Social media has been inundated with the voices of angry attendees at this weekend's event in Georgia
Anybody with a horror story about transport to or from Splendour In The Grass in recent years just got majorly outdone (not that that's a good thing) by EDM festival TomorrowWorld (held this weekend in Georgia), which is being pilloried online after "tens of thousands" of event-goers were left stranded without food, shelter or transport for several hours at the weekend.
Twitter is awash with images and impassioned tweets directed at the event organisers, at whose feet attendees have laid blame for a total lack of logistical preparation, compounded by three days of rain. Despite indications that the precipitation may be getting saddled with more responsibility than called for — only 35mm fell over the 72 hours before the chaos — organisers have nonetheless blamed the downpour (and the damage and obstructions caused to parking lots and pick-up/drop-off zones) for its difficulties, closing its third day to non-camping attendees in the wake of the debacle — not that you'd expect many of the stranded punters to be in a massive hurry to return.
"Mother Nature has decided otherwise," TomorrowWorld organisers wrote on Facebook, in their only address regarding the weekend's events, aside from a follow-up post directing people to their refund policy.
"Continuous rainfall over the last three days has severely limited capacity of the parking lots, entrance roads and drop-off locations in and around the festival site. The experience of the TomorrowWorld visitors is always number-one priority, so TomorrowWorld was forced to close all daily parking lots and drop-off locations."
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Limiting the numbers, however, came way too late to be beneficial for anyone but those who were still on-ground for the festival's final day, when attendance was estimated to hit about 40,000 due to the closures — well down on the 140,000 that had been expected.
Among the widely circulated complaints directed towards the festival — aside from the base inconvenience of being forced to sleep exposed in the mud in the middle of nowhere — are the fact that several of the stranded punters were in possession of festival shuttle passes but no services were being offered or organised; attendees were ushered further down the road (most estimates fall about the five-mile/8km mark) to meet additional shuttles that did not exist; replacement transport was not available through Uber, nor mobile coverage through T-Mobile, despite both companies being partners of the festival; and — good to know we're not alone in Australia with this — volunteers and staff seemed to have little idea as to what they were supposed to be doing to aid the situation.
Have a read of some of the tales to have emerged from the festival grounds below.
Please send shuttles to the off-site parking! We've been stranded here for hours! @TomorrowWorld @TMobile
— Jay Kimpling (@midATLga) September 26, 2015
There is a human waste problem at @TomorrowWorld's off-site parking! 1000s of ppl stranded and only 2 porta-potties! pic.twitter.com/kk59GNjWPH
— Jay Kimpling (@midATLga) September 26, 2015
.@TomorrowWorld PR should be ashamed of themselves. Hundreds of media stranded. Unreal!!!
— Joe's Daily (@JoesDaily) September 27, 2015
@TomorrowWorld thanks for leaving multiple people stranded on dark roads that paid for charter bus rides all weekend! #sodisappointed
— Sean (@SeanDavidson430) September 27, 2015
@TomorrowWorld there are 100's of people stranded walking on dark roads because you don't care about them after you get your $
— Sean (@SeanDavidson430) September 27, 2015
@TomorrowWorld left thousands of people stranded without shuttles. #tomorrowworld #stranded #raverhike pic.twitter.com/Qu96oFVzde
— Leonardo Trimarchi (@Domt301) September 27, 2015
@TomorrowWorld shuttle situation is an absolute disaster. Thousands of people stranded in the woods. Way to completely drop the ball.
— Erica (@EMooch_) September 27, 2015
I bet @djafrojack didn't get stranded at @TomorrowWorld! How dare the festival treat their ticket holders like this?!
— Jay Kimpling (@midATLga) September 27, 2015
#tomorrowworld literally left us all stranded. Like seriously?!?
— ѧ (@_samantharenee_) September 27, 2015
@GoodDayAtlanta have @TomorrowWorld orgs told you about the 1000+ ppl they stranded w no transportation and no food/water/facilities?
— Brittany Graham (@brittanygrahm) September 27, 2015
Big shout out to @TomorrowWorld for leaving 10 thousand people stranded for hours. I really felt like the VIP I paid for.
— 808 Emcee (@808_Emcee) September 27, 2015
glad I didn't goto #TomorrowWorld, woke up to messages from friends begging me to pick them up walking the streets #stranded @TomorrowWorld
— Gary Brown (@gbro76) September 27, 2015
still can't believe @TomorrowWorld left 1000s of us w/ shuttle passes stranded in the middle of Chattahoochee Hills will no ability to @Uber
— rodney lιeғ ✦‿✦ (@rodneylief) September 27, 2015
People of @TomorrowWorld stranded sitting for hours waiting for shuttles/uber some even sleeping in the mud. pic.twitter.com/VDj84Y9jlU
— Media Marin (@MarinCPhoto) September 27, 2015
@TomorrowWorld quick question. So you take EVERYONE'S hard earned money to then leave your attendees completely stranded outside on the road
— Cody Guynn (@Khaos_Musik) September 27, 2015
@TomorrowWorld all the people like these girls that literally slept in the cold mud pic.twitter.com/SPiu8uWGoH
— pocahontas (@EDMPocahontas) September 27, 2015
What festival promos show you vs. What's really happening. #ShameOnTW Photo credit to @EDMPocahontas pic.twitter.com/lC6GhH6gAW
— CHET ✨ (@fairskinfairy) September 27, 2015
Many TomorrowWorld ticket holders walking sides of roads to get away from site. Thousands reported stranded overnight pic.twitter.com/oW5hAnjIvy
— Steve Gehlbach (@SteveGWSB) September 27, 2015
#TomorrowWorld horror stories on the music festival’s last day. Some report being stranded, some not able to get in. pic.twitter.com/HpD38hd9YM
— Matt Johnson (@MJohnsonWSB) September 27, 2015
Part 5: Knowing we'd be #stranded we walked another hour to find an @uber driver from hell - 5am finally at hotel @TomorrowWorld #VIP?
— Brad Jansen (@Brad_J_Jansen) September 27, 2015
In what probably comes as very little comfort for those impacted at the weekend, the final day of TomorrowWorld — at least according to the few positive tweets that have risen to the top of the mass of vitriol being slung at the event — apparently went off without a hitch. But, for those left in the lurch, all the bangers in the world won't scrub their minds of this experience.
Lesson to @TomorrowWorld The ultimate experience doesn't end at the last song. Leaving 10k people #stranded will be all I remember.
— Brad Jansen (@Brad_J_Jansen) September 27, 2015