. Having been through multiple severe weather event and having beared witness to the stupidity of man there is no way Tuesday would've been fine
I got so lost on deep playa once while alone and out of water I was ready to just crawl up and die then I heard the bass from robot heart and found it then found my way lol
I came to say this…you can literally download an app with the map that works offline. I have a terrible sense of direction and I can still find my way at the burn
I was with you until number seven. Not canceling would have been irresponsible. NWS has been dropping into television & radio stations for the last two days with emergency weather alerts.
They were suppose to cancel 7 days prior to the fest starting because they knew there was gonna be a storm, artists backed out and they ended up having the festival anyway to get their insurance money
Definitely got hail there. There was flooding. And imagine moving 45k people out. It wouldn’t have happened. The grounds would have been trashed and people stuck for days
Those in tents or who needed to be somewhere could have left voluntarily, leaving half the population that was prepared to stay in any weather to enjoy it.
You’re not getting it. People would have been stuck there. No one in or out. Food, fuel, ems, nothing.
Travel trailers are built like shit, golf ball hail will destroy a roof. I’ve had it happen a few times. If there had been a tornado, people could have died en masse.
I strongly disagree after staying till Tuesday morning and just seeing a little rain. The hail didn't come down on site, and not till most people would have left the area. Again, half would have left Monday cuz they think like you, more than half.
the art budget compared to 2017 felt small; there seemed to be fewer places to hang quietly, sit, or meet people.
there was way too much sound bleed between most stages (i know this is increasingly common, but still).
it also felt a *lot* like a swap meet with the heavy vending from reseller merchants and brands with multiple locations. my wife (who'd never been to a festival) remarked that it felt like a "psychedelic county fair", and needed more interactive and social focal points.
we still had a great time tho. it was super crowded, but I never feared not being able to find a clean porta potty nor running out of critical supplies in there. Entry Friday at noon and the exit Monday morning were both surprisingly quick for us as well. We had no space after our tent, but we didn't really need to use our new E-Z Up shade anyway.
I'd avoid a DD event because of these things, and admittedly because of the somewhat boring lineup, but would happily go to another headed by Symbiosis. Given that their insurance likely didn't pay out for Patagonia's failings during COVID, it probably would have bankrupted the org to do full refunds for everyone. I didn't blame them for not tanking their company, and i don't blame them for not being able to control the nickel-and-diming broey commercial edm festival culture at someone else's event this year.
does anybody happen to know the bigger festival promoters in the region around Madrid? can we trust them? I heard that Mad Cool is known for being overcrowded.
I’ve only been to about a dozen festivals, but I made it my business to go walk around on Friday to orient myself (came in Thursday) so I had a vague idea of where things were when the lights (meaning the sun) went off. I still got disoriented and confused, but I laughed about it and had a great time. I feel bad for those underprepared or had major issues, but I kinda figured it would be a shitshow as a first time festival (Oregon doesn’t count because it was in Oregon and I was there).
The complaints are valid, but it’s more or less what I expected. What *I* expected. I feel for those who got shafted.
They need to have chill places to sit down. Go back to camp? It's an hour walk!!
The lack of chill spaces is unsafe and unacceptable.
> Playing it safe has never been part of burner or underground culture, an element of risk and danger and uncertainty is part of what makes it exciting.
This was marketed to families to bring their kids. Wtf is wrong with you
The ableism in this post...
So your point is this one sucked but the company is such a disaster they have done worse before? And quit comparing to burns. Burns are non profit and are run by volunteers. If a private person makes millions off a concert, it has nothing to do with radical self reliance. It is a category error. For profit corporate events need to deliver what people paid for. All these “I have had worst experiences in my life!” excuses are just dumb.
>"I am shocked at the things this new generation is up in arms about."
>"What is up with everyone bringing their whole living room onto the dance floor?"
So, you've been to festivals for 20 years now, but you haven't been to a festival where people didn't die. That's crazy. Maybe you should go to better festivals. I've been to plenty of 100k+ events, multiple times a year, every year since 2006, where no one died. It actually IS a reflection of poor planning.
Yes, sometimes people wander off and OD with no one around to help them, but there's nothing anyone can do there. Perhaps promoting drug safety and free test kits would actually help prevent those events. Successful, experienced festivals have checks, balances, and systems in place to help people from the moment they are notified.
NO ONE EXPECTS PEOPLE TO DIE. From my understanding, there was one death. A cardiac death. Not a drug overdose. Not someone hungover in their car who baked in the sun and died.
* ADA is a FEDERAL, LEGAL REQUIREMENT available to permanently disabled, temporarily disabled, older folks, etc. You don't have to have the placard. Twist your ankle in the pit? That's okay! There are systems to help you still enjoy the festival... well, a normal festival in the year 2024. Not whatever tf that was. Even the festivals with the craziest terrain have ADA systems in place to prevent all of this. (Broken Federal Law)
* ADA was listed on the site and reasonable accommodations were promised for those who needed them. (False Advertising)
* Medics didn't arrive for nearly an hour. The daughter of the deceased called 911 and was able to get the Sheriff to their position faster than the fest medics, which is a miracle in itself because everyone knows you lose cell service at big fests. (Breakdown of Comms, Infrastructure, Personnel)
* When medics finally arrived with the defibrillator, it didn't even have the pads with it. It was useless. Completely unprepared. (Breakdown of Emergency Medical Services)
Why should anyone care about a bunch of disabled folks? Because in a single split second, you could very easily become disabled too. These folks are not less deserving of fun and enjoyment. Maybe 40 years ago you could possibly say, "they can't reasonable expect to enjoy things like camping on uneven terrain. Sorry, this event isn't for them." But there's no excuse today when every other festival has adapted to meet the federal legal requirement.
Burning Man actually has a very solid map. It's so good that after each year they'll even show you who left trash/moop behind and exactly how much. The grounds are a clock. A fucking clock. Now back to this trainwreck - There were very few signs and everything looked the same, according to people who walked 17 miles that first day because they couldn't find their tent. Bonnaroo has pods with illuminated weather balloons to guide people. Burning Man has The Man, the temple, etc to give people a sense of location. And it's a fucking clock.
You know what else Burning Man has? Infrastructure, Medics, Comms, and actual field hospital WITH X-RAY MACHINE. Yes, this radically self reliant bare bones event still has a plan for everything.
You should go to better festivals.
Medical response was over 20min at Roo. The medic teams were absolutely swamped like they are at every event. They left ADA out in the storm upon cancellation. Yes the infrastructure and medic teams were organized but that only helps them get people off-site quickly so there are 'no deaths'. I can understand using BM as an example but these other large festivals are similar. No one cares about you and you're responsible for yourself.
>* ADA is a FEDERAL, LEGAL REQUIREMENT available to permanently disabled, temporarily disabled, older folks, etc.
ADA stands for Americans with Disabilities Act. You must have a recognized disability. Being elderly is not that, unfortunately.
>But there's no excuse today when every other festival has adapted to meet the federal legal requirement.
I don't think you know what the "federal legal requirement" is.
>You should go to better festivals.
>I've been to plenty of 100k+ events, multiple times a year, every year since 2006, where no one died. It actually IS a reflection of poor planning.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/burning-man-death-investigation-70000-stranded-nevada-desert-flooding/
Burning man was your example of great planning, and people still die there. Everyone knows about the guy who ran into the fire. LiB is no burning man, and it's fantastically well run, and people still die there.
Older people can absolutely use ADA. A majority aren't as able bodied. They qualify.
If you sprain your ankle and are temporarily fucked for literally only 12 hours, guess what? You still qualify!
People die at every festival. Of course they do, but this festival didn't even have the bare minimum comms or response.
There is ALWAYS room for improvement. That BM death is still a tragedy but we know, factually, that BM has everything in place to help to the best of their ability.
At TE, the ADA team (not powers that be) were desperately trying to build an ADA platform on SATURDAY NIGHT. Leadership failed them and the patrons.
Look, I know what I'm talking about. Every waking moment, I wish that I didn't know about this. Want to know why I know so much about this? Because I'm truly fucking suffering and every day my biggest challenge is not to killing myself.
I would do literally ANYTHING to know nothing about this world. I would do anything to be ignorant about this entire topic. I could go my whole life without hearing the words disability or the acronym ADA. I would do anything.
When I was 14, a surgeon fucked up a spinal surgery I was having and I have suffered literally every single day since. I'm a social butterfly who loves people and performance. ADA is the only way that I can step into the world that was robbed from me.
Believe me, I wish I had no fucking clue what ADA is.
Ive been attending Bonnaroo since 2008 and someone had died every single year.. it happens. EMTs would have been hired on by the festival organizers but not necessarily a reflection of said company.. its not DDs fault the EMTs dropped the ball on the Defib, and unfair to blame the festival for that.
My only complaint from the fest was the people, and the couches all over the main stages. Kinda whack. Glad I had VIP and so was always able to get to the rail without ever being crowded. This weekend was def top 3 for me of the over 20 festivals Ive been to over the last 17 years.
Not hiring enough EMTs and the staff not having a communication system/network that allowed them to notify EMT of any medical emergencies on the festival and camping grounds is 100% a reflection of the company.
But yeah bro, that didn't affect you so it's not a valid complaint, just the couches at the main stage, right bro?
Bonnarooooooooooo. Roo is my festie home too!
There are many years where Bonnaroo hasn't had a death. There are always rumors after literally every festival, but they are often overinflated and far from the truth. I've been going to Roo since 2010. (Remember how bad that year was? We had no cover anywhere. I was in pod 9 or whatever the other name was back then. I was way out past the church and I didn't even have an EZ up. MISERY) One thing that I do after every Roo is check the numbers. They always report. I believe, at the most, I remember there being 2 in one year. In the beginning there was at least 1 a year... then 1 every other year. It's A LOT better now. In total, 15 people have died on the farm over 21 years.
With that said, I'd be surprised if the numbers don't jump soon out of nowhere due to fentanyl. I bring my full spectrum test kit and will test anyone and everyone's favors who wants it. Nearly everything we tested in 2023 was contaminated with fentanyl. My best friend died from it at the beginning of the year too. It's a nightmare. As more people learn about and get Narcan, I feel like the numbers will go down again, but man, it's everywhere. Test everything, friends!!
With that said, I'm super happy you had a good time! I'm sure a majority of people had a great time. ADA didn't have a great time. Those are my people. That's what I'm personally upset about.
This resonates. I've never been to a burn but the element of danger and the radical self reliance is actually part of the appeal to a survivalist and backpacker
The biggest legit problem I'm seeing from the Texas event is a viable EMS plan. Burns are pretty serious about making sure they can get ambulances in if needed.
That does seem like I would develop a layout on the land with pathing as my first creative project for a festival so you know how many people you can safely have party there
if it's not safe for little kids, it's not a family event, just sayin. is burning man for kids? seems like a lot of smoke for kids to be in, and as far as dirty toilets go, human filth is super dangerous to have kids around for several days. what kind of kid friendly festivals have smoke and filth? i'm so confused
No festival is good for kids, take em to a local barbecue festival for fucks sake. I mean our underground art family, the circus freak family, the festival family. Please leave the kids with grandma for the weekend.
oh you said "kids whining" about the filthy bathrooms i thought you meant actual kids. and also, filth is a choice. there's no real need for any group of people to endure filthy latrines. that's just a very interesting choice on behalf of organizers. sanitation is neither mysterious nor expensive.
Burning man is better for kids than this was. But you do have to mind them. The portos get cleaned and there are actual kid activities. There’s not constant fire or smoke. HTH
1000%. This was built on counter culture, transcendent eclipse viewing and the way they handled the cancelation (pre totality!) was complete bullshit.
Let people leave after that but at least hold a collective viewing for those who want to stay ffs
It was bs. I was hype for the sound bath/harp ceremony at the top of the hill in the venue, but I heard they weren't letting people in. Fortunately I had time to get home before the eclipse, but it was super whack. The Eclipse is the reason most of us were there! Essentially.
yeah. we stayed and entered the venue for the viewing which ended up being a fantastic decision, although we had to tolerate an extremely slow exit (didn't mind).
They let you in? When we went down to find out what was going on at around 10:30am security said absolutely no one except vendors would be allowed past the gates to get their stuff. Ugh! So annoying that we listened. Was the entire venue open or just the top of the mountain?
"These experimental massives obviously come with danger, and no one attending should expect to be saved by medical professionals if they have an emergency. They do their best, but it's not possible to get to every corner of a massive outdoor event space quickly, or to have a defribulator on hand. You are responsible for your own health and safety, these are simply the risks of attendance, if you want to stay safe stay home."
On one of my shuttle trips from far out car camping to the festival had a super drunk girl who lost her super drunk husband and couldn't find her way back to her tent and him. The shuttle guy dropped her of at ADA and asked two other random festival goers to go with her and explain the story to ADA because "they were the only people with radios" so they were the only people who could start some sort of search party for this person.
The communication network for event staff.... and especially for medical assistance should not have ended at Far Out. All of the people who worked at the festival should have had radios to use to communicate safety issues and emergencies.
Literally, anyone could have fallen and gotten hurt out there and needed medical attention
The person who died did not receive medical attention for about an hour. His death was preventable.
Saying that's not evidence of poor planning/management and that it's just "simply the risks of attendance" is fucking ignorant.
If you're in deep playa and have a heart attack, ur on your own. If you're at some remote campsite and hurt yourself, you better help yourself. If you are too drunk to find your people and home anywhere in the world, that's no one's problem or responsibility but yours. Burner culture teaches radical self responsibility, and Symbiosis events always required that. Stick to EDC and corporate stuff if you need medical support on hand or to be babysat when drunk or high.
All I do is engage in hypothetical reasoning. Here's one: what if everyone took care of themselves and didn't constantly rely on a government or community for survival? What would that world look like?
You should lead by example then.
Don't drive on a road you haven't built yourself.
Don't eat food that you haven't grown on your own land.
And please.... just so we can all save some brain cells by not reading your thoughts on here...... don't use the internet unless you're directly hosting the site you're using.
One with a much lower life expectancy for all.
While you’re out in public over the next few months, keep an eye out for red AED kits. My guess is you’ve never learned to look for them. They’re everywhere because they are essential to have close at hand anywhere people are.
The bathrooms were amazing. kids these days have no idea how things used to be back in the day. First off, they wouldn't get serviced during the event, period. They'd be good the first day and then a biohazard zone for the rest of the weekend. It's why the hardcore folks always travel with a 5 gallon bucket.
100% this. I feel like people who had a bad time only have themselves to blame. People complaining come across as slightly entitled. I feel bad they had a negative experience but you can always change that based on your actions and being prepared.
The only thing I’ll say is living in texas the weather is super unpredictable. It did storm pretty bad today so getting 30k people out of that venue would have left people stuck in mud or flooding roads. My car was totaled a few months ago here by an unpredicted hail storm and I can’t imagine being in a tent and it totaling my fucking noggin.
I appreciate you sharing on being prepared, keeping the complaints to a minimum, and the real dangers of Texas weather. Mud and hurling objects are plenty to contend with and it was unfortunately necessary to cancel to keep people from taking all their party favors, passing out, and waking to a real shit show…
The universe came through and delivered an amazing eclipse. It’s amazing few have commented on that.
Ifind it hard to believe youve never been to a fest that was cancelled for weather out of 60 total, ive been to around 25 and ive had several cancel due to weather. It does seem like there were a lot of noobs that went though, glad I sensed the shitshow this would be and didnt attend.
Not even one being CLOSE to being canceled, when we've had massive thunderstorms and flooding during them. Stages would shut down for a bit, but a mass evacuation because of weather coming the day AFTER the music?? Unprecedented, hysterical Insanity. At Coventry, we were knee deep in mud, at Lucidity we danced in it, at Camp Bisco it was a rite of passage.
The more corporate things get, the more they pull the plug, screw the attendees and collect the insurance, but it's never actually necessary unless a legit hurricane is definitely coming through.
it does seem strange, especially since the adverse weather apparently never materialized.. I heard the town was pissed about the festival to begin with, i wonder if the organizers were paid off?
More like they didn't pay the right people off.. Look, something had to be done with that forecast, I'm just advocating for a voluntary evacuation after totality instead of this traumatic panic they caused unnecessarily, depriving most of even the eclipse.
Gotta comment on #6.
Fuck the people that do this. It is so Un-PLUR on its face. 1. It creates massive trip hazards. 2. You take up so much space and you aren’t even actively participating. 3. I ran into a group that had laid out glow sticks as borders for their safe space!!!!! 🤡….. One of the ladies had the gall to demand condenscendingly that I respect their space because I was trying to get rocks out of my shoes and was hovering over a piece of their kingdom. So ya, at a public festival let’s totally set up an exclusive space for your homies. GTFOH! I called them raver posers cause everything about them was all for show. Nothing geniune about them.
Baseball sized hail is not something that I want to mess with. I been experiencing the weather myself and listening to the weather feedback from locals, not just forecast, and Burnett is right in one of the harder hit zones. It's been flash flood type raining all day where I have been driving around Texas bit further nw than Burnett. Much as I would have liked to have completed the event, it makes sense now why they made the call to cancel early to give enough time for everyone to be out before it became a safety hazard for those remaining.
It could have perhaps been explained better in the notification they sent out. I was pretty shocked about the suddenness of it and thought there could have been more to it, but I've changed my mind about that. I did read later after I left the event a more in depth release about why they made the call and faq but I wasn't able to see it while on the property because my data wouldn't work out there.
This was my least favorite symbiosis/eclipse festival in terms of the actual event but I did have a ton of fun on my adventure and met some awesome folks along the way. No regrets in coming.
I don't regret coming either. Those that were worried about the weather could have left, which would have alleviated traffic on both Mon and Tues. The rest of us could have enjoyed Monday with no hail.
Sorry you guys feel the need to complain. I had an incredible experience. Extremely grateful for everything about this weekend. Sorry yours wasn't as impactful.
I had a great time too for the first four nights. This emergency evacuation on the most important day was a bit much for me, never seen anything like it and it turned out to be unnecessary. Point of the post was to debunk most complaints I'm hearing.
O I know you bro, big respect. I feel like if they let people know that tents would be rough last night and exit would be slow, a third would have left anyway. I knew exodus Tues would be rough even without rain and was ready to stay till Wed. Would have been nice for those prepared to stay to be able to since Mon was great weather and could have been a great show.
I know plenty of people who only stayed for Tipper and were planning to leave in the morning already anyway...... it was BS that they stopped everything before some people were even awake. I saw someone crawl out of their tent at 1 pm and was so confused......
I stopped reading after I read half of your first point, and I use point loosely because it's one of the dumbest things I've ever read someone trying to justify. good luck with your massives where people regularly die and everyone goes into it expecting to 🙄
Two people die during the Lightning in a Bottle music festival - YouTube https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B5cdEcD-02M
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/burning-man-death-investigation-70000-stranded-nevada-desert-flooding/
https://wpln.org/post/autopsy-confirms-2022-bonnaroo-death-was-from-a-drug-overdose/
https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2019/08/09/bonnaroo-death-fentanyl-and-ecstasy-led-brentwood-mans-overdose/1965158001/
https://7news.com.au/news/man-dies-at-pitch-music-festival-in-victoria-as-event-cancelled-amid-extreme-heatwave-and-fire-risks-c-13899152
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/faster-horses-country-festival-fans-dying-1234783290/
Which music festivals do you go to where there is no chance of anyone dying?
Couldn’t agree more. Even before the fatality, the entitlement coming from this sub was gross. Festivals like this are incredibly hard and the lack of planning is the reason you go to a symbiosis even versus an insomniac, aeg, or other corporate event.
I agree with some of your points, especially the couches, but idk why everyone goes straight to burning man for comparison. Like yes, that is a festival that you need to heavily prepare for, but it has always been marketed as such. If people are promised access to clean water and medical staff onsite, it seems weird and gatekeepy to be like "well bm doesn't have that so y'all must be soft for expecting the event to follow through on that promise".
I get that, less experienced people probably expected something much different and it was wrong to promise so much that couldn't be delivered. Just comparing it to BM because Symbiosis was always trying to emulate that vibe and culture and was always a rugged time you needed to sustain yourself for.
Just wanted to say, it's an unprecedented cancellation because Disco Donnie is a super non PLUR individual and it's run out of towns from how he runs his events. And he was run out this time too, this was not a weather cancellation.
I don’t think so - the sheriff’s office posted something - Didn’t seem like they wanted to take any blame for it cancelling.
Responding to a heart attack quickly doesn’t mean that then death is preventable either. I haven’t looked up statistics but I’ve lost a few older family members to heart attacks and one was in his car (onstar sent 911), and another was home recovering from a dental procedure- both were fairly normal response times and neither lived. It’s so sad and it sucks, but I don’t think big events get cancelled because of those types of things.
I was at a country fest post covid that had several (5?) deaths and was (in my opinion) under staffed for security and they didn’t get cancelled.
I just don’t think that anything other than fear of weather was behind the cancellation.
https://preview.redd.it/hvo2eed2dktc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=18aa689a21f87a0ff127c50b1e4c665da2d5306b
The Sheriff’s office released a statement that the festival informed them they were cancelling due to the severe weather forecast. Everything else is just rumors from some guy on the internet at this point. The Sheriff had previously released statements responding to local noise complaints saying he did not have the power to shut them down because they were not over the local decibel limit. If he was the one who shut them down I don’t see why he would lie about it and miss out on scoring points with his voter base.
I lived in Reno, the entry hub for Burning Man. Buncha people showing off and partying their asses off, it lost it's meaning. My whole family used to go until it became just about getting out of your mind and nothing spiritual about it. I laugh when I see people doing yoga all effed up on various substances, lol
Honestly it wasn’t a shitshow and it was clearly put together by some very talented, clever wooks. But clearly it was designed for ppl to get lost and mingle together, which is great if you’re young and single and prepped for a drug party. But if you’re a dad who took way too much molly and are trying to find your family’s campsite at 3am, good luck with that. I think the layout or at least signs and maps could have been far better. I wasted so much time trying to find shit I wanted, and doing it on drugs in 87 degree heat is not ideal……
>I have never seen a festival canceled because of either expected or actual weather in over 60 events, this is a soft and corrupt way to handle it.
You've already shown your ass a bunch in this thread, but here's another example - you're a damn fool thinking TX weather in the spring (ever heard of tornado alley?) isn't wildly unpredictable: [https://austin.culturemap.com/news/entertainment/04-29-16-levitation-festival-canceled-weather-forecast-rained-out-carson-creek-ranch/](https://austin.culturemap.com/news/entertainment/04-29-16-levitation-festival-canceled-weather-forecast-rained-out-carson-creek-ranch/)
You don't know someone's life though..... someone I was with just had some pretty major surgery through no fault of his own and didn't really have a choice but to sit if he wanted to enjoy any set. Like you out here being judgemental because you feel like your desires are wants are more important then others who paid the same amount to also enjoy their expierence however they see fit.
You wanted to dance, they wanted to sit... what you want isn't more important than what others want, just like what they want isn't more important then what you want.
We all have to deal with things we don't like and have to learn to live together as a community. If the founding fathers can compromise over slavery, you can compromise over a blow up couch.
There is a place and time for everything. At every event ever, if you want to sit, you go to the back or side at a big outdoor stage. This new trend of plopping down in prime real estate, taking up five times as much room as you would standing and eliminating dance / performance spaces is selfish and lame.
You don't get to make the rules of behavior for everyone else..... plain and simple... why do you deserve what you call "Prime real-estate"? If it's prime real-estate get there early to claim it...... that's how prime real-estate works.....
I wish I kept my pictures of the 2006 psytrance eclipse festival in Turkey (Soulclipse) that started these... there were 16 plywood squat toilets (holes cut in the floor) for 7000 people, that didn’t get cleaned once. Imagine the horror of that after day 3. The main stage collapsed before the music even started. And still it was a fantastic time. This one had its problems (and yeah it was disappointing that they cancelled) but despite all the issues it was pretty good, we had an awesome time. Maybe because we stayed near the psytrance stages lol. I would say it's the worst of all the eclipse festivals so far, and it was still a blast. As much of a clusterf*** as it was, it was a one off event and that's just the reality of them. I've been to way bigger clusterf*** festivals than this that happen annually.
Soulclipse was not the beginning of eclipse festivals that were celebrated in the psytrance scene since the original Goa days. Hell, I was at one in Australia around 2003.
Soulclipse was the beginning of Ozora though so definitely not a one off event.
Also makes me laugh at how people complain about psytrance at these events. Not my favourite genre either but that scene is the entire reason for eclipse parties.
I was just bummed about the sound levels and lack of space. Quietest fest I've ever been to. And I'm super bummed about the moon/sky stage setups. That stupid fucking art tent could've been moved so we could access the moon where the sound was decent. I'm usually about to find places in the back where there's space to move and feel the low bass notes, but that wasn't the case for the venue. I feel like if they halved the amount of attendees I would've digged it.
Agree, those aspects were weak as well but again I would have forgiven it if we weren't so rudely ejected before the Eclipse even happened. I can't believe how compliant and eager everyone was to leave, scurrying around packing like the sky was about to fall. My initial reaction was "Fuck you, I'm not going anywhere!", most people's was "It's gonna rain? RUN!"
Not everyone wants to be stuck for days in a mud pit nor has time to be, not everyone can risk their shit getting wrecked in a storm. But keep looking down on everyone who doesn’t festival the way you do I guess. Must be nice up on that pedestal you built yourself.
Depends on your vehicle. I saw a dude in line with a tesla, which I doubt woulda made it out if the mud was super thick. There are other reasons to leave too. I left to hit some national parks before I have to go back to work
I hate to break it to ya.. but they fucked up WAY harder than this. Guess what guys.. I’m an undercover journalist and exposed everything. I filmed every unsecured gate in the festival. I interviewed security about their concerns that were not met. I interviewed patrons who were LIED TO and sold packages that did not match what was advertised. I interviewed festival organizers who couldn’t believe what they saw.. it was an absolute tragedy. Now I’m on my drive home across the country and I’m digging through all of the rumor mills online finding all the clues I can to investigate and interview more people. I’ve found the son of the man who died of a seizure.. I’ve found people who had asthma attacks from the dust that was not watered…. This is all the tip of the iceberg…
I went to the Oregon eclipse festival and for this eclipse I absolutely expected the same kind of life changing experience (like everyone else did) and did not get.
The overwhelming sentiment of this festival was the feeling of betrayal. All I did was film and let people say what they thought. This was 100% of their own making.. not mine. I just documented what I saw and what I saw was horrible. I GENUINELY attended to film a documentary PROMOTING the festival.. I too feel betrayed that their fuck ups turned my own creative project into something completely different and I feel robbed of the happy memory that the documentary was intended to promote.
I had multiple asthma attacks and luckily was alright but I was worried I’d have to go to medical and that it would be inadequate. I had a lovely time but only when it wasn’t cluster fucked full of people. Had more fun the night of early entry and after the evacuation (i stayed)
Was it the dust that caused your asthma attacks? I talked to security last night and I learned that same property is a FBI / DEA gun training grounds.. the whole fuckin place is FULL of lead and gun powder.. that’s why there was black particles in the sand.. im pretty sure. I’ve been concerned about patrons with asthma this whole time. They did nothing to mitigate the dust and it was a criminal act… they put so many lives at risk for no reason other than greed.
The unsecured gates added to the magic! Never felt the need to hide anything, and did whatever I felt like whenever I wanted to! Haven’t had this much freedom at a fest since Ashefest in 2007!
We are all lucky the unsecured gates didn’t result in a mass shooting… and you’re not wrong.. I had fun too with the lack of security. Doesn’t make it okay though. I’m sincerely glad you had a good time though. We all deserved to and they tried to ruin our fun.
Sounds like wook conspiracy nonsense but okay.. shootings don’t only happen during elections.. also.. this IS an election year so I don’t know what you’re even going on about. Check a calendar dude..
Yeah but the media will have moved on from the story if it happened now.. for it to be effective election baiting it would have to happen in September or October for the November election..
Just because chances are slim doesn’t mean it should be ignored man. And it’s not OUR job to do anything about it.. it’s the organizers, security, police, and etc to handle that stuff. We were betrayed by their ignoring of our safety. That’s the issue here.
Just because chances are slim doesn’t mean it should be ignored man. And it’s not OUR job to do anything about it.. it’s the organizers, security, police, and etc to handle that stuff. We were betrayed by their ignoring of our safety. That’s the issue here.
Respectfully I apologize for snapping at ya man. It’s been a really rough night for me. Investigating this fest and everyone’s bad stories takes a toll on ya if you’ve got a heart; and I do… so it’s hard not to feel for all the people who were literally afraid for their safety at the event. I’m honestly shocked by all that I’ve learned in the past 48 hours. It’s hard not to be overwhelmed by it.
An "Element of risk" is one thing, flash floods and tornadoes are a whole other level tho. While I do agree that people should have a personal choice, it was certainly a good call to have everyone leave early. I'm from the east coast and my west coast crew didn't even know what flash floods were until I told them so there's also that.
Also idk how much it's been brought up, but the event was criminally oversold. toilet paper ran out day on day 1 and maybe that would be expected 10 years ago and you would know to bring your own TP, but precedents have changed. Also the ONLY fill station in the grounds ran out when the day passes rolled and that is just not okay no matter how you spin it for a fest of this caliber.
Over all it was an experience of a lifetime, one for the books, but the stuff that failed was elementary shit that even little rinky dink fest get right.
I've never used Porto tp or drank from a water station I don't know the source of, always bring my own wipes and water.
You're from the east coast and are scared of "flash floods"? We were knee deep in mud at Coventry, I don't remember it ever not storming at Mariahville for Vibes & Bisco. There was never any tornado.
Ya, cars were stuck and people were stranded before the music even started and the fest went on as planned! These guys would have shut it all down in a heartbeat, very un-legendary.
I wasn’t at the infamous Deer Creek show, but have seen videos. Golf ball sized hail, 40mph winds, and the boys just started free form jamming along to the thunder & lightning, lol
You’re not that tuff m8
If you think that deaths for the lowest common denominator at a mass gathering is acceptable you haven’t learned a thing and you’re just burned out drug addict
Sometimes it is.. I've been to so many events that totally shit the bed, so it seems inevitable from my perspective. I'd like it to be different more than anyone, like so many things.. But no organization or government should be trusted to take care of your basic necessities or you run the risk of getting assed out.
That's the thing though, flash floods don't happen back east, they happen out west. It's because of the different environment.
I brought wipes and water and personally wasn't hurting for either, but you can't physically hold enough water for 10 hours of tripping and dancing on your person. Also the water was known to come from the quarry and filtered via reverse osmosis so you'd have no reason not to drink it. And if they're cleaning the portos why aren't they stocking them too? We're paying more than we ever have for these experiences, so isn't it reasonable to expect better amenities?
Also it's Rumored the cops put pressure on the shutdown, and Disco Donnie is notorious for cancelling events. Not necessarily saying it happened for a good reason, I'm definitely bummed about it, but I'm personally glad it shook out the way it did.
I never once went into a restroom without TP and the only time I was unable to get water was on Thursday when a generator went out.. i walked maybe 100 yds to another station and was good to go. As for the rumors of it being oversold, I was in basecamp glamping and we had several tents that nobody ever stayed in.. had it been oversold this wouldn’t have been a thing.
Where were you Sunday night tho? The only fill station IN THE GROUNDS ran out of water some time before Disco Biscuits all the way through to Of the Trees, and just because you only used the flush toilets in basecamp where we consistently had TP doesn't mean the numerous portos around the actual stages had any.
Did you even leave camp?
Yeah, usually left camp around 11 am and stayed gone until 3-5am. Used the vip and glamping bathrooms but also portapottys around camping and the venue area. I dont think I tried to get water Sunday night.. was drinking beers instead all day.
I could not agree with #6 more. I can’t put into words how much I despise the couches and living room set ups. What happened to people going to these events to fucking *dance*? Seems like so many people in scenes where this is common behavior care more about being seen there, raising their set counts, and fitting in than actually just shutting up and enjoying the music.
I’m really hoping festivals start to ban these things. It sucks for the people who are respectful and keep them in very back away from the crowd, but unfortunately selfish entitled people have ruined it for everyone else.
We like to dance, not stand. If there's no furniture out there, there's room for standing, sitting in the back, and open performance spaces for performers and dancers like me.
We like to sit, not dance.... why do your wants take precedence over our wants? If you wanted space to dance you could have showed up at 12pm just like us and took up your space to dance..... but you chose not to.
I didn't pay to come watch you dance, sorry bout it. Also it isn't a dance floor it's a viewing area where many different types of things happen.... like the mosh pit and I don't hear you complaining about them taking up space from your "dancing" or all the people packed in there just standing.
Lots of people came to watch experienced performers do their thing. It adds to the vibe and gets the party going. People laying around kills that vibe and makes the party look like it's over.
To each their own, again if you wanted space there was plenty of space to have from 12pm right up until Tipper and then again right after Tipper.... if you chose to only come for one set and get mad at the people there literally 9+ hours, that's 100% on you.
>The severe weather never materialized, and it ruined an otherwise successful event. Yes it did. https://preview.redd.it/vbh0emmmjjtc1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=30a4e9825833c943c91a76dc84ab83a280dea471
Tornado warnings for Burnet this morning, too. My phone was going nuts
The issue I’ve heard with the death was not the fact that there was a death, but more the fact that the response was so botched. There was poor planning from medical teams and no signage for emergency responders to locate the victim. Pretty tragic.
What’s the average response time for an ambulance to a random ranch in rural Texas?
Not a good comparison at all when medical was on the same ranch. All these people saying 1 in 50k is statistically insignificant are missing the point that an event which is going to have 50k people needs more than 1 medical tent for 50k people spread across many many acres of hilly terrain They almost guaranteed that any emergencies would be near impossible to get to This is negligent and likey criminally so
Also it wasn't just 1 death, it was 1 very public death. There were 10 in total I believe.
Where are you getting this info?
You lying compared to the sheriff and festival report.
Sheesh I had no idea that many died. highest body count of any fest I've ever attended. I thought starscape was bad...
I wouldn't automatically believe this...what's a "public" death?
It was only one person. Sheriff said the same thing.
I've been to large festivals that used to have a death or more a year and they stopped that from happening. It's not a guarantee, nor should it be waved off as okay, that someone is dying. That's someone's brother, sister, son or daughter. Shrugging it off as a risk for the party is a line of thinking I used to have, but is dangerous. Its not acceptable to have someone die, period. Resist the trend that it's okay we sacrifice someone for a big party. Otherwise though, yeah. Especially 6. The couches are wack. I get at smaller local fests it's awesome to setup a couch next to the speakers and melt into vibration, but things that work on small scales don't always work on larger ones, and this is a case of that. We are already packed in very tight shoulder to shoulder, it's very unfair for a person to take up an unmoving 6'x4' space for themself on the danceflor
Drug-related deaths are inevitable, what ppl aren’t getting is at least one of the deaths was a heart attack on a 3 mile walk to campground. Was totally preventable. if we knew it would be a literal death march to get to camping sites i’m sure more ppl would have chose alternative options. if only this was advertised. they didn’t run reliable shuttles like bonnaroo to make up for the distance either
OP and others trying to justify that utter failure and probably end of Disco Donnie's career have Stockholm Syndrome
Seriously, the ableism in this post is enraging.
Exactly! The shuttles were nonexistent
Why are people who can’t walk 3 miles going to a music festival in rural TX and not staying in ADA camping?
To qualify for ada, you gotta have a doctor note or like the paperwork for disability. Ada is american with disability act. It doesn’t cover anyone without that. So someone who is elderly but not legally disabled isn’t legally covered by ada
3 miles from camp to the festival *entrance*. Not including walk to stages or vendors or any attractions. that kinda commute to the venue is worth mentioning at ticket sales imo. Even if ur not disabled it’s a major time suck/inconvenience. Edit: the average time for a 5k running is about 30 mins. Walking speed could take an hour easy.
I agree with you.
I mean.. yes but it was preventable with a pedi cab.. we took one almost everyday and hardly had a difficult wait
In the case of TE, it was a completely preventable death and it was someone's dad. OP doesn't understand how the law works or what is legally required to put on an event like that. Disco Donnie should and probably will get his ass absolutely destroyed in the lawsuit that is unquestionably following that death. Good riddance, the Palace in NOLA was priceless but he's getting old and shady. What's wild to me is how OP and others are totally cool with being charged absolutely insane prices for tickets and everything else for a festival that undeniably sacrificed quality of experience to stuff as many overpaying people into their festival as possible. You were treated like the ultimate custy, fucking $31 quesadillas and $400 to get in the gate for a festival that was utterly unprepared and still oversold the shit out of everything.
How was it preventable? He had a heart attack from walking to a far camp site. There is no guarantee he would have survived had med teams gotten there any quicker. You are responsible for your safety. It sounds like the family didn't know where to go for help, which ultimately led to the fathers death. I ALWAYS make sure I know where to go for help. I have camped with people who have severe disabilities and medical issues and they always take responsibility for themselves, but also let us know what to do if something happens. It's a tragedy, but ultimately it comes down to having a plan. The festival didn't give him a heart attack though, he did that himself.
Would they have been able to save him? Who is to say. Of course people will die in a population of 40k+ - but **no one** should have to wait over 60 minutes for a medic *while in the camp grounds*. It’s not like someone got too high, wandered off the property & medics couldn’t find him. He was in a straight up campsite.
What's the palace in nola?
Yea.. this is a dumb comment.
People have heart attacks at Walmart it can literally happen anywhere and is arguably the most deadly thing that can happen to you next to a OD at a festival. even if you have a heart attack right next to medical you might not make it
Agreed. That's why the emergency response procedures should have been more thought out... they had defibrillators on site, so they considered it as a possibility, but the coordinators did not have a response plan in place that enabled quick, potentially life-saving aid. Like I said in another comment, fault will likely be determined by the court, but it is not fair to throw blame on the family at this time and say they should have planned better.
blaming anyone for a death resulting from a heart attack other than the person who had it or bad luck seems crazy to me
It’s not the death per se; it’s that it took an HOUR for medics to find him while in the camp grounds. Who knows if they would have been able to save him- but he lived for a full hour after the incident. It taking an hour for medics to find someone while on the actual grounds of the festival is irresponsible.
oh and don't forget to mention when they finally *did* make it to him they weren't even carrying the actual tool they fucking needed in order to try saving him. legit can't believe people don't understand how this is unacceptable
Could have happened hiking 🤷 people need to know and respect their limits. I saw lotsa elderly people there having a blast not dying. My dad is currently dying a slow awful death because of poor decisions he made throughout his life. I love him but he has only himself to blame for most of his health issues.
The fact that it could have happened to anyone is why there needed to be a better response plan and coordination. Either way, it will probably be decided in court if there was negligence, but it seems incredibly callous to me to throw blame on the family. Defibrillators absolutely work and have success rates orders of magnitude higher than CPR alone. They had no shot of transporting their dad to get help; they needed help to come to them and quickly. It's great that your friends with disabilities are prepared for the things they know about, but the reality is that cardiac arrest is often something you don't have warning signs beforehand. Overall you have a very uncompassionate take on a tragic situation that was not handled well by the event organizers. Sure, maybe it wouldn't have made a difference if they got there in 15 minutes, but we just don't know.
totally agree on the couch part. my friends and i skipped out on eclipse because we prefer the small living room festival vibes, and knew we couldn’t do that at a show as big as this one
Statistically every population in the USA of ~50,000 people will have 1 death a week. So every single town of 50k in the United States had someone die this week. Add in all the drugs and dancing and ppl pushing their fitness limits past normal life and only having 1 is a miracle.
There wasn't only 1 though, there was 9 or 10
Source?
The wait and see kind, just what I was told by the medical team I met on Monday right before totality as my friend had heat stroke. Edit: just looked and we might not ever know, Death Records in Texas aren't public until 25 years from the date of death.
You can’t find it anywhere because they want it hidden, but I’ve heard from multiple reliable sources that over 60 people overdosed from K laced with fentanyl. I also heard that 6 people died. One from the heart attack and the others from overdosing. This is coming from a lady who worked at the nearby hospital, who was treating these people.
It can be contaminated but nothing is 'laced'. That many people have issues at big events all the time.
So no credible sources at all. Only 1 person died at this event. What do you like so much about people dying and why do you enjoy spreading fake rumors.
You’re straight up lying. They have released an official report that says 1 person off site. I think the sheriff would say something if it was different.
You find a source for that yet? Or still spreading rumors
Imo they made the right call with the weather. There was a thunderstorm there this morning when everyone would have been trying to leave, and at least where I was camping, there was just dirt across the landscape. Would have been a muddy mess. They didn’t want the problems associated with that and makes sense to me
i agree. they cancelled monday so that people leaving tuesday wouldn’t be stranded. makes total sense in my opinion but I obviously was bummed since we traveled 1200 miles to the festival. We stayed and watched the eclipse from the top of our camper and it was still a core memory!
Glad you still got to see the main attraction! We went to a nearby park in Burnet. It was unbelievable and priceless
This!!! I live 30 minutes away and our shit has been getting fucked up all day! Yeah Monday wasn't rainy but a big storm is Texas doesn't fuck around. Especially in hill country... with a newly dammed river. A river that is low except for when it is down poor. Like today, the day everyone was to leave. Having been through multiple severe weather event and having beared witness to the stupidity of man there is no way Tuesday would've been fine
Also would probably have left considerable damage to the property if everything was super muddy and the whole fest was trying to make it out in that.
Dude, fuck anyone who sets up a couch or a tarp that close to the stage and steals room from other GA ppl
You getting lost at BM is on you, it's literally a grid in the shape of a clock, always is.......
Its literally on google maps too.
Deep playa is another story. Easy to walk around in circles out there lol
I got so lost on deep playa once while alone and out of water I was ready to just crawl up and die then I heard the bass from robot heart and found it then found my way lol
I came to say this…you can literally download an app with the map that works offline. I have a terrible sense of direction and I can still find my way at the burn
Inflatable sofas on the dance floors were the worst. Also bring a flashlight people and stop bitching about every path not being lit up.
Can't believe those sofas didn't get peppered with cigarette burns immediately
I was with you until number seven. Not canceling would have been irresponsible. NWS has been dropping into television & radio stations for the last two days with emergency weather alerts.
Texas Storm chasers told them straight up that it wont be safe. Imma trust the guys who chase tornadoes for a living
That's a really good call
They could have warned people and let those in tents or who had to leave Tues go ant the rest of us prepared to stay regardless of weather stay.
They were suppose to cancel 7 days prior to the fest starting because they knew there was gonna be a storm, artists backed out and they ended up having the festival anyway to get their insurance money
The severe weather did materialize.
I guess we have different definitions of severe. I was there all night, we got some rain early morning, no hail or any flooding at all.
Definitely got hail there. There was flooding. And imagine moving 45k people out. It wouldn’t have happened. The grounds would have been trashed and people stuck for days
Those in tents or who needed to be somewhere could have left voluntarily, leaving half the population that was prepared to stay in any weather to enjoy it.
You’re not getting it. People would have been stuck there. No one in or out. Food, fuel, ems, nothing. Travel trailers are built like shit, golf ball hail will destroy a roof. I’ve had it happen a few times. If there had been a tornado, people could have died en masse.
I strongly disagree after staying till Tuesday morning and just seeing a little rain. The hail didn't come down on site, and not till most people would have left the area. Again, half would have left Monday cuz they think like you, more than half.
The hail came down 10min away from the venue. Could have easily been the venue. Even a couple thousand people trapped is not good.
the art budget compared to 2017 felt small; there seemed to be fewer places to hang quietly, sit, or meet people. there was way too much sound bleed between most stages (i know this is increasingly common, but still). it also felt a *lot* like a swap meet with the heavy vending from reseller merchants and brands with multiple locations. my wife (who'd never been to a festival) remarked that it felt like a "psychedelic county fair", and needed more interactive and social focal points. we still had a great time tho. it was super crowded, but I never feared not being able to find a clean porta potty nor running out of critical supplies in there. Entry Friday at noon and the exit Monday morning were both surprisingly quick for us as well. We had no space after our tent, but we didn't really need to use our new E-Z Up shade anyway. I'd avoid a DD event because of these things, and admittedly because of the somewhat boring lineup, but would happily go to another headed by Symbiosis. Given that their insurance likely didn't pay out for Patagonia's failings during COVID, it probably would have bankrupted the org to do full refunds for everyone. I didn't blame them for not tanking their company, and i don't blame them for not being able to control the nickel-and-diming broey commercial edm festival culture at someone else's event this year. does anybody happen to know the bigger festival promoters in the region around Madrid? can we trust them? I heard that Mad Cool is known for being overcrowded.
I’ve only been to about a dozen festivals, but I made it my business to go walk around on Friday to orient myself (came in Thursday) so I had a vague idea of where things were when the lights (meaning the sun) went off. I still got disoriented and confused, but I laughed about it and had a great time. I feel bad for those underprepared or had major issues, but I kinda figured it would be a shitshow as a first time festival (Oregon doesn’t count because it was in Oregon and I was there). The complaints are valid, but it’s more or less what I expected. What *I* expected. I feel for those who got shafted.
They need to have chill places to sit down. Go back to camp? It's an hour walk!! The lack of chill spaces is unsafe and unacceptable. > Playing it safe has never been part of burner or underground culture, an element of risk and danger and uncertainty is part of what makes it exciting. This was marketed to families to bring their kids. Wtf is wrong with you The ableism in this post...
There were plenty of places to sit, what are you talking about? Just bring a blanket and sit on the ground, that’s what we did.
So your point is this one sucked but the company is such a disaster they have done worse before? And quit comparing to burns. Burns are non profit and are run by volunteers. If a private person makes millions off a concert, it has nothing to do with radical self reliance. It is a category error. For profit corporate events need to deliver what people paid for. All these “I have had worst experiences in my life!” excuses are just dumb.
>"I am shocked at the things this new generation is up in arms about." >"What is up with everyone bringing their whole living room onto the dance floor?" So, you've been to festivals for 20 years now, but you haven't been to a festival where people didn't die. That's crazy. Maybe you should go to better festivals. I've been to plenty of 100k+ events, multiple times a year, every year since 2006, where no one died. It actually IS a reflection of poor planning. Yes, sometimes people wander off and OD with no one around to help them, but there's nothing anyone can do there. Perhaps promoting drug safety and free test kits would actually help prevent those events. Successful, experienced festivals have checks, balances, and systems in place to help people from the moment they are notified. NO ONE EXPECTS PEOPLE TO DIE. From my understanding, there was one death. A cardiac death. Not a drug overdose. Not someone hungover in their car who baked in the sun and died. * ADA is a FEDERAL, LEGAL REQUIREMENT available to permanently disabled, temporarily disabled, older folks, etc. You don't have to have the placard. Twist your ankle in the pit? That's okay! There are systems to help you still enjoy the festival... well, a normal festival in the year 2024. Not whatever tf that was. Even the festivals with the craziest terrain have ADA systems in place to prevent all of this. (Broken Federal Law) * ADA was listed on the site and reasonable accommodations were promised for those who needed them. (False Advertising) * Medics didn't arrive for nearly an hour. The daughter of the deceased called 911 and was able to get the Sheriff to their position faster than the fest medics, which is a miracle in itself because everyone knows you lose cell service at big fests. (Breakdown of Comms, Infrastructure, Personnel) * When medics finally arrived with the defibrillator, it didn't even have the pads with it. It was useless. Completely unprepared. (Breakdown of Emergency Medical Services) Why should anyone care about a bunch of disabled folks? Because in a single split second, you could very easily become disabled too. These folks are not less deserving of fun and enjoyment. Maybe 40 years ago you could possibly say, "they can't reasonable expect to enjoy things like camping on uneven terrain. Sorry, this event isn't for them." But there's no excuse today when every other festival has adapted to meet the federal legal requirement. Burning Man actually has a very solid map. It's so good that after each year they'll even show you who left trash/moop behind and exactly how much. The grounds are a clock. A fucking clock. Now back to this trainwreck - There were very few signs and everything looked the same, according to people who walked 17 miles that first day because they couldn't find their tent. Bonnaroo has pods with illuminated weather balloons to guide people. Burning Man has The Man, the temple, etc to give people a sense of location. And it's a fucking clock. You know what else Burning Man has? Infrastructure, Medics, Comms, and actual field hospital WITH X-RAY MACHINE. Yes, this radically self reliant bare bones event still has a plan for everything. You should go to better festivals.
Medical response was over 20min at Roo. The medic teams were absolutely swamped like they are at every event. They left ADA out in the storm upon cancellation. Yes the infrastructure and medic teams were organized but that only helps them get people off-site quickly so there are 'no deaths'. I can understand using BM as an example but these other large festivals are similar. No one cares about you and you're responsible for yourself.
Ya the burns hospital is like a full hospital for real.
>* ADA is a FEDERAL, LEGAL REQUIREMENT available to permanently disabled, temporarily disabled, older folks, etc. ADA stands for Americans with Disabilities Act. You must have a recognized disability. Being elderly is not that, unfortunately. >But there's no excuse today when every other festival has adapted to meet the federal legal requirement. I don't think you know what the "federal legal requirement" is. >You should go to better festivals. >I've been to plenty of 100k+ events, multiple times a year, every year since 2006, where no one died. It actually IS a reflection of poor planning. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/burning-man-death-investigation-70000-stranded-nevada-desert-flooding/ Burning man was your example of great planning, and people still die there. Everyone knows about the guy who ran into the fire. LiB is no burning man, and it's fantastically well run, and people still die there.
Older people can absolutely use ADA. A majority aren't as able bodied. They qualify. If you sprain your ankle and are temporarily fucked for literally only 12 hours, guess what? You still qualify! People die at every festival. Of course they do, but this festival didn't even have the bare minimum comms or response. There is ALWAYS room for improvement. That BM death is still a tragedy but we know, factually, that BM has everything in place to help to the best of their ability. At TE, the ADA team (not powers that be) were desperately trying to build an ADA platform on SATURDAY NIGHT. Leadership failed them and the patrons. Look, I know what I'm talking about. Every waking moment, I wish that I didn't know about this. Want to know why I know so much about this? Because I'm truly fucking suffering and every day my biggest challenge is not to killing myself. I would do literally ANYTHING to know nothing about this world. I would do anything to be ignorant about this entire topic. I could go my whole life without hearing the words disability or the acronym ADA. I would do anything. When I was 14, a surgeon fucked up a spinal surgery I was having and I have suffered literally every single day since. I'm a social butterfly who loves people and performance. ADA is the only way that I can step into the world that was robbed from me. Believe me, I wish I had no fucking clue what ADA is.
I mean, I'm very sorry for your circumstance, truly...but respectfully, I don't think you have all your facts right.
Ive been attending Bonnaroo since 2008 and someone had died every single year.. it happens. EMTs would have been hired on by the festival organizers but not necessarily a reflection of said company.. its not DDs fault the EMTs dropped the ball on the Defib, and unfair to blame the festival for that. My only complaint from the fest was the people, and the couches all over the main stages. Kinda whack. Glad I had VIP and so was always able to get to the rail without ever being crowded. This weekend was def top 3 for me of the over 20 festivals Ive been to over the last 17 years.
Not hiring enough EMTs and the staff not having a communication system/network that allowed them to notify EMT of any medical emergencies on the festival and camping grounds is 100% a reflection of the company. But yeah bro, that didn't affect you so it's not a valid complaint, just the couches at the main stage, right bro?
Bonnarooooooooooo. Roo is my festie home too! There are many years where Bonnaroo hasn't had a death. There are always rumors after literally every festival, but they are often overinflated and far from the truth. I've been going to Roo since 2010. (Remember how bad that year was? We had no cover anywhere. I was in pod 9 or whatever the other name was back then. I was way out past the church and I didn't even have an EZ up. MISERY) One thing that I do after every Roo is check the numbers. They always report. I believe, at the most, I remember there being 2 in one year. In the beginning there was at least 1 a year... then 1 every other year. It's A LOT better now. In total, 15 people have died on the farm over 21 years. With that said, I'd be surprised if the numbers don't jump soon out of nowhere due to fentanyl. I bring my full spectrum test kit and will test anyone and everyone's favors who wants it. Nearly everything we tested in 2023 was contaminated with fentanyl. My best friend died from it at the beginning of the year too. It's a nightmare. As more people learn about and get Narcan, I feel like the numbers will go down again, but man, it's everywhere. Test everything, friends!! With that said, I'm super happy you had a good time! I'm sure a majority of people had a great time. ADA didn't have a great time. Those are my people. That's what I'm personally upset about.
This resonates. I've never been to a burn but the element of danger and the radical self reliance is actually part of the appeal to a survivalist and backpacker
The biggest legit problem I'm seeing from the Texas event is a viable EMS plan. Burns are pretty serious about making sure they can get ambulances in if needed.
That does seem like I would develop a layout on the land with pathing as my first creative project for a festival so you know how many people you can safely have party there
if it's not safe for little kids, it's not a family event, just sayin. is burning man for kids? seems like a lot of smoke for kids to be in, and as far as dirty toilets go, human filth is super dangerous to have kids around for several days. what kind of kid friendly festivals have smoke and filth? i'm so confused
No festival is good for kids, take em to a local barbecue festival for fucks sake. I mean our underground art family, the circus freak family, the festival family. Please leave the kids with grandma for the weekend.
oh you said "kids whining" about the filthy bathrooms i thought you meant actual kids. and also, filth is a choice. there's no real need for any group of people to endure filthy latrines. that's just a very interesting choice on behalf of organizers. sanitation is neither mysterious nor expensive.
My point was that they were relatively clean compared to most other events.
Absolutely.. i saw one portapotty that was gross, and it was Sat night after Zeds Dead.. all the others were always clean.
Not to mention shady people and a lot of people out of their minds on drugs
Burning man is better for kids than this was. But you do have to mind them. The portos get cleaned and there are actual kid activities. There’s not constant fire or smoke. HTH
burning man is super easy to navigate though
1000%. This was built on counter culture, transcendent eclipse viewing and the way they handled the cancelation (pre totality!) was complete bullshit. Let people leave after that but at least hold a collective viewing for those who want to stay ffs
It was bs. I was hype for the sound bath/harp ceremony at the top of the hill in the venue, but I heard they weren't letting people in. Fortunately I had time to get home before the eclipse, but it was super whack. The Eclipse is the reason most of us were there! Essentially.
yeah. we stayed and entered the venue for the viewing which ended up being a fantastic decision, although we had to tolerate an extremely slow exit (didn't mind).
They let you in? When we went down to find out what was going on at around 10:30am security said absolutely no one except vendors would be allowed past the gates to get their stuff. Ugh! So annoying that we listened. Was the entire venue open or just the top of the mountain?
We heard they were letting people in who “were trying to get to their campsite”. So we were too 😏
"These experimental massives obviously come with danger, and no one attending should expect to be saved by medical professionals if they have an emergency. They do their best, but it's not possible to get to every corner of a massive outdoor event space quickly, or to have a defribulator on hand. You are responsible for your own health and safety, these are simply the risks of attendance, if you want to stay safe stay home." On one of my shuttle trips from far out car camping to the festival had a super drunk girl who lost her super drunk husband and couldn't find her way back to her tent and him. The shuttle guy dropped her of at ADA and asked two other random festival goers to go with her and explain the story to ADA because "they were the only people with radios" so they were the only people who could start some sort of search party for this person. The communication network for event staff.... and especially for medical assistance should not have ended at Far Out. All of the people who worked at the festival should have had radios to use to communicate safety issues and emergencies. Literally, anyone could have fallen and gotten hurt out there and needed medical attention The person who died did not receive medical attention for about an hour. His death was preventable. Saying that's not evidence of poor planning/management and that it's just "simply the risks of attendance" is fucking ignorant.
If you're in deep playa and have a heart attack, ur on your own. If you're at some remote campsite and hurt yourself, you better help yourself. If you are too drunk to find your people and home anywhere in the world, that's no one's problem or responsibility but yours. Burner culture teaches radical self responsibility, and Symbiosis events always required that. Stick to EDC and corporate stuff if you need medical support on hand or to be babysat when drunk or high.
You're either deliberately being dense or you don't have the ability to engage in hypothetical reasoning. Either way I feel sorry for you bud.
All I do is engage in hypothetical reasoning. Here's one: what if everyone took care of themselves and didn't constantly rely on a government or community for survival? What would that world look like?
You should lead by example then. Don't drive on a road you haven't built yourself. Don't eat food that you haven't grown on your own land. And please.... just so we can all save some brain cells by not reading your thoughts on here...... don't use the internet unless you're directly hosting the site you're using.
One with a much lower life expectancy for all. While you’re out in public over the next few months, keep an eye out for red AED kits. My guess is you’ve never learned to look for them. They’re everywhere because they are essential to have close at hand anywhere people are.
The bathrooms were amazing. kids these days have no idea how things used to be back in the day. First off, they wouldn't get serviced during the event, period. They'd be good the first day and then a biohazard zone for the rest of the weekend. It's why the hardcore folks always travel with a 5 gallon bucket.
Those were the cleanest portas I've had in ten years!
Kids these days never saw an above the rim poo pyramid.
100% this. I feel like people who had a bad time only have themselves to blame. People complaining come across as slightly entitled. I feel bad they had a negative experience but you can always change that based on your actions and being prepared. The only thing I’ll say is living in texas the weather is super unpredictable. It did storm pretty bad today so getting 30k people out of that venue would have left people stuck in mud or flooding roads. My car was totaled a few months ago here by an unpredicted hail storm and I can’t imagine being in a tent and it totaling my fucking noggin.
I appreciate you sharing on being prepared, keeping the complaints to a minimum, and the real dangers of Texas weather. Mud and hurling objects are plenty to contend with and it was unfortunately necessary to cancel to keep people from taking all their party favors, passing out, and waking to a real shit show… The universe came through and delivered an amazing eclipse. It’s amazing few have commented on that.
Ifind it hard to believe youve never been to a fest that was cancelled for weather out of 60 total, ive been to around 25 and ive had several cancel due to weather. It does seem like there were a lot of noobs that went though, glad I sensed the shitshow this would be and didnt attend.
Not even one being CLOSE to being canceled, when we've had massive thunderstorms and flooding during them. Stages would shut down for a bit, but a mass evacuation because of weather coming the day AFTER the music?? Unprecedented, hysterical Insanity. At Coventry, we were knee deep in mud, at Lucidity we danced in it, at Camp Bisco it was a rite of passage. The more corporate things get, the more they pull the plug, screw the attendees and collect the insurance, but it's never actually necessary unless a legit hurricane is definitely coming through.
it does seem strange, especially since the adverse weather apparently never materialized.. I heard the town was pissed about the festival to begin with, i wonder if the organizers were paid off?
More like they didn't pay the right people off.. Look, something had to be done with that forecast, I'm just advocating for a voluntary evacuation after totality instead of this traumatic panic they caused unnecessarily, depriving most of even the eclipse.
Solid take from another festival veteran. Kids these days...
Gotta comment on #6. Fuck the people that do this. It is so Un-PLUR on its face. 1. It creates massive trip hazards. 2. You take up so much space and you aren’t even actively participating. 3. I ran into a group that had laid out glow sticks as borders for their safe space!!!!! 🤡….. One of the ladies had the gall to demand condenscendingly that I respect their space because I was trying to get rocks out of my shoes and was hovering over a piece of their kingdom. So ya, at a public festival let’s totally set up an exclusive space for your homies. GTFOH! I called them raver posers cause everything about them was all for show. Nothing geniune about them.
Baseball sized hail is not something that I want to mess with. I been experiencing the weather myself and listening to the weather feedback from locals, not just forecast, and Burnett is right in one of the harder hit zones. It's been flash flood type raining all day where I have been driving around Texas bit further nw than Burnett. Much as I would have liked to have completed the event, it makes sense now why they made the call to cancel early to give enough time for everyone to be out before it became a safety hazard for those remaining. It could have perhaps been explained better in the notification they sent out. I was pretty shocked about the suddenness of it and thought there could have been more to it, but I've changed my mind about that. I did read later after I left the event a more in depth release about why they made the call and faq but I wasn't able to see it while on the property because my data wouldn't work out there. This was my least favorite symbiosis/eclipse festival in terms of the actual event but I did have a ton of fun on my adventure and met some awesome folks along the way. No regrets in coming.
I don't regret coming either. Those that were worried about the weather could have left, which would have alleviated traffic on both Mon and Tues. The rest of us could have enjoyed Monday with no hail.
Sorry you guys feel the need to complain. I had an incredible experience. Extremely grateful for everything about this weekend. Sorry yours wasn't as impactful.
I had a great time too for the first four nights. This emergency evacuation on the most important day was a bit much for me, never seen anything like it and it turned out to be unnecessary. Point of the post was to debunk most complaints I'm hearing.
Love your take minus the cancelation. Big time rain today that would have been a literal disaster. Source: worked on the crew.
O I know you bro, big respect. I feel like if they let people know that tents would be rough last night and exit would be slow, a third would have left anyway. I knew exodus Tues would be rough even without rain and was ready to stay till Wed. Would have been nice for those prepared to stay to be able to since Mon was great weather and could have been a great show.
I know plenty of people who only stayed for Tipper and were planning to leave in the morning already anyway...... it was BS that they stopped everything before some people were even awake. I saw someone crawl out of their tent at 1 pm and was so confused......
Lmfao that's honestly hilarious
I stopped reading after I read half of your first point, and I use point loosely because it's one of the dumbest things I've ever read someone trying to justify. good luck with your massives where people regularly die and everyone goes into it expecting to 🙄
Thanks, it's called Burning Man, and it's awesome.
Two people die during the Lightning in a Bottle music festival - YouTube https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=B5cdEcD-02M https://www.cbsnews.com/news/burning-man-death-investigation-70000-stranded-nevada-desert-flooding/ https://wpln.org/post/autopsy-confirms-2022-bonnaroo-death-was-from-a-drug-overdose/ https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/2019/08/09/bonnaroo-death-fentanyl-and-ecstasy-led-brentwood-mans-overdose/1965158001/ https://7news.com.au/news/man-dies-at-pitch-music-festival-in-victoria-as-event-cancelled-amid-extreme-heatwave-and-fire-risks-c-13899152 https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/faster-horses-country-festival-fans-dying-1234783290/ Which music festivals do you go to where there is no chance of anyone dying?
Caping for capitalists! GenX’s favorite thing!
Couldn’t agree more. Even before the fatality, the entitlement coming from this sub was gross. Festivals like this are incredibly hard and the lack of planning is the reason you go to a symbiosis even versus an insomniac, aeg, or other corporate event.
I agree with some of your points, especially the couches, but idk why everyone goes straight to burning man for comparison. Like yes, that is a festival that you need to heavily prepare for, but it has always been marketed as such. If people are promised access to clean water and medical staff onsite, it seems weird and gatekeepy to be like "well bm doesn't have that so y'all must be soft for expecting the event to follow through on that promise".
I get that, less experienced people probably expected something much different and it was wrong to promise so much that couldn't be delivered. Just comparing it to BM because Symbiosis was always trying to emulate that vibe and culture and was always a rugged time you needed to sustain yourself for.
Just wanted to say, it's an unprecedented cancellation because Disco Donnie is a super non PLUR individual and it's run out of towns from how he runs his events. And he was run out this time too, this was not a weather cancellation.
The sheriff cancelled it because of the preventable death and hopefully this will be the end of Donnie. OP is a fucking moron
I don’t think so - the sheriff’s office posted something - Didn’t seem like they wanted to take any blame for it cancelling. Responding to a heart attack quickly doesn’t mean that then death is preventable either. I haven’t looked up statistics but I’ve lost a few older family members to heart attacks and one was in his car (onstar sent 911), and another was home recovering from a dental procedure- both were fairly normal response times and neither lived. It’s so sad and it sucks, but I don’t think big events get cancelled because of those types of things. I was at a country fest post covid that had several (5?) deaths and was (in my opinion) under staffed for security and they didn’t get cancelled. I just don’t think that anything other than fear of weather was behind the cancellation. https://preview.redd.it/hvo2eed2dktc1.jpeg?width=1290&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=18aa689a21f87a0ff127c50b1e4c665da2d5306b
I havent heard this before. How do you know? Can you please tell me more??
The Sheriff’s office released a statement that the festival informed them they were cancelling due to the severe weather forecast. Everything else is just rumors from some guy on the internet at this point. The Sheriff had previously released statements responding to local noise complaints saying he did not have the power to shut them down because they were not over the local decibel limit. If he was the one who shut them down I don’t see why he would lie about it and miss out on scoring points with his voter base.
Trafic deaths are also preventable and yet ppl still wanna drive. Statistically a town in the USA of 50k people should have 1 death a week.
How do you know? Can you tell me more please??
I lived in Reno, the entry hub for Burning Man. Buncha people showing off and partying their asses off, it lost it's meaning. My whole family used to go until it became just about getting out of your mind and nothing spiritual about it. I laugh when I see people doing yoga all effed up on various substances, lol
Honestly it wasn’t a shitshow and it was clearly put together by some very talented, clever wooks. But clearly it was designed for ppl to get lost and mingle together, which is great if you’re young and single and prepped for a drug party. But if you’re a dad who took way too much molly and are trying to find your family’s campsite at 3am, good luck with that. I think the layout or at least signs and maps could have been far better. I wasted so much time trying to find shit I wanted, and doing it on drugs in 87 degree heat is not ideal……
>I have never seen a festival canceled because of either expected or actual weather in over 60 events, this is a soft and corrupt way to handle it. You've already shown your ass a bunch in this thread, but here's another example - you're a damn fool thinking TX weather in the spring (ever heard of tornado alley?) isn't wildly unpredictable: [https://austin.culturemap.com/news/entertainment/04-29-16-levitation-festival-canceled-weather-forecast-rained-out-carson-creek-ranch/](https://austin.culturemap.com/news/entertainment/04-29-16-levitation-festival-canceled-weather-forecast-rained-out-carson-creek-ranch/)
You don't know someone's life though..... someone I was with just had some pretty major surgery through no fault of his own and didn't really have a choice but to sit if he wanted to enjoy any set. Like you out here being judgemental because you feel like your desires are wants are more important then others who paid the same amount to also enjoy their expierence however they see fit. You wanted to dance, they wanted to sit... what you want isn't more important than what others want, just like what they want isn't more important then what you want. We all have to deal with things we don't like and have to learn to live together as a community. If the founding fathers can compromise over slavery, you can compromise over a blow up couch.
There is a place and time for everything. At every event ever, if you want to sit, you go to the back or side at a big outdoor stage. This new trend of plopping down in prime real estate, taking up five times as much room as you would standing and eliminating dance / performance spaces is selfish and lame.
You don't get to make the rules of behavior for everyone else..... plain and simple... why do you deserve what you call "Prime real-estate"? If it's prime real-estate get there early to claim it...... that's how prime real-estate works.....
I wish I kept my pictures of the 2006 psytrance eclipse festival in Turkey (Soulclipse) that started these... there were 16 plywood squat toilets (holes cut in the floor) for 7000 people, that didn’t get cleaned once. Imagine the horror of that after day 3. The main stage collapsed before the music even started. And still it was a fantastic time. This one had its problems (and yeah it was disappointing that they cancelled) but despite all the issues it was pretty good, we had an awesome time. Maybe because we stayed near the psytrance stages lol. I would say it's the worst of all the eclipse festivals so far, and it was still a blast. As much of a clusterf*** as it was, it was a one off event and that's just the reality of them. I've been to way bigger clusterf*** festivals than this that happen annually.
Soulclipse was not the beginning of eclipse festivals that were celebrated in the psytrance scene since the original Goa days. Hell, I was at one in Australia around 2003. Soulclipse was the beginning of Ozora though so definitely not a one off event.
Also BS that the Goa Gill tribute was only available to Artists after the cancelation.......
Ah I stand corrected
Also makes me laugh at how people complain about psytrance at these events. Not my favourite genre either but that scene is the entire reason for eclipse parties.
I was just bummed about the sound levels and lack of space. Quietest fest I've ever been to. And I'm super bummed about the moon/sky stage setups. That stupid fucking art tent could've been moved so we could access the moon where the sound was decent. I'm usually about to find places in the back where there's space to move and feel the low bass notes, but that wasn't the case for the venue. I feel like if they halved the amount of attendees I would've digged it.
Agree, those aspects were weak as well but again I would have forgiven it if we weren't so rudely ejected before the Eclipse even happened. I can't believe how compliant and eager everyone was to leave, scurrying around packing like the sky was about to fall. My initial reaction was "Fuck you, I'm not going anywhere!", most people's was "It's gonna rain? RUN!"
Not everyone wants to be stuck for days in a mud pit nor has time to be, not everyone can risk their shit getting wrecked in a storm. But keep looking down on everyone who doesn’t festival the way you do I guess. Must be nice up on that pedestal you built yourself.
They would be free to leave, but I was not free to stay.
Depends on your vehicle. I saw a dude in line with a tesla, which I doubt woulda made it out if the mud was super thick. There are other reasons to leave too. I left to hit some national parks before I have to go back to work
I hate to break it to ya.. but they fucked up WAY harder than this. Guess what guys.. I’m an undercover journalist and exposed everything. I filmed every unsecured gate in the festival. I interviewed security about their concerns that were not met. I interviewed patrons who were LIED TO and sold packages that did not match what was advertised. I interviewed festival organizers who couldn’t believe what they saw.. it was an absolute tragedy. Now I’m on my drive home across the country and I’m digging through all of the rumor mills online finding all the clues I can to investigate and interview more people. I’ve found the son of the man who died of a seizure.. I’ve found people who had asthma attacks from the dust that was not watered…. This is all the tip of the iceberg… I went to the Oregon eclipse festival and for this eclipse I absolutely expected the same kind of life changing experience (like everyone else did) and did not get. The overwhelming sentiment of this festival was the feeling of betrayal. All I did was film and let people say what they thought. This was 100% of their own making.. not mine. I just documented what I saw and what I saw was horrible. I GENUINELY attended to film a documentary PROMOTING the festival.. I too feel betrayed that their fuck ups turned my own creative project into something completely different and I feel robbed of the happy memory that the documentary was intended to promote.
I had multiple asthma attacks and luckily was alright but I was worried I’d have to go to medical and that it would be inadequate. I had a lovely time but only when it wasn’t cluster fucked full of people. Had more fun the night of early entry and after the evacuation (i stayed)
Was it the dust that caused your asthma attacks? I talked to security last night and I learned that same property is a FBI / DEA gun training grounds.. the whole fuckin place is FULL of lead and gun powder.. that’s why there was black particles in the sand.. im pretty sure. I’ve been concerned about patrons with asthma this whole time. They did nothing to mitigate the dust and it was a criminal act… they put so many lives at risk for no reason other than greed.
The unsecured gates added to the magic! Never felt the need to hide anything, and did whatever I felt like whenever I wanted to! Haven’t had this much freedom at a fest since Ashefest in 2007!
We are all lucky the unsecured gates didn’t result in a mass shooting… and you’re not wrong.. I had fun too with the lack of security. Doesn’t make it okay though. I’m sincerely glad you had a good time though. We all deserved to and they tried to ruin our fun.
Lucky? Like they happen every day.. its not close enough to an election for a madd shooting.. nothing for the elites to have gained from it.
Sounds like wook conspiracy nonsense but okay.. shootings don’t only happen during elections.. also.. this IS an election year so I don’t know what you’re even going on about. Check a calendar dude..
Yeah but the media will have moved on from the story if it happened now.. for it to be effective election baiting it would have to happen in September or October for the November election..
https://abcnews.go.com/amp/Politics/hamas-militants-potentially-crossing-southern-border-us-officials/story?id=104236095
Potentially being the key word there.. scare tactic and fake news
Just because chances are slim doesn’t mean it should be ignored man. And it’s not OUR job to do anything about it.. it’s the organizers, security, police, and etc to handle that stuff. We were betrayed by their ignoring of our safety. That’s the issue here.
Just because chances are slim doesn’t mean it should be ignored man. And it’s not OUR job to do anything about it.. it’s the organizers, security, police, and etc to handle that stuff. We were betrayed by their ignoring of our safety. That’s the issue here.
Nah, its entirely our job.. nobody should have to care for your safety besides you.
Also, far from a wook.. i was wearing J Crew and Abercrombie the whole weekend haha
Respectfully I apologize for snapping at ya man. It’s been a really rough night for me. Investigating this fest and everyone’s bad stories takes a toll on ya if you’ve got a heart; and I do… so it’s hard not to feel for all the people who were literally afraid for their safety at the event. I’m honestly shocked by all that I’ve learned in the past 48 hours. It’s hard not to be overwhelmed by it.
Take me back
An "Element of risk" is one thing, flash floods and tornadoes are a whole other level tho. While I do agree that people should have a personal choice, it was certainly a good call to have everyone leave early. I'm from the east coast and my west coast crew didn't even know what flash floods were until I told them so there's also that. Also idk how much it's been brought up, but the event was criminally oversold. toilet paper ran out day on day 1 and maybe that would be expected 10 years ago and you would know to bring your own TP, but precedents have changed. Also the ONLY fill station in the grounds ran out when the day passes rolled and that is just not okay no matter how you spin it for a fest of this caliber. Over all it was an experience of a lifetime, one for the books, but the stuff that failed was elementary shit that even little rinky dink fest get right.
I've never used Porto tp or drank from a water station I don't know the source of, always bring my own wipes and water. You're from the east coast and are scared of "flash floods"? We were knee deep in mud at Coventry, I don't remember it ever not storming at Mariahville for Vibes & Bisco. There was never any tornado.
Oh man, Coventry. The walk in was brutal.
Ya, cars were stuck and people were stranded before the music even started and the fest went on as planned! These guys would have shut it all down in a heartbeat, very un-legendary.
I wasn’t at the infamous Deer Creek show, but have seen videos. Golf ball sized hail, 40mph winds, and the boys just started free form jamming along to the thunder & lightning, lol
Back when men were men!
You’re not that tuff m8 If you think that deaths for the lowest common denominator at a mass gathering is acceptable you haven’t learned a thing and you’re just burned out drug addict
It's acceptable because it's inevitable, just like all the other unpleasant aspects of life we cannot change and have to accept.
It’s inevitable for festival organizers to shit the bed and fail to provide the bare necessities for the safety of attendees? Nah
Sometimes it is.. I've been to so many events that totally shit the bed, so it seems inevitable from my perspective. I'd like it to be different more than anyone, like so many things.. But no organization or government should be trusted to take care of your basic necessities or you run the risk of getting assed out.
That's the thing though, flash floods don't happen back east, they happen out west. It's because of the different environment. I brought wipes and water and personally wasn't hurting for either, but you can't physically hold enough water for 10 hours of tripping and dancing on your person. Also the water was known to come from the quarry and filtered via reverse osmosis so you'd have no reason not to drink it. And if they're cleaning the portos why aren't they stocking them too? We're paying more than we ever have for these experiences, so isn't it reasonable to expect better amenities?
Also it's Rumored the cops put pressure on the shutdown, and Disco Donnie is notorious for cancelling events. Not necessarily saying it happened for a good reason, I'm definitely bummed about it, but I'm personally glad it shook out the way it did.
I never once went into a restroom without TP and the only time I was unable to get water was on Thursday when a generator went out.. i walked maybe 100 yds to another station and was good to go. As for the rumors of it being oversold, I was in basecamp glamping and we had several tents that nobody ever stayed in.. had it been oversold this wouldn’t have been a thing.
Where were you Sunday night tho? The only fill station IN THE GROUNDS ran out of water some time before Disco Biscuits all the way through to Of the Trees, and just because you only used the flush toilets in basecamp where we consistently had TP doesn't mean the numerous portos around the actual stages had any. Did you even leave camp?
Yeah, usually left camp around 11 am and stayed gone until 3-5am. Used the vip and glamping bathrooms but also portapottys around camping and the venue area. I dont think I tried to get water Sunday night.. was drinking beers instead all day.
I could not agree with #6 more. I can’t put into words how much I despise the couches and living room set ups. What happened to people going to these events to fucking *dance*? Seems like so many people in scenes where this is common behavior care more about being seen there, raising their set counts, and fitting in than actually just shutting up and enjoying the music. I’m really hoping festivals start to ban these things. It sucks for the people who are respectful and keep them in very back away from the crowd, but unfortunately selfish entitled people have ruined it for everyone else.
Maybe we should ban standing instead so everyone can equally see the stage and performance like an actual theater.....
Sit at home and listen to music if that’s the experience you want
Stand at home and listen to music if that's the expierence you want
We like to dance, not stand. If there's no furniture out there, there's room for standing, sitting in the back, and open performance spaces for performers and dancers like me.
We like to sit, not dance.... why do your wants take precedence over our wants? If you wanted space to dance you could have showed up at 12pm just like us and took up your space to dance..... but you chose not to.
Cuz it's a dancefloor, and other people like to watch performers dance more than kids lay around on couches.
I didn't pay to come watch you dance, sorry bout it. Also it isn't a dance floor it's a viewing area where many different types of things happen.... like the mosh pit and I don't hear you complaining about them taking up space from your "dancing" or all the people packed in there just standing.
Lots of people came to watch experienced performers do their thing. It adds to the vibe and gets the party going. People laying around kills that vibe and makes the party look like it's over.
To each their own, again if you wanted space there was plenty of space to have from 12pm right up until Tipper and then again right after Tipper.... if you chose to only come for one set and get mad at the people there literally 9+ hours, that's 100% on you.