The Stuff of Nightmares Event Disasters Extraordinaire
Event planners like to trade war stories. Like about the time a guest arrived at the event wearing the same outfit as the hostess (and rocking it better to boot). Or the time the keynote speaker fell asleep during their presentation. Or the time someone accidentally set off the fire alarm and everyone had to vacate the property, and don t get me started on presenters forgetting dongles. Ya, not the stuff of event planning dreams. But also not quite the stuff of event disasters, as these examples demonstrate.
Fyre Festival
Five years later, Fyre Festival remains synonymous with event planning disaster . It had it all. A beautiful Bahamian backdrop. Glamorous models in bikinis. The promise of an immersive music festival two transformative weekends on the boundaries of impossible. Authentic island cuisine served by celebrity chefs. A line up of 33 artists including Blink-182, Tyga, and Disclosure.
And then in the spirit of if it sounds too good to be true it probably is, an abandoned resort development full of disaster relief tents backdrop. Angry and soaking wet festival-goers who had spent thousands of dollars on their tickets. Cheese sandwiches in foam containers. A group of local unknown musicians. And finally, eight lawsuits and several class action suits.
Fyre Festival was such an astronomical failure that it inspired, not one but two, documentaries Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened courtesy of Netflix and Hulu s Fyre Fraud.
Woodstock 1999
Woodstock is the grandaddy of music festivals. It originally hit the New York music scene in 1969, during a time when the country was divided over the Vietnam War and Woodstock provided the perfect backdrop for bringing these like-minded opponents together in a celebration of anti-establishment, sex, drugs, and rock and roll. While the original Woodstock in 1969 was not without its own drama (like the two deaths that occurred that weekend, one drug overdose and one tragic tractor accident involving a festival goer who was sleeping in a neighbouring field), it s Woodstock s 30-year-old counterpart (Woodstock 1999) that stands out as the bigger event disaster.
Famously referred to as the day the nineties died , the list of issues included:
- The venue being unprepared for the sheer number of people who showed up, leading to massive overcrowding, which created unsafe conditions and made it difficult for people to move around or even find their friends;
- A water shortage, coupled with hot tarmacs and high temperatures contributed to over 700 attendees being treated for heat exhaustion and dehydration;
- Lack of available hotel space due to the weekend coinciding with the Baseball Hall of Fame ceremony;
- Rampant allegations of sexual assaults; and
- Just some general lighting flags on fire douchiness.
DashCon 2014
DashCon 2014 was originally known as Tumbl-Con USA, a convention dedicated to Tumblr users of the popular blogging service Tumblr and was billed as “the largest gathering of Tumblr users to date”. The DashCon organizers raised funds through crowdsourcing and grassroots campaigns and created hype by promising all sorts of important guests, from established creators and actors to various Tumblr social media “celebrities”. In addition to cosplay, DashCon events included games, singers, signings, fan art, and panel sales.
Things started to go south for DashCon on its first night when the organizer s financial struggles started to come to light. Special guests were notified by the hotel upon check-in that they were responsible to pay for their own rooms, despite having been told they would be comped by the hotel organizers which resulted in many of these guests bailing on the convention. The venue then demanded payment in advance, while organizers claimed there had been a verbal agreement to pay venue costs periodically throughout the weekend.
One major takeaway from the event? An impromptu ball pit is not an acceptable alternative to a refund for canceled celebrity appearances. When the Welcome to Night Vale cast canceled on their appearance, rather than refunding ticket holders, the organizers attempted to mollify them with an extra hour in the ball pit a kiddie pool full of balls that was quickly set up in an empty concession hall. This single act quickly became a meme among attendees who felt that it nicely summed up the DashCon experience in full.
New York City Pizza Festival 2017
Dubbed the Fyre Festival of NYC Food Events , there were some mighty hungry and disappointed New Yorkers at the New York City Pizza Festival in September 2017. Attendees were promised a day long celebration of dough, cheese, tasty sauces, and delicious toppings , for $75 some serious dough for pizza. And what were attendees treated to for this serious dough? Tiny pizza portion sizes. Cold pies. A distinct lack of pizza varieties. Empty tents. In a place responsible for introducing Brooklyn-style pizza to the world, this did not go over well.
Oscars 2017
Given the prestige of the Oscars, and the tremendous global viewership of the event, it should surprise no one to know that great care and attention goes into ensuring that the correct winners are announced. The process is overseen by an accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) who then designates two balloting leaders for the Oscars two individuals who are tasked with memorizing all the winners in each category and handing the correct envelope to the presenter before they go on stage. Despite this ironclad process, things went awkwardly sideways in 2017 when La La Land was announced by presenters Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty as winning the Best Picture, when in fact Moonlight had won the honors. Beatty has been inadvertently given the envelope for Best Actress (which did in fact go to Emma Stone for La La Land). The La La Land cast was well into their acceptance speech when the slip-up was publicly announced. Awkwardness ensued.
There are event disasters, and then there are event disasters that are no laughing matter. Anytime you have a large amount of guests you need to plan appropriately and ensure that the former doesn t become the latter. We all love to trade stories of planning challenges, but it also bears taking a look at the true tragedies, like these examples below, so we can better prepare, consider what is possible, and avoid any kind of repeat situation.
Astroworld Festival 2021
While Fyre Festival resulted in wealthy attendees being majorly inconvenienced, by comparison the Astroworld Festival on November 5, 2021 resulted in true tragedy ten deaths including one nine-year-old boy. Festival Founder Travis Scott was on the stage performing at the time of the mass trampling that led to the deaths. Scott was widely condemned for his actions in encouraging the crowd to rush the stage, and was subsequently named in dozens of civil lawsuits filed by attendees, along with Live Nation and security contractors. Scott had previously pled guilty to inciting crowds at Lollapalozza 2015, as well as a 2017 Arkansas music festival.
1985 European Cup Final
European soccer fans have a reputation for being rowdy, as this most unfortunate crowd disaster helped to reinforce. An hour before the 1985 European Cup was set to kick off at Heysel Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, a wall at the stadium that was separating heavily drinking Liverpool fans from Juventus fans collapsed, killing 39 fans and injuring 600 in the process. It turns out that the stadium had not been properly maintained in its 55 years, and parts of the facility were crumbling. Ultimately, fourteen Liverpool fans were found guilty of manslaughter, and all English football clubs were banned from Union of European Football Associations events until the 1990 1991 season.
2003 Great White Concert
Another live music concert tragedy, this one as the result of a fire caused by pyrotechnics. Of the 462 attendees at the concert at The Station in Rhode Island, almost one fifth of them died as a result of the fire, and another 230 were injured. The concert casualties included the Great White s lead guitarist, Ty Longley. The Great White s tour manager pled guilty to 100 counts of involuntary manslaughter and served less than two years in prison.
Leaving it to the Experts
Whether it is ensuring that the event marketing is accurate and on brand, whether it is ensuring that all proper safety precautions and protocols are in place, or whether it is ensuring that contractual obligations are fulfilled as promised, having a team of event production experts can save you from the stuff of event nightmares. Decibel Events can give you the confidence and the peace of mind that comes with working with the event experts.