Many Turned Away From Secret Solstice Concerts

Many festivalgoers were not able to attend some of the bigger-name concerts at Secret Solstice, and there have been complaints about disorganisation.

RÚV reports that there were still possibly thousands of Secret Solstice guests standing in line shortly before midnight last night, in the thin hope of being able to see hiphop legends Die Antwoord perform. Ultimately, many of these hundreds of people were turned away, despite having bought tickets to the festival.

The reason for this particular mix-up was that Die Antwoord’s flight was delayed, compelling them to play later yesterday than expected. This meant the concert had to be moved indoors, due to local laws about public noise during particular hours and days. The venue, called “the Old Laugardalshöll”, only holds about 5,000 people, but three times that number had already bought tickets to the festival.

Numerous guests contacted RÚV to complain about long lines and not getting to see acts playing at the festival they bought tickets for. The Grapevine has also received similar complaints, with one guest contending that there was a significant lack of staff directing traffic into venues, causing confusion and longer delays than was necessary.

In many ways, the mishaps were entirely predictable. As reported last January, it had come to light that thousands more Secret Solstice tickets had been sold than even the 11,000-seat Laugardalshöll, which hosted Radiohead, was capable of holding. Organisers at the time contended that they believed there would be enough room for everybody, as not everyone coming to the festival were all going to see the same acts at the same time.

For more on Secret Solstice, check out Grapvine’s own Hannah Jane Cohen’s Secret Solstice Diary.