The Grammy Award-winning producer and artist attracted thousands of fans to his show at Doug Jennings Park,resulting in hours-long waits for free shuttle buses.
Lisa Griffin (right) was disappointed by the long queues for transport to Saturday’s highly anticipated Fred Again gig.Supplied
Gold Coaster Lisa Griffin,24,was among the many to queue for and crawl along to the ticketed event via the free buses. The usual 10-minute journey from Australia Fair to the park ended up taking almost three hours.
“Transport was an absolute joke. We arrived at Australia Fair[around] 5pm and didn’t get into Fred Again[until] 7.45pm,” Griffin toldBrisbane Times. “The bus getting there was a nightmare.
“[People on the bus] were all so angry.”
After paying $179 for a ticket to the sold-out show,Griffin said she was left disappointed.
“The location is one of the worst spots on the Gold Coast to hold such an insane amount of people,” she said.
She estimated about 15,000 people were in attendance.
Another fan,Kirsten Kae,30,agreed the venue wasn’t ideal.
“It was an opportunity for the Gold Coast to showcase our world-class event spaces and gain positive tourism and event exposure,and I feel like Doug Jennings Park wasn’t the location for that,” she said.
Like Griffin,Kae waited two hours in the bus line and another hour on the bus to get to the gig.
“Leaving the event was even worse. The bus lines weren’t moving and the event security told us if we’re fit and able,we should walk.
“We all walked six kilometres back to our car at Australia Fair.”
Although Kae was also disappointed with how the night began,she said overall,it was a “great night”.
Fred Again on stage in Melbourne this month.Brian Purnell/Mushroom Creative House
“It was no Fyre Festival,the facilities inside were actually great. It was really just the transport to and from the event,” she said.
“Hopefully,future event organisers will reassess the location and transport options.”
Griffin too had a positive view of the overall evening,describing it as “unreal”,but she thought the set lists were “very confusing”,a sentiment shared on social media by many afterwards.
“I think people are negative about it because it was a cluster of songs that didn’t make sense. Why did he play Justin Bieber?” she said. “It was all just a mumble of songs that didn’t make sense.”
Fred Again’s popularity in Australia has skyrocketed since his debut here in January last year,with fans desperate to get tickets to his surprise shows.
For this tour,which also included shows in Melbourne and Sydney,more than 1 million fans virtually queued for tickets,Handsome Tours previously said.
The tour company was contacted for comment on Sunday but hadn’t responded by the time of publication.
Its sister companies – Laneway Presents,TEG Live and Astral People – were also contacted for comment on Sunday.
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