Poor Sound and Sound Gear. Want My Money Back

[deadfam]

Frank failed.
The Sound Equipment AND crew were not even worthy of being called amateur but more like beginners and had no business working with national acts such as Further, George Clinton and the rest. The soundboard and crew couldn't even handle a band such as Umphrey's McGee and in many other sets the sound in the bass cut out or blew out consistantly throughout the entire festival. What was up cutting George Clintons set in the middle of a song just so they can put Huey Lewis's CD on. Oh yes....they were 2 cheap to rent 2 monitor systems for both main stages. WEAK!!! That was the lamest disrespect towards a legendary artist that I have seen In a Long Time. So Frank... You charged us way too much to have only rented 1 monitor system for 2 stages. I WANT MY MONEY BACK!

[drumlaxer]

i agree with the sound failures, i was right up front for many shows, and umphreys especially kept cutting out, i would have been pissed if i were them. it was a let down for the fans and the artists. i dont care about my money back, a lot of the fest was amazing, but sound was a huge issue for me.

[itrainmonkeys]

I didn't notice it, but I don't really notice those things too much to begin with so i'm not the best person to hear from. I'm not sure exactly what should be done to fix any problems you're talking about but you guys seem to know what you're talking about. Maybe write a short, well-written, constructive e-mail or post on Facebook and explain what could be fixed.

Sorry you feel it was so bad that you deserve a refund....but I don't see them giving you your money back. Maybe you can help out the people going next year and tell them specifically what the problems were and how to fix them.

[deadfam]

Yeah I know I'm not actually getting my money back but still that was quite an expensive ticket to have a beginner soundboard and crew. Too many corners were cut on the main stages sound. I find this unacceptable. Countless sets had problems with the bass. She and Him, P Funk, McGee...I could go on but the list is just way too long. Yes I had a good time at the festival but that was because who I was with. Luckily Flaming Lips,STS9, and Furthur brought their own gear and crew. We Dead Fans expect only the best in everything. What we eat, How we live, What we smoke and how a festival should be presented when OUR band is the headliner. We don't accept mediocrity or fast food style methods of planning. We have thrown better parties than you could ever do.....FRANK. We expect the dankest for the dank and you gave us SCHWAG

[mojo4395]

I agree that there were some sound problems. Specifically, not having a set of speaker towers in the middle of the lawn like other festivals I've been to forced them to turn the volume way up on the main speakers right by the stage. I was up front for UM and Keller, and all you could hear of was bass. Ghostland and STS9 would've blown out my eardrums if not for my ear plugs. The sound just wasn't that great. Hopefully this is something that is worked on. A couple speaker towers in the middle of the lawn would go a long way.

[idio]

while turning off P-Funks speakers sounds like a great idea to me...

some mid field speakers would have allowed for less dangerous sound levels by the stage.

[deadfam]

In response to I Train Monkeys but for all to read
I appreciate the thoughts and idea of perhaps setting up the sound for next time. As a matter of fact I could jump on board and put together a sound crew but I just don't know if I can work with such a disorganized festival promoter. In so many aspects and levels of thoughtlessness and lack of planning I'm not sure if I can work with or for such a person that displayed such a disrespect to the artists and fans. To me it has become blantly clear that the people who put this show on didn't have a clue about anything. There were too many things that happened involving security, entrance, water, late e-mail notices that were detrimental,sent when I was on the road travelling to the show regarding some new rules...te list goes on. Some people who showed up late who bought 4 day camping passes were denied the camp site and were forced to set up their camp in the parking lot (which was like a donut shop full of cops and other undesireables. So what happened??? Was someone not listening in math class or was someone brain thinking that they needed the extra money and over sold tickets out of greed. HMMM.
What was my point??? oh yes In conclusion I wouldn't work with or for anyone that treated this Nateva idea so foolishly.

[mojo4395]

Ok, so I want to respond to some of these comments, based on my experience and experiences of those around me.

Jul 6, 2010 16:13:48 GMT -5 deadfam said:

In response to I Train Monkeys but for all to read
I appreciate the thoughts and idea of perhaps setting up the sound for next time. As a matter of fact I could jump on board and put together a sound crew but I just don't know if I can work with such a disorganized festival promoter. In so many aspects and levels of thoughtlessness and lack of planning I'm not sure if I can work with or for such a person that displayed such a disrespect to the artists and fans. To me it has become blantly clear that the people who put this show on didn't have a clue about anything.

I didn't feel disrespected ever. I felt that there were problems, and that that there should've been some things decided on earlier (ie. the "1 person car" fee), but I also feel that Nateva was extremely open about what they were doing. On top of that, they provided a free off-site camping opportunity, which is something that I have never seen another festival do. I don't know about the artists, but I didn't feel disrespected ever.

Jul 6, 2010 16:13:48 GMT -5 deadfam said:

There were too many things that happened involving security, entrance, water, late e-mail notices that were detrimental,sent when I was on the road travelling to the show regarding some new rules...te list goes on.

Security: You have a choice: either security that sometimes is a little more thorough than we would like or security that lets everything go. It's a very fine line to walk, and I think that Nateva walked it well. I always felt safe, and I never felt that I was being over-searched. Some people did get searched more than necessary, and there's at least one inappropriate incident that I heard about, but that's not the fault of Nateva, that's the fault of the one idiot in security. At Rothbury 2009 security getting very handsy with the women was the norm. It doesn't appear that was the norm for Nateva. One security guy doing it is one too many, but it's not like it was out of hand.

Entrance: I got there around 2 on Thursday, was parked in the "holding pen," and I had set up my camp by about 5:30. So I waited 3 1/2 hours, which is less time than I waited for either Rothbury, and half the typical wait time at Bonnaroo. Gates opened at 4 and I felt that traffic moved OK once they were opened. The holding pen wasn't perfectly organized, but it was a great way to get cars off the roads before gates opened.


Water: Please specify. I know where 4 water areas were outside of the main stage plus one inside the main stage. On top of that there were even a few flush toilets, and the port-o-potties were IMMACULATE all weekend. The free drinking water tasted fine and was usually cool. There was a problem with the mud around the water, but they put down some plywood or cardboard in the main stage area to help with that.

Late emails: What late emails? I do think that they should've specified the car-pooling rules earlier and the $35 fee was poorly planned, but, on the other hand, they offered the free off-site camping. What problem specifically are you talking about?

Jul 6, 2010 16:13:48 GMT -5 deadfam said:

Some people who showed up late who bought 4 day camping passes were denied the camp site and were forced to set up their camp in the parking lot (which was like a donut shop full of cops and other undesireables.

I'm assuming you're talking about the "holding pen" area. I'm pretty sure that was considered "On Site" camping. They had the same lines drawn out that the other ares did, and there was a big line of port-o-potties. No, it wasn't right next to the stage, but it was only about 10-15 minutes from the main stage. That's on-site. If someone was actually forced to camp at the Speedway or somewhere else even though they had an on-site pass, that's a problem. But I'm yet to hear of a single example of that.

Jul 6, 2010 16:13:48 GMT -5 deadfam said:

So what happened??? Was someone not listening in math class or was someone brain thinking that they needed the extra money and over sold tickets out of greed. HMMM.
What was my point??? oh yes In conclusion I wouldn't work with or for anyone that treated this Nateva idea so foolishly.

Attacks aren't gonna make your case. There were problems, specifically the small per-car space that was given. My group had 5 in a van, since we took seriously Nateva's request for carpooling. However, we were given the same amount of space as a 2 person car was. The camp passes should've been sold on a per-car basis, not a per-person basis IMO. But your complaints don't really hold water, unless you're going to site some specifics. The sound issues, sure, but the rest of your problems don't really make sense to me.

[itrainmonkeys]

Jul 6, 2010 16:13:48 GMT -5 deadfam said:

Some people who showed up late who bought 4 day camping passes were denied the camp site and were forced to set up their camp in the parking lot (which was like a donut shop full of cops and other undesireables. .

Is that really true? Because I have still not seen anyone complaining about that happening to them. Not here, not on other boards, and not on the Nateva Facebook page. I'd honestly like to hear a firsthand account from someone who bought an on-site camping pass and was denied the chance to sleep on-site.

As for not helping out....that's fine. You had a bad time and thought the festival was run poorly. Different strokes for different folks, ya know? You're entitled to your opinions and hopefully some of the areas that you thought were lacking will be enhanced next year (for us who may return to the fest). Sorry it seemed like you had a bad time.....hopefully your future concerts and festivals go better. :)

[deadfam]

@ Idio
You didn't like P-Funk? thats cool if you didn't like em. I would say their playing was pretty sloppy but still, it's P-Funk and George Clinton is legendary. The sound mix on this set was the worst of all probably due to more musicians and inputs than the sound gear could handle. Why wasn't speaker towers put in?? Because the promoters went with a cheap sound package instead of one that was actually worthy of this great line up. So that was the one thing I can compliment the promoters on is the schedule of the line-up and the line-up. Okay that's two lol

[deadfam]

@ Administrator
thank you for responding. I may sound like a total jerk which I'm not. I may even sound hateful to the promoters which I'm not. I just think there was alot of bloopers that went on that could've been prevented had more thought been put into it. So in response to your responses...

#1
I'm glad you didn't feel disrespected. What I mean by disrespected is the sound package in itself was a joke. I find it disrespectful to have even ordered something like to have us listen too for 3 days. I also find it disrespectful to the artists to make them play through. I find it disrespectful that they went with such a cheap system. So we may (or may not ) have different opinions on what respect means and that's cool. I am


# 2

Again I would have to disagree with you on Nateva walking the fine line and walking it well. I'm going to write just two examples.
A woman minding her own business was wearing a costume that had part of her ass cheeks showing but not full on. You could'nt see much other than part of her cheeks. Than one security guy starts getting real harsh on her and starts yelling at her that she's a bad example to children and he'd better not see her getting to close to any kids. Yes I was there and it wasn't someone I know but that wrecked a perfectly good moment for me just having to witness that and was forced to intake that kind of unwanted energy. A similar incident involving a womans bare nipple but painted with body paint, was hastled for that by a different security clown. One guy grabbed my privates thinking it was a pipe. Did I report this?? hell no. I'm sure there were many other unreported disrespects involving security. Again The promoters didn't screen these fools and failed to have good communication as far as what security is and is not suppose to do.
Ex # 2.
2 security stood in the middle of our campground underneath our easy up about 3 am. They were looking in empty cars with flashlights and empty camsights. They were looking at tabletops and chairs throughly. Inside the cup holder on the arms of the chairs and so on. This happened in my camp and woke me up. I asked them to leave my camp and just as a confrontational response was about to happen om their part, they got a call on the walkie and jumped into their golf cart and drove away. I would have to think that they were looking to rob something although I don't know. It looked that way to me. I didn't feel safe at all after the incident and it was very disturbing to the others in the camp once I told them.

To be continued

[deadfam]

@ Administrator
part 2

Still on security. I agree with you that the security being handsy was not the norm for Nateva but over searching was the norm on one entrance and not the other. This is also what I mean by the promoters failure to communicate with security on what they should or should not be doing. The inconsistant behaviors between individual security employee and another individual security makes me think that Nateva has to take some responsablility for not making clear cut and dry boundaries to the security company that was hired with OUR money. Did anyone see some of the fools driving golf carts as fast as they could go, (probably about 15 to 20 mph) in the middle of the night practically running over both adults and children. It was like Friday night at the races. I believe these idiots were WAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY out of hand, so again I have to disagree with you. Oh yes and the security in the daytime parking lots were rolling up on peoples cars and harrasing them for anything.
This was one of the many reasons why the Dead fans and fam did not come to Nateva from NY. Had the promoters been more organized w/ their parking and security control the Dead Family might have come. The promoters missed out on at least another 10,000 tickets sold (probably more the tour scene is about 15,000 strong this summer) I'm thinking this must be the reason Furthur put out the worst show they've done so far this year. Yes I'm talking about 7/4/2010 being the worst show i've seen and heard (CD's) Furthur play since it's inception.

O.k. next subject entrance.

I agree with you on some points but comparing this entrance to Boneroo??? C'mon.
Think of the numbers at Nateva and Boneroo. So at 1:00 until the time you entered their must've been maybe what.. 500 or so in the holding pen before you probably not even that. I arrived at 2:30 PM I'm not sure how many cars were there but it didn't look like over a thousand. I could be wrong but my point is Boneroo sells 60-80 thousand tix and Nateva sold about 15 thousand tix. So why did it take Boneroo only twice the time on the entrance but had to deal with 6 times more on the amount of people. Do the math. Also why were they late opening the gates. They were unprepared and I don't like it when a promoter advertises a certain gate time and is late. I see no reason for their tardiness and again I saw that as a disrespect to my time. The gates DID NOT open at 4. No way. 4:oo PM I believe is what was on the flyers for many months now. I didn't get in until about 7:30 ish. Don't get me wrong Admin, I'm not calling you a liar but I am pretty sure they didnt start letting cars in until after 5:00. With the entrance numbers so low, I should have had my camp set up at that time already grilling and eating. If they cant open until after 5 PM than say so on the flyer so I can have an early dinner before I get in line. (I'm sorry but I just don't DO Pizza Hut.) Again they were unprepared to open at the advertised time. I do agree that the holding pen was a great way to get cars off the road. Chalk one more good compliment from me to Nateva.


Water.

The water was o.k. in some fill up stations but not others. Most were O.K. but the ones next to our camp were nasty plus flooding problems. I did not see any effort to correct the flooding but I am glad you did. I feel better at least there was some effort on the flooding problem at least in some areas. The outhouses outside the main stage venue were pretty nasty and w/out toilet paper just about everywhere I looked unless they were just cleaned out. I think there should have been more clean up routes made. The outhouses on INSIDE the main stage venue were great. Which leads me to wonder where were YOU camped that had immaculate outhouses...(ALL WEEKEND?!) I'm thinking maybe you were camped in ADA or VIP.


I will continue w/ my next round of responses in my next post

[deadfam]

@ Administrator
The Email I was refering to specifically was a new list of rules which included a 2 case of beer per car limit (in cans of course lol.) It was dated (I think but not sure) last Wednesday. I did see this email today. The 35 dollar charge I was aware of and was made aware of the refund offer. Although I'm not as heated about this 35 dollar notice AFTER we purchased our tickets I didn't like it and again because it was AFTER one bought a ticket I have second thoughts on where the promoters hearts are/were at. Of course even after this announcement was made I wonder if people had to find out about the 35 dollar through word of mouth on forums such as these or were they made aware at the point of purchase BEFORE they paid for their ticket or afterward. Anybody out their who knows first hand would be appreciated.

[deadfam]

@ Admin
I said this already but in hindsight I'm thinking the gates didn't open until after 6:00. As I said I was there well before 4:00. I'm not sure how you got special privelages such as having your camp site set up at 5:00 and immaculate outhouses ALL weekend and a no flood zone. I paid my 246 and 20 my early bird fee and the 35 dollar car fee so how did you get in so early? Really I want to know

[deadfam]

Something that I hope Nateva realizes is that I am speaking for alot of people

[deadfam]

mojo4395
I had a good time because of who I was with. A smaller than usual group of us came to check it out. We are a very large group and this is all of our collective thoughts from our small group who attended. My good time had nothing to do with anything that Frank did or did not do other than provide a place for us to walk on. Yes the show was so poorly run I highly doubt Furthur and Clinton and a few others would come back even if the sound issues were fixed. We shall see

[itrainmonkeys]

Jul 6, 2010 18:40:39 GMT -5 deadfam said:

@ Administrator
The Email I was refering to specifically was a new list of rules which included a 2 case of beer per car limit (in cans of course lol.) It was dated (I think but not sure) last Wednesday. I did see this email today.

The beer per car limit was on the rules/no no's section of the official website before that e-mail went out. I know for a fact because I checked it myself a week before I left for Nateva to show my friend. That e-mail was making a lot of people aware of a lot of things but the alcohol limit was known way before that e-mail went out. It was stated on the official site, here on the forums, and also on the facebook page.

Also, it was 2 cases of beer per person and not per car. I don't see why you have to point out that it had to be in cans since almost every festival I know about prohibits glass.

Jul 6, 2010 18:57:57 GMT -5 deadfam said:

@ Admin
I said this already but in hindsight I'm thinking the gates didn't open until after 6:00. As I said I was there well before 4:00. I'm not sure how you got special privelages such as having your camp site set up at 5:00 and immaculate outhouses ALL weekend and a no flood zone. I paid my 246 and 20 my early bird fee and the 35 dollar car fee so how did you get in so early? Really I want to know

You're flat out wrong. The gates certainly opened around 4 p.m. My crew got into the holding pen around 2 p.m.. The first line of cars started moving shortly after 4 and we got in towards our camp site after 5:30ish.

Mojo (the admin you're referring to) got absolutely NO special treatment or anything. I know this because while in the holding pen we were trying to contact each other and as fate would have it....we both happened to be within a few cars of each other. He just happened to arrive around 2 p.m. like myself and my friends. The gates were open well before 6 p.m. because I was already at my campsite by then (along with many other people).

Jul 6, 2010 18:59:45 GMT -5 deadfam said:

Something that I hope Nateva realizes is that I am speaking for alot of people

I disagree. Many people (as evidenced on here and on the Facebook wall) seemed to have an awesome time and while people always have their suggestions or criticisms....they aren't all as negative as you seem to be about the whole festival.

[itrainmonkeys]

Jul 6, 2010 19:09:27 GMT -5 deadfam said:

We are a very large group and this is all of our collective thoughts from our small group who attended.

Lol was it a large group or a small group? I'm confused.

My good time had nothing to do with anything that Frank did or did not do other than provide a place for us to walk on.

So what you're saying is......if you and your friends went to an empty field with no music, bathrooms, activities, or other people....then you would have as much fun as you did at Nateva? That sounds more like your fault than Nateva's.

Yes the show was so poorly run I highly doubt Furthur and Clinton and a few others would come back even if the sound issues were fixed. We shall see

I'm sure bands will come back. I don't see Furthur or Clinton coming back simply because they are probably an expensive act to book and Nateva will probably not repeat headliners (Furthur) in it's second year.

[deadfam]

@ Admin

There were problems, specifically the small per-car space that was given. My group had 5 in a van, since we took seriously Nateva's request for carpooling. However, we were given the same amount of space as a 2 person car was. The camp passes should've been sold on a per-car basis, not a per-person basis IMO. But your complaints don't really hold water, unless you're going to site some specifics. The sound issues, sure, but the rest of your problems don't really make sense to me.


you sound like a lawyer when you say "Hold water" and yes they absolutely do hold water which is why I am taking the time to voice our complaints. I've paid much less and have gotten more from promoters who have experience. They oversold their camping tickets out of greed or foolishness. End of story. That campground you call the holding pen nailed it. Exactly what it was. I will call it purgatory was the biggest cop show I've seen to be "On Site Camping." Anyhow I am not on trial and don't have to keep providing truth to what I have typed. It all happened and we Brothers and Sisters of The Dead Family want a response from your friends at Nateva on what we did to deserve this disrespect?

[itrainmonkeys]

Jul 6, 2010 19:23:59 GMT -5 deadfam said:

They oversold their camping tickets out of greed or foolishness. End of story.

Nah. That didn't happen. The didn't oversell anything.

That campground you call the holding pen nailed it. Exactly what it was. I will call it purgatory was the biggest cop show I've seen to be "On Site Camping."

Umm......it was called the holding pen because that is where all the cars who were waiting for the gates to open were parked and "held" until the line started moving.

[deadfam]

@ I train Monkeys

on rules
O.K. yes of course i know every festi has the no glass rule and I was just making a joke anyway. It wasn't that funny. O.K. so this email was just a repeat of the rules posted w/out new rules added. O.K. somehow obviously the beer rule slipped by me. Probably because I don't drink beer. O.K. we can take down one complaint of mine that at least they weren't sending out last minute changes of the rules by email while we were on the road to Maine.

It's not my problem or a problem that I had just as good as a time without the activities and so on. Those bands would've sounded better through a decent speaker rig playing a downloaded soundboard. I cooked and BBq'd all my own food had plenty of shade had a small group of 20 friends with me and we would have done basically the same thing for the cost of a few batteries and a small camping fee for a weekend. The food wasn't that good typical fair food and why??? because they charged some crazy amount to vend food that it was a turn off to most quality food vendors I know. If you guys think this festival was even kind of good you ought to check out The Gathering Of The Vibes. They know how to do it right and put out a quality festival. I really would not have gone to this event had Furthur not played. You guys missed out on all the fun the Deadefamily brings. Like I said before they demand and expect the best. The fans didn't come because the festival was run improperly and is no match for GOTV or ROO or All Good or Poconos or even something little like Camp Bisco. No Match at all.

[deadfam]

@ I Train Monkeys

On The Holding Pen

I guess you dont understand my sense of humor
...ummmmmmm it's called the holding pen because...
but I am serious about serious hastles by security to those campers. That site was not worthy to be called a camp site and used as such. I also don't see to much action here accept from the mods. I think most people are dissapointed because the only new posts I've seen have been a complaint on the handicapped ramp and my very legit and true complaints. They did oversell the camping if they had to put people in the holding pen and if they actually planned on using it as such I would say again....greed. I would have been pissed with a perfect view of Hannafords and consistant harrasment from security. NOT WORTH THE
MONEY I PAID

[deadfam]

@ ITM
Having Furthur not play a second is stupid. Obviously you don't know who we are if you are confused. Furthur and Dead Family is a large group of people who throw the best parties the world has ever seen. A small group of us went to scope it out. Nateva turned out to be unworthy for us but I am glad you had a good time.
As far as other people around yeah I liked that but Natwva did not provide that for me and it wouldve been so much cooler if the dead family came but as I said the sound system and security and everything else (except the line-up) was not quality.

Like I said I'm not seeing many positive postings other than the mods. I would just like to make my message clear to Frank.. You Blew It and I Want My Money back so I can go to a REAL festival

[itrainmonkeys]

Jul 6, 2010 20:48:08 GMT -5 deadfam said:

@ ITM
Having Furthur not play a second is stupid. Obviously you don't know who we are if you are confused. Furthur and Dead Family is a large group of people who throw the best parties the world has ever seen. A small group of us went to scope it out. Nateva turned out to be unworthy for us but I am glad you had a good time.
As far as other people around yeah I liked that but Natwva did not provide that for me and it wouldve been so much cooler if the dead family came but as I said the sound system and security and everything else (except the line-up) was not quality.

Like I said I'm not seeing many positive postings other than the mods. I would just like to make my message clear to Frank.. You Blew It and I Want My Money back so I can go to a REAL festival

Sorry you had a crappy time. Now you know that this festival isn't "worthy" of your time and you will be able to have more fun at a "real" festival next time. I'm sure others who will enjoy the festival will take your place ;D. No hard feelings.

[iamwelting]

Wow, deadfam, you really know how to nitpick. Guess what? This was a first year festival. There are going to be kinks in any festival, let alone one on its maiden voyage. Yes, the sound had some issues, but not enough that it took away overly much from my enjoyment of the music, and I certainly didn't feel "disrespected." The security was tight. I didn't spend much time in the holding pen, so I wasn't really hip to the scene there, but one thing to keep in mind is that nateva was not on private property. It was on the county fairgrounds and was therefore subject to tighter security than normal. Also, I really doubt that you're speaking for that many people. I had a great time, all my friends had a great time, and everyone I spoke to was having a great time. So, just to be clear, I will be coming back to Nateva next year with a smile one my face. Because after all, we're all lucky just to have been there, just to have the luxury of taking a weekend of hedonism in the Maine countryside. So take your negative nitpicking somewhwere else.