An Open Letter to Festival Supreme
This past weekend my boyfriend and I attended Festival Supreme on the Santa Monica Pier in L.A. My BF got the two $250 V.I.P. tickets for his birthday and we were ecstatic as the festival boasted an amazing line-up including: Adam Sandler, Zach Galifinakis, Sarah Silverman, Fred Armisan, Tencious D (Jack Black's band with surprise guest The Lonely Island), Craig Robinson, The Mighty Boosh, Eric Idle, & Triumph the Insult Comic Dog (with surprise guest Conan O'Brien).
Now this was not a cheap trip for us as we were traveling from just outside of Vancouver, B.C., Canada. Not to mention the ticket prices were nothing to be trifled with. General admission was $99 which is fair enough seeing as the line-up was so star-studded. But for an extra whopping $150 dollars you got a separate entrance (but they let everyone in at the same time anyways), and your own bar (which is useless for my BF and I as we don't drink), and your own toilet area which is pretty good if you're a girl but still not worth $150. So V.I.P. tickets = not worth it.
First off, my boyfriend had a cheap $100 camera around his neck that was in no way professional video equipment but it was one of the bigger black ones. This one, however, has no removeable lenses nor does the lens come off, and he literally bought it at Wal-Mart. But the security guard would not let him in with it saying it "takes better quality photos" and "doesn't fit in his pocket." My BF asks if there are any lockers inside in which he can put the camera then. The security guard says no. Let me remind everyone that this is the VIP line-up and this security guard is kicking people out right, left, and centre for having water bottles (which on the website were allowed as long as they were 1 litre and under), and for having backpacks (which we saw many people carrying in the festival). As we say to him that we have no car to drop our stuff off in and we have traveled so far my BF attempts to put the camera in his pocket as this was the security guards rule of camera allowance. My BF is successful. It fits inside his pocket fine. And the security guard turns around and says "throw the batteries away then." YEAH. THE NERVE RIGHT? We object immediately saying how he can't all of a sudden just change the rules to his whim and he backs down and lets us enter. Here's the kicker. Not only did many general admission people have huge backpacks etc. THERE WAS AN ENTIRE AREA OF LOCKERS FOR FREE FOR PUBLIC USE. Suffice it to say that security guard needs to be fired. Or, y'know, actually have a staff meeting so everyone knows what's sort of maybe going on a little bit. #toomuchtoask?
The factor that made our experience there so dreadful was the extreme lack of any sort of organization/coordination of this event. First of all they sold way way way too many tickets. There were over 9,000 people on the small area of the pier that was sectioned off for the festival. Like, if I was ever wondering what it felt like to be simultaneously cattle and sardines I now know. The walkway to Club Intimacy, where many amazing acts performed, led right through the toilet line area, and right past The Mighty Tent stage which should have been roped off to hinder people from literally stopping right in the middle of the walkway to watch what was happening on stage. We literally hit deadlock trying to walk 25 metres to the next stage. Horrible. People around us were not impressed and it started to create a very aggressive atmosphere.
The real kicker is that we traveled all this way and my BF was so psyched to see Demtri Martin in Club Intimacy, which was apparently aptly named as it was too small to hold everyone who wanted to be in there. As my BF and I waited in line we were told by a shouting security guard that it was full and no one else was getting in. Remind me again why we got these V.I.P. tickets? Ohhh right right. For the golden toilets. Totally worth it. I mean that's why I'm here right.
Me? I was super pumped for Zach Galifinakis. On the original schedule his slot was 7-7:30. I think it was changed from 7-7:15. He came on at 7:01. He was done at 7:10. While he was funny when on stage, I was left feeling completely unfulfilled and cheated by such a ridiculously short set. Not cool.
Then of course there was the technical debacle with Adam Sandler's set audio seeping straight into the Mr. Show's set, so for the first 10 minutes you couldn't even hear David Cross or Bob Odenkirk's show.
All in all I would not go again unless they changed the location, added better incentives for VIP ticket holders, and actually organized themselves a little bit. I realize that it was a first year festival and there are always some kinks to work out, but it was just atrocious.
I will say that the acts performing were awesome, and getting to see surprise guest Conan was so cool. Either way it was most definitely an experience to remember.
