‘ annual got underway Friday. And after a bout of severe weather caused major problems, some attendees are demanding a full refund.
Issues at the festival, held in , began when a thunderstorm forced Friday night headliner Lionel Richie from the stage after a truncated set and sent attendees scrambling to board shuttle buses to carry them to off-site parking lots. The primary problem, according to concertgoers who took to social media to vent their frustrations, is that there were too few shuttles for the hundreds of people trying to get out of the thunderstorm. Some reported wait times of an hour and half or longer, while others said the rush to get out or the rain lead to injuries and violence.
tweeted a message to at 11:45 p.m. Friday asking to be contacted about a full refund for he and his family’s weekend festival passes.
“Watching women get punched in the face and kids being trampled is something I can’t chance my family seeing two more nights,” he wrote. “They are officially traumatized. To top it off, there was no security in sight.”
Fellow attendee Michelle Brus responded to Rector’s tweet with her own story of ugliness after the rain started falling. During what she said was a two-hour wait to get on a shuttle, Brus saw a woman collapse and a fight break out.
“Hopeful they are regrouping as I think the next two nights will be even more crowded & carry threats of more weather,” she wrote.
https://twitter.com/STLTerpMB/status/1035877798437482503
Jazz Aspen Snowmass, a nonprofit organization that puts on a variety of music events in the Aspen and Snowmass area each year, did not respond to Rector’s or Brus’ tweets, at least not publicly. On Saturday, the organization’s Twitter feed was populated with and alerts about .
Organizers did not return repeated requests for comment about complaints about Friday night. A call to the festival’s listed box office number was rerouted to ticket-seller AXS. An operator there said, “We don’t have any information that we can share right now. We deal with ticketing and ticketing alone.”
Commentary on Jazz Aspen Snowmass’ Facebook page was similarly negative Saturday. In the, attendee Mark Greksa recounted his experience.
“When Lionel made his announcement that due to extreme weather, we had to leave immediately and “seek shelter,” it was complete and total chaos as thousands of people fled, trying to find exits, having to climb over metal barricades on the way to buses that simply were not there,” he wrote. “The situation was extremely dangerous to say the least.”
Many in the comment section vowed not to come back to the festival in future years unless changes were made to the transportation and access.
The is no on-site parking at Snowmass Town Park except for VIP ticket holders, according to the festival website. The off-site parking lots recommended on the festival page are all approximately two miles or more from the park.
The Aspen-Snowmass area received 0.14 inches of rain Friday night, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Kyle Fredin. The overnight low temperature was 47 degrees. , the festival’s final day, calls for a high of 69 degrees and a 40 percent chance or rain and thunderstorms, mainly after 1 p.m.
