The Oval (Hastings) Hastings reviews by real event-goers

Review of Boogie By The Sea

Too long a gap between artists.
Queuing system was ridiculous, which put groups behind. So Boney M was meant to be 1 hour but only 40 minutes

Review of Boogie By The Sea

Review of Boogie By The Sea

Can't wait to go bCk

Review of Boogie By The Sea

Great music by Boney M, Sister Sledge, and Billy Ocean. Soul II Soul were a bit abrasive and criticised the audience for not participating more - most of us didn't know the music they were playing - and it was early in the evening. Sister Sledge put on an amazing show!
The food and drink on offer was very disappointing. No hot drinks available, no pastries, cakes. Too many 'jerk' chicken stalls, a stall selling Greek food, another with Dutch pancakes, panninis and not much else. There were long queues the whole evening for food, so obviously not enough stalls were on site. It would have been nice to have been allowed to bring a flask of coffee and some snacks on site.
The offering of the drinks from the bar was severely lacking in choice. Only cans of berry cider, Corona and Red Stripe, though it was encouraging that 0% alcohol heiniken was sold.
The bass sound was rather booming - in fact, when we left and walked round to our car, the sound was better from the back of the stage than from where we were standing at the festival field.
Luckily the weather was dry and reasonably warm, especially as it took 40 minutes or more from 3.50pm to get into the festival.
To sum up - more food choices and stalls (Thai, Buttermilk Chicken, British pies, Coffee and pastries/cakes), traditional apple cider from barrels not cans, better sound mix, more organised to allow faster entry.

Review of Boogie By The Sea

Review of Boogie By The Sea

Preference beer on tap and local. Drink was very highly priced considering it was in cans. Understand why, as cost are high. But something to look at maybe team up with local brewers. Was a top night, would highly recommend. Hopefully you will return next year.

Review of Boogie By The Sea

Review of Boogie By The Sea

Whilst the venue and the artists were very good. It was poorly organised in that there was an hour delay in entering. Which caused the acts to be on later than scheduled. The food stalls were very limited, with poor choice 3 of them being the same food. We had to que for over an hour for food which meant we missed one of the artists. We were unable to find any water stations, but were told there was one located by the toilets but no signs to show this was there, and never saw it first or last.
The stage was good, but it was lacking screens either side which meant we unable to see the artist being far back from the stage.
Overall it was a good day out. This is the first event I believe by this company, and hopefully they'll learn from this event and it will be better organised next time.

Review of Boogie By The Sea

Badly organised. Lack of signage for VIP area. Set times significantly reduced. Extremely overpriced drinks and food. Poor if any communication from organisers. Several people had to leave early due to dietary requirements as only 2 days prior to event were people given any information including not being able to take food and water in. Only saving grace were the Artists.

Review of Boogie By The Sea

It took much too long to get into the venue which made the start late .
Sadly as a result of the inadequate entry system Boney M only did a short slot.

Review of Boogie By The Sea

So, the music was great. The organisation however was poor. Nowhere did it state that gates wouldn't be open til gone 4. In fact you'd said that the first act would start at 4? The volume of security was ridiculous and we were herded around hundreds of barriers. You had declared that no food or drink was permitted to be brought in yet there were hardly any food vendors so the queues were crazy. Surely you should have calculated the volume of tickets sold and arranged food vendors proportionately?

Review of Boogie By The Sea

Review of Boogie By The Sea

Review of Boogie By The Sea

Review of Boogie By The Sea

So disappointed by this event especially only booking to see Boney M and they did 4 songs - ended up leaving after queuing for food which had not moved in 20 minutes so left

Also health and safety wise it was a disgrace with the exit from VIP being blocked by people sitting on chairs

£3 for a paper cup of flat Diet Pepsi

No recommendation here did not even get any announcement from anyone as to why acts were running late

Poorly organised poorly executed

Review of Boogie By The Sea

Good location, getting into the venue took 3/4 hr...which wasn't great. Price for drinks extortionate, warm as well.

Review of Boogie By The Sea

Not one seat anywhere to sit and eat food! And Q too long to get in if your are unable to walk that far! Needs some disabled access and disabled toilet

Review of Boogie By The Sea

It was a fabulous evening Billy Ocean was amazing.

Review of Boogie By The Sea

Review of Boogie By The Sea

Excellent evening. Would prefer running water to wash hands.