Beyond The Valley Festival-goers were trapped in cars, in blistering heat, for several hours post-festival: “Get me out of here!”
Beyond The Valley Festival 2022/23 was reportedly quite the riveting event, but LEAVING the grounds via motor vehicle was another situation entirely.
Whilst attempting to exit the campsite in Barunah Plains, VIC, thousands were left stranded in sweltering heat and bumper-to-bumper traffic for six to nine hours.
Throughout this ordeal, many were stuck “without water, food or information.” There were also reports of people collapsing from dehydration, as well as staff being “rude” to attendees requesting assistance.
Hoards of festival-goers flocked to social media with complaints regarding the insufferable traffic jam. Within a few hours, the comments section of the festival’s Instagram page was littered with sentiments by the likes of “let us out”, “what a shit show” and “could’ve watched Dom Dolla 5 times over by now.”
One distressed father of an 18-year-old attendee took to Twitter, explaining that it was his daughter’s “first time at a festival like this and it’s pretty troubling.” He added, “you wouldn’t want there to be a fire or something.”
Another concerned parent wrote, “my daughter is finally leaving Beyond the Valley after waiting in her car in line since 8.30am. She said people were collapsing from dehydration and organisers had to hand out free water. Apparently no traffic management so security has that job now.” They concluded, “It sounds like it’s easier to get out of prison than it is to escape Beyond the Valley.”
In response to the traffic fiasco, Beyond The Valley Festival organisers released the following statement on social media: “We are experiencing traffic delays getting out of the festival today due to the influx of cars exiting the festival as well as general holiday traffic on the roads. We sincerely apologise for the delays and inconvenience caused, please bear with us as our staff work to support this process.”
The statement continued, “Our team have buggies doing water drops at cars, we have ample water tanks around site to fill up bottles as well as water available at info hubs. There is plenty of shade around site should you choose to wait until traffic eases as well as food options available.” In conclusion, it said, “We understand this process is not pleasant in the heat. Our priority is to get everyone home safely.”
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Other frequently recurring areas of complaint were the lack of busses, the condition of the toilet facilities, and other logistical muck-ups. While the apology from Beyond The Valley Festival spokespeople rings sincere, many revellers have requested compensation for the distressing experience.
“Refunds for that shitshow today plz and don’t even get me started paying extra money for premium and all the things that were promised,” commented one person on Instagram. As per Music Feeds, the most-recent instalment of Beyond The Valley Festival was “a logistical learning curve,” to say the least. Holiday traffic and other delays are to be expected, especially at a festival that attracts over 10,000 music lovers…but an eight-hour hold-up in 37-degree heat? Yikes.
