The national Parklife tour kicked off over the weekend in Melbourne with thousands of revellers descending on Sidney Myer Music Bowl to see acts as varied as Santigold, Gossip, The Streets, and Nero.
A press release sent after the event by Parklife’s PR firm quoted promoter John Wall saying “It has been a wonderful day. We love Melbourne and the combination of a musically savvy, up-for-it crowd, flawless performances by all of our favourite artists and the weather gods being kind to us made it a brilliant start to our national tour.”
But the day did not go smoothly for everybody looking to party with understaffed entrance gates and a police crackdown on those carrying illicit drugs.
Police, who had warned on Friday that they would be increasing their use of sniffer dogs at music festivals this summer, arrested 42 people on Saturday with drug possession. Acting Inspector Don Brown injected his usual hyperbole calling the number of arrests ‘really staggering’ despite a 50% reduction in the number of arrest compared to last year.
“We have made our presence as big and well publicised as possible. We are right at the entrance to the event, yet people still keep trying to get away with it,” he said in an interview with the Herald Sun. “It’s really staggering we are getting these arrest numbers and it is worrying because it means youngsters are not listening and if it continues in these large numbers, it will be a terrible summer.”
“We are finding girls with pills stuffed in their hair, cannabis stuffed in the back of phones, drugs concealed in sunscreen bottles and gum packets – we’ve seen everything.”
Getting caught with drugs wasn’t the only problem punters were having at the gates however with those picking up accreditation or prepaid tickets left standing in line for hours. An anonymous music industry executive told us they were left waiting for over an hour whilst the acts they represented played inside. Those in the media trying to cover the event were also left waiting for hours, depriving coverage for many of the acts who were playing early sets.
The problem apparently stemmed from there being only one line to share between those looking to buy tickets, those picking up tickets, VIP ticket holders, media accreditation, event staff, and even the artists that were performing.
This morning we spoke to some of the volunteers working the gates who described chaotic scenes as punters attempted to get through checkpoints that would be make even American Homeland Security blush.
One volunteer, who wished to remain anonymous, told us of the 5 checkpoints greeting revellers “First there was ID check, then a ticket check, then the 3rd checkpoint did pat downs and asked people to remove their glasses. They were checking peoples pupils and knocking them pack if they were high. Next was bag check and finally you got your wristband. It was pretty exhausting for people.”
“Our line was deserted so we asked if we should move across to the busier lines. We were told to stay put. It was ridiculous, there were hundreds of people waiting in the other lines. We were also told not to send people with VIP tickets over to the dedicated VIP entrance because they didn’t have enough staff to keep it open.”
No word yet if the event in Perth went any smoother although we’ll keep you updated if we hear any more.
