Review: Magic Summer Live - Hatfield House
Magic FM's first ever Magic Summer Live in the surroundings of Hatfield house. The rain kept pouring, with brief interludes of sunshine, making for a very muddy field, but it didn't dampen the spirits of most people there.
There were two stages, Main Stage for music from Wonderland, Rumer, The Overtones, The Pierces, Lighthouse Family and Elton John.
West End Stage for musicals (think West End Live but on a bigger stage) Million Dollar Quartet, Jersey Boys, Wicked, We Will Rock You and Mamma Mia.
I'm going to be perfectly honest, it was possibly the worst organised event I have been to in a long time.
You think they would put on more than 12 food and drink stalls to cater for the thousands of people who were attending.
Some people were queuing for 2 hours for a burger or chips, which were incredibly over priced for what you got.
There was no shelter from the rain, even in the so called "VIP" areas, which you payed extra to get into.
With grandstand seating, you think this would be covered as you pay extra, but no, you get just as wet as everybody else, along with queuing for food and drinks, toilets etc etc. You don't feel like a VIP at all!
Even getting to the venue by car was a shambles, some reports of waiting for 3 hours to get in the car park, therefore missing acts that had been on stage.
Don't even get me started on the sound quality of the main stage... OK, well here goes... Terrible!
For such a large area as this, you need more speakers, don't just plonk them at the stage end and hope for the best, because if you stand more than 150 meters away, you cant hear anything. Delay stacks are essential in this kind of set up, but were sadly missing, so due to the air pressure, levels were going loud and quiet, and you really couldn't hear anything unless you were down the front.
The West End Stage was much better due to being smaller and having a smaller footprint. Couldn't fault this at all. All the acts were great, this is standard from West End shows, was lovely to see and hear them all.
Main stage acts were brilliant, with Elton John headlining with his band and doing all the usual hits you come to expect, Elton is one of the best showmen out there, and never fails to disappoint.
Final thoughts? - Great music, but awful sound and organisation. Needs to re-planned if doing this event in the future.
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| Elton John Photo by Steve Stubbs |
West End Stage for musicals (think West End Live but on a bigger stage) Million Dollar Quartet, Jersey Boys, Wicked, We Will Rock You and Mamma Mia.
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| Neil Fox Presenter Magic 105.4 and Kian from Westflife Photo by Steve Stubbs |
You think they would put on more than 12 food and drink stalls to cater for the thousands of people who were attending.
Some people were queuing for 2 hours for a burger or chips, which were incredibly over priced for what you got.
 |
| Wonderland Photo by Steve Stubbs |
With grandstand seating, you think this would be covered as you pay extra, but no, you get just as wet as everybody else, along with queuing for food and drinks, toilets etc etc. You don't feel like a VIP at all!
Even getting to the venue by car was a shambles, some reports of waiting for 3 hours to get in the car park, therefore missing acts that had been on stage.
 |
| The Overtones Photo by Steve Stubbs |
For such a large area as this, you need more speakers, don't just plonk them at the stage end and hope for the best, because if you stand more than 150 meters away, you cant hear anything. Delay stacks are essential in this kind of set up, but were sadly missing, so due to the air pressure, levels were going loud and quiet, and you really couldn't hear anything unless you were down the front.
 |
| We Will Rock You Photo by Steve Stubbs |
Main stage acts were brilliant, with Elton John headlining with his band and doing all the usual hits you come to expect, Elton is one of the best showmen out there, and never fails to disappoint.
Final thoughts? - Great music, but awful sound and organisation. Needs to re-planned if doing this event in the future.
