Many people who attended the first day of the Sound on Sound Music Festival on Saturday criticized the organizers on social media for the lack of preparation and unreasonably high prices.
The two-day festival takes place on September 24th and 25th at Seaside Park in Bridgeport. Day one featured headliners Stevie Nicks and The Lumineers along with Father John Misty. Organizers took to social media to announce they would be making changes ahead of the start of day two on Sunday.
Some social media users say the festival was overcrowded, with too few vendors and some reports having to wait over an hour for food and drinks. Others mentioned unsanitary toilet conditions, poor internet connection, heavy traffic in parking lots and no sound from either stage.
“You should be ashamed of the way your ticket holders were treated and how oversold this event was,” a Facebook user commented on one of the festival’s posts.
Country singer Zach Bryan experienced technical difficulties in the first 15 minutes of his set and went off stage several times. The singer only played 20 minutes of the 55-minute set.
In a recently deleted tweet, the singer called the first 15 minutes of the set “…the most embarrassing moment I’ve ever felt playing music in the entire last year of my life…” and retweeted a user’s complaint that he only played three songs. During the ordeal, viewers showed signs of impatience, chanting “We want Zach.”
Before the band Caamp performed, promoter Jimmy Koplik urged the crowd to move their lawn chairs because too many people were bringing them and they were taking up a lot of space.
Sound on Sound released a statement just after midnight on Sunday addressing the backlash:
“Our team worked overnight to expand and reconfigure the audience area to allow more space for all fans, and to define pathways across the performance field for crowd movement. We are also expanding the no-chair zones in the audience area and will be more actively enforcing the policy of keeping the space in front of the stages open for fans to stand and enjoy the show. Please help us by respecting the No Chair Zone signs on the field tomorrow.”
Organizers added that they are adjusting the audio so viewers can hear the artists better and increasing the number of vendors and staff to address long lines.
Festival organizers also issued a weather warning on Sunday morning, advising attendees to dress for rainy weather and allowing the use of small umbrellas.
Sound on Sound organizers also said in the Facebook comments that they are working with the Bridgeport Police Department to help move traffic in parking lots faster.
