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Bal En Blanc 2008 - Comment From The Producer
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marmstrong
Comment by Michael Armstrong

As organizer of the Bal en Blanc, I am infuriated by reading some of the comments that are making rounds, and that emanate from people who ignore just about everything with regards to the staging this that type of event requires.

The Palais des Congrès is in reality the only viable option for presenting an event of this magnitude. As some people have already mentioned, and they are absolutely right, the legal capacity of a concert hall is not determined solely by its surface area. The number of fire exits and their accessibility, as well as a host of many other factors, all have to be taken into account. Thus, the legal capacity of the central area at the Olympic Stadium is in fact only 7,000 to 8,000 people. The two other rooms (Les Grandes hauteurs) can accommodate a larger crowd (we already presented the event in this particular location when the Palais des Congrès was under renovations) but those rooms are far from offering a comparable quality of environment.

And, what point are you trying to prove with this Hell’s Angels non-sense? Quite frankly, this is really carrying things a bit too far. Bal en Blanc has always made a point of being an inclusive event, open to all without discrimination. How could we change our minds overnight and decide that there are people we do not want to allow on site? If a full-patch member of the Hell’s Angel chooses to buy a ticket and to come to the event, we have no choice but to let him in. If it is anyone’s business to deny him access, it is well and truly that of the police, but rest assured that the Hell’s Angel in question (if he in fact existed) had no option but to go through security and be frisked under the supervision of many police officers. If they did let him in, that was because he was within his rights to come in, like anyone else bearing a ticket. Some of the comments expressed on certain message boards about the Bal en Blanc event and foremost about the organizers reach the limits of defamation and could deserve appropriate legal action if anyone was encline to give this the slightest degree of importance.

As for the long line-up, I state and I repeat, we did not sell a single ticket over the legal capacity previously negotiated with Palais des Congrès, and the City of Montreal Fire Department. The long wait experienced by a number of participants was the result of circumstances beyond our control. We emphasize that those delays were in no way caused by any of the processes that we could control. Ticket check and the cloakroom services ran smoothly throughout the event and those aspects were in no way responsible for the waiting time that occurred. Moreover, additional personnel had been assigned to the coatcheck to make the service as efficient as can be. Nonetheless, despite the fact that we strictly respected the legal capacity allowed to us to do an event at the Palais des Congrès, despite the fact that we reserved two extra rooms this year in order to augment the capacity of the event (one more technical detail: these 2 rooms, located at the end of the Trance Room, were accessible during previous editions, but renting them this year formalized access to the emergency exists that they contain), lines failed to move for quite some time owing to a number of factors.

First, the City of Montreal police decided to carry out much stricter body search procedures than over the previous years. It was only after our repeated complaints that they agreed to allow security agents to skip certain stages of the frisk, thereby speeding up the flow at the entrance. And although those procedures are the subject of detailed negotiations each year, prior to the date of event, we are subjected to the level of contingencies that the police feels appropriate to apply once they get on the premises.

Furthermore, the intervention of the City of Montreal Fire Services also had an effect of interrupting participants’ gaining admission. Once again, the legal capacity of the space we leased is the subject each year of extensive negotiations prior to the date of the event. When the Fire Department representatives arrived on site, they judged that, despite the fact that the designated capacity was fully respected, participants were not spread out evenly enough through the rooms. Those representatives felt that people were too closely packed together on the dancefloors, and this was the reason invoked to stop new participants from coming in. At the time when the negotiations concerning capacity were under way, it goes without saying that the authorities were fully aware that this type of event is first and foremost party-and-dance-oriented.

Although we wish to emphasize that the safety of all participants can never be anything but a number-one priority, the nature of the excuses given in this case leaves us very much conspicuous.

One can only wonder about the degree of determination demonstrated by the authorities each year to undermine the efforts of organizers of such events. and in the process discourage them from staging productions such as Bal en Blanc. At the same time, those services choose to undermine the liberties of all fans of electronic dance music by denying them the existence of a culture and a lifestyle that these fans endorse.

The White Party Week Organization wishes to show its appreciation to all the participants who were wronged by this unforeseen delay to access the venue, and we strongly thank everyone for their patience.
Marcus007
The Hells Angel thing is just bull... it doesn't matter what patch he has on... he still has a right to party, pay taxes and whatever else he wants to do...

The capacity issue is annoying too... what is the legal capacity of palais? I know the Big O is out of the question-due to their only being one large room-but is there another venue which could suit BEB's needs?

Very well written... a+
kanaBEATya
Nicely written. But now that you have experienced 2 years of "line-ups" because of things out of your control, why not just simply reduce the ticket sales? Instead of 15,000 sell for 14,000 or 13,000. So you lose a little money. In the long run it's probably worth in exchange of your event's reputation and the satisfaction of your clients. And the sooner they get into the event, the sooner they will buy 8$ red bulls, get massages, etc... you'll recoup some money there... ;)
jouxyz
Markus,

The Big O has actually 2 rooms to rent, fo a legal capacity of up to 13 000+ people. The big difference between the Big O and the "Palais de congrès" is that it was designed to get loads of people in FAST (Baseball, Football, concerts !!!). Have you ever heard about someone waiting 3 hours to get into a rock concert at the Olympic Stadium??

The problem at that time of the year is that it's not available for rental.
Alex
Yes Mr. BeB please sue members of TA for dissing your event.
Enjoy
"infuriated" by the Internets?

heh
Spin Laden
quote:
Originally posted by kanaBEATya
Nicely written. But now that you have experienced 2 years of "line-ups" because of things out of your control, why not just simply reduce the ticket sales? Instead of 15,000 sell for 14,000 or 13,000. So you lose a little money.



nah, I say we the attendees deserve the proverbial slap in the face as Bal en Blanc should simply raise ticket prices to curb demand. These guys are all about greed :rolleyes:

Again, the place was jammed at midnight even with the marshalls slowing down the lineup. You guys cannot be trusted and need to be watched :whip: :whip:

Have a nice day :gsmile:
kanaBEATya
ya imagine how 'infuriated' everyone who waited 3-4 hours to get in was........
kanaBEATya
quote:
Originally posted by Spin Laden
nah, I say we the attendees deserve the proverbial slap in the face as Bal en Blanc should simply raise ticket prices to curb demand. These guys are all about greed :rolleyes:


i actually did think about suggesting that...... hehe
Spin Laden
Well, thst's what Malek suggested and there was enough demand to raise tickets somewhat. After the last two years, that would be a slap, imo. They just have to learn the capacity threshold of the Palais, give them another 14 Bal en Blancs and maybe they'll figure it out by then :p

elFreak


ban
mizza318
I really don't know why Bal En Blanc even bothers with the 50 or so people that go to their events from TA and do nothing but bitch.

Every friggen promoter or person who knew a thing or two suggested to go early, but people are always too ignorant.
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