Empty VIP seats divide crowds at Byron Bay Bluesfest
A CONTROVERSIAL new addition to this year’s beloved Byron Bay Bluesfest has literally divided crowds and threatened to upstage the event’s stellar line-up.
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A CONTROVERSIAL new addition to this year’s beloved Byron Bay Bluesfest has literally divided crowds and threatened to upstage the event’s stellar line-up.
While Leon Bridges, Tash Sultana and New Power Generation delighted fans on a wet, muddy opening night at the festival on Thursday, new VIP seating in front of the festival’s two main stages was slammed a “vibe killer” by hundreds of disappointed fans.
The 72 front row tickets per day at two stages — Crossroads and Mojo — were largely empty for the headline artists’ performances on the five-day event’s opening night on Thursday, including Bridges’ and Sultana’s sets.
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The premium seats cost an extra $300 per stage, per day, on top of the ticket costs.
“Front Row Seats will be set front and centre of our main stages in an intimate viewing area of only a few rows, giving you unimpeded views of artists,” the festival organisers said in a notification sent to ticketholders in the lead-up to the event.
While new initiatives such as shuttle buses to and from the festival and the Tweed Coast via Pottsville, Hastings Point, Cabarita, Casuarina, Kingscliff and Chinderah have been welcomed by devotees of the event, now in its 29th year, critics say the premium seating flies in the face of the bonhomerie for which Bluesfest has become world-renowned.
The seats have also raised the eyebrows of some of the festival’s biggest stars.
Bridges looked surprised when he saw the empty rows from the stage on Thursday while Lukas Nelson commented “wish they weren’t here” during his terrific opening night performance.
Speaking on Friday, festival director Peter Noble said the front-row tickets were sold out for Friday, Saturday and Sunday night.
He said festival organisers would monitor the response from fans and “see how it goes”.
“There’ll always be varied opinions on these sorts of things,” he said.
“There’s a lot of older people coming to this festival.
“We’re trying to sort of make it work for a lot of people.”
However, irate fans have already flooded social media and the festival’s Facebook page to voice their displeasure.
“MOJO front row VIP seating is a disgrace — what an embarrassment !,”
Tim Hochgrebe posted on the event’s Facebook page.
Kerryn Cooper said the move had devalued tickets to the event.
“Disgraceful VIP seating — everyone’s tickets have suddenly been undervalued as 100,000 fans cannot get close to the artists. Refunds? Class action?” she wrote.
Others said the empty seats were an ‘embarrassment” to performers.
Sammii Treven wrote: “This “front row” rubbish is 2 lines of chairs that are making the real fans stand behind their special seats. What an embarrassment to the artists when it’s not full and the true fans who can’t afford any more money than what they have already forked out, which isn’t pocket change, have to stand so much farther away. To be honest I am disgusted.
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And if you have paid $300 extra dollars and have to sit in the second row, isn’t that false advertising??? Shameful!!”
“Feels like money grabbing while other aspects this year feel like corner cutting! The bands don’t like those front row seats either!” Annette Hilton wrote.
Michelle Kane posted a photo of the empty seats with the caption: “I haven’t seen anyone sitting in the seats yet.”
Mark Downunder agreed.
“I’m so with you there. I can’t believe that BF have done that with the seats. I was at the front (well, behind the barrier that separates the expensive seats from the real fans) and there were about half a dozen people in the front seats,” he said.
Speaking in the lead-up to the festival, the festival’s new chief operating officer Steve Romer said the move was in line with music events around the world..
Romer, a Home of the Arts (HOTA) board member, has previously held a wide variety of senior management roles including stints at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre, Sydney 2000 Olympics Satellite Stadiums.
He said punters had embraced the new premium tickets.
“It’s a trend all around the live music world where live music promoters try to give the fans a great experience. It’s a great experience anyway, but to be in the first couple of rows is a really great experience,” he said earlier this year.
“I’ve been in the live entertainment industry for 30 years and most formerly I was managing the Sydney Entertainment Centre. We had prices there, the Eagles for example,(where) the first 14 rows were $800 a ticket. I thought, ‘we can do something to really give fans a great experience here — to not only see one band, but to see up to five or six bands on two of our major stages and have those seats for the entire day’.”
While the seats have divided opinion, the calibre of the artists performing this year is undisputed.
Good Friday drawcards include Robert Plant, Ms Lauryn Hill, Canned Heat, Eric Gales, New Power Generation Gomez Jimmy Cliff and The Wailers.
Tickets are on sale at the gate but Sunday is set to sell out.
Double J will host a special 2-hour live broadcast on Good Friday from 5pm on the Juke Joint stage.
Originally published as Empty VIP seats divide crowds at Byron Bay Bluesfest
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