It seems this weekend’s Radiohead concert in the D.C. area was a spectacular failure. The show was billed as rain or shine and rain it did — fans are reporting that they were turned away from the parking lot and forced to circle the venue for the entire duration of the show.
Reader Tmoney02 says:
One of the two roads getting into the venue was closed due to flooding, and the venue began denying people parking. Instead they would send them on “detours” around the venue never letting anyone park causing a lot of people to spend hours sitting in gridlock in their cars going around and around the venue while the show played.
Here are a few experiences from the comments of DCist:
The rain didn’t just cause thousands of Radiohead fans to send out endless Twitter updates. It caused thousands of us to miss the entire show. Traffic was a mess, and one of the roads in flooded out. They were turning back people at the entrance. My friends and I gave up about 1/4 mile from the place (after detouring all the way around it) when it became obvious Radiohead had just started the encore. I’m never going to Nissan Pavilion again, and I hope Radiohead (and Live Nation) can find a way to schedule another show in the area (in the city would be nice). But I’ll get over it eventually.
Some sort of explanation is definitely called for from Nissan Pavilion on this one. If your venue depends on auto access (as Nissan does), and people can’t get in by car, then, frankly, you ought to give them their money back. At a minimum you ought to apologize for making them sit in lines of traffic six miles long for a few hours. Would it have been so hard to send a guy with a bullhorn out to tell us we weren’t going to get in?
my boyfriend and his 2 friends never got into the show. they were pretty devastated – they love radiohead. i left early because they gave up after they were turned away at the entrance and told there was a “detour.” they were still trying to get into the venue during the 1st encore. they gave up and went to ihop.
we left in sufficient time even in rain to get there, i know we did. we all knew we did.
we had a blast in the car. me and my friend were going to get out and kick down this sign that said ‘no open fires before 4 PM’ which we thought was funny.
i just think the little people get forgetten about. just sitting in cars not knowing anything.
a cancellation would have been fine, a redo on the tickets a new show or something.
Apparently, all three of the D.C. area’s major airports set daily records for rainfall yesterday. Maybe the tickets should have said “rain, shine, or freakish acts of god.” Were any Consumerist readers at this show? Let’s hear your experience in the comments.
Morning Roundup: Water and Weddings Edition
(read the comments) [DCist]
(Photo: easement )
UPDATE: Reader Guy CC’d this complaint letter to our tipline:
To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing to complain strongly about the handling of the Radiohead concert at Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, VA on May 11.
After waiting in traffic in pouring rain for over two hours, my wife and I were unable to gain entry even into the parking lot, much less the concert. While the management is certainly not responsible for the inclement weather, they are clearly to blame for the lack of adequate traffic control measures to ensure that those who purchased tickets to a sold out concert (including a parking fee above and beyond the ticket cost which is charged per ticket rather than per car).
In addition, the fact that flood warnings were issued not only for the location of the concert but nearly all the surrounding counties as well, created a dangerous situation for all concert goers. The fact that these flood warnings were issued before the stated starting time of the concert compounds the error.
It should have been clear to Nissan Pavilion’s management before the concert began that they would be unable to provide parking and entrance to all ticketholders and that their attempts to do so would create a dangerous situation. The responsible action on the part of Nissan Pavilion would have been to cancel the concert and offer refunds to all ticketholders or to postpone the concert and offer refunds to those ticket holders unable to attend the later date.
I hope that Nissan Pavilion will take some action to offer remedy to those ticketholders who were refused admission to this concert because of management’s poor planning and reaction to adverse conditions. The fact that all tickets contained bar codes which were scanned upon admission to the concert should made it easy to identify the injured parties.
Sincerely,
Guy
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Because no one wanted to drive to Nissan, we ended up getting a bus for about 40 people. We left DC at 5:30 and got to the area in 2 or so hours. There were some issues getting around the flooded roads, which took about 30 minutes, but the driver got past it alright.
Unfortunately, the driver made the mistake of going to get gas after he dropped us off at the show. They would not let him back in. Actually, after his third try to get back in they threatened to have him arrested. So we had thirty some odd people (some of whom only loosely knew each other) try and find the bus in a torrential downpour. No one on Nissan staff or law enforcement were even remotely helpful. Some were downright rude. Eventually we trudged about a 30-40 minute walk in the rain, along the highway and to a remote shopping center where we met the bus. There were many others stranded there, some of whom were pleading to get on our bus. There was a father trying to pick up his teenage daughter who was denied entrance.
In essence, it was a complete mess. For some people, it was downright dangerous. And our bus driver made a poor decision, but there is no excuse for the poor planning of Nissan and local law enforcement. Any venue in which driving is a requirement should have some kind of safeguards to protect its customers.
If you are foolish enough to believe the hippy crap that a group puts out and that they are not out just to make a killing, you deserve what you get.
I’ve enjoyed a number of concerts, but I was never forced to pay for them. Free tickets are great! At least that way if the show is FUBAR you don’t lose any money.
Seriously, the modern concert system is fucked up so bad it’s psychotic.
*sigh* I was at the concert. We got there at 6:00pm so we had no trouble finding parking or getting into the show.
Frankly, no band was worth the 5 hours of monsoon I sat through. I would have left during the opening act if it wasn’t for my the people I drove with having covered seats, and thus not enduring the shitty experience I had.
To make matters worse, it took us one and a half hours to leave the venue (after the 2nd encore).
Got home to D.C. at 1:50am.
@headhot: Yes, and let’s carpet bomb the owners of every mall or shopping center with a store that offers shitty customer service! That’ll show ‘em!
Seriously, worst idea ever.
Back on topic, can we get off of this whole “RADIOHEAD ARE HYPOCRITES!” diatribe? How many of you clicked the link and saw that it clearly said “as many as possible” and not “all”? The only viable venues in the area, given their distaste with performing indoors, were RFK Stadium and Merriweather Post Pavilion. Merriweather isn’t accessible by public transportation either, and the last time the band was in town, they played there. RFK holds roughly 50,000; Nissan was, from my quick math, the largest venue they played on this leg at HALF that size. It would have made zero sense.
It sucks, but how many other events have gone off at Nissan without a hitch (save for the parking, which is always an issue)? For the love of god, don’t blame the band for the venue’s idiocy.
I was there. It was an unmitigated disaster. We left the concert before
the 2nd encore was over, and it still took us about 2 hours to go the 3-4
miles to get on 66 from Nissan. We left at 4 to get there for a 730 show,
and got there okay, but we heard lots of stories of people who just sat in
traffic during the entire concert. Radiohead and Nissan both deserve the
blame for this — the conditions of the show were rain or shine, so they
better damn have a plan for both.
My girlfriend and I were stuck in that mess. Google directions said about an hour drive, we left two hours before the show. We got to about 3 miles away after a 3.5 hour crawl and gave up trying to get onto the pavillion access road. They should update their “rain or shine” policy to consider monsooning that makes them turn paid ticketholders away who still want to get in and get soaked. We’d love a refund or a reschedule. We wanted to go stand in the rain, as did most of those other thousands of fans who were not given that choice.
P.S. sign me up for any class actions that may result from this thing…
@Carl Everett’s Fossil Collection:
“The only viable venues in the area, given their distaste with performing indoors.”
Don’t you see thats the whole point of the problem. If they want to talk about all the sacrifices and commitments they are making to have a “green” tour, and promote it as such, then they have to put themselves where their mouth is. By making the small sacrifice (and in this case it would benefit everyone, band included) of playing indoors to show their commitment to being green.
I’m getting claustrophobic jitters just reading these posts. *shudder* My stomach feels all twisty thinking about the rain, the rage, and missing radiohead – too much to bear.
I saw this headline and knew it had to be Nissan Pavilion. I went there in the pouring rain a few years ago and sounds like nothing has changed. The traffic was horrible, the (unpaved) parking lot was flooded, we had to walk at least a quarter mile in literally ankle to knee-deep water, and then only saw 3 songs from the group we went there to see. If this is clearly a recurring problem, they need to invest in paving and draining their lot.
@Tmoney02: It’s one post on their blog about how they’re trying to cut down on CO2 emissions. How does that constitute them talking about all of the sacrifices they’re making? It’s not as if this was the “Radiohead Saves Earth” World Tour.
All the same, that doesn’t matter. Even if you tell them to suck it up and play indoors, the only venue in the area that meets the size requirement that Radiohead had for this tour and is accessible by public transportation is Verizon Center, which had to be held open with the Wizards and Capitals making playoff runs.
I read on a blog that if you weren’t able to make it to the show, Nissan might be able to refund you. Phone: 703-754-6400
There’s not a single living band on the planet that I’d put up with that shit for, you poor, wet puppies. May the chargeback gods be with you.
@Carl Everett’s Fossil Collection:
“Even if you tell them to suck it up and play indoors, the only venue in the area…verizon center”
From my earlier comment:
“Its not like they are playing the previous or next show anywhere near DC. They went from the state of North Carolina to DC to Drive all the way out to St. Louis for the next show.
If they couldn’t book a venue they liked inside the city for Sunday, they could have tacked on a DC date at the end of the tour or even better played it in august when they are playing the rest of the east coast.”
While I posted to only one post on their blog, they went to the media and talked it up. See one of the resulting articles from the AP:
AP Article
Seems they did exact same thing in seattle, choosing a remote location:
Seattle
I took three seconds to find this. Just Google “radiohead green” and see all the articles and appearances where they promoted themselves as having a green tour. See Showing up on Conan for Green week and saying they weren’t coming to the show to play live to be green Conan
I have no problem with them wanting to provide the best possible experience for their fans (something Nissan wouldn’t have done in the best case scenario). I do have a problem with anyone promoting themselves as green(and arguably profiting) and then not actually following through with their talk.
this would have never happened if the record industry was involved.
Nissan Pavillion is a joke. Any outdoor venue where you’re not allowed to bring your own food, thereby forcing you to buy 7$ cups of shitty beer, can go fuck themselves.
Wolf Trap is a nice nearby outdoor venue, much closer to town and the Dulles Access Road is right there vs. the 2-lane Gainesville country roads around Nissan. I’m under 60, though, so there’s no one I want to see there.
I think you take a terrible risk attending an outdoor concert that is not protected from the elements. However, last night was more than just a rainy night. I was out in that storm myself and let me tell you, it was a white-knuckle adventure driving through that mess, especially on the Beltway with trucks barreling down on you. Branches blown all over the roads, high winds, torrential rain. I was so relieved to make it home safely I just sat in my car a few seconds to relax for a sec.
I wouldn’t expect a concert to continue in that mess and was most irresponsible not to cancel it in light of the circumstances. They should do the right thing and refund the money.
Lambasted is right about it being a “white-knuckle” nightmare driving home on 66 / The Beltway. It felt like life or death. There was black water you couldn’t see from ten feet away, but when your tires touched it your car skidded. It was easy to imagine losing control and doing a 360-spin across all lanes.
No one should have been driving in that, and certainly not for a stupid music concert. Nissan should have canceled the show as soon as they heard flood warnings, but they didn’t. Their second opportunity to cancel was when the storms got Biblical-style bad.
It can only become a P.R. nightmare for Nissan / Ticketmaster (which would be AWESOME) if some major media, beyond blogs, gets a hold of the story. Does anyone know if The Post or any Virginia newspapers are on the story? What about local T.V. news?
I had a great time in the rain! I was the driver and traffic sucked, it was a free for all leaving the place and the parking lot had a dozen “lanes” of traffic trying to fit out of the exits without any type of direction, markers or anything keeping cars in any kind of order. But I approached it with the novelty of it.
It was only because I had a GPS since the police seemed clueless and understandably miserable. The LED sign leaving the concert said “I-66 straight ahead”, but it wasn’t. Again the GPS saved us after leaving the 711 filled with lost people all looking over maps together and trying to figure out their way.
@mammalpants: Nissan and the local police seemed to be the ones running things, so I don’t know if the record industry would help with anything except more bureaucracy and higher ticket prices
I couldn’t believe that it took as long as it did to get out of the parking lot. I was sure there must have been a giant car accident. We literally did not move one inch for an hour and a half. I was shocked when we finally made our way out to and there wasn’t an accident, or completely flooded out roads, etc. I want to find out who’s in charge of managing the grounds at Nissan and blockade him/her inside his/her house. That was the first time I’d been to Nissan — never again.
The Nissan is not accessible by public transportation and anyone who lives in the DC area knows that.
My friend couldn’t understand why I would go to Baltimore for a NIN concert instead of the Nissan. Umm you can take the bus there.
I’ve always hated Virginia. Last night was just another experience to back that up. Why oh why couldn’t they have played Merriwether like last time?
Left Silver Spring at 6pm. What should have been 45 mins took 2 hours just to even get to the EXIT off the 66. Another 1 and 1/4 hour to drive 1 mile to the venue and to get routed around it. My buddy and I hopped out of the car to run to the venue while my fiance parked. We were frozen mud pops by the time we made it in. I couldn’t even bring myself to buy a beer because it would have frozen to my hand. You’d think leaving Silver Spring at 6 would at least get us there BEFORE Radiohead started.. but nope. We walked into the middle of the first part and stayed for about half an hour and just couldn’t take it anymore. My fiance forgot where we left the car so my small group split up and spent an hour trecking through near freezing mud rivers to find our car.
I never thought waiting over an hour in a car to get out of a parking lot would ever be such heaven. Three of us stripped down and blasted the heat.
I’ve seen radiohead a couple times before. What really upset me is that it was my buddy’s first time seeing them. Normally their concerts were just brilliant (i.e. 2003 @ Merriwether)… but this was just a complete spoil for him.
Nissan and Live Nation should be ashamed, ABSOLUTELY ASHAMED of themselves. Rain or shine is one thing. Proceeding with a concert with half the roads getting there are ALREADY flooded and getting worse, and NOT cancelling it is just plain irresponsible.
It would be nice if Radiohead swung back arounD later this year and reserved tickets for us suckered by Nissan (especially us on the lawn) to purchase before selling to the general public.
Any place would have been nicer than Nissan. Merriwether is way better than Nissan. RFK has descent sound and metro access.
There were a million accidents waiting to happen and I’m suprised nothing major happened: Car accident, hypothermia, getting squashed by cars in the lot, drowning in a mud puddle, falling down the waterfall that was supposed to be the stairs to the top of the lawn.
I’m suprised no one died.
Oh yea and I learned a valuable lesson. Everyone in the DC area should probably invest in a hardcore poncho.
I will say this…I’ve worked at Merriweather for 8 years now and we have never had anything like this go down…I don’t get when people will learn Nissan is a horrible place to go for a concert…while we don’t have any mass transit access(which I will admit is unfortunate) we are across the street from the Mall and a large office park and do have agreements in place to allow our guests to park there…
Nissan Pavilion is a Clear Chan…er Live Nation Venue…that should tell you everything you need to know right there…
how a pavilion that was built in the middle of no where in the last 20 years and has no mass transit and a 2 lane road in and out is beyond me…
next time Radiohead pick a venue nominated numerous times for Best Outdoor Amphitheater by Pollstar
-wC
My fiance, 2 friends, and I were at the show last night. Just like some other people have commented, normally I would never go to a show at Nissan, however, we made the exception for Radiohead. We mapped a route that avoided 66 and managed to get there by 7:30pm. The show was awesome, despite the weather. Worst part of the whole night was sitting in the car for 2.5 hours after the show in a parking lot grid lock. And if I hadn’t been to Nissan before I would think it was due to the flooding, but 3 years ago I saw Coldplay there on a beautiful summer night and had the same problem post show, waiting in grid lock for several hours in the parking lot. I will never EVER go to a show at Nissan ever again.
@Ash78: Out here, we have a “Supermall” (it’s full of clothes stores, doesn’t sound that “super” to me), and they have free transport to the local amphitheater which is 5-10 miles from it, and don’t care if you park there during events.
I don’t understand why they didn’t hold the show IN THE CITY since they’re being pro-environment and THE CITY has public transportation when the nissan pavilion is all like… in the boonies.
I saw Dave Matthews at Nissan once, and never again. It’s an absolute mess, even in good weather. When we tried to leave – halfway through the encore – we were immediately stuck and couldn’t get out for almost 3 hours. Not enough exits from the lots, and way too much traffic for the roads to support. Never, ever go to Nissan Pavilion.
Last time I tried to see Radiohead in DC, it was 2001 and at the Bull Run Civil War battlefield in VA. It rained so hard the day of the concert, that the stage sank into the field and everything was canceled.
History repeats itself.
[greenplastic.com]
I had a miserable time going to and getting home from Nissan Pavilion when I went there a year or so ago and pledged never again. Radiohead got me to break that pledge. This time, however, when I say “never again,” I mean it.
Radiohead’s music was brilliant. The venue was ridiculous, and the cops were beyond incompetent. We reached Wellington Road, only to find it was flooded out, and saw that the recommended “detour” ran straight away from the venue. Thank god for my iphone–we circled back around to Route 29 and approached the venue from the north and made it in by the fifth song. Soaked and cold, but ultimately happy.
Radiohead itself seems to have gotten stuck–they didn’t leave the venue until 3 am, according to their website.
It would be great if you all could harness your frustration to write a letter to Radiohead explaining that in the U.S., the same ridiculous land-use planning that has given rise to endless sprawl and massive per-capita gas consumption also creates misery at many lovely outdoor venues. The most environmentally friendly thing for them to do is to choose venues with access to public transportation and to let the word out that they prefer such venues. They struck fear into the hearts of record label executives everywhere when they successfully published In Rainbows online–that was brilliant. There has to be some similar way to exert pressure on the Live Nation/Clear Channel/Ticket Master cabal.
Meanwhile, some ways to complain:
Nissan Pavillion email: customerservice@nissanpavilion.com
Nissan Pavillion’s sales folks who seek corporate sponsors:
sponsorship@nissanpavilion.com
(email them and tell them what a disaster this was for their image, and that few corporations would want to be associated with this).
Nissan Consumer Affairs
P.O. Box 685003
Franklin TN 37068-5003
1 800 647 7261
8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.,
Eastern / Central Time / Pacific Time
Monday through Friday
Nissan email contact form:
[www.nissanusa.com]
(to “send a question or comment to Nissan.”)
Prince William County Executive
Mr. Craig S. Gerhart
1 County Complex Court
Prince William, Virginia 22192
Utterly crushed. Was looking forward to this for months. Allowed an extra 2 hours drive time for an hour trip and arrived ON TIME at the Nissan exit 44. Proceeded to sit for almost 3 hours within a mile of the venue only to be turned away once I reached the lot at 1015. PIT seats totally wasted, 7 hours of drive time with no show and the heart of a Radiohead fan totally broken. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE try to accomodate us in some way. It’s not the cost of the tickets or the day totally wasted. I’d gladly take a ticket to another show and I’ll get there no matter the distance. Nissan Pavillion should be ashamed. Not just because thousands of paid ticketholders didn’t make the show because of their inane planning. They also put thousands more at risk of danger driving in hazardous conditions on flooded roads. Rain or Shine is one thing. Flood warnings all over the state and appeals from local officials not to drive is another. It should have been rescheduled. But that’s a new discussion entirely…
Holy horse crap! Radiohead is, I do not exaggerate, my favorite band
and I have been TWICE denied the pleasure of seeing them in Northern
Virginia. It was an epic adventure with four accidents along the way
from Baltimore City only to be led along a painfully slow wild goose
chase curtesy of the Virigina Police and Nissan Pavillion. I am
bitterly disgusted with having been in my car for 8 strait hours in the
pouring rain. I will NEVER EVER NEVER buy a ticket to a Nissan Show
again. I will encourage Radiohead to NEVER perform there again. My
only consolation is that I won my tickets on the radio, but it is of
little consequence as I would have bought tickets had I not one. I’d
rather drive all the way to NYC to see them than at Nissan again. Heck,
by the time you get in and out of Nissan, you’ve already spent about ten
hours anyway.
Brad J. Ranno
@rensilan: Thanks for the info, I’m definitely complaining. Google Maps on my Blackberry saved us too, what terrible traffic direction and detouring. I will never go there again. The situation was handled poorly and resulted in dangerous conditions for all of us there. I’m surprised no one fell down the waterfalls. Oh wait, those were stairs.
Paying a ridiculous amount of money for tickets on E-bay, the 4 HOUR LONG drive to Nissan Pavilion in a Freakish Flood, missing the first 7 songs of the show, getting COMPLETELY drenched while running from the car to catch the remainder of the show, standing in the freezing rain at a venue with a lame ten o’clock last call, losing feeling in all limbs, getting home at 3 in the morning, losing my voice
All worth it because they played Paranoid Android. Wooooooooow. The whole show was unbelievable. I will be smiling for weeks.
I am never going to Nissan again.
This is an e-mail I just received from Nissan Pavilion’s customer service. So, they want me to drive to Camden, NJ for lawn tickets? So, they want me to spend additional funds to see a concert on them. How generous (sarcasm)
Hi [Name],
Thank you for contacting Nissan Pavilion regarding your experience on Sunday night. Due to the torrential rain storm, multiple road closures and a late-arriving crowd led to delays for some music fans entering the parking lot at Nissan Pavilion. While we have no control over Mother Nature, we certainly are disappointed that some fans did not make it to the venue.
As a consolation, we would like to offer you complementary lawn tickets to Radiohead?s performance at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, NJ on August 12th. We apologize for any inconvenience you experienced Sunday night and hope that this free ticket offer helps to make up for it.
It’s possible RadioHead will help Nissan make good.
I was at the Tibetan Freedom Fest at RFK in the late 90′s when that girl got struck by lightning and the concert was a washout.
Later (I can’t remember if it was the same night) they played a “secret” free concert for the first five hundred who showed up with their Fest stubs.
My b-friend at the time was really connected to the club and we got in first — “Get down to the club. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but something is, so get down their and get in line NOW, I’ll meet you there…” — So completely front row access.
It was the most AWESOME show I’ve ever seen. Intimate and amazing. AND 9:30 sounds great. (At least it used to.)
At the moment, Nissan Pavilion/Live Nation is offering disgruntled customers free lawn tickets to the Aug. 12 show in Camden NJ. Of course, I had reserved seats for the Nissan Pavilion show. But who knows, maybe Camden won’t as long to get to.
@mirrorball: Is this why they took my name and number? Or do I need to do something else.
-Angus
I live in Chicago, so this show wasn’t even on my radar, but to those of you saying “dude, the show was amazing; you should have gotten there earlier — it’s all your fault!” — please shut the hell up. I highly doubt that the people who were affected by this want to read your boasting or chastising.
This kind of happened to us…I paid for 20$ VIP parking @ Verizon Amp. in Charlotte. They had barely any signs telling you where to go so we just pulled in the closest parking lot since there really wasn’t a choice, the traffic was directed that way. Upon going in, the guy said it was on the other side of the amphitheater, but the gates to leave the lot were LOCKED CLOSED. Meaning you couldn’t go out. Isn’t that some sort of a fire hazard? We didn’t care, went in anyway. The downside is, when we left, it took 1.5 hours to leave the lot even though the exit was like 15 cars away. ONE exit for hundreds of cars. Nice. We almost went to the DC show, I’m glad we didn’t. It sprinkled for about 5 minutes.
I was involved in this. We spent 2 hours in traffic trying to get to the turn off to the pavilion, we’d left early so the opening band Liars was still playing by the time we took the 44 exit. We then found that the main road to the Nissan Pavilion was flooded, and we were detoured along with bumper to bumper traffic for 3 hours to get to the show. When we finally reached the entrance to the parking lot, we were told that Radiohead was on their encore, and that we should turn around and leave.
The organizers took down my phone number when I called the next day, and got in contact with me a few days later regarding the options for reimbursement. A) Accept tickets to the Lawn at a Radiohead show in New Jersey in August… or B) Accept tickets to another Live Nation show instead, given availability. I had to reject both these offers as I am moving out of the country in a few weeks to live in Europe for my Masters. The lady who offered those two choices said that if that was the case, she was putting me on a list of people who wanted a refund, and that she would get back in touch. It is now May 18th and I still have not received word regarding the refund, though I am going to give them another week before I call back again.