FWD>> 7th Birthday

[cody]

good photos ahes57.


i thought the que was bad, but compared to what ive read on here, i got off pretty lightly.

i think what FWD say RE: free entry for decemebr and january is a pretty good way of apoligising.

i will definatly think twice about going to a 'special' FWD nite in the future though.

[hypercube_]

Out to stanton raging in the queue

I may have been a little drinky, what was I doing? I do hope I wasn't too offensive... Sorry.

lol wasn't complaining mate, you were just on a class A ammunition bash! Have to chat to you sometime when your less angry though, peace.

[superisk]

NOTICE FOR PEOPLE WHO HAD PROBLEMS OUTSIDE ON FRIDAY 23 NOVEMBER
from Plastic People and FWD>>

Thanks very much for coming, sorry about the mess, please note Plastic had a night at the same venue organised in the same way with the same amount of ticket buyers on Saturday which passed off very well because it was a different crowd with a totally different mentally

We want to make two points.

1) we were not allowed to put a barrier on the pavement to control the line because the police were worried as a temporary event this will push pedestrians off the pavement into the street.

2) there were a bunch of people that showed up on the pavement without tickets who were just there to cause trouble. A significant majority of non ticket holders that showed for FWD>> behaved totally unreasonable to fellow human beings - throwing bottles, elbowing, and crushing people. Please note that door supervisors have no right to stop people from standing on a public pavement, they have limited powers on the street so once they tell non tickets holders 'you can't come in' and the people just stand there, only the police can then tell them to move off, you are not allowed to physically remove someone from the pavement. After the bottle throwing incident on the ticket holders line we then had to set up a video recording of the door from the other side of the street and then tell the non tickets holders of the CCTV recording and this brought a safer and more secure response from the non ticket holder. This slowed the getting in down but we had to do it for public safety, at this stage a second door was then opened for the tickets holders alone and we then managed to get people in faster using the two doors. We had to let some cash payers in before the ticket holders as we needed to physically clear the entrance in order to let the ticket holders pass - they were being forced against the entrance, there was no other way to clear them. Once we had checked and double checked that there were no more people with tickets we shut the door.

Again we're sorry you had a bad night but you have to understand we organise these things with a level of expectation that the people that come will have a certain level of civil behaviour and a significant number of people (non ticket holders) did not have this, we assure you this will not happen again because there is no point in organising a night that attract a crowd of people that intend to 'rush the door' or start throwing bottles. We can't plan for this mentality, we will just not do a night in the first place, I mean 6ft guys stepping on girls intentionally we'll just totally avoid it like the plague. The Police and council insisted we stop at 3AM.

Our intention was to create an amazing atmosphere in a memorable environment with a state of the art sound system to celebrate the energy that FWD>> and it's punters have uniquely created over the years. For some ravers I think we succeeded.

We have a list of all ticket buyers; your names will be on the door at Plastic People and you can get in free (as long as you get there before midnight) any Friday in December and Janaury.

I wasnt there but 'pass the buck' springs to mind.

I wouldnt be satisfied with that....

[boomnoise]

i think the video would make for some interesting viewing.

[ashes57]

good photos ahes57.


i thought the que was bad, but compared to what ive read on here, i got off pretty lightly.

i think what FWD say RE: free entry for decemebr and january is a pretty good way of apoligising.

i will definatly think twice about going to a 'special' FWD nite in the future though.

Thanks for the compliment for the pix.

I think I will try to make it early next time I lost the people I was with whilst i was lining up and the people at the entrance has no clue about how to deal with a list. Unbelievable. So I got in and my friends had to wait another 30min to get in so they could sort it out after we spent an hour and more in that hell of a queue. Well people should be able to get their tickets separately! It's never been a big deal anywhere else.

plus no bags have been checked up. Don't you find it scary!!! I was just thinking about this in the queue when some guys kept screaming in my face that he was going to shoot somebody. Oh well. I know if he was kidding but people were getting pretty impatient out there and he got me thinking about this.

[dubluke]

yeah i was thinking about that with no searches, i'm not bothered about people bringing drugs in and that, but bearing in mind some of the pricks out there was kinda worried by how easy it would have been for one of that lot to get a weapon in for whatever reason

[T_macabre]

The solution: Bring Fwd back to a Thursday night.

or support some of the small non-profit nights that are still having trouble filling despite stupidly low prices and wicked & varied lineups?

this!

[grave]

in regards to this getting in for free in december/january thing, how will it work for the people who bought several tickets under one name?

[ashley]

in regards to this getting in for free in december/january thing, how will it work for the people who bought several tickets under one name?

friends get in free too i guess

[rekordah]

please note Plastic had a night at the same venue organised in the same way with the same amount of ticket buyers on Saturday which passed off very well because it was a different crowd with a totally different mentally

I went on saturday, getting in was a breeze because THERE WERE UNDER HALF THE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE THERE. people's "mentalities" have fuck all to do with it.

[rekordah]

please note Plastic had a night at the same venue organised in the same way with the same amount of ticket buyers on Saturday which passed off very well because it was a different crowd with a totally different mentally

I went on saturday, getting in was a breeze because THERE WERE UNDER HALF THE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE THERE. people's "mentalities" have fuck all to do with it.

[seebs2000]

I went, with a ticket, and got in about twelve, early enough to get crushed and pissed off, but managed to avoid the worst of it.
HOWEVER
Free entry to every FWD in Dec and Jan? Seems like a good deal, even for heads who had to wait longer. granted you'll be seriously pissed off, but come january you'll have forgotten about it, but you'll still be going down fwd for free...

[farrah]

1) we were not allowed to put a barrier on the pavement to control the line because the police were worried as a temporary event this will push pedestrians off the pavement into the street...

2) there were a bunch of people that showed up on the pavement without tickets who were just there to cause trouble.

this is unfortunate, but it sounds like the information about the barriers was known in advance, and therefore there should have been an alternative plan. also, although im not blamin fwd for troublemakers, there should have been measures in place so that they could have been dealt with - e.g. more staff would have helped, as they would have been able to warn people that CCTV would be set up, and the police called, if people didnt calm down.

I was speaking to someone inside during the time we were all queuing outside and they said they were basically running behind schedule. Why not announce it and let people know what's going on?

i heard the same as stanton and completely agree. it basically sounds like the night was really badly organised - which resulted in a lot of people who were up for celebrating "the energy that FWD>> and it's punters have uniquely created over the years" feelin cheated and disappointed.

We have a list of all ticket buyers; your names will be on the door at Plastic People and you can get in free (as long as you get there before midnight) any Friday in December and Janaury.

on the positive side though, im glad an apology has been issued - and the free entry has definitely helped to appease me. i only hope that if people booked on behalf of others that those people enjoy the same compensation, and that mistakes that were made that night have been learned from.

[thomas]

We have a list of all ticket buyers; your names will be on the door at Plastic People and you can get in free (as long as you get there before midnight) any Friday in December and Janaury.

on the positive side though, im glad an apology has been issued - and the free entry has definitely helped to appease me..

Its says any, not all. Its a bit of a vauge peice of infomation from FWD, but i woudlnt get excited about free entry to 8 FWDs just yet....

[whut]

Is there free entry even if you got in?

[ragoju]

Is there free entry even if you got in?

lol was thinking the same, I did sign some piece of paper though.

Maybe I could blag forgery..

[harlesden]

maybe if everyone stopped listening to dubstep none of this would have happened

take a look at yourselves first eh

[karbonara]

this is my breakdown of the night.
Yes, i was one of the guys at the front.
NO, i was not assaulting girls. but i did see abit of shoving about...

Personally, after having gone to fwd for 3 years now. im not sure i want to go back...



This isn't well written. but i wanted to make the point, that's all. and let that frustration out.



Plastic People and the dubstep night has been one i have gone to, very fondly and with a feeling I was dealing with good organisers and a decent crowd there for the music. I was for years. Until last week.



Last Friday. Turning up for their 7th birthday bash, in a large warehouse down the road from the normal venue. In the way I do, I bought tickets for myself and a number of my friends to go to the night, expecting to enjoy myself with big sounds from top producers on outstanding soundsystems, being treated, as always, like a decent loving head and customer...



I turned up at 11. Opening time, and waiting in the que. 12 o'clock passed. I hadn't budged one bit, and people were starting to wander to the front, forming a circle around the door. We were all freezing, and far from the treatment I would expect, there was NOBODY outside organising or reassuring the crowd what was going on.



I quickly learned they didn't have the ticket holders names. and hoardes of cash paying customers flowed in at the front easy and quick. Someone was making a quick buck here and naughty as fuck too. You fuck up the tickets, you let those in the ticket que in. Simple, it's your responsability. Somewhere, missing, was a list with full names and credit card numbers, waiting to be ticked off. But they didn't have it did they. As a young woman of the crew walks through the crowd, holding a box, we shout asking to let her through. She gets through, eventually, the circle of angry customers around the door has become a real problem, beer flying at the top window to hit the running staff are well aimed, and welcomed. indeed. The security have put their own team at risk, because they won't tell us what is going on. That's disgusting, right. Now, a couple of trouble makers arrive, as they do in these situations. stirring up the crowd. No security to sort the obvious problems out, so they continue, and grow.



They claim the crowd were acting aggressively and, unfortunatly, when you throw an event, the crowds assembled are your responsability. It's abit like school you know. You treat us like shit when we pay good money. we are going to, and quite rightly, get fucking pissed off. and cause problems. Remember, something happens outside the venue it's the organisers responsability. Again, communication with us would have saved all this trouble. The people in the ticket holders line were amazingly considerate considering the situation. There was no physical fighting and throwing a plastic contained of beer is not throwing a bottle, as you say in your press release.



So, crammed in, being pushed about and with an upset and freezing girlfriend on my arm. I left, shouting my disgust at being treated like I wasn't welcome, hadn't paid, and further more, would be told NOTHING by the organisers about what was going on. I had been outside almost 2 hours. I left, and was not the only one. I wouldn't have gone inside with the offer of a dozen virgins and half a dozen exclusive dubplates. I also know, speaking to friends who went back after all that, waiting 3 hours to enter the club in total! that inside it was a pitiful affair. DJ's missing, 3 chemical basins for toilets. 1 girls toilet and a bar that swiftly ran out of booze, that you had to buy tickets to get alchohol with... wow.



To the organiser: Pass off your massive fuck up on the crowd again and you wont be organising much eh. We know what the situation was. We were civil, you were rude jokers who treated us like shit. The crowd you attract is and are sensitive and patient. But mistreat any group of people that far in freezing outside temperatures, without any reassurance. They will get pissed off and quite rightly. Why pay for anything like that experience.




Press release from their website explaining the other night. Frankly, it would be nice to read something that was honest and true. I've all but lost my respect for this night after reading the words below. Accept responsability, all of it, and say sorry. don't coin it off on your loyal crowd. your embarassing yourselves. Thanks for the bullshit guys....


NOTICE FOR PEOPLE WHO HAD PROBLEMS OUTSIDE ON FRIDAY 23 NOVEMBER


from Plastic People and FWD>>

Thanks very much for coming, sorry about the mess, please note Plastic had a night at the same venue organised in the same way with the same amount of ticket buyers on Saturday which passed off very well because it was a different crowd with a totally different mentally

We want to make two points.

we were not allowed to put a barrier on the pavement to control the line because the police were worried as a temporary event this will push pedestrians off the pavement into the street.
there were a bunch of people that showed up on the pavement without tickets who were just there to cause trouble. A significant majority of non ticket holders that showed for FWD>> behaved totally unreasonable to fellow human beings - throwing bottles, elbowing, and crushing people. Please note that door supervisors have no right to stop people from standing on a public pavement, they have limited powers on the street so once they tell non tickets holders 'you can't come in' and the people just stand there, only the police can then tell them to move off, you are not allowed to physically remove someone from the pavement. After the bottle throwing incident on the ticket holders line we then had to set up a video recording of the door from the other side of the street and then tell the non tickets holders of the CCTV recording and this brought a safer and more secure response from the non ticket holder. This slowed the getting in down but we had to do it for public safety, at this stage a second door was then opened for the tickets holders alone and we then managed to get people in faster using the two doors. We had to let some cash payers in before the ticket holders as we needed to physically clear the entrance in order to let the ticket holders pass - they were being forced against the entrance, there was no other way to clear them. Once we had checked and double checked that there were no more people with tickets we shut the door.
Again we're sorry you had a bad night but you have to understand we organise these things with a level of expectation that the people that come will have a certain level of civil behaviour and a significant number of people (non ticket holders) did not have this, we assure you this will not happen again because there is no point in organising a night that attract a crowd of people that intend to 'rush the door' or start throwing bottles. We can't plan for this mentality, we will just not do a night in the first place, I mean 6ft guys stepping on girls intentionally we'll just totally avoid it like the plague. The Police and council insisted we stop at 3AM.

Our intention was to create an amazing atmosphere in a memorable environment with a state of the art sound system to celebrate the energy that FWD>> and it's punters have uniquely created over the years. For some ravers I think we succeeded.

We have a list of all ticket buyers; your names will be on the door at Plastic People and you can get in free (as long as you get there before midnight) any Friday in December and Janaury.

[karbonara]

also:

thinking about it. the black female organiser leaning out the window from the inside, looking very pissed off from the window, just as they finally got their ticket list there was after that gent had thrown the plastic beer cup at the other dude...

I bet the CCtv had just got switched on and they were praying for someone to launch something up. would make a nice bit of cctv footage and show us as the 'mob' we were made out to be eh, and get someone arrested to take the buck too.

sorry organisers. not that stupid. but thats some wrong tactic for your mistakes aint it? x

[teknics]

^^^^^^ 100% right. read ur post from top to bottom and theres nothing from that rant i dont agree with.

waited till 11:30 and decided to catch the last train. had a real gd feeling the night was gonna flop. far to many major flops from fwd recently...a real disappointmnet,