Wine Machine Festival Apologise After Punters Slam “Dangerous” And “Inexcusable” Evacuation
"You legitimately shoved thousands of people out on to roads in the middle of an electrical storm."
Wine Machine festival has apologised for long lines and its handling of extreme weather at an event in NSW’s Hunter Valley this weekend, saying the situation “sucked for every single person on site”.
Held this past Saturday, the 11,000 person festival — which used to go by the name Hot Dub Wine Machine — was evacuated before headliner Hot Dub Time Machine came on, with the show stopping during the middle of The Presets due to torrential rain and dangerous lightning. After the event, Wine Machine’s Facebook wall was inundated with now-removed comments claiming the festival handed the weather terribly and without much concern for safety.
“When the storm hit, you guys were not concerned about the safety of your patrons,” wrote one punter in a now-removed post (quoted via Tone Deaf). “It was ‘how quick can we kick them out into the lightning’. A tree came down in front of us and a guy broke his leg. So much for duty of care. You need to start thinking about your customers and not the $$$. Disgusting.”
Music Junkee has contacted Wine Machine for information on any injuries sustained during the night, and will update the article as relevant (UPDATE: they have contacted us with a slightly longer version of the below statement, which says they “commended the attendees”, saying there were ‘minimal [medical] presentations’). Other commenters criticised an excessive use of force by security and police, particularly the use of police horses in the rain, and how by evacuating the event, they essentially just left punters outside the festival and still outdoors, many of who had to wait for buses or transport to arrive.
“Security were very aggressive, we were mushed out by horses and my friend was head butted by one of the horses,” Jess El Gawly wrote. “We were scared and seeking shelter and instead we were forced into the storm!
“You legitimately shoved thousands of people out on to roads in the middle of an electrical storm, when Roche Estate had perfectly fine shelter that we could have used,” wrote Lara Elizabeth. “So dangerous and beyond scary watching people trying to huddle down a pitch black road. I’m surprised no one was hit by a car.”
Chaos at Wine Machine!!! pic.twitter.com/PFfH8Cb99s
— Gabrielle 🌻 (@Gxbriellemxry) March 23, 2019
One commenter, Sebastian Cassie, said the festival ‘shoved and bullied’ the “audience out onto dimly lit country streets with the use of police, security guards and horses”, calling it “inexcusable”. They also surmised a series of complaints as seen across the event’s page, including long +1hr queues for drinks during the day at a cashless bar which featured a surcharge to use card, and advertisements which promised being able to buy wine bottles when in reality, there was a strict two drink limit per-patron at the bar.
“No one blames you for the weather,” Cassie continued, “but we all blame you for the poor sound system, the poor service delivery and staffing, the over 2 hour long bar lines, taking advantage by forcing us to use cards only and then putting surcharges on them; for not communicating your change of license conditions (if there actually ever was a change to it), for failing to communicate re your staffing issues both before and during the event, for your misleading and deceptive advertising of the event, for over promising and under delivering, for deleting thousands of negative comments that people took the time to write and leave…”.
These comments come underneath Wine Machine’s statement, in which they addressed previous, now-deleted complaints on a previous post. In it, they assured that “the safety of all patrons, artists, and staff is of absolute priority”, saying that “evacuations of this nature are never pleasant.”
In regards to the bar lines, the festival cite “severe licensing conditions” in NSW which restricted drinks to two per-person, as well as understaffing due to an “incident” with two “staffing mini-buses” which carried 32 bar staff on the way to the event.
Wine Machine end their statement with a promise of an make-up show by Hot Dub Time Machine, saying an announcement would come in pending days. A Bryan Adams concert in the Hunter Valley was also evacuated on Saturday night too.
Wine Machine continues its Australian tour this weekend in Western Australia, with stops in Victoria and April in subsequent weekends. Read the festival’s full statement below.
Hot Dub Wine Machine’s Statement
As those in attendance well know, The Hunter Valley last night experienced an extreme weather system that included torrential rain and a high multitude of lightning strikes within close proximity causing an initial show stop and eventual evacuation of the event. This sucked for every single person on site! The safety of all patrons, artists, and staff is of absolute priority. Evacuations of this nature are never pleasant. If you have feedback on the method by which police and or security managed this please email the WM team at [email protected] and we will come back to you personally.
We must also address bar lines earlier in the day. Due to the current climate in NSW, severe licensing conditions were placed upon the event limiting drinks to two per person causing unacceptable congestion at the bars. Adding to this were staffing issues from our external bar operators Prime Collective who’ve issued the following statement:
“Whilst licensing restrictions played a significant role in bar congestion at the Wine Machine NSW event, we must unreservedly apologise for our role in this and take full responsibility. Two of our staffing mini-buses carrying 32 staff were reportedly involved in an incident whilst en route from Sydney resulting in bars being under staffed.
We are currently investigating the circumstances of this and following up on the conditions of those staff involved. If you would like further information on this or the licensing restrictions please email us: [email protected] and we will come back to you.”
Lastly, stay tuned in the coming days for an announcement from Hot Dub Time Machine who is hoping to throw a complimentary make-up show for those disappointed he didn’t get to play.
Photo via Wine Machine Facebook, of 2018 Hunter Valley festival.