Two Points for those that don't care to read about the heartbreak and agony of missing No Doubt and Blink:
(1) Nissan Pavillion is not alone in hideous congestion
(2)Ticketmaster will sometimes refund service charges. Who knew?
Missed concert spurs outrage
Traffic jam caused thousands of fans to miss No Doubt, Blink-182 concert in Devore. Refunds are being offered.
By BEN WENER
The Orange County Register
Fans who got stuck in hours of crawling traffic on I-15 while trying to get into the No Doubt and Blink-182 show Saturday night at the Hyundai Pavilion in Devore are still outraged at having missed most of the performance.
Thousands more were turned away from the San Bernardino County venue.
Allyson Holt of Placentia, who had shelled out $175 to take her daughter, Gilliane, as a high school graduation present, spent six hours inching toward the Pavilion's grass parking lots. But by 10:15 p.m., three hours after the concert was scheduled to begin and a half-hour after Blink-182 had finished, they were told the lot was full.
"(The parking attendants) told us we might as well turn around and head home," Holt said. "My daughter and her friend were crying because they could hear the music far away, and the attendants just laughed about it."
The cause of the massive delay, concert promoter Clear Channel Entertainment announced Monday, was "numerous highway accidents," which blocked lanes leading to the amphitheater.
Greg Terlizzi, spokesman for Clear Channel, says venue operators expected substantial walk-up business beyond the 35,000-plus tickets sold in advance for the popular pairing of Orange County natives No Doubt and San Diego punk band Blink-182.
"This is a freak incident," he said. By 10 p.m., he said, all cars headed toward the venue had to be turned away so that the roads would be clear for the heavy traffic about to pour out. "What happened this time was out of our control."
Holt said the scene outside the venue was near-riotous. "People were driving on the shoulders, up embankments, driving the wrong way, nearly crashing into people, all just to try to get in."
No Doubt vocalist Gwen Stefani said in a posting on the band's Web site, "The reality of people driving for hours and not seeing the show makes me feel physically sick."
To compensate, Clear Channel is offering full refunds (including Ticketmaster service fees) to people who were denied access. For each refunded ticket, the promoter is also offering a free ticket to one of five other shows.
This offer, however, isn't being extended to those who got into the show hours late - like Lyndsea Hickman, 23, of Huntington Beach, who went in a limo with a group of friends to celebrate her birthday.
They didn't make it to the lawn seating until nearly 11 p.m. She heard only a half-dozen songs before having to head back into traffic for another three hours.
"They need more entrances to the parking lot," she said. "It was so confusing because there were just cars everywhere, and no one around to direct traffic."
Terlizzi says people who found themselves in such predicaments should submit their story in writing or call Clear Channel. "We'll have to consider them on a case-by-case basis, (but) we're not going to turn a blind eye to this."
Yet the solution isn't satisfying everyone.
"That's very nice that they're trying to make it up to us with tickets to another concert, but when am I going to have another chance to see Blink and No Doubt play together?" said Gilliane Holt, 17.
Holt will get part of her wish fulfilled: Monday night, No Doubt's manager invited her to attend tonight's show at Universal Amphitheatre.
