Soundwave kicked off over the weekend in Brisbane and Sydney, the first two dates on a five date whirlwind tour across the country that will see literally hundreds of the world’s best alternative bands descend upon the capital cities.
But not everything goes to plan when you’re running an operation as big as Soundwave and luckily for us promoter AJ Maddah is more than willing to fill us in on the operational hazards he navigates.
Jumping on his favourite soapbox, Twitter, Maddah expressed his frustration in Sydney at the local police force who had decided at the last minute to ban punters from entering the venue with full bottles of water.
Soundwave’s own guidelines advised that you would only be able to bring in an empty bottle of water officially, but it seems unofficially they had originally planned on allowing full bottles too. That is until the NSW Police stepped in.
https://twitter.com/#!/iamnotshouting/status/173603922878021632
https://twitter.com/#!/iamnotshouting/status/173604348213989377
https://twitter.com/#!/iamnotshouting/status/173604756063924226
Maddah was also unhappy with the service provided by the local beverage and food contractors who were not picked by Soundwave but arranged by the Showgrounds.
Echoing similar problems with the Melbourne leg of Harvest Festival last year, Maddah was furious at the understaffing by the operators and their general disregard for patrons – even going as far as encouraging ticket holders to eat off site first.
https://twitter.com/#!/iamnotshouting/status/173616154009550849
https://twitter.com/#!/iamnotshouting/status/173622186295296000
Soundwave travels to Melbourne next, before going on to Adelaide and finishing off in Perth on the 5th March.
