UPDATE 24/03: Organisers of the Wine Machine festival have issued a statement responding to complaints from festivalgoers. Read it below.
Attendees of the Hunter Valley edition of the Wine Machine festival have hit out at the festival, labelling its poor organisation and excessive queues as “worse than FYRE Festival.”
On Saturday, March 23rd, hundreds of music-lovers descended upon the Hunter Valley’s Roche Estate for the latest edition of Wine Machine.
A music festival held in a winery, the event has all the makings of an unforgettable affair. However, those who were there have taken to social media to reveal it was indeed unforgettable, but for all the wrong reasons.
While organisers of the event had revealed on Facebook earlier in the day that there was a “chance of a shower in the evening”, the weather instead ended up featuring storms so bad that the event was reportedly cancelled before the appearance of Hot Dub Time Machine.
However, audience members have since taken to Facebook to reveal just how bad the rest of the festival was, citing poor organisation, excessive drink lines, and what some have called a lack of concern about the safety of those attending.
Sharing his opinion on social media last night, Samuel Brady called it the “Worst event ever.”
“The line for drinks was 1+hours. The wait for food was 1+hours,” he explained. “When the storm hit, you guys were not concerned about the safety of your patrons. It was ‘how quick can we kick them out into the lightning’.”
“A tree came down in front of us and a guy broke his leg. So much for duty of care.”
“Hot you need to start thinking about your customers and not the $$$. Disgusting,” he concluded. “We did 4 return trips giving people lifts home.
“Cued [sic] over 45 minutes in the hot sun for a drink at bar and to get to the front and the staff not being able to understand what we were ordering,” added Nicola Hammon. “Drinks way overpriced for a sip of wine. Not enough bars of bar staff.”
“Should have been more shade, water stations and more red frog volunteers checking the safety of patrons.”
Likewise, commenters such as Nicole Pisan called the event “worse than FYRE Festival,” while others joked the festival should have been renamed “line machine” for its excessive queues.
Others also noted a heavy-handed police presence, with Diane Crawford explaining that law enforcement had prevented punters from seeking refuge from the torrential rain.
“To top it off when we tried to stay dry we were forcibly pushed by policemen,” Crawford explained. “The weather cant be helped but event organisers need to have a little bit more compassion!”
Organisers of the festival are yet to address the concerns raised by those in attendance, or explain whether or not partial refunds will be given under the cancellation clause in their terms and conditions.
UPDATE 24/03: Organisers of the Wine Machine festival have now issued a statement responding to complaints from festivalgoers. Read the statement in full below:
As those in attendance well know, The Hunter Valley last night experienced an extreme weather system that included torrential rain and a high multitude of lightning strikes within close proximity causing an initial show stop and eventual evacuation of the event. This sucked for every single person on site!
The safety of all patrons, artists, and staff is of absolute priority. Evacuations of this nature are never pleasant. If you have feedback on the method by which police and or security managed this please email the WM team at [email protected] and we will come back to you personally.
We must also address bar lines earlier in the day. Due to the current climate in NSW, severe licensing conditions were placed upon the event limiting drinks to two per person causing unacceptable congestion at the bars. Adding to this were staffing issues from our external bar operators Prime Collective who’ve issued the following statement:
“Whilst licensing restrictions played a significant role in bar congestion at the Wine Machine NSW event, we must unreservedly apologise for our role in this and take full responsibility. Two of our staffing mini-buses carrying 32 staff were reportedly involved in an incident whilst en route from Sydney resulting in bars being under staffed.
We are currently investigating the circumstances of this and following up on the conditions of those staff involved. If you would like further information on this or the licensing restrictions please email us: [email protected] and we will come back to you.”
Lastly, stay tuned in the coming days for an announcement from Hot Dub Time Machine who is hoping to throw a complimentary make-up show for those disappointed he didn’t get to play.
Check out the Wine Machine lineup announcement video:
