Hastings Pier Hastings reviews by real event-goers

Review of Outdoor Tribute Festival comes to Hastings!

there were 11 acts originally listed for this event. only 4 turned up with 3 replacements. Only giving one star for the music as acts that we saw (left early) were decent, especially Elton.

Was denied taking a water bottle on site, even when empty, so with no readmission allowed were forced to purchase on site unless you can last up to 10 hours without food or water.

wasn't as described, wasn't very enjoyable overall, and will never return.

Review of Outdoor Tribute Festival comes to Hastings!

Very disappointing...
Very pleased we didn't buy VIP tickets, as they were behind the stage!!!
Beer Very over priced.
No water available, not allowed to leave venue and re-enter.
Security heavy handed.
Bands advertised no show!
Only a few.... so long gaps in between performances.
Published as fantastic visual effects... not so.

Review of Outdoor Tribute Festival comes to Hastings!

Great music and venue, but totally ruined for many people by poor management. We were greatly disappointed with the overall management of the event. There should have been an area at the front cordoned off for people sitting on the floor or chairs, rather than heavy handed security staff banishing them to the very back of the arena. For older people like us and those with young children and babies, it is not possible to stand for long periods. Very little thought has gone into this. Add to that very few food stalls creating huge queues for food, a bar that ran out of drinks, very few toilets and not allowing re-entry, all in all this was very disappointing when it could easily have been one of the best events around. The management need to have a very close look at how this was organised, because if it is the same in future I won't be attending. Good job you weren't managing a brewery celebration.

Review of Outdoor Tribute Festival comes to Hastings!

The worst festival I have ever been to the security were thugs didn't have a clue what they were doing it was badly organized. Only 4 of the advertised tribute acts were there . The food and drink stalls ran out never stayed to the end. Would never go again feel free to use this review on trust piolet as my daughters have already put it on there

Review of Outdoor Tribute Festival comes to Hastings!

Someone has already said s**t show but I want to use it too ! Let's start with signposting - today's event clashed with Pride which wouldn't have been a problem if there was some communication .... When we arrived at the pier we were told the event was actually at the Oval but when we got to the Oval we were told that it was at the pier ! We joined the queue way before the publicised gate opening time of 12 o'clock only to wait until 1230 to be let in ! The security staff were over zealous in their approach to checking for food and drink, even taking my mini squash bottle !! That's when the problems started - there was no water available to fill our water bottles which breaches the law - all licensed events have to provide free tap water (but don't have to supply a container) I messaged the pier immediately and have yet to receive a reply !
We weren't allowed to take in food and we're promised a variety of street food vendors - there were 3 (plus doughnuts) I waited 30 minutes to place and order and 40 more minutes to get a burger ! There was no wine available to start and the draught beer ran out by 2pm (also there were no visible prices posted at the bar !!) only 4 of the advertised acts performed and many of the others weren't good at all ! The toilets wait times were silly and they often lacked loo roll and hand gel !! Also from a safety perspective I don't know how you would evacuate that number of people past the stage (which is where any fire would be likely to start !!) I would expect a full refund for all 8 tickets please !

Review of Outdoor Tribute Festival comes to Hastings!

absolutely would not recommend drinks were well over priced . music line up was not the same tribute acts weren't all that either seen a lot better

Review of Outdoor Tribute Festival comes to Hastings!

Obviously anything outdoor in the uk is a risk, and being a typical uk summer it was for the most part a chilly and windy day. We hadn't overdressed in case it warmed up, so It would have been nice if there was some shelter provided, and might be a good idea for future events, just somewhere to get out of the wind, or even rain if it comes, or boiling hot sun if that were the case!!
It seems a fair few people left early due to the weather conditions, and whilst we stuck it out to the end we were frozen! It also seems that quite a few of the promised tribute acts were no shows, which was in itself disappointing as we'd been looking forward to seeing them. The Beatles tribute act was amazing, and they all got us dancing, but the standard of singing we a couple of them was shall we say .. disappointing🫤
Shoutout to the security people who were plentiful and on the ball, sorting any problems out quickly.
Food wise a massive shoutout and thumbs up to the donut and crepe stands. Efficient, reasonably priced, those girls worked like trojans. Other stands were ridiculous!!! Not enough food or drink so kept running out, massive queues because they weren't working fast enough, and on the whole just not enough stalls open or choices of food.
The tickets thankfully were a very good price, if they hadn't been I would have probably left a less favourable review, and the parking situation is horrendous!! Why all the four hour max along the roads, and no electronic signage stating which car parks are full, and which have spaces?? Also no one way system in the massive car park on the front, so people were waiting and others were cutting in from other directions!
On the whole it was all the people there who made it. People chatting, laughing, sharing and supporting each other, the British at their best.

Review of Outdoor Tribute Festival comes to Hastings!

Review of Outdoor Tribute Festival comes to Hastings!

Not enough bands that were advertised . Drink ran out !! Hadley organised x

Review of Outdoor Tribute Festival comes to Hastings!

VIP Ticket, had to queue, VIP bar long queues, quicker at the regular bar. VIP Bar behind the stage!!! Could not see or hear. Artists poor, more effort should be spent on quality of the musician rather than what they look like... 8 VIP toilets massive queue's. Absolutely nothing VIP about the experience at any level. Such a disappointment. Oh and let's not forget running out of draught beer. Shocking. I will be looking for a refund on the VIP element. Left early with lots of others!

Review of Outdoor Tribute Festival comes to Hastings!

Extortionate prices, awful toilets, not enough food vendors. Should be allowed re-entry as 10 hours too long to be confined to venue. More details should be published prior to event.

Review of Outdoor Tribute Festival comes to Hastings!

Review of Outdoor Tribute Festival comes to Hastings!

The event was appalling. Long waits between acts, who were mediocre at best. The worst aspect though was the security: they went around in groups and acted like a bunch of thugs. It was a family event and people were enjoying themselves, yet I saw such things as a gang of them standing in front of people, threatening them because they were sitting down. I saw another gang of security stop and threaten a man who was reenacting the Australian break dancer to his friends. This sort of thing went on all evening. They were a bunch of thugs whose power had gone to their heads. Talk about fun police.
And I'm a retired police officer myself but I would have lost my job if I had treated people like that.
You need to sort the organisation of your events out.

Review of Outdoor Tribute Festival comes to Hastings!

Very poorly organised some acts didn't perform and so did that weren't on the list
Queues for food were awful as hardly any food huts open drinks very over prices and ran out of draught beer bout 3 pm
Over all not the experience I was expecting

Review of Outdoor Tribute Festival comes to Hastings!

No food or drink (including water) allowed ..! No free water available. Single vodka & c**e £9.50. Festival started at 1pm - they had run out of beer and wine by 3:40pm ... concert supposed to last till 10pm ..! No readmittance allowed - not even to go home to get my coat as the wind on end of port was freezing. No set list announced or available even half way through the co cert ..! Security completely OTT - rude and aggressive - half of food stalls shut - no vegan food - despite being discouraged from brining chairs unless needed for medical reasons - told by security not to sit in the floor - we are supposed to stand for 10 hours ... rubbish over all - would not go back to another event.

Review of Outdoor Tribute Festival comes to Hastings!

Worst organisation ever ran out of beer and wine by 3 food was terrible but by far the worst thing was the bullying and abusive security making it up to suit themselves we were told we could sit on floor half way through told we all had to stand they went around taking sweets from children and mob handedly evicting people who had anything to say never go there again.

Review of Outdoor Tribute Festival comes to Hastings!

Poor information about no food allowed we also had 3 children's in our group we arrived early and set up in front of the stage everything was fine saw 3acts and was then told by security that because we had babies in a buggies that we had to go to the rear of the crowd or be excourted from the venue the other children in our party where then unable to see the performance due to the people in front of us no signs stating this before the show started we were charged full price for children yet victimised this ruined our day being escorted like criminals to the rear by a bunch of burly security guards I have been to many events in my life now being 61 years old and was treating my family and grandchildren to the festival and have never experienced this type of behaviour before also the artist advertised to perform were changed without any notice e.g Bowie and oasis who I particularly wanted to see this was all in all a very poorly organised show that was promoted at a early date and people could have easily been advised of any changes and children restrictions before booking please pass my comments on to the revelant people

Review of Outdoor Tribute Festival comes to Hastings!

Shame we didn't have the schedule of who was playing and when. We arrived at the start but had to miss our favourites because we had sat for 7 hours in howling wind and really couldn't take any more. Had we arrived later we could have lasted longer!!

Review of Outdoor Tribute Festival comes to Hastings!

Organisers changed the last entry time so despite having a valid ticket we weren't allowed to enter. We had checked the line up earlier n the day with a member of staff and no mention of entry time so very poor.

Review of Outdoor Tribute Festival comes to Hastings!

I had been looking forward to this event from when I booked it in February.

It was very poorly organised, and I know for a fact that I will not be the only one sorely disappointed by a sub-standard event.

We came from Essex for this event. The time of the event was stated as being 12.00pm - 10.00pm.

We duly arrived at 12.00pm and despite having our 'queue-jumping' VIP tickets, we had to queue for 40 minutes until security decided to let us in. We found the VIP area and were astounded to see that it overlooked the back of the stage! What was that all about? Sure, we could hear, but we couldn't see a thing!

We asked at the bar for a glass of Prosecco and was told it was £18.00! The downstairs bar was being cleaned and we were told that it wasn't going to open for another two hours, but from what we saw, it never opened at all.

With the amount of people there were, there were only three small kiosks selling and serving food - I joined a queue with about 40 people in front of me and twenty minutes later, there were still about. 40 people in front of me.

By this time we were hungry, and asked a member of security if we could go and get something to eat but were told that we couldn't leave and get back in.

By this time it was 4.30pm, we had been on The Pier for four and a half hours, with no chance of getting anything to eat, and swarms of people were still piling in.

We had 'heard', not 'seen' two tribute acts and the thought of spending another five and a half hours with no food was ridiculous! I also heard on one of the security officers walking-talkie that the main bar had run out of draught beer!

Enough was enough, so we left.

This was an opportunity for a really good day out, and an opportunity for a lot of stalls to make a good deal of money.

In reality, I don't think that I have ever attended a more poorly organised event, and I feel cheated and annoyed that my Bank Holiday weekend was, in effect, ruined!

Lessons to be learned, although I understand that this wasn't the first Music Festival on The Pier.

I am generally not a complainer, but this was a very poor show!