Adele concert - transport issues

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> Council warns fans of potential public transport problems for second Adele show

The second Adele concert in Brisbane could cause problems according to Brisbane City Council, due to the reduced public transport services on Sunday night.

Deputy mayor Adrian Schrinner said the final show could be a challenge after a lot of fans relied on normal services to get to the Gabba on Saturday.

A bird's eye view of 60,000 people pouring into the Gabba to watch Adele perform on Saturday night.

However, Cr Schrinner said Sunday concert-goers wouldn't be able to rely on regular services, due to the reduced timetable.

He said there would be the same number of shuttle services operating and emphasised "it's all about planning ahead" and "knowing how you are getting to and from the venue".

Council received positive reports from the first show on Saturday, with the public transport system coping well with 60,000 commuters converging on Woolloongabba.

Cr Schrinner said everything was going "so far so good" with Operation Adele and praised Queenslanders for planning ahead, after seeing queues forming at shuttle bus stations before the first service even began.

"I think if we hadn't explained to people the importance of planning ahead and travelling early, there would have been a lot of people who would have arrived late and missed the start of the show," he said.

TransLink services were able to clear the backlog of concert-goers leaving the stadium after 10pm within an hour, after traffic chaos greeted fans heading into the CBD.

In a statement, TransLink said it was "very pleased with how the public transport operations performed (Saturday) night".

"We look forward to the challenge of backing up for (Sunday's) event and encourage people heading to the concert to plan ahead."

The deputy mayor also criticised event organisers who he said hadn't covered themselves in glory.

"Selecting the venue seemed to be about cramming as many people in as possible, rather than thinking about the logistics of getting people to and from," he said.

"We would like to sit down with event organisers and make sure venue selection is done appropriately."

[ozbob]

Couriermail --> Adele Brisbane concerts: Public transport passes test

BRISBANE Deputy Mayor and public transport chairman Adrian Schrinner is confident bus services will remain unaffected today after staff were stretched thin at the weekend for Adele's back-to-back concerts.

Cr Schrinner hailed Saturday night's sell-out concert a success after previously warning that the Gabba was an unsuitable venue to host a 60,000-strong crowd.

Adele responded to the venue criticism on Saturday night by telling "moaners" to "shut up".

She repeated the criticism at last night's show, again referencing people "f---ing moaning" about her performing at the Gabba.

"But I've got to say I am absolutely loving playing this venue," she said.

Cr Schrinner said yesterday: "I'm glad that she's taking notice of this sort of stuff.

"Often we get entertainers wake up in a new city each day, not taking a lot of interest in that city.

"Adele's different. She's obviously taken an interest in Brisbane."

Cr Schrinner said it helped that people planned ahead for Saturday's show, with the public lining up before 4.30pm to catch the first of almost 400 shuttle buses to the venue for the 7.30pm start.

"I think if we hadn't explained to people the importance of planning ahead and travelling early, there would have been a lot of people who would've arrived late and missed the start of the show," Cr Schrinner said.

"That didn't happen. We got everyone there on time."

The council had previously put out the call for all available drivers to volunteer for paid shifts to help drive buses for the weekend's shows.

After struggling with the heat on Saturday night, Adele brought in wind machines which she referred to as her "Beyonce fans". She said for that reason she enjoyed the second performance more than the first.

The star leaned in to a camera for a close-up to prove how sweaty she got when leaving the comfort of her fanned zone.

Also at last night's show, a Queensland fan took the opportunity to spruik Australian fashion to Adele.

The fan seated close to the stage gave a letter to the star, which she read out to the crowd.

The note said it was "time to ditch the ballgowns" and wear Camilla instead.

Adele said she couldn't agree more and, while using the letter to fan herself down, said she wouldn't be making the same mistake as last night by changing into a velvet suit.

She kept the note, which she dubbed her "Australia fan".

[ozbob]

Sunday Mail 12th March 2017 page 13

Adele chaos proves our River City got it right

[ozbob]

Brisbanetimes --> 'Sydney couldn't pull off an Adele concert': Deputy mayor laps up applause for Gabba gigs

Nine days after Adele made her final bow at the Gabba, Brisbane's deputy mayor has continued to make some of his own.

Adrian Schrinner did it with the help of LNP colleague Andrew Wines, the Enoggera councillor who can always be counted on during Dixer duty, who served up the softball during Tuesday morning's public and active transport committee.

A bird's eye view of 60,000 people pouring into the Gabba to watch Adele perform on Saturday night.

The deputy mayor had warned of travel trouble ahead of the shows and criticised the choice of the Gabba as a venue, in the process ensuring his name was off Adele's Christmas card list.

"Deputy mayor, often you've been talking about the Adele concerts that occurred at the Gabba in recent weeks and your warning about how if people weren't planning ahead and if the public transport services didn't work properly, there could have been travel chaos," Cr Wines said.

"Can you think of any instances where that may have been the case over recent days?"

Cr Wines, it seems, had been reading the deputy mayor's Twitter feed.

"I never actually suggested that there would be travel chaos – that was done by editors and journalists," Cr Schrinner said, leading to calls of "fake news!" from Labor.

"It's interesting how I was apparently judged by my warnings that there would be travel chaos, when I never actually said there would be travel chaos.

"I said people should plan ahead and it would better if the event was held at a different venue – they're the two things I consistently said.

"Those two things proved to be accurate assessments of the situation. People did plan ahead and people did travel early."

Cr Schrinner then set his sights on Sydney, where Adele had to delay her concert by 45 minutes to allow patrons to get to their seats.

If only they had similar warnings to those he issued in Brisbane, Cr Schrinner mused.

"Now, Sydney's run an Olympics successfully; they had the Adele concert at an Olympic venue, yet they couldn't seem to pull off an Adele concert," he said, without noting that the Gabba was also an Olympic venue.

"I'm not sure why that might be, but I think it might be something to do with the fact that they didn't have a media like we did that was helpful in getting the message out to the community.

"They weren't forewarned by the media and they weren't forewarned by the council or a state government there to travel early."

Enter Labor councillor Jared Cassidy: "If only they had you."

"Exactly," Cr Schrinner said. "Exactly."

Cr Cassidy saw the opportunity of career progression for the ambitious LNP deputy mayor.

"Have you thought about making the move?" he said.

[achiruel]

 And the venue was more than 50% larger, so not really a fair comparison.