Chaos at Celine concert
2008-02-24 23:41
Mariana Malan and Ilana Frantz
Cape Town - Total chaos reigned on Saturday, putting a damper on the excitement at Celine Dion's concert in Somerset West at the Vergelegen wine estate.
Incoming traffic eventually spilt over on to the streets of Somerset West, causing some of the audience to miss more than half the show.
Fans who had booked to see her on Sunday night were somewhat luckier.
One of them said that by mid-evening, traffic was flowing freely without significant traffic jams.
The shuttle service that took people from their parked cars to the venue was also working well.
The poor organisation on Saturday night was not acceptable to people who had coughed up between R450 and R5 000 to see Celine perform.
A Parow resident said it had taken him five hours to get from his house to the estate.
Many others were trapped by a gridlock at the Lourensford robots. It took about an hour to cover the last 500m to Vergelegen.
Some motorists became desperate, parked their cars and walked up to three kilometres to the estate.
By 20:00, few traffic officers were to be seen. Those who remained seemed a little overwhelmed by the rush on their normally quiet town.
Searle Johannes of Cape Town Traffic Management said the traffic jam was because of poor planning by the organisers.
"All the concert-goers were trying to use one route while there are three roads leading to Vergelegen," he said.
Some fainted in the heat
A large number of spectators coming from a cricket match near Vergelegen didn't help matters, he added.
A Paarl fan who took up position at the gates at 16:00 for the opening at 18:00 said the irritation among the huge crowd grew worse as time passed.
At one stage, some people became panicky when the crowd surged forward and they feared being crushed.
The intense heat also got to several people.
The elderly were hard hit and one person reported seeing two people who had fainted.
At one stage, the crowd began to throw empty water bottles at the people controlling the gates and the security officials.
Once inside, there were problems with people who ignored the bales of hay that were meant to cordon off seating of various prices.
There were too few toilets and not enough rubbish bins. Some bins were turned upside down and used as seats.
At the end of the evening, the open area close to the stage looked like a rubbish tip.
Opened gates earlier
There also were complaints about security and other staff being rude when dealing with the public.
One reportedly told a woman who was looking for her seat: "It's somewhere down there in the chaos. I can only do one thing at a time."
On Sunday morning, organiser Duncan Heafield of Kusasa met the traffic department to get extra traffic control support for the Sunday performance and it was decided to open the gates at 16:00.
He said he had not been aware of the toilet and rubbish-bin problems.
A media statement by Heafield on Sunday morning blamed the chaos on the lack of support from the traffic department.
However, Johannes claimed there were enough officers on duty.
He said there were 17 traffic officers and three security support staff on duty.
He said opening the gates that late could not be blamed on the traffic department. The security guards were responsible for the gates.
People who missed Saturday's show because of the traffic chaos were allowed to swap their tickets for the Sunday night show.
The traffic department at Somerset West was not answering the phone on Sunday.
It was not clear how many people intended making use of the ticket-swap offer.
Celine 'a dream come true'
Enquiries or feedback on the concert can be addressed to celine@ticketconnection.co.za.
Liesl Louw of Cross Communication, who was responsible for the media arrangements said the evening was pure magic for at least one person.
Jannie de Kock, 20, of Caledon who has leukaemia had his dream of meeting Celine Dion come true, four years after submitting it to Reach for a Dream.
"That moment of calm amid the storm, when Dion hugged him, was too wonderful. It made everything worthwhile," said Louw.
- Die Burger