Even before the festival ended

Beatpatrol Flopped: Hundreds Want Their Money Back

The opening of the Beatpatrol Festival turned out to be a flop.(Bild: Krone KREATIV)

Day two—today, Saturday—hasn’t even started yet, but it’s safe to say already that the Beatpatrol Festival will go down in music history as a total flop. As reported, the organizers seriously mishandled the event’s planning and budgeting, leaving numerous fans waiting for hours on Friday. Hundreds are already demanding their money back. 

Partying, dancing, good music—that’s what hundreds of fans were looking forward to on Friday. Not much of that happened. As reported, the first day of the Beatpatrol Festival, which was supposed to take place at the Freudenau horse racing track, ended in a total disaster. 

Admission didn’t begin until six and a half hours later
Visitors’ feet certainly got a workout—not from dancing, but from standing and waiting. The gates were supposed to open at 2:00 p.m., but admission kept getting pushed back. In fact, visitors—who had paid no less than 90 euros for their tickets—didn’t begin entering the grounds in groups until 8:30 p.m.—two and a half hours before the end (!) of the first day of the festival.

Although Yousuke Yukimatsu performed as the first artist, along with the headliners of the first day—Charlotte de Witte and Timmy Trumpet—several other artists were unable to take the stage due to the late hour. The first cancellations also began to emerge for the second day of the festival on Saturday. The affected artists cited as the reason that they had received neither feedback nor confirmation from the organizers, nor had their travel arrangements been organized. 

The opening of the Beatpatrol Festival turned into a flop.(Bild: Krone KREATIV)

Fans are up in arms online

• a_guy_called_rene: I hope @beatpatrol.festival you guys give us a refund—we’re so pissed off (sic!)
• sabiine000: Hopefully we’ll get our money back?? It was way too expensive for this lineup anyway
• grisu310: I’ve never experienced such a chaotic event. They just string people along instead of communicating honestly. That’s it for Beatpatrol. Unfortunately
• harry_kah: Reminds me a lot of “Zero Ducks Given” with the Tweekaz—the venue was never booked, canceled at the last minute for “production-related reasons,” but in reality it was just plain fraud
• a_kapustin: I’m almost convinced by now that the delay in the festival starting is a conspiracy by the food and drink vendors at the entrance—the lines for water and food here are just unbelievable.
• _bensche: We’ll have to work on that planning again, though 
• tinka954chrisy: Man, you leave the housejust once… and look what happens!!!
• schmatzinski: Thumbs up for a class-action lawsuit @konsumentenschutz@diearbeiterkammer
• eliahperniza: I cameall the way from Tyrol, and you guys drop such important info an hour after the festival was actually supposed to start. First and last time I’ll be here—what a shame!
• ced_slz: Did I really come all the way from France for this? I thought French festivals were disorganized, but well, I’m speechless (...)
  (Did I really come all the way from France for this? I thought French festivals were disorganized, but wow, I’m speechless (...), Note)
• christianemuzik: It’s outrageous to post this only after the scheduled start time and not to inform ticket holders in advance via email.....the tickets aren’t exactly cheap, so it wouldn’t matter if 3 hours of the program were just canceled like that

 

Speaking of the organizer: So far, they’ve been tight-lipped about the reasons behind the organizational fiasco, but that evening they promised visitors who had only bought a ticket for Friday free admission to the second day of the festival. 

Fans are considering a class-action lawsuit
This is extremely cold comfort for the fans, some of whom had even traveled from abroad for the festival. Alongside gallows humor, social media is also filled with fierce criticism of the organizers. Many attendees want their money back and are already considering a class-action lawsuit over the botched festival.