Alnwick Castle Alnwick reviews by real event-goers

Review of Tom Jones Live in Concert

Have been to past events at this location, which were unforgettable (for the right reasons). Tom started 30mins late due to power failure. He gave an outstanding performance. After 50 mins on stage another power failure drew a halt to Toms performance. The location of food vendors and bars, were positioned on either side of stage, we could not hear Sir Tom for the drone of generators. The vendors (usually at the back of the crowd) caused a hazard and hindrence to the individuals trying to get to the front to hear. Loose Cannon were the organisers, who lacked organisation and they appear to neither care or show concern for their responsibility to comply with basic health and safety. No lighting or provisions inplace through the Pastures to exit the event. No fault of Tom Jones or Alnwick Castle. I hope those who are responsible have learnt a valuable lesson.

Review of Tom Jones Live in Concert

The whole event was a complete fiasco! Having banned food and drink the queues were ridiculous, quality of food very poor and the drinks ran out. The lay out of the field was totally inappropriate as we were hemmed in by the food and drink outlets with much of the stage hidden behind the lighting and sound rig. The failure of the power really should not have been a surprise as everything about the organisation was a complete shambles. The whole experience has soured my judgement of what has previously been a great night out regardless of the artist performing.

Review of Tom Jones Live in Concert

Shambolic organisation,which put the county of Nothumberland to shame.

Review of Tom Jones Live in Concert

As you will no doubt be aware Sir Tom sounded great for the time he was on but the organisation of this annual summer event in comparison to previous years was reprehensible.

The usual social crowd with picnics, jovial interactions between groups was replaced by a wall of chairs facing the empty stage for two hours before a warm up act came on. The only thing Loose cannon managed to do was change the mood of a great annual event.

After being frisked on the way in...we notice the castle is obscured by the narrow arena. The inadequate number of bins were full by 5pm leaving litter across the site. The inadequate amount of cider had ran out by 7pm, the inadequate number of larger pumps (9 for 7500 people) saw horrific ques at the bar and the inadequate number of food vans saw long waits for food.

The generator blew - these things happen but there was a delay in response to the matter. So the audience stood, baffled by their experience and got angry.

To make those fairly annoyed by this stage even worst the unlit path back to the street was a mine field of fairly fresh cow ****.

I would like a full refund for my tickets, compensation for paying for food and drinks when we should have been able to bring refreshments and a new pair of sandals. Mine have **** in them. Total compensation due £250 (5xtickets, food/ drink £100 and leather sandals £20)

Review of Tom Jones Live in Concert

A shambles from start to finish. Not allowed to take picnics or drinks in but utterly inadequate provision of ridiculously expensive, poor quality rubbish inside. People power-drinking outside as a result and entering drunk. Long queues to get in because of inadequate and poorly organised marshalling and security (no torches at an out-door evening event??!!). Not enough toilets. Very poorly laid out site that created dangerous pinch-points and not enough width to the audience area. Poor sound quality, especially towards the back. The crowning glory was then the power failures. It was a travesty and I have never felt more dissapointed and ripped-off in my life.

Review of Tom Jones Live in Concert

Tom's support services, i.e. The power supply was shocking! Tom was 40 minutes late starting and only managed to entertain for 1 hour before the electrics failed again!

Review of Tom Jones Live in Concert

We've attended many events at The Pastures in Alnwick. This has to be the most badly organised event we have ever been to. Over the years we have always been allowed to bring our picnics and drinks into the pastures, so we would normally arrive early and meet up with many friends and family and make this event the social date of the year. For some reason Loose Cannons issued a ban on food and drink, promising that there would be plenty of opportunity to purchase food and drink at the event. So as unhappy as we were about it, with tickets already purchased, we decided to have food and drink before walking down to the event for about 6.30 pm. On arrival we were actually not searched, I know some people were, we found a good spot next to the stage. There was actually only two bars in operation with only a few food outlets. To get to the bar you had to walk through the audience and then stand in long queues waiting for a minimum of 20 mins to get served. The bar soon ran out of draught beer and cider and other drinks. There seemed to be adequate number of toilets, only two industrial bins in sight for rubbish which soon became overflowing and therefore rubbish was left all over the place. There seemed to be no area for wheelchair users who got caught up in the crowds. There were no screens, so those people at the back could neither see or hear the music. There was certainly no consideration given to health and safety issues. Sir Tom eventually took to the stage at about 9.10 pm (40 mins later than anticipated), who apologised for the delay which he said was due to a problem with the power. After about 50 mins, half way through a song, the power went off on stage and a bewildered looking Sir Tom was whisked away. 20 mins later an announcement was made to say that there was power failure which was of a local nature and that Sir Tom had left the arena, thank you and goodnight! So, 8,000 people had to leave the site in darkness, apart from the Castle being lit up in the background. There was no exit signs to be seen, there was no stewards to show people out, it must of been quite harrowing for those who didn't know the layout of the pastures. Also, people were being charged £3 to park in the field, which has always been free parking. People were falling over, the pastures is very rough ground, normally used for grazing cows. The whole organisation was completely shambolic, disgraceful and unprofessional, and we will never attend another event involving this Company. Some of our friends had come up from London for the night, like many other audience members who had travelled miles to see Sir Tom.

Sir Tom was just amazing! Such a shame he was cut short. The loss of power was purely down to the bad organisation of Loose Cannons. It is their responsibility, they need to offer an apology and refunds to everyone and stop blaming third parties.

Review of Tom Jones Live in Concert

The event was dreadful, not because of Tom Jones, who I am sure was doing his best despite the terrible problems with the electrical supply. Anywhere not near the front and you couldn't hear the music. Everyone was herded into one area and it was nigh on impossible to get through the mass of bodies either to the toilets or to the catering stalls. There was not enough food and drink to go round, the prices were exorbitant and there were not enough stalls or staff to cope with the demand. The third power failure - NOT a local power cut as claimed - was the final straw for everyone as well as Sir Tom. There were no walkways or staff to help with people trying to leave the venue. I have tried to contact the organisers to no avail. I want a full refund for the eight tickets I bought for this disastrous event.

Review of Tom Jones Live in Concert

Absolute shambles the concert was badly organised from start to finish, we where looking forward to having a good time. power cuts 3 times , the queues to get a drink and something to eat. then to top it all we had to cross a dark un-lit field this was the tin hat on a disappointing night .£90.00 I might have just burnt my money or thrown away.

Review of Tom Jones Live in Concert

I have been to many concerts at Alnwick Castle before with no problems but this concert was bad from the outset. We couldn't park on the field as expected and had to walk quite a long way to the concert ground. We were seated 3/4 way up the field and the sound quality was so poor we couldn't hear Sir Tom talking to the audience at all. Diesel fumes from the food vans wafted there way over us - very unpleasant. On other occasions we could take our own picnics and the atmosphere was brilliant, this time unless you were right at the front there was no atmosphere. The food and drink stalls should have been at the back of the field giving more room for the audience to sit nearer the stage. The disabled car park was so far away from the concert area it was embarrassing. There was a lot of time with no one on stage and poor background music. Sir Tom did not come onto the stage until 9.10pm and only played around an hour and 10 minutes. The power then went off and we were left with a man telling us to drive home carefully and good night! We then had to walk very unsteadily back to our cars in the dark. It was very dangerous walking alongside the road as there were no lights at all and the pavement was small and un even. This was meant to be a present for my husbands Birthday and we were so disappointed on many points that it spoilt our night. Then we had to drive 60 miles home feeling very let down. I took insurance out when booking the tickets, will I be able to claim my money back?

Review of Tom Jones Live in Concert

Poor organisation, a picnic ban, understaffed and understocked bars, and then Tom Jones barely sang 45mins cut short apparently because their generator cut off. Top it off there were no fireworks :(

Review of Tom Jones Live in Concert

A group of three of us came to see Tom Jones at Alnwick Pastures , we live at Belford and have been to the Pastures concerts for a number of years , with great success and enjoyment.
We paid £38.00 each as we got tickets early ( not knowing there would be a ban on picnics)
We paid £10 each for a bus .
May I take this opportunity to say that the organisers "Loose Cannon "has failed on all levels to make this event enjoyable.
Firstly the ban on food and replacing it with not enough and overpriced food vendors that was insufficient for the amount of people , the size of the area was smaller than previous years ,there were no speakers mid-field so the sound was like background music at the back and no screens ( couldn't see the artist !?)
There was no atmosphere from start to finish and although Sir Tom Jones was great he was late on due to the first power, and the we only got to hear a snip-it as he was cut short with the second power failure .
Ten minuets we waited for someone to come up with an excuse that there was a power failure in the area !! The Castle and Alnwick clearly had lights !? We were then left to find our way out ... In darkness as a huge crowd , with no guidance to a bottleneck fenced area that was used for putting wrist bands on at the beginning! How no one got hurt was pure luck , we even witnessed people helping a lady in a in wheelchair as there were no staff to help. The field was uneven , dark and covered in fresh cow-pat! You have in one evening ruined this successful event !and made it a shambles . I'm well aware that things go wrong , but when dealing with this type of event you have plan B and even C ???
Your health and safety was appalling !.My friends and I require a refund , as you didn't provide us with the event / experience we paid for.
Tracy Bell

Review of Tom Jones Live in Concert

ABSOLUTE SHAMBLES, APART FROM FIASCO OF POWER, VARIOUS H&S ISSUES IE NO FLOOD LIGHTS TO ENABLE PEOPLE TO GET OFF THE FIELDS SAFELY, NO SEGREGATION OF CARS AND PEOPLE ON FOOT. RUBBISH ALL OVER THE PLACE, MASSIVE QUEUES FOR FOOD AND DRINKS.. SAW ONE WOMEN STAND IN A COW PAT AND AN ELDERLY COUPLE WITH A WALKING FRAME REALLY STRUGGLING, AND ONE WOMEN FALL OVER

Review of Tom Jones Live in Concert

Let me start by saying I have attended nearly all the events held in previous years at The Pastures beneath Alnwick castle and they have been absolutely fantastic so I wasted no time in purchasing tickets (first release - £38.50 plus £4.10 booking fee, total £42.60) when it was announced Sir Tom Jones was coming to Alnwick. The next week, the local press told us that the organisers were not allowing us to take picnics/drinks into the ground on the night which was a massive disappointment and Loose Cannon Production's first massive mistake in my eyes. Nevertheless, I was still looking forward to the concert immensely despite finding out on the day that we were being charged £3 to park - second big mistake! We arrived fairly early at around 5pm and were herded to the middle of the field quite far from the stage, we weren't allowed further forward because we had seats. There were people in wheel chairs near us and they were told there was no provision for them whatsoever and they had to be in the same area as us - disgusting treatment in my eyes - we had to stand to see - they couldn't!! The three support acts were good but we couldn't hear well as the sound was poor and there was no big screen so how the people behind us heard/saw anything is a miracle. There were lots of "gaps" where all we had to listen to was music that had been pre-recorded. As people kept arriving, it was obvious there was not enough room due to the layout i.e the concessions were far too close and we were bunched like sardines! The concessions were poorly staffed and very expensive with the average queueing time 25/30 mins....roughly the same for the toilets at the busiest times! Then they ran out of wine and some beers long before Sir Tom came on - surely you know how many tickets were sold so why not bring enough of everything! The stewards tried hard to keep walk ways clear but they were very young and inexperienced and seemed to give up!!
Then there was the first "power failure" as Sir Tom was about to start which delayed his start by around 25/30 minutes...technical hitch! It happens!! Sir Tom eventually got started and was brilliant.....alas he was just really getting going when some 45 minutes in the stage was plunged into darkness once again. By now all the crowd were fed up at this series of management errors and boos rang out. After some 10 minutes a spokesperson came out and said that due to "local power failure" the show couldn't go on and that Sir Tom had left! More boos and then total abandonment by everyone on the management team meant a half mile walk for concert goers in pitch darkness to taxis that were being denied pick up access....what a total and utter mess, I will never attend any event again that is being organised by Loose Cannon productions, who, as far as I am concerned, simply saw the evening as a chance to make an absolute fortune out of the hard-working public without any regard for their well-being or safety and I will be asking for a full refund of my 3 tickets!!

Review of Tom Jones Live in Concert

Very disappointed, the area for viewing and catering was cramped with catering placed far to close to viewing making it congested to access. Two power cuts the second one resulting in the remainder of the show being cancelled, I support all other comments that a refund should be provided.

Review of Tom Jones Live in Concert

Terrible from start to finish. Tom Jones was on less than 1 hour. I want a refund.

Review of Tom Jones Live in Concert

Total waste of money. Poor organisation, dreadful sound quality,food and beverage facility poor.

Review of Tom Jones Live in Concert

Paid 90 pounds for 50 minutes, technical issues and a poor venue layout along with being unable to bring own food and drink and having to pay excessive prices ruined the experience. Tom was amazing but I imagine very embarrassed . My ratings don't reflect the artist just the organiser. Plus Alnwick is a fab venue when it's ran by a decent organiser.

Review of Tom Jones Live in Concert

Love Tom he was brilliant although concert ended early due to lighting failure! Poor organisation of field health and safety issues! Will be asking for refund along with lot's of other fans. Ticket purchase ... said my purchase was unsuccessful try again so I tried again to discover later I'd bought 4 tickets instead of the the intended 2 overall very disappointed!

Review of Tom Jones Live in Concert

Loose Cannon Events provided the most shambolic gig I have ever been to. I would never go to an event organised by them. 45min wait to get a drink, ran out of lager early, food was a joke. Numerous power failures which led to the abandonment of the concert after Tom had only been on stage for 45 mins. Tom was awesome but we only saw a little bit of him. It was so badly organised that it made news on Radio 2 and numerous online forums.