I didn't have a problem getting there, just got the Luas and walked from Balally. Thought the Luas would be absolutely packed but wasn't in the slightest, and of course there was no traffic to deal with. You don't always have to go for the laid on bus option you know?! I went in another entrance, so didn't deal with the barrier way in thank god.

Show was great though, thankfully very few new songs, so many damn good songs from Master Of Puppets, Ride The Lightning and Justice For All. Nice vibe in the pit too. I have rediscovered my inner teenage metaller.

i know i don't have to go for the bus option but I just think if they're going to put transport on for people they should at least organise it properly. it should be well run enough that people don't have go looking for alternative arrangements. they're charging people enough for the whole event the least they can do is not treat them like cattle. i work hard for my money, i don't want to hand it over to mcd and dublin bus so they can treat me like crap and try and call it entertainment.

But they had s**tloads of buses on, the traffic is out of their hands as everyone is cumulating in one small area, thousands of people are going for the buses at the same time (after work, and after the gig). Everyone got home and no one was hurt. How would you better the transport plan?

i'm not blaming them for the traffic on the way out. but why herd everyone in one entrance. why not have a few more open, it should not take people half an hour to get from the bus into the actual arena which is only a 5 minute walk away. that was really badly planned on their part. it wasn't because the security people were searching anyone. it would've been possible for them to have a few more entrances in along that route but they obviously thought they could save a couple of quid by only having one entrance in and employing one set of people to scan tickets.
i've been to a good few outdoor events with dublin bus before and i've never had this trouble with trying to get a bus home before. every other gig i've been at i just walked on to a bus straight after it and be on the way back into town 20 mins to half an hour after the gig had ended. it's not like we rushed to get a bus straight after the gig had ended last night, we waited a good half hour before leaving. we figured it was such a nightmare trying to get in it would be 10 times worse trying to leave. when we went to queue up for the bus, half an hour after the gig had finished, none had left and all the ones that were there were sitting idle. we were herded in between 2 barriers in order for them try and form some sort of barrier and made to wait for ages before any of the buses were ready to leave. and once you got in between those barriers there was no getting out. it was very lucky no one got hurt because everyone was squeezed in so tightly. like i said, i've never seen it been run so badly before. there was people running around from dublin bus with megaphones trying to organise some sort of queue. they knew what time the gig was going to end at, why didn't they have buses ready to leave.
so to answer your question, i would have set up another 4 or 5 entrances into the place so that there wasn't the ridiculous wait time to get in and i would've made sure that there was buses ready to leave as soon as the gig ended

Whiterob, I was at that gig too and agree 100% with you. I've been to loads of gigs in Marlay Park and usually the whole thing is very well run and organised but the Metallica gig was a shambles. I also had to queue for three quarters of an hour after arriving around 4.30 and the first support band had started their set by the time we got in. After the gig was over we headed for the buses and none of the security people had a clue what was going on, eventually it just descended into a free for all with people charging at the buses. I was thinking seriously about making a complaint to MCD - I blame them, not Dublin Bus.

Thanks John, yeah I was thinking of making a complaint to MCD too but I'm not sure how I'd go about it

also mixtape, i'd like to point out that it's not my job to sort out the transport plan or the organisation of gigs. That's MCDs and they made a complete mess of it this time. If at all possible, i'm never going to another outdoor event in ireland that they organise again.

Also, this is pretty much the only message board in ireland where i can talk about this event. When they screwed up the organisation of oxegen 2006, did they offer anyone any sort of compensation, accept any responsibility or even issue any sort of apology? like hell they did, they launched a lawsuit forbidding anyone from discussing their events on boards. Disgraceful

I was at muse the week before and the only problem I had was walking back to the car. Got in and out of the car park in a few minutes. Would find it hard to fault MCD other than they need to open more exits (For walking to bus/car) when the gig is over.

I live near Marlay/Marley (which one is it????) Park, walked to and from gig so avoided all the transport chaos. Never seen Metallica before so decided to go along as a kind of nostalgic homage to my younger self as my bedroom wall was covered in their posters as a teenager (was too young to see them then)...great gig, band in top form but now as an adult have to admit they have a tendency to a bit a samey, couple of new tracks show no new direction whatsoever...yet intro to 'One' induced an outbreak of goosebumps as did 'Enter Sandman'. Great vibe in the crowd too, friendly, chilled out, unpretentious. Expect a gig at the pOint2 in Feb 09.

aye, was a deadly gig alright. 2nd time to see them. lots of good old stuff. good vibe alright. it's probably a good thing that they're not going in any mad new direction. think i'll definitely check them out in the o2