|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
By: Maya Mackey
Thousands of people flew in to Philadelphia to attend the annual Roots Picnic hosted by the band. A seamlessly soulful music festival that books legacy acts as well as up and coming artists. The Roots Picnic has evolved since its humble beginnings in 2008, the size of a neighborhood block party. But this year, let’s just say things went South.
On May 31st, day one of the festival the concert grounds were slated to open at noon but bad weather delayed the entry process by hours. The Roots posted to their official Instagram page apologizing to their fans but people aren’t having it! It’s not just that they had to wait over 5 hours to get inside the venue but that fans were denied water, food, and bathroom usage as well. There also was a complete lack of adequate safety officials as reported by a nurse in the Instagram comments who detailed how a man passed out and it took over an hour to get proper medical response. People who paid for VIP packages walked in hours beyond what they anticipated only to have no screen in their section and the music quality being subpar, notes another attendee. To add even more fuel to the fire, The Roots (or at least their PR team), posted a subpar apology note explaining that the weather was the cause for the delay and that they still “allowed” all booked artists to play their set so nobody truly missed out. An incredibly dense response as no sane person is blaming the Roots for bad weather. But a rain storm does not explain the lack of amenities, security or First Aid help on the campgrounds. The comment section got so heated under the apology post that the band’s comment section disabled the comment feature. That hasn’t stopped attendees though – the pissed off concert goers have flooded a clip of Miguel singing his hit “Adorn” with hundreds of rageful comments demanding a refund, not only of the festival tickets but lodging and airfare as well. Some are even threatening to start a Class Action Lawsuit against Live Nation and The Roots for the physical, emotional and financial damage they endured.
Thankfully The Roots have a full time gig with Jimmy Fallon cause they’re likely to be hurting for money in a minute. With the future of the Roots Picnic at standstill, we hope this catastrophe is brought to a resolve quickly.
