"Evening totally ruined"

No admission to the Lido Sounds Festival despite ticket

A three-day pass for the Lido Sounds Festival costs almost 200 euros, while a day ticket costs between 110 and 140 euros.

(Bild: APA/TOBIAS STEINMAURER)

From June 27 to 29, the Lido Sounds Festival took place in Linz on two stages with over 30 acts. Among them was the band Deichkind ("Remmidemmi", "Leider geil"). However, not everyone with a valid ticket was allowed to attend their concert ...

The Lido Sounds Festival went into its second round at the end of June after last year's successful premiere. From Thursday, artists such as Parov Stelar, Nina Chuba, The Kooks, Kings Of Leon and Sam Smith rocked the banks of the Danube in Linz.

Thousands of visitors danced and partied to the hits of their stars in the sweltering heat - interrupted by sporadic rain showers - at the Urfahran fairground.

"We traveled all the way from Vienna"
 The Hamburg hip-hop and electropunk band Deichkind was eagerly awaited by many visitors. Krone reader Nikoletta K. also didn't want to miss their performance: "We traveled all the way from Vienna, booked a hotel in Linz and were really looking forward to the evening. But the poor organization completely ruined the evening," she reports.

The poor organization completely ruined the evening.

Nikoletta K. zu krone.at

Overcrowded grounds, access prohibited
"We had to queue for more than half an hour for drinks, and when we wanted to go to the Deichkind concert, access was prohibited due to capacity reasons," says Nikoletta. In fact, the interest in the Hamburgers was so great that access to the packed area was forbidden. The police set up an additional cordon in front of the barriers. 

"We weren't informed in advance that it could be tight in terms of capacity, nor were we told at the entrance that we should be aware of this. On that day, not only the Deichkind concert but also the Marc Rebillet concert were restricted," says Nikoletta.

Those who were allowed to enter the concert area were treated to numerous musical highlights.

(Bild: APA/TOBIAS STEINMAURER)

(Bild: APA/TOBIAS STEINMAURER)

"The organization was simply bad"
"The organization was simply poor and completely unprepared for the crowds. The person we spoke to didn't even apologize, was arrogant and even threatened to remove us from the festival," she says angrily. And rightly so: a 3-day pass costs around 200 euros, day tickets cost from 110 euros upwards.

The organization was simply poor and completely unprepared for the crowds.

Nikoletta K.

Threatened with ejection
"Neither a video broadcast nor any other option was offered so that you could still see and hear the concert if you couldn't get in," reports Nikoletta, who was told on site that it was "quite common and normal" not to be able to get in at "a festival concert". The couple were also threatened with being thrown out if they put on an "act". The couple were finally offered two tickets for the afterparty.

"But that was of no interest to us, as we weren't interested in the afterparty from the start - otherwise we would have bought our tickets accordingly. I wanted written confirmation that the capacity information had been communicated on all channels, but I didn't get permission for the recording," Nikoletta told krone.at.

"I will never go to this festival again ..."
 "You go to a festival to have fun and enjoy your favorite bands, and instead you experience something like this - I just don't understand it. Deichkind fills concert halls like the Stadthalle - I would never have thought that the stage on which Deichkind performs would have such a small capacity (...) We weren't even at the festival site for an hour and a half - I will never go to this festival again," says Nikoletta. The disappointment would have been too "immense" ...