Record Breaking Crowd Triple J’s One Night Stand
It was estimated the population of the small East Coast town grew by about 30,000 people across the weekend. Big name Australian acts such as Vance Joy, Peking Duk, Tkay Maidza, Middle Kids, and Alex the Astronaut took to the stage at the St Helens Football Ground, with many joined on stage by special guest artists. Before gates opened on Saturday, thousands were lined up outside the football ground waiting to get inside. By 5.30pm, the ground had reached capacity with more than 20,000 people inside enjoying the free concert, with the final numbers of 25,000 throughout the rest of the night. Unfortunately, this meant there were still thousands of people who were left outside the venue waiting to get in. Services at the concert struggled While the experience was good for those behind the till and the festival drew praise, the event drew criticism for being under-re sourced.
Patrons complained of spending up to two-and-a-half hours lined up for toilets or food stands, with the queues reaching 300 metres and causing some to miss as many as three acts. Positivity surrounds the future St Helens has had a boost to its tourism and hospitality ego, with some of the cafes and hospitality venue's takings over the Friday to Sunday being more than what they would normally take in a month, this time of the year. Over the weekend I spoke with a number of the local venues and food vans that were in St Helens, and the feeling was one of renewed positivity and prosperity that this event had brought the town. The Mayor of St Helens and the local business people's thoughts are of “how can me continue with this momentum” and “how can we replicate it next year”. This could be the start of something new.
October 2018 www.tha.asn.au
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