The Washingtonian is reporting that a few disgruntled Radiohead fans who were forced to circle the parking lot rather than actually watch the Radiohead show they paid to see (and to park at… parking was included in the ticket price), were offered replacement tickets. In New Jersey. Now, we failed geography and can barely read so we don’t actually know where this so-called “New Jersey” is, but it sounds like it’s not in Washington D.C. Let’s take a look at the map. Nope. Google maps says that the closest NJ Radiohead show (Susquehanna Bank Center Camden, NJ) is a 3 hour drive from the Nissan Pavilion where the first disastrous show took place.
From the Washingtonian:
We heard from a few readers today that, in attempt to placate people who were turned away from Nissan due to the flooding, that Nissan’s offering fans free lawn tickets to an August Radiohead concert—in New Jersey. (Calls to Nissan to confirm this were not returned.) Needless to say, those folks weren’t thrilled with the offer.
Did they offer this to you? Are you happy?
Radiohead Fans Offered Make-Up Tickets—in New Jersey [Washingtonian]
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@tcp100:
DC to Camden is about a 5 hour drive if you hit rush-hour traffic head-on, which is foolish to do in the first place. I’m from Central Jersey and went to school in Charlottesville, VA, necessitating a drive up/down I-95 whenever I headed home. Although the traffic can be horrible, my worst time out of the many, many drives down/up was about 8 hours from central VA to central NJ (average was usually about 5 hours). However, that can be cut down considerably by just a little planning and foresight.
I would agree with a <3 hour estimate, as long as your schedule is somewhat flexible (i.e., you don’t have to stay at your job until 5 PM). If you’re from the east coast and are going to a concert then you have to plan your route. Otherwise it’ll be a mess.
Admittedly, I’ve never been to the Nissan Pavilion, but from the comments on this thread I think I’ll avoid it in the future, if possible.
@Ash78: “Anyone who thinks driving 3 hours to a concert is horrific is incredibly spoiled. Most of the country has to do just that, especially out West and in the South.”
Word. My wife and I are driving eight hours one-way on Friday to the Elvis Costello and the Police this weekend. The show’s at an outdoor amphitheatre and it has been billed as ‘rain or shine.’
I won’t be too terribly disappointed if there’s a downpour, as I’ve already seen the Police twice on this tour. But I would like to see Elvis Costello, especially if he joins the Police onstage for one of the encores.
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.
@muddymaesuggins: neither am i.
i’d assume when people were circling the venue that they would be doing this by car, rather by foot. in order to complete that circle, the shopping centers IS within sightlines.
and i’d imagine the entire fleet of tow trucks in the “boondocks” couldn’t clear out a parking lot of concert goers.
Wow, my comment around noon really was eaten.
@bigdirty: So what you’re saying is these people should have left their cars sitting on the road and gone into the concert, but it’s good that noone was stupid enough to do this, but since they didn’t they have no right to complain??
@arsenal4: and i’d imagine the entire fleet of tow trucks in the “boondocks” couldn’t clear out a parking lot of concert goers.
Not that they wouldn’t try.
I can confirm that this is the case – I received an email from them about this not but an hour ago. Can’t decide whether to sell the tickets or attempt to attend, since I will be up in NYC on the preceding weekend for APW, aka Radiohead et al, and might extend my visit and go home by way of Philly. Hmmm….
@stubar: I hear TicketsNow is a great place to resell your tickets.
Free tickets to Radiohead! How can you go wrong?
It’s only going to cost you an additional, um… carry the 1… $120 in gas and parking fees that you weren’t counting on. Not to mention you’ll be missing work the next day since you won’t be getting home until 4 am.
Didn’t Radiohead book places on this tour that were supposed to be easily accessible by public transit? So much for that.
@wiretapstudios: and that is Charlotte for you. That amphitheater is a clusterfuck always and forever.
If you want your money back, sell the tickets to the NJ show. I’m sure plenty of NJ people would like to see Radiohead too. Then you’ll have your cash back (plus a little more, if you’re lucky) and while it sucks ass you didn’t get to see them, at least you’re not out a lot of cash.
If you want to see them and can take the time off from work, come to the Camden venue. I used to be able to get from Philly to Baltimore in under two hours and from Baltimore to DC in 30 minutes on a good day. Also, there’s plenty of mass transit to get you here. Come up to Philly, get a hotel room, take Patco/NJ Transit/Ferry to the concert. Have a blast. Go back to your hotel, enjoy a leisurely drive home the next day.
Hell, if I had a bigger place, I’d host you all in an after party!
I just got the offer for the Jersey show. I responded saying I was interested…if they’d pay for my transportation and accommodations. Otherwise, I’d prefer a refund.
With some many DC fans being offered NJ tickets, you’d be hard pressed to sell your ticket for face.
Man, I live in NJ and there’s no band on earth that I’d go into Camden to see.
The bigger story here is that there’s a town called Cockey’sVille. I wonder how many cockey people live there.
@Eldritch: Oh, come on, haven’t you heard? “Camden! Now with fewer rapes! (TM)”
@special4k4: I grew up in NJ, live in Northern VA now. Nissan Pavilion isn’t DC, and I’m imagining a lot of these people live south / west of DC. Sure, you can get to Camden in 5 hours in traffic – but if ou have to get THROUGH DC as well, I’d add a bit to that.
As far as locations go for safety, Nissan Pavilion totally beats Camden. Oh, and you want to add about $12-15 in tolls to the transportation costs, too.
@vladthepaler: To clarify a few myths about this concert that people saying folks are whining seem to believe: There is NO pubic transportation to Nissan Pavillion. There is NO parking nearby–it is adjacent to a Civil War battlefield park. People were denied admission to the venue, in part we think because the parking lots that Nissan never has bothered to even PAVE were flooded. The police, who were being paid overtime by Nissan, misdirected the 50% of attendees who approached the venue from the south, where the access road was flooded.
Nissan needs to offer people refunds or equivalent seats at another concert.
I both called and e-mailed. They have not responded. I would take tickets to the NJ show only because I traveled from Philadelphia in the first place. I believe a refund is a better solution.
I just got a phone call from a very pleasant woman from the Nissan Pavilion. She asked if I had e-mailed, I said yes. She asked if I had made it into the show, I said yes, although the show was wrapping up and I had traveled from Philadelphia. She said I would be receiving a reply e-mail about some form of compensation. I thanked her and that was it. Hope to see an e-mail soon.
@ajc308: No obligation? They screwed up royally. What the hell is wrong with you. How can you say that they can do nothing. It’s that type of attitude which is causing the notion of customer service and responsibility to fall apart. The hell with you. It was Nissan Pavillion’s bad and they have to own up to it.
If you say rain or shine, it means you take responsibility if there is no show, whether it is TOO SUNNY or TOO RAINY.
Can Nissan Pavillion go after the local municipality for poor upkeep of the road? I don’t know the area that well. But if Nissan’s property was flooded, then they are definitely liable. They can whine, but then don’t say an event will go RAIN or shine.
But, they did PROMISE a show rain or shine. If it was then TOO RAINY and that forced paying customers to wait outside and not see a show that they PAYED for….then Nissan Pavilion must give a %00% refund plus at least 25-30% for the headache. If they give tickets in NJ, they must re-imburse travel costs or provide FREE travel.
And where is Radiohead on this issue?
@ConsumerAdvocacy1010: 100%, not %00%
Something a lot of these posts seem to be overlooking is the venue’s complete disregard for the safety of the fans. We have no problem driving 3 hours to see a concert, if the concert is three hours away. When it took us five hours to reach Nissan from Richmond, usually a two hour drive, we were upset, to say the least. Eight of us carpooled in two cars (that’s a $24 parking fee for each car, according to our tickets) and were parked in one of the last two remaining rows of the parking lot. This leads me to believe that people were turned away because the parking lots were full. On our way we encountered roads that were closed because of flooding, roads still open with water inches deep running across from ditch to ditch and a persistent torrential downpour. We were lucky enough to make it inside the venue, at 9:45, after the band had been on for an hour, but stayed only 30 minutes out of frustration with the horrible conditions (anybody else step over orange extension cords running through puddles several inches deep?) and just plain fear that weather and road conditions would worsen and we may find ourselves sleeping in the parking lot. Rain or shine has limitations. People should not be expected to put themselves in danger while both traveling to the venue and inside the venue itself in order to attend an event. It should have been cancelled and people should receive refunds. Period.
I was offered a refund after I asked for tickets to a Buffett show. Here’s the e-mail:
Thank you for your response.
Unfortunately, we are unable to accommodate your request for tickets to the Jimmy Buffett as an exchange for your Radiohead tickets from the show at Nissan Pavilion on May 11. Instead we would like to offer you a refund of the face value of your Radiohead tickets. In order to obtain your refund, we will need to have your unused, unscanned tickets back in our possession. Please mail them to the address below. All refunds will be issued as checks and may take up to six weeks to process, so we ask for your patience in advance. Please remember that we must get your old tickets back ? a confirmation of your order will not suffice. Please be sure to also include your return address so we know exactly where to send your refund.
If your tickets were held at will call and you did not pick them up, let us know and we can find them for you and make the exchange on your behalf.
If you could take a second to reply and let us know how many tickets you?ll be sending back, we’d appreciate it.
The address to send your tickets to is:
7800 Cellar Door Drive
Bristow, VA 20136
ATTN: Radiohead Refund
Thank you again for your patronage of Live Nation and we sincerely hope this helps to make up for the experience you had on May 11.