BLOC festival

[danoldboy]

It didn't rain. Newham council gave the festival permit and funded the site, Olympics next door, hmm.

[doonedave]

Did anyone go to this?

one in one out pretty much all night, mate said it was fucking rammed.

[Etches828]

Yeah me and my mates queued up for 2hrs in torrential rain to get into the Hyperdub Rhythm factory night and ended up just taxi-ing it back home. was one in one out pretty much all night. Was probs half our fault for not getting there properly early and I got nothing but huge respect for the array of artists and promoters that got together to trying and make something good out of the mess. A mate from my group broke off and went to Surgeon and Objekt at bussey building in peckham, apparently that was absolutely amazing and had a wicked vibe too.

Such a shame about bloc, we were queueing for about 2hrs to get in, managed to catch DMZ's set which started about half hour late due to technicals, was a wicked set though, lighters in the air for anti-war dub n all that. we then tried to get on stubnitz which was already being evacuated. a mate who managed to get on said Oneman's set was the best he's ever done though, all vinyl, proper classics. We then tried to get into main stage as queue for the dome was ridiculous and only really wanted to see DMZ at the RA tent. Main Stage queue was even bigger than the dome, so we ended up getting proper fucked and walked round to the absolutely barren other side of the festival, fumbled about in all the lights and grass and decor n that, felt bad for my mates who dropped pills, they were steaming just wandering about in despair hahaha. Ended up getting taxi's back to my place in greenwich at about 2-3am.

Absolutely huge disaster... I don't understand how theey can possibly refund everyone, we worked out that'd be in the £million's.... The amount of money that would have gone into that venue, booking that line up etc... madness. Feel proper sorry for the organisers, and even more sorry for the people from america and asia we bumped into who had come all that way, hotels mustve cost an absolute bomb this weekend with olympics n all.

[Lichee]

if you're a londoner and you managed to catch an act or two and chill around the area and are getting a refund, you've not really lost anything. It's to the people travelling from abroad that i feel for the most here

Well, it's fucking terrible if you trekked there from abroad, but to say you haven't lost anything if you're a Londoner is bollocks.

read it again, IF you managed to catch an act or two and chill for a few hours you've not really lost anything, if you were queuing for 4 hours in the rain then no.

[meanmrcustard]

I kinda see what you're saying, but refunds are far from guaranteed (thing is, unless they are insured and the insurance company pays out, I can't see where the money for refunds would come from).

From my point of view, I'm not expecting (or hugely bothered by) a refund. Fact is, I wasted the best part of a day (a day I took off work no less), got to see next to nothing, and had a pretty shoddy experience from start to finish. Even if I get my money back I'll still feel out of pocket. Time is money and all that.

Shit, given the chance, I wouldn't do Friday again if you paid me another £110 on top of my refund!

[doctajeep]

haha i was in line for the hyperdub party on saturday at rhythm factory for a good hour and a half with barely any movement. i was so excited when i heard about it too, as my flat is a 5 min walk from the venue

gave up around midnight knowing the size of the place and the number of people in front of me (must have been at least 400). and i got there before 10:30 too. apparently there was a massive queue already at 9:45 before doors opened.

lineup was amazing too, shame! i heard the weeknd provided some sort of 'MC duties' for flying lotus, haha

[bela]

a lot could be said about this but nothing would really suffice.

there is the moaning about the fact that i queued for 2 hours to get in the festival and completely missed nicolas jaar's set which was the main selling point for me in the first place,

there is the fact that once inside (just past 9 o clock) i realized it would be a futile effort to see anything but the acts on the stubnitz for the rest of the night as queueing was already out of control,

but the worst was being at the very front of the queue for the boat (again, after nearly 2 hours) when things got massively out of control, being pressed against those ridiculous fences in the front before they totally went down and feeling a wave of thousands of people rush towards me & my friends, including a 4'10" girl who was in tears. images of loveparade came to mind and to be honest i'm very surprised no one died with the kind of crushes that were going on. i ended up hanging off of the ramp railing because there was literally nowhere else to go; i saw a guy get his arm compound fractured from simple inability to move amongst the crowd and i had to beg security to let me & three friends on the boat as it would be an impossible task to leave the queue at that point. 2 were left in the chaos as i went on with the aforementioned tiny friend, but we weren't able to stay on the ramp to make sure they would be safe because security's main concern seemed to be making sure the ramp wouldn't collapse with all of 20 people standing on it to survey the scene.

laughably inside the boat was entirely manageable; there was ample space to move, queues for the bar and bratwurst stand were reasonable for an average festival, and people seemed completely oblivious to the mayhem going on outside. i left as soon as reports came from friends elsewhere that police had entered the site and security was overheard talking about shutting down every stage.

i'm not so bothered about a refund as i am about some serious responsibility taken for the threat to so many people's livelihoods on friday night. legitimately the most terrified, utterly helpless and disappointed i have ever been at a music event.

[magma]

Fuck bela, sounds like you managed to be in the worst bit... nasty. Sounds properly dangerous around the boat crush.

We were just bummed out really... we were stuck in the main stage from Amon Tobin onwards, assuming that we wouldn't get back in so just had to stick it out until Snoop. Soon as we were told to leave, it was just cops everywhere... no choice but to leave the site by then, but I don't think we were ever put in harm's way.

I guess ticket refunds are all they can realistically offer, but it's so sad to hear about people travelling and being disappointed. We were chatting to girls that had come over from Malta early on... heard a fair few American accents around and loads of Europeans... it really should've been a beautiful weekend.

I can't see Bloc surviving tbh. Organisations like this survive event to event... if they end up having to pay for the venue, the acts AND everyone's ticket they're gonna be over.

[Etches828]

QueueFest2012. Gunna have traumatic flashbacks whenever i enter another queue. Gunna go to the Oneman Fabric Live Launch to make up for all this.

[parkour_nico]

guys, this is at the london 'pleasure gardens'. stay away from this venue at all costs. Went there at the weekend and its surely a joke. There isn't even any grass, just a dusty concrete industrial wasteland. There's broken glass and nails everywhere. Everything is horrificly expensive and no good.

Save yourself some money and avoid.

oh my days, jameshk the prophet!

this seems to be the root of the problem, along with numerous other organisational factors, feel bad for everyone involved, seems bloc got shafted as well as all the punters.

also,

Well at least now they know for the future, don't they. KEEP IT THE FUCK IN BUTLINS

Feel sorry for the guys trekking from ages away. Feel slightly sorry for the Bloc guys, as they seem sort of alright but this is going to rightfully hit them hard.

[magma]

http://ms.stubnitz.com/content/end-party-boddika

[Geey]

guys, this is at the london 'pleasure gardens'. stay away from this venue at all costs. Went there at the weekend and its surely a joke. There isn't even any grass, just a dusty concrete industrial wasteland. There's broken glass and nails everywhere. Everything is horrificly expensive and no good.

Save yourself some money and avoid.

So its in warehouses and has the vibe of a proper old warehouse party (glass/crack/smack/used needles), but because they're charging for tickets and beers, it should be avoided?!

Solid logic.

Hahaha isn't hindsight an amazing thing?
I think you win the dick of the day Kid..

[Bloodstream]

End of Party by Boddika

http://ms.stubnitz.com/content/end-party-boddika

[dsprainman]

End of Party by Boddika

http://ms.stubnitz.com/content/end-party-boddika

Wow, this really sucks. But sounds like everyone kept cool. Worse thing that could have happened was a riot or something. Must say though, hearing "Drop It Like It's Hot" on a huge system is quite a bit of fun.

[jameshk]

Sorry that it turned out badly for you all. Too be honest, I didn't realise it would get THAT bad. Although I think its now a good thing that this venue will probably not be used again by any sensible event organiser. BLOC sounded very dangerous, could've gone very wrong. Im just glad everyone is ok!

[skimpi]

guys, this is at the london 'pleasure gardens'. stay away from this venue at all costs. Went there at the weekend and its surely a joke. There isn't even any grass, just a dusty concrete industrial wasteland. There's broken glass and nails everywhere. Everything is horrificly expensive and no good.

Save yourself some money and avoid.

So its in warehouses and has the vibe of a proper old warehouse party (glass/crack/smack/used needles), but because they're charging for tickets and beers, it should be avoided?!

Solid logic.

Hahaha isn't hindsight an amazing thing?
I think you win the dick of the day Kid..

Well, no. All he said was that, its industrial wasteland and everything is expensive. Everyone expected that. If it wasn't so packed and the organisation of the thing wasnt as bad, then it wouldnt have gotten fucked. If the arenas were bigger and easier accessible and spaced more equally around the area, rather than just in one corner, then it wouldnt have been as bad.

The save yourself money and avoid bit was right though lol

[dubluke]

We found one nail. In a play house, dangerous shit fam

[Adam Hodgins]

http://ms.stubnitz.com/content/end-party-boddika

Does anyone know if this has been re-hosted anywhere? It's been taken down.

[Geey]

guys, this is at the london 'pleasure gardens'. stay away from this venue at all costs. Went there at the weekend and its surely a joke. There isn't even any grass, just a dusty concrete industrial wasteland. There's broken glass and nails everywhere. Everything is horrificly expensive and no good.

Save yourself some money and avoid.

So its in warehouses and has the vibe of a proper old warehouse party (glass/crack/smack/used needles), but because they're charging for tickets and beers, it should be avoided?!

Solid logic.

Hahaha isn't hindsight an amazing thing?
I think you win the dick of the day Kid..

Well, no. All he said was that, its industrial wasteland and everything is expensive. Everyone expected that. If it wasn't so packed and the organisation of the thing wasnt as bad, then it wouldnt have gotten fucked. If the arenas were bigger and easier accessible and spaced more equally around the area, rather than just in one corner, then it wouldnt have been as bad.

The save yourself money and avoid bit was right though lol

Well tbh, when I first saw the line up, I thought this would of been the best festival this summer.. Then I looked into it, and several people told me to avoid it at all costs, with it being moved to the pleasure gardens and a small up and coming festival trying to organise things on a bigger scale in London, so near to the Olympics etc etc... And I just got put off the idea and booked a longer stay in Ibiza instead.. Obviously I'm glad to have done that but I feel so bad for the people that payed the monies and spent the time and effort in attending. It's quite clear that these promoters don't have the experience with holding such a large event, it seems to me they tried coming up with cool ideas instead for practical ones.
My advice would be stick to holding parties at butlins until you can be responsible and experienced enough to be holding the hopes and hard earned cash of thousands of people looking to have a blinding party.

[Tenebriated]

Pretty sad that the festival was such a disaster, but the effort made by all the artists on the Saturday night to put on free shows for ticketholders was totally amazing. Went to the Hyperdub show at rhythm factory which was one of the best nights ever.