Facebook page of LAMC Productions was filled with complaints from Guns N’ Roses concertgoers after attending the rock band’s sold-out concert on Saturday (25 February) which was held at Changi Exhibition Centre.
LAMC Productions wrote on its Facebook post, “We’re so proud to have brought Singapore’s largest rock show to our shores this evening,”
Complaints were mainly about the RFID credits, where audience members bought credits in advance, which were stored in an RFID tag. Some complained that the credit was not reflected despite paying at the ticketing and many stated that they could not use the pre-paid credits after queing for the food and drinks as the organizers ran out of them.
Rick Allen commented that the RFID system is “brilliant in concept but extraordinarily bad in execution”.
The other complaint that the concertgoers had, was on the traffic. Many stated that they missed many songs as they struggled to find parking lots.
Anthony Roshnell wrote that he will be seeking for full refund as he and his wife arrived late due to the bad traffic management. While, Nuno De Canha wrote that it took him two and half hours to get to the venue, no parking with sub standard bus and taxi services.
Andre Poh wrote that he had to wait for more than an hour, waiting for buses.
Zerlina Lim said that she had to wait for more than 1.5 hours to get out of the parking lot.
Commenters on the Facebook post also filed their complaints about the lack of first aid for an event of such a turn out. Many also wrote that there were no security checks upon arrival, adding that no one even checked for the tickets. Highlighting the possibility that people who did not purchase the tickets could very well well get inside the venue, a concert that some pay hundreds to attend.
By the time this article is being published, there have been more than 550 comments on its Facebook post stating how the concert was poorly organised. The production company have since apologised for the inconvenience experienced by its customers and offer refunds for their unspent RFID credits.
Read here for an exclusive interview by Bandwagon with LAMC Productions co-owner Ross Knudson on the problems encountered by the production company and what has he got to say about the complaints.
Here are top five comments from the concertgoers on LAMC Production Facebook post:
- Tim Weiss wrote, “Your organization of this show was an absolute disgrace. It was completely amateur and was a complete disappointment to thousands of people, many whom travelled from abroad. I will never attend another event promoted by LAMC. Absolutely horrible.”
- Melinda Wong wrote, “Everything about this event is shit except for guns n roses playing. Food had to queue. Drinks had to queue. Merchandise had to queue. And it is not like the queue is half an hour or so. It is freaking 2 hours. I had to miss parts of the concert just for all this lining up. If you guys can not handle or organise an event as huge as this. Do not do it. Really putting Singapore to shame.”
- Anthony Horsnell wrote, “IS THAT ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY?! What about an explanation as to why the food and beverage stalls were so badly organised? Under staffed and under stocked? Did not it cross your clearly below average little mind’s that at some point people would want access to WATER without having to queue for 90 MINUTES! And why did me and my wife pay over $400 for tickets that not one person checked? I could have just walked in for free! What about the fact people paid money for the shuttle bus which at the end of the night was full of people with no ticket? Then there was the traffic! Seriously? IN FACT, I CAN NOT THINK OF ONE THING YOU GOT RIGHT! I will be seeking a full refund as we arrived late due to the bad traffic management and left the poor choice of venue way before the concert finished purely because of your (LAMC productions) terrible organisation and total disregard for the concert goers safety and enjoyment! You have essentially STOLEN MINE and OTHERS MONEY!!! It is sad that what could have and should have been a fantastic gig was ruined! I hope you also offer an apology to GUNS AND ROSES as well! They deserved much better!”
- Hanis Zakaria wrote, “Dear LAMC,
Firstly, I agree with everyone who are commenting on your photos. You guys are bloody CHAMPIONS.
Please have a bloody visible first aid booth and also make sure your ambulances are properly equipped. You have got a massive crowd and no visible first aid post, you have got to be joking.
Secondly, I was beginning to feel dehydrated and hypoglycaemic but your damn food and drink stalls are so God damn slow, I could have blacked out while waiting in line. Decided to approach your ambulance for help (since there was no visible first aid post from Pen B), which brings me to my third point.
I told the person from HOPE ambulance I was feeling hypoglycemic and dehydrated then asked if he had any glucose drinks or sweets. He just told me nope, that is it. I went back to your long ass queue and just “hope” I get to buy a drink ASAP.
After 20 minutes waiting in a non-moving line, I approached HOPE ambulance AGAIN in desperation because I was starting to feel even more giddy, I was told to buy coke from the drinks stall because he did not have any glucose in the ambulance (how is that even possible to not have glucose powder?? ) and only until I explained that the queue to the damn stall was 1.5hours, he only then decided to help me buy a drink from a vending machine that is inaccessible to the public because you were busy ripping everyone off their money.
Did you guys even have a emergency evacuation plan because from the looks of it and comments about people feeling dehydrated, if there was a mass casualty, there would have been a lot of people who would have ended up dead.”
- Rick Allen wrote, “I must add my own comments about an utter fiasco of an event:
1. We paid a ridiculous amount for so-called”VIP” tickets as a special treat considering the significance of the band., but the most expensive tickets we have ever bought. This entitled us to stand in the VIP pen at the front. Upsides were that the view was great and the area was not jammed. But totally totally offset by absolute shit sound – very strong bass and drums but lead guitars, keyboards and Axl barely audible. After an hour we could stand it no more and had to abandon the VIP pen completely. Ironically the sound was much better a lot further back. So what an utter waste of money.
2. F&B – while the quality of the food seemed pretty good, the distribution was a complete joke. We paid for “Hard Rock cheeseburgers” but after asking no less than 12 people where to get them, no one could tell us.
3. The RFID system is brilliant in concept but extraordinarily bad in execution. Unacceptable queues and now we have one with credit cos it was a 1-way system: YIU get but you don’t give.
4. Post show chaos and madness: we left the show early at the start of the encore anticipating difficulty with transportation. Man, was that prescient but didn’t help one but. We spent 1 and 1/2 hrs in the taxi Q only to find the entire taxi system stopped working. Fans in the queue were going berserk. The guy controlling the matching up on punters in the queue to taxis seemed to give up. So we left to get a shuttle bus. SISTIC appears to have charged us $16 each for the 1-way trip back to town but we found we have return tickets – they should have $8. The queue wasn’t a queue – it was just a mass of humans – no directions, no organisation – just utter chaos. So it took us well over an hour to get on a bus – including the fiasco for taxis that made it close to 2 am before we got back to the city. And to top it off the Police were useless in traffic management.
This was all the more painful because we flew down from Hong Kong just got this show. All in all, this is without doubt the shoddiest handling of a gig I have ever experienced in my life. And guess what – I’m old enough to have seen Zep, The Doors, The Beatles, The Yardbirds, Hendrix et al in the 60’s when promoters were still learning how to do it. You should be utterly ashamed.”
