Summer Six crowd upset at queues

BY CHARLES ANDERSON

Saxton Oval swelled on Saturday with thousands of people who gathered to see some of New Zealand's top musical acts, but the popularity of the Summer Six event meant many were unhappy with aspects of its organisation, including having to queue for more than an hour to get in.

The inaugural concert was tagged as a day to take the whole family to and many did, with almost 6000 flocking to listen, dance and relax to the music that boomed out across Saxton Field.

The Black Seeds, Katchafire, the Nathan Haines Live Band, P-Money, Concord Dawn and local act Lean Up got together during the day for a combination of funky jazz, reggae, hip-hop, drum 'n' bass and dubstep.

Tania Pilcher of Nelson said it was fantastic that she could take her 18-month-old son Oscar to the event.

"And it's on a Saturday so we didn't need to organise a baby sitter."

University student Gemma Martin, who was back in her home town for the holidays, was surprised that something like the Summer Six would ever take place in Nelson.

"I was like `wow', it seems Nelson has finally got their act together and put on a really good event."

However, the atmosphere was marred somewhat by the grizzles of concert-goers who were forced to wait in line for more than an hour before making it through the gates.

Suzy Evans, of Nelson, said she had to wait an hour-and-a-half before getting in. "I was mad, we waited all that time in the sun and then it was just as bad to try to get a drink. There was no way in hell I was going to wait that long."

Mrs Evans said she left with her husband soon after arriving because of the delay. "It was just badly organised, there were not enough staff, not enough toilets, not enough anything."

St John operations manager Jon Leach said an 18-year-old Nelson man was taken to hospital after being knocked unconscious at the end of the night. "Overall it was a really great event, but there were some small isolated incidents that we had to deal with."

Senior Constable Phil Wylie, of Nelson, said he did not know of any serious episodes at Summer Six, but police dealt with several overly intoxicated people in central Nelson later that night.

There were also complaints that the tent serving alcohol was inefficient and there were not enough toilets available to cater to everyone.

Organiser Dave White said the waiting time was a "teething problem" but one that would be fixed next year with more entry points.

"It was a bit of an experiment to see how the venue would work, so we were kind of guinea pigs. We do apologise to anyone who had to wait but it won't be like that next year."

Mr White said the event was the biggest one he had helped organise, especially over one day, with about 5200 tickets sold, not including the estimated 1000 under-12-year-old children who had free entry.

He said it was a really diverse crowd and the number of children helped ensure adults behaved themselves.

"We had one group of young kids that got a bit boisterous and one knocked himself out on a pole, but other than that it was a really good vibe.

"It was totally beyond expectations in terms of people that came out. It was a good vibe and the weather was just amazing."

Mr White said next year he would look at holding the event at Trafalgar Park, which had more ticketing entrances and toilets.

Nelson Hang Gliding Adventures guide Glenn Meadows managed to get a photograph of the event from on high while he showed German tourist Isabel Stuber the sights.

"It was really cool to see all those people from above but what I really noticed flying over it was we could hear the Black Seeds playing and that was really special.

"We also love to have an audience."

- © Fairfax NZ News