Wave of complaints leads to changes for Sound On Sound
After a first day with issues, event returned Sunday with changes to viewing areas, lines and sound quality
Walking into Sound On Sound on Sunday afternoon, fans were greeted with a much different scene than the previous day. Saturday was marred with safety concerns such as minimal dedicated walking paths, chairs and towels that overtook much of the planned standing room area and lack of lighting in parts of the concert field. On Sunday, a different picture was painted — literally — as walking paths were drawn on the grass around attendees’ in lawn chairs. Festival goers were visibly more relaxed, lines were greatly reduced and sound was improved throughout the concert field.
Organizers say these changes are just the start of “improvements” for next year’s festival; in its last post on Sunday, Sound on Sound announced that the festival would return in 2023.
“We and the city are aiming to make this a marquee event for years to come. We are going to take all of the feedback we received and the lessons we learned over this weekend and design an even better Sound On Sound 2023,” said Tom Russell, co-founder of Founder’s Entertainment, who put on the festival, via email. “We hope folks see the changes we made from Day One to Day Two as just a down payment on better improvements to come.”
On Saturday evening, Sound On Sound, which drew 30,000 attendees per day, according to organizers, took to its social media accounts to address the concerns. “Our team is working overnight to expand and reconfigure the viewing area to accommodate more space for all fans, and defining walkaways across the performance field for crowd movement,” the festival wrote in the statement on social media.
Russell listed changes that included: Increasing the size of the viewing area. Expanding and enforcing the “No Chair and Blanket Zone.”
Creating a defined walkway “to improve pedestrian flow.”
Adding points of sale and increasing staffing at concession stands.
Adjusting sound “to ensure music could be enjoyed throughout the park.”
And when fans arrived to Seaside Park on Sunday, changes promised by the festival were indeed apparent. Standing room sections in front of the stages were separate from the chair and towel section, which was pushed to the outer sections of the concert field and enforced by staff. Walking paths were created with white spray paint, with workers actively spraying the routes throughout the festival. Additionally, lines were shorter for concessions in comparison to the upwards of an hour wait that many reportedly waited for concessions and to use the restrooms Saturday.
Organizers said changes to the festival’s layout, particularly moving the chair and towel section back attributed to the event feeling less crowded on Sunday than it did Saturday.
Despite inclement weather cutting Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds’ headlining set short by 45 minutes on Sunday night, fans generally walked away happy at the end of the second day as thousands sang along to Matthews classics like “Satellite” and “Lie In Our Graves.” Over on Facebook, comments ranged from Saturday and Sunday being “night and day” to thanking the festival for its “diligence and effort to help correct the issues of yesterday.”
“Our aim, the entire reason we go into this line of work is to provide music fans with the best experience possible and access to world-class musical acts. Any time our attendees feel we don’t live up to that standard, we want to do better,” said Russell. “That’s why we listened to their feedback about these growing pains and took immediate action to make the experience even better for Day Two.”
However, sifting through the Facebook page of Sound On Sound music festival the night before, was a different story. Overcrowding, long lines for food and beverages, no dedicated walking paths and sound issues were just some of the complaints listed by a number of attendees on the festival’s social media accounts.
“I felt completely disrespected,” said festival attendee David Lewis in a previous interview. “I think (with) the promise of the event, the expectation was pretty high — and nowhere close to met.”
There was a lack of cell service, Lewis added, leading people to panic as they lost one another in the crowd. His group arrived at 3 p.m., he said; the venue was out of hamburgers by 5 p.m., as concessions disappeared quickly. People were waiting an hour for water, he said.
Jesse Stone said he traveled with his wife from New London, New Hampshire for what they expected would be an exciting weekend. Instead, he said they arrived to find long lines, understaffed food and drink stations and a largely unorganized venue.
Stone said he was drawn to the festival largely for a chance to see Dave Matthews, one of his favorite musicians. But after the experience he and his wife faced on Saturday, the couple decided to head home early and skip Matthews’ performance on Sunday. “It was a miserable experience,” he said. “If it had been pouring rain or if the bands were a little more intense, the whole thing would have come apart a la Woodstock [1999].”
Leia Scinto, who has worked at checkin and merchandising departments for festivals for last 15 years, attended Saturday but not Sunday. She said that there was “just so much that went wrong that I was so nervous to go back.” However, she added that she had friends who attended the festival on Sunday enjoyed the experience. “People I know that didn’t go on Saturday gave Sunday a chance, and were happy. They had a good time,” Scinto said.
Russell hopes that fans will take notice that the festival responded to the issues and worked through them —adding that he appreciates attendees’ patience during what he called “growing pains.”