Dixie Chicks Mission Concert promoters are taking the bad with the good as they try to make an even better night-out next time around, despite the widespread acclaim for Saturday's big event.
Mission Estate Winery CEO Peter Holley said yesterday that while the response from people in the crowd of well over 20,000 was mainly positive, he was aware of concerns about such things as excessive queues for loos, booze and food, some expressed directly in emails, or in social media such as facebook.
Some extended the concerns to drunkenness and other behaviour of other concertgoers, smoking, and the difficulty mounting the hillside, and the time taken to get out of the venue afterwards, one claiming it took an hour and 30 minutes.
Mr Holley said he knew there were some people who didn't have the "most pleasant of experiences," and promoters had to take it all "on-board" in the continually changing environment, where "every concert has its differences."
He said that every big event he had been to, including concerts and sports events in stadiums with permanent amenities, had queues, but he added: "I do accept waiting 40 minutes in a queue is too long."
Mission Estate and the promoters will look at all issues, among them location of food and liquor sites, and how to avoid the way the outlets were "hammered" in the rush from the gates.
There had been a vast shift towards the use of eftpos and pre-order vouchers, which highlighted the changing times, with less ":cash" used on site than before, but there was good news for anyone left with unused vouchers, which are able to be redeemed or reimbursed at the winery or by following instructions on its website.
He was unable to last night to estimate how many but said: "We had one guy from New Plymouth called in with three vouchers. That's the only one I'm personally aware of."
The major change in plans had been the closure of the No 1 VIP carpark becxause of the heavy rain earlier in the week. The decision was made on Friday and plans put in place to shuttle-bus an inestimable number from the Anderson Park alternative.
Meanwhile, the roar of approval that went up when Dixie Chicks frontwoman Natalie Maines introduced members of the touring band on Saturday and named as from Napier - commenting he must be a "local hero" - was a joke at the expense of the crowd, and even the promoters, publicist Sandra Roberts conceding: "It took us by surprise."
The guitarist identified from Napier is, in fact, Keith Sewell, who is Texan. He grew up in Duncanville, which happens to be just over 220km from a Texan locality also named Napier, altough there was no hint that he, or Maines, knew the existence of such a place. It doesn't have a Wikipedia page and is barely mentioned on maps.
The rest of the all-American tour band were drummer Jimmy Paxson, guitarist Justin Weaver, bassist Glenn Fukunaga and keyboardist John Ginty.