Comments on Day One

i bought my friday ticket exclusively to see girl talk, mostly because i had to work until late and couldn't see anyone else. i didn't get in. this is problematic: a. the stranger has been promoting girl talk relentlessly for almost 4 months. weren't you anticipating it would sell out? b. girl talk sold out chop suey, a much smaller venue than neumo's, in january. since then, girl talk has built much momentum, both in the general population and in seattle due to his blockbuster appearance in january. c. WHY THE FUCK was it in neumo's? the last show of the night, the headliner, for a festival that sells 2000+ (?) tickets per day, is scheduled for a venue that would, under normal circumstances, sell out. d. this was a festival. the reason festivals exist is because they can happen in the summer, OUTSIDE, in large open areas with loud speakers, so many people can see/hear the performers. why wasn't girl talk placed outside, or just, i dunno, in the fucking street? it's not like he even needs a stage; search youtube for a performance he did wirelessly.

regardless, if you schedule a performer for a festival, anyone who buys a ticket should be able to see that performer. i paid $15, and that money has been effectively stolen from me. i demand a refund. please put me in contact with someone who can give me one. and i'm not alone: many of my friends were in the same boat.

at the very least, plan ahead for next year. when the stranger's bonafide girl talk promoter can't even get in, you know the planning was sub-par.

also, girl talk's place in a festival is bound to bring in more people than just a stand-alone appearance both because many people who are familiar with girl talk but wouldn't necessary come on down for a stand-alone appearance will be there, and because people who weren't familiar with girl talk will tag along with their friends, so scheduling girl talk for a festival appearance at neumo's was an abysmal idea.
key point: all of these people paid for tickets. the show should have been in a place that could be guaranteed to accommodate all of ticket holders, just at like, i dunno, a normal show. anyone feel me?
side point: why are capitol hill *block party* shows scheduled for indoor venues? doesn't that kinda make it not a block party?

girl talk had to take place inside neumos bc the city doesnt allow loud music outdoors after a certain hour.

I think the bookers may have underestimated Girl Talk's appeal. I don't expect that to happen here again after lats night.

re eg: true. seriously tho, could y'all put me in touch with someone who could refund $? i feel really burned.
i really hope he gets big enough to play key arena. that would be epic. i've never thought that way about any other band, but a party in key arena? ideal.

does anyone have any pics from girl talk??? send me some please! wadeliostro@gmail.com

I, too, was feeling peeved and sad about missing Girl Talk, but if you couldn't even get in it really must have been insanely packed inside.

I am definitely feeling you blocked partier. Maybe some sponsor pressure from Neumo's got them the headliners. People under 21 paid the full price and didn't even have the choice to try to get in to see GT. I lucked out, and it was awesome, but the heat was insane inside. It should have been outside and early enough to comply with noise ords. Its pretty unfair when a large percentage of the crowd pays full price but can't get to see all the performances because the promoters have given special treatment to a venue who will earn more money from alcohol sales and block the younger people from attending.

I don't think I've ever experienced worse sound than happened at the Vera stage for Natalie Portman's Shaved Head. It was a band's worst nightmare. Bizarre instrument sound eq, dead mics, dead monitors and feedback. The sound guys must have been first year engineering students from the local JCs. Another Very Bad Choice. The band even joked about "earthquakes" when the world started vibrating from the uncontrolled bass feedback the sound people couldn't handle. The band didn't even have a bass player, so it was definitely board error.

Girl Talk was the official 'Afterparty' - not even part of the main lineup. No pressure from a sponosor, that's just silly talk. Like most festivals, indoor venues do sell out. Bumbershoot, Coachella, Roskilde, sxsw, CMJ etc, all have venues that sell out. A few other shows in Neumos sold out too. However, we'll do a better job explaining this on the site next year so people know to arrive early to make sure they get in (thought it seems most people already know this - like a lot of the people who watched to Trucks and then stayed for Girl Talk).

Also, for the last 7 years, two of the stages at the Block Party were all ages and one is 21+. It was billed this way on the website.

The bummer is that because people tried to force their way into Neumo's, security stopped letting anyone else in, where if people would have waited and been patient, most if not everyone in line would have eventually made it in. Inside was pretty amazing though. Great, great show.

Meinert, these explanations are not helpful *now*.
People pushed, so people didn't get in because security didn't have the skills to handle letting people in. That's a reason for a refund- your security people prevented paying customers from entering.
You didn't provide a warning on the website to people who didn't "just happen to know" that Girl Talk would sell out, so many people were shut out- that is your mistake, not ours.
I had to work and couldn't come for an earlier set to get into one advertised for 12:00AM- that's because the set was advertised for midnight. You say that many shows sell out at normal venues, but I bought a ticket- I wasn't shut out of the show by it "selling out." You say that many festival venues "sell out," but it didn't- all the people who tried to get in bought a ticket, it just reached capacity due to your poor planning.
Your failure to prevent these problems has resulted in my money being stolen. Give me a refund or know that what you're doing is completely unethical.
I echo everything CHBP says about the 21-/21+ discrepancy. People under 21 should be charged $10 and given wristbands of a different color. Your failure to do this is plain laziness and grand larceny- you'll more than make up the $5 difference through alcohol sales. Be fair, not lame.

Yes, the crowd didn't make the security very happy, but it was hard to cooperate when different guards each had different stories about what they wanted and where we should line up for a chance to get inside or if such a chance existed. Having the line to Moe muddled with the line to get into Neumo's made things even more confusing and made it seem like people were cutting to the front of the line of people patiently waiting outside the tent as requested. I don't envy their task and I think they tried to stay in good spirits, but it would have been great if they'd used those walkie talkies to communicate with each other and provide a more clear message to the crowd, many of whom had come to the Block Party only to see Girl Talk.

For what it's worth, on the official program the only timeslot explicitly labeled as an "afterparty" was Sunday's Spankrock DJs Devlin & Darko. And yes, sell-outs at indoor festival venues are not unexpected, but Coachella doesn't really "sell out" any venues since everything is outside.

You know, the quacking duck of lame excuses can easily be eliminated by owning up to a screw up. Whoever planned the whole event obviously didn't think it through. (1). Its unfair to charge everyone a single admission price that doesn't give everyone equal access. (2). Inadequate planning for attendance numbers is not the attendee's problem. (3). Rewriting history like: "Girl Talk was the official 'Afterparty' - not even part of the main lineup." is total unadulterated BS. Where was that stated ANYWHERE in the schedule?

If meinert had any official capacity in the fiasco, saying things like that not only makes her sound full of it, but implicates the entire promotional team. A far better response is: "Wow.. we didn't think of those things, or realize that it was pretty unfair to a large percentage of our audience. We apologize and will try to make it up to you next year." When something like that appears, and not just in a low readership blog, we'll know you deserve our respect.

maybe you guys shouldnt have been retarded and left early to get a good spot for girltalk!

"Low readership?!" What'chu talking 'bout?

I got in! Went early to see the Trucks. Anyone who's been to a festival knows how this works.

Neumo's needs fans or something. Damn hot up in there.

experienced, you should change your name to conceited, because your post is completely useless. everyone has already stated that it was hot, the trucks are boring, your status as a past festival goer does not excuse the "block party"'s scheduling of girl talk for a tiny indoor venue that stole the money of countless people who paid for tickets to see girl talk. in other words, i'm glad for you, but you're completely dumb.

i guess i'll go harass the kids at urban outfitters for a refund since the stranger has completely failed to admit any responsibility for this debacle. what a lame bust :( y'all should be ashamed of yourselves, but i guess i shouldn't expect much more of the paper that posts police reports of racial profiling but then fails to engage in real politics for fear of making their yuppie base anything other than "democratically" complacent. wake up, dudes.

Yo, BP, the Stranger was just one of several sponsors for the event, along with KEXP, KNDD, the ACLU, Guayaki Yerba Mate, and yes, our evil corporate overlords esurance. We had no control over the booking, the layout, the security, the scheduling, or anything else. And we don't make money from the tickets sold, so we wouldn't be the ones to give you a refund.

You had no control over these things at the fore front, but you profited (and probably have some of your salary paid by) the ad revenues accrued in the Block Party edition of The Stranger. As a sponsor, you have the clout to put pressure on the organizers to provide refunds and then to either fully and warn next year's ticket holders that they may lose their money or to schedule shows in venues that can accommodate all paying ticket holders. Please don't be complacent. The question you should ask yourself is: Was this wrong? If you answer yes, you should do something about it. Please.
My ad hominem attack about what could be beefier coverage of social justice issues has nothing to do with esurance's sponsorship of the entire festival. However, if you have no control over the festival's proceedings, why would esurance be evil? It just pays the bills, right? [decode what I really mean here]