Bloc 2012

vballs · Post by **vballs** » Fri Jul 06, 2012 12:26 pm

DaveJ wrote:that's a pity man, but what can ya do. I'd love a BoC Kaleidoscope, wouldn't say no to a kidney either. How did ye get the kaleidoscopes in the first place actually?

Anyway hope Bloc will be bangin, coming over from Ireland for it

Im sure it will be better then banging mate

Be sure to check out squarepusher, hopefully he will have his bass guitar with him, that guy kicks ass.

I bought one scope on ebay and another one off a guy on this forum. I doubt I would have got enough money for one to afford Bloc anyway haha.

GH · Post by GH » Sat Jul 07, 2012 12:58 am

Oh man, it seems this thing tonight was a disaster:

http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/news/la ... loc-100789

Hope everyone who went there is ok. Sounds like it's been oversold, snoop didn't show, it's been shut down, and riots and everything

Guido · Post by **Guido** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 5:36 am

If that is true it sucks big time. I hope Syberia is alright.

fujee · Post by **fujee** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 11:24 am

Yeah it got shut down amid overcrowding fears, massive shame, the bill was phenomenal. To get a better idea from people who actually went, read some of the comments on the Guardians article.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/ju ... sfeed=true

GH · Post by GH » Sat Jul 07, 2012 2:42 pm

The more I read about this, the bigger the shambles it seems.

From what I can piece together, the ticket entry scanning system broke down entirely. So tickets were not being checked properly, leading to people without tickets gaining entry.

Upon gaining entry, each of the stages had a tiny bottleneck system of entry/exit causing more queuing/ overcrowding.

It sounds like it was the correct decision.

NO apology seems to be forthcoming from organisers. The only statement from them says:

By now everyone will have heard that Bloc 2012 was closed due to crowd safety concerns.

We are all absolutely devastated that this happened, but the safety of everyone on site was paramount.

Given the situation on the ground, we feel that it was the right decision to end the show early.

Bloc will not open on Saturday 7th July so please don’t come to the site.

Stand by for full information on refunds.

I feel so sorry for everybody who was there, but especially those who travelled from around the world

vballs · Post by **vballs** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 4:06 pm

Unbeleivable and embarrasing, i hope the people who flew from abroad can get flight tickets refunded too. What a massive let down

GH · Post by GH » Sat Jul 07, 2012 6:57 pm

http://www.gigwise.com/news/74366/bloc- ... ndon-event

pianoforte · Post by **pianoforte** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 3:55 am

portiss wrote:Holy shit, this line-up is so sick. Why don't we have a festival like this in the Netherlands.

Holy shit, this line-up is so sick. Why don't we have a festival like this ANYWHERE IN THE ENTIRE FUCKING UNITED STATES?!

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 9:40 am

vballs wrote: i hope the people who flew from abroad can get flight tickets refunded too.

Absolutely no chance whatsoever. Sounds like a shambles to be honest.

fujee · Post by **fujee** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 11:12 am

Such a shame, sorry for all who went, how about you make up for it by coming to the SOTL gig

Syberia · Post by **Syberia** » Mon Jul 09, 2012 2:36 pm

Hi everyone. Home in Sweden again and I just feel listless and very tired. The whole thing seems so unreal. I can't even begin to describe how disappointed I am. It's hard to understand how badly someone can organise a festival! I just been to Fusion with 60 000 people the week before Bloc and it's probably one of the most well organised and nicest festivals in the world, and then this, 15000 people and total chaos.
I'm just glad no one was hurt. It was getting really scary after a while in the queue, it was close to panic for everyone.

Me and my friends tried to make the best of the trip anyway but I don't even like London and it's not a place I would travel to if it wasn't for the festival. I'm not even sure we will get any money back at all...It seems unlikely.
But I guess this is how life is sometimes..

vballs · Post by **vballs** » Mon Jul 09, 2012 3:25 pm

Syberia wrote:Hi everyone. Home in Sweden again and I just feel listless and very tired. The whole thing seems so unreal. I can't even begin to describe how disappointed I am. It's hard to understand how badly someone can organise a festival! I just been to Fusion with 60 000 people the week before Bloc and it's probably one of the most well organised and nicest festivals in the world, and then this, 15000 people and total chaos.
I'm just glad no one was hurt. It was getting really scary after a while in the queue, it was close to panic for everyone.

Me and my friends tried to make the best of the trip anyway but I don't even like London and it's not a place I would travel to if it wasn't for the festival. I'm not even sure we will get any money back at all...It seems unlikely.
But I guess this is how life is sometimes..

This sucks completely, it just seems so embarrassing that they couldn't get this right and to top it off you were stuck in rainy London (I hate London). I hope you don't give up trying to get a refund, I mean you travelled all the way from Sweden? Dont take no for an answer

I'm sorry for you and everyone on here that went and didn't get to enjoy all the bands in a great atmosphere. It seems it has been a pretty rubbish year for festivals here in the UK.

DaveJ · Post by **DaveJ** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 9:57 am

Very disappointed too, caught amon tobin and mf doom then the whole thing fell apart. Was very surreal. What a big let-down. Fair play to some of the artists for sticking around and setting up gigs on the saturday around london, flying lotus played 2 gigs in a row in different venues, along with a few others. Apparently we're getting refunded, but who know if this is true, or how long it could take. Still pissed missed out on saturday

fujee · Post by **fujee** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 11:26 am

Syberia, sorry to hear that. Hope you can get some cash back

Mexicola · Post by **Mexicola** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 5:30 pm

We wanted to reiterate that we have launched an investigation into the events of Friday night. To that end we have opened an email address to which we would like you to submit any information you think may be relevant. We are keen to hear from you so we can build the most accurate picture and report of what happened. As ever, you guys are at the heart of what we do so please drop us a line with any comments on bloc2012@baselogic.net

Our primary concern has always been the safety and enjoyment of those attending Bloc. This is why we acted swiftly on the advice of our health and safety team who were on site on Friday evening. It was a decision that saddened the crew who have staged this festival with great success over many years.

However, the safety of those attending is our paramount concern at all times. As we have previously said, our heartfelt thanks go out to all involved in the peaceful and safe evacuation.

We would also like to make it clear that we are deeply sorry for all of the frustration and disappointment this situation has caused all of you. No one is more gutted about it than us.

Please do continue to check the site, our facebook page and follow us on twitter for further updates including information on refunds.

The Bloc team x

Waterbagel · Post by **Waterbagel** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 6:53 pm

Always kinda funny how if something terrible happens, everyone blames the safety teams and raises an uproar.

But, if something terrible doesn't happen, people get mad at the safety teams.

Inevitable fate

Syberia · Post by **Syberia** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:41 pm

http://thequietus.com/articles/09308-bl ... re-gardens

GH · Post by GH » Tue Jul 10, 2012 8:56 pm

Waterbagel wrote:Always kinda funny how if something terrible happens, everyone blames the safety teams and raises an uproar.

But, if something terrible doesn't happen, people get mad at the safety teams.

Inevitable fate

Who's blaming the safety team?

I think the main issue people have, is with whoever is responsible for overselling the thing.

From what I can tell nobody disputes the fact that it had to be shut down.

So....can you expand?

@Mexicola:
I think they could have saved themselves a lot of grief, and abuse, by issuing that apology a lot sooner, than they did.

Waterbagel · Post by **Waterbagel** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 4:03 am

GH wrote:
Waterbagel wrote:Always kinda funny how if something terrible happens, everyone blames the safety teams and raises an uproar.

But, if something terrible doesn't happen, people get mad at the safety teams.

Inevitable fate
Who's blaming the safety team?

I think the main issue people have, is with whoever is responsible for overselling the thing.

From what I can tell nobody disputes the fact that it had to be shut down.

So....can you expand?

@Mexicola:
I think they could have saved themselves a lot of grief, and abuse, by issuing that apology a lot sooner, than they did.

heh, sorry, was very groggy when I wrote that.

I guess what I meant was that some people raise hell when some safety advisers decide to cancel an event before something bad happens, since nothing had happened yet, but.. meh.

GH · Post by GH » Wed Jul 11, 2012 1:52 pm

Waterbagel wrote: heh, sorry, was very groggy when I wrote that.

I guess what I meant was that some people raise hell when some safety advisers decide to cancel an event before something bad happens, since nothing had happened yet, but.. meh.

Ah, ok. I think in this case most people were in fear, so nobody's disputing the cancellation of the event.

I contrast, all concerts in Ireland went ahead over the weekend with several people stabbed, and a number of people dead, following the Swedish House Mafia concert in the phoenix park.