27 November 2011

Foreshore...ForeNot!

27 November 2011 | Padoof

Mr Padoof and I looked forward to Foreshore, the lineup offered some great acts, but I was so disappointed by the antics of the crowd and would never do it again.

I really hope that the youth of today is not represented by the majority who attended; they were mostly obnoxious and rude and seemed intent on getting as drunk as they possibly could. There was no respect for the venue with litter being thrown down without a care for the surroundings – we were right in front of Old Parliament House and other cultural institutions Canberra is proud to have on offer, it was really upsetting to see the little regard that was displayed to being in such a lovely location. Perhaps the ACT Government should consider EPIC as a more suitable location in future?

I don’t know…maybe I’m just out of touch (don’t tell my teenage children!) and should stick to buying cd’s.

[Ed – It should be noted the Foreshore organisers go to considerable effort to clean up after their patrons]

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Galactaphonic10:56 am 11 Dec 11

dpm said :

1) Regardless of what the promoters say, these events are really for younger people. If a festival seems totally outrageous, it’s probably a sign you’re getting old! 😉
2) Festivals only happen once or twice a year in Canberra, so as long as no one gets seriously hurt (incl alcohol poisoning!) what’s the harm? It only lasts 12 hours, so coming on RA complaining over ‘small stuff’ just makes Canberrans look like elitest whingers. Canberra will be back to it’s staid self by this morning so you can relax.
3) Everyone is different (that’s the beauty of nature) so if it’s not your scene, do something else you do like and enjoy life!

I should be able to go to a festival & enjoy the music. Wether it be Foreshore, Big Day Out, Bluesfest @ Byron Bay, Corrinbank etc. I don’t pay my money to be treated like s*** by teenagers

OpenYourMind10:11 pm 29 Nov 11

And Henry82, that’s the great thing about this, you don’t have to go.
It’s a music festival. They all have their share of idiots, drunks, drug takers and show ponies. While even I’m not old enough to have attended Woodstock, I’m sure you could have cut and pasted some of the whinging from this site and apply it to that landmark festival. If you go to a festival with a mind to have fun and let others be, then generally all will be well. Same goes for bars and nightclubs.

LSWCHP10:01 pm 29 Nov 11

Funky1 said :

Okwhatever said :

OMG seriously! They dare to wear tank tops? Funny thing that women can wear any singlet top they want but a guy is suppose to part of some bogan stereotype if they do the same.

Snob much?

For the record, a wife beater refers to the blue tank tops.

Actually a ‘wife beater’ is a white tank top, not the blue ‘truckie’ top you’re refering to.

Jeez, I hope this isn’t right. If correct, I’ve spent the best part of four decades looking at blokes in blue singlets and thinking that they beat their wives. I’ll have so many apologies to offer.

Henry829:29 pm 29 Nov 11

These comments clearly explain why i would not attend such an event.

OpenYourMind5:15 pm 29 Nov 11

People clutching water bottles, people urinating behind bushes, people in fluoro and tank tops and people muscling to the front. Sounds like the start of the Canberra Times Family Fun Run to me!!!!

ahappychappy7:58 am 29 Nov 11

“actually no that doesn’t explain how it’s an effective recycle deposit scheme at all – but you have explained well how it encourages people to drink more. it’s either a deposit system (whereby you get back your deposit in the form you gave it ie cash) or it’s a recycle fee system (but it’s not called that because then punters would legitimately be pissed off when the ticket for entry actually includes – or should damn well include – such overhead costs!). it’s neither – it’s a thinly guised way, under the pretend feel-good banner of ‘we care about stopping littering to improve your festival experience!’, of gouging punters an extra $1 on the already hideously overpriced drinks. it not only fails as an anti-litter policy in my experience as i have been to numerous festivals which have this policy and still people chuck their crap all over the ground – but encourages people to drink more so they get enough tokens to ‘recoup’ their deposit (fee – whatever you want to call it).”

You’re quite the grumpy one eh?

How hard is it to understand? If you keep your can (or pick up someone elses) you can take it to the token station and get a $1 token (hence getting the refunded ‘deposit’ you paid when you bought it) to use with your next drink so it’s effectively costing $10. Or, if you buy 11 drinks over the course of the day and have recycled all of your cans you now get a free drink as you’ve got 11 $1 tokens to cash in for a drink.

How does this encourage more drinking?

As for the price of drinks – I think you’ll find nearly any event (festival or not) sells premixed cans like the ones sold at Foreshore at around the same cost (even with the $1 recycling deposit/charge incase you want to trade in a can/whatever you want to call it). I really don’t see the issue?

toriness11:13 pm 28 Nov 11

buz1986 said :

toriness said :

buz1986 said :

oh and just on another note, with the recycling policy – my understanding ws that the extra $1 is charged when you use your ‘trade in tokens’… basically if you return 10 empty cans, you get $10 in tokens. when you go to the bar with cash, its $10 to buy a drink, or $11 if you use tokens (11 tokens). you can only trade 20 cans in at once befor eyou have to get back in the line to trade more… am i missing something regarding people paying more for a different recycling fee??

oh i see what you’re saying. so either it’s 1. not actually a true deposit because you don’t get 100% back on returning the cans (you pay $10 in deposits but that’s not enough to get a $10 drink back because you need 11 tokens and 2. you only get ‘something’ back once you’ve downed 10 drinks ie not even facilitating responsible drinking. awesome – not 🙂 recycle policy fail.

no.
the way that it works:

you walk your drunken cashless self around and pick up 10 empty cans from the ground.
you stumble towards the ‘trade in’ point and trade your empty treasures for tokens.
1 can = 1 token.
the cans you trade in are put into the recycling hopper in the back of the trade in tent.
you then got o any bar at foreshore and either spend $10 in cash on 1 drink or 11 tokens (which you were given for recycling 11 cans)…
so its not actually a deposit that you make… its just that if you use tokens, you need more….
Capiche?

actually no that doesn’t explain how it’s an effective recycle deposit scheme at all – but you have explained well how it encourages people to drink more. it’s either a deposit system (whereby you get back your deposit in the form you gave it ie cash) or it’s a recycle fee system (but it’s not called that because then punters would legitimately be pissed off when the ticket for entry actually includes – or should damn well include – such overhead costs!). it’s neither – it’s a thinly guised way, under the pretend feel-good banner of ‘we care about stopping littering to improve your festival experience!’, of gouging punters an extra $1 on the already hideously overpriced drinks. it not only fails as an anti-litter policy in my experience as i have been to numerous festivals which have this policy and still people chuck their crap all over the ground – but encourages people to drink more so they get enough tokens to ‘recoup’ their deposit (fee – whatever you want to call it).

Funky12:13 pm 28 Nov 11

I’m part of the ‘older’ crowd and this was my second Foreshore Festival. Just a few observations:

Agreed there were lots of intoxicated people and when you’re standing there enjoying the music and not jumping around, people looked at you strange or thought you weren’t having a good time. I do enjoy my music but no at the expense of my sobriety.

One of the reasons so many people were ‘boozing up’ before entering the event was probably the price of drinks inside. $10 (plus $1 recycle fee, not really a deposit) for a premix can that would have cost the organisers $2 or $3 at most! Even bottles of water were $5 (including the recycle fee).

With reference to the recycle fee (deposit). I was fully intending on cashing in my deposits and kept a few of my empty cans, but because you had to queue at one counter only and the queue was long and slow-moving, why would you wait here for 20 minutes for 2 or 3 tokens so you would only pay $8 dollars for your next drink and miss half of someone’s music set?

I didn’t see one police officer once I entered the venue, only the private security personnel of which some were actually quite friendly. But even if they weren’t, could you blame them given the amount of idiots they must have had to deal with. Maybe the police were on the perimeter keeping an eye out for fence-jumpers like a previous post mentioned.

It seem for the younger crowd that this is as much as the annual social event as it is a music festival. So many spray tans (on a day you KNEW it was going to rain – logic evades me), girls with way too much make-up and guys showing off their tattoos as if part of a mating ritual.

I’m fairly tall and solid and can look after myself so I didn’t experience anything too intimidating but if I were smaller or with others of smaller stature, I could imagine the event not be as pleasant for them. Guys (and girls) who only cared about themselves and no one else in their vicinity in the crowd when you’re trying to watch the act and enjoy the music.
Objects (manly empty cans, plastic water bottles or thongs) be thrown up in the air and coming down in the crowd.

I will probably go again next year, depending on the line in, but I go knowing what to expect (ie the growing lack of consideration or manners by the younger crowd) and it takes a lot to shock me.

trevmanmisser2:02 pm 28 Nov 11

at least im not like them

chewy141:52 pm 28 Nov 11

Lazy I said :

No.
Everyone I know that was purchasing drinks at the event were paying $11.00 per drink. They were purchasing with cash. The explanation from the bar staff was that the drink cost $10.00 cash and the additional $1.00 was a ‘recycling deposit’. I have confirmed that this was the standard line with other people that were at the event.

So it was most definitely was a ‘deposit’ that you made when purchasing.

Yes but you could also pay with tokens instead of cash.
1 Can = 1 token
100 Cans = Party time

http://www.foreshorefestival.com.au/foreshore-2011/environment

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