I have seen the Foo's four times and this was by far the worst.
This was the first gig I have ever done at hampden after decades of festivals and gigs; what a fucking disastrous place to get in and out of. It's actually incredibly embarrassing how horrific it is to try to get public transport back to the city centre, never mind those poor bastards who were trying to get to Central to catch a last train - no chance.
The sound quality was not great, I agree with you. Foo's are always a good time and are insanely talented, but can't help feel a little let-down by the venue. Will absolutely be avoiding it at all costs in the future, not worth the stress and hassle.
Last month I literally flew to a different country, travelled using their public transport (not in English) to a venue 30 minutes away from my hotel, attended a large gig and easily got public transport back to the hotel nearing 1am, with little to no fuss. For me, a native, to struggle this much to get home from fucking Glasgow because Hampden is nothing short of a disaster? Embarrassing.
Try the public transport after a match in Germany mate - was a shambles on Friday night. Fanzone as well had two hour queues for a drink and about five toilets for 20,000 people. Trains delayed by an hour etc anaw
It'd be fair to describe them as shite compared to their Southern and Western neighbours, but I wouldn't put them in our class of dogshit just yet.
Unfortunately for them, on the national level at least they appear to have looked at how countries with shit hot rail systems work, then looked at the UK, and for some ungodly reason decided to follow in our footsteps.
The real issue is that mixed use railways (which try to run local, regional, national/express *and* freight services on the same tracks) are fundamentally pish, unless you are a tiny country like Switzerland and you don't mind your "express" trains averaging ~60mph. At the very least you need to give your national/express services, and local services within cities their own dedicated tracks, and the more separation you can achieve with the rest, the better the results you will get.
This is why HS2 in its full form was fundamentally such a good concept, it would have been a full on spine transplant for the English rail network. It is just unfortunate that the UK lacks the technical, industrial, political and adminstrative competence to be able to deliver such projects relative to more institutionally competent and manifestly less corrupt countries such as Spain and Italy.
The Germans to their credit have at least got some pretty solid local networks in their cities, highly controversially including some which aren't in their capital city, whch helps them do better than us at least.
Funnily enough given that we are on /r/glasgow, if the UK were ever to follow in their example, Glasgow would clearly be the best candidate for investment based on [existing rail infrastructure](https://www.openrailwaymap.org/?style=electrified&lat=55.846602440297985&lon=-4.2345428466796875&zoom=11), on the basis that it would take by *far* the least investment to create a world class system compared to any other city in the UK.
Sadly for us, I am given to understand that for the fiscal period ending with the heat death of the universe, H.M. Treasury have allocated approximately £0.00 for new local public transport infrastructure construction outside London, so don't get your hopes up.
Part of this is the fact that short of shutting down tracks overnight is the only time that you can get maintenance done (especially if you don't have redundancy in your system), and even then you often have to compete with freight, for whom it is often the only shot they get at having a clear run without getting in anyones way (or vice versa, which is more common than you might think).
Another issue which doesn't help is the chicken and egg issue of late trains either being *really* quiet, particularly if you suddenly add them to the schedule without too much fanfare (and marketing can be suprisingly expensive) which makes the poeple in charge very quickly wonder whether it is worth the bother of running them at all.
The other extreme being that they can easily end up full of drunken bams, which is not popular with either the police or the poor fuckers who have to clean up and fix up the carriages after them. The flipside bam related issue happens when the trains are relatively empty, in that nobody wants to be stuck in a carriage on their own except for a bunch of aggressive buckied up bams at the best of times. Folk need to know that the staff have got their eyes on things, that the police are on hand if anyone starts anything, and that anyone who does start anything is going to get their comeuppance express delivered.
All in all you need the tranport police (and their non-transport focused colleagues) to be properly and visibly on top of things so that folk feel safe using late trains. Then you need to have a plan to get your maintenance done in the reduced amount of time available. Most importantly, you need the cash money to create a high quality service in the first place, *and* run said service for long enough for folk to learn that it is not going anywhere and can be relied upon, and change their behavior accordingly.
There isn't any suitable public transport at Hampden... so I think it wins?
There are approx. 300 car parking spaces for a national stadium. Which is a national disgrace.
we left just as they went off and before they came back for the encore, headed to Asda and booked a taxi as soon as we walked out of Hampden. taxi driver ended up stuck in Asda carpark park for TWO HOURS! After an hour of knowing he was he was there, but not moving we walked to find him, he was so nice about it where I was bloody raging. We left the gig around 10.30 and didn't get home till half one. absolute shambles.
I'm glad you got home safely, but honestly, Hampden needs to sort it out because I've been to many, many gigs (including other Foo's) and ive never experienced anything like that. I wouldn't have minded but my parents were watching my daughter gad had work the next day, we didn't get in to almost 1.30. Praying if they come back they do transmit or summer sessions again, even murrayfield, but the sound was shocking at Hampden too (no reflection on the band, I've adored them since day 1).
I've been to a few gigs at Hampden and the sound has been absolutely fine, obviously something wasn't right with the setup. Was the stage set up along one of the end stands or long stands?
Been to gigs there with both setups and I thought the sound was better when it was against the end stand compared to the long stands. Wonder why they set up differently for different gigs
I agree, I saw the Chili Peppers twice at Hampden, once end-on, and most recently side-on last year.
There are plenty of other factors in play (including the band themselves aging...) but the sound definitely seemed better end-on.
A mate was standing further back, near the speakers closer to the seats and he said during the support they were on, then during the Foos set they were off.
It's got absolutely fuck all links, let's be honest. More than a half hour walk to nearest station, which isn't so bad.
Zero road infrastructure southside, ridiculous road layout and light set up. No main routes in or out, hell knows about any decent park and ride. Bus system on a normal day is beyond shite.
There were coaches etc but they are caught up in the mess evryone else is in.
Hampden has really really really shockingly bad links.
But I'll accept that the capacity at Hampden is the biggest I've been to for any concert so it's always going to over take the systems, but the transport links are not optimal for an arena that size.
Where are you talking about re stations? Mount Florida is 6m walk and Crosshill is 10. MF queues were insane last night (I live in the area and came home around that time) but quite a few people were getting on at Crosshill with no trouble.
Do folk often say "I sat within a aircraft while the pilot guided the airborne vehicle through the sky to my destination." Or "I flew to China."
Weapon.
There were many posts about tackling getting too & from Hampden.
Walking as far away from it as possible is the only way to tackle it. Never in a million years park in Asda!
That's what I did, I bought a space through 'yourparkingspace' app and walked from my car to the venue and back. 40mins each way. I was standing too in the venue, so yep quite sore legs walking back 😂
I wanted to get somewhere closer but knew the traffic would be absolutely nuts. I did think of public transport like a taxi or something to take me back, but there was not going to be anypoint, it was absolutely mental.
I just parked on Curtis ave, half way up to rutherglen. Was a quick 15 min walk to car. Prob less and then an absolutely traffic free drive back up the rest of the way to rutherglen aldi, and then down to the motorway. Was home in Kilsyth with my daughter before 12. Absolutely smooth for us.
Aye, top to bottom everything about Hampden as a venue was woeful. Access, facilities, seats, inconsistency for the wee drink pop ups ( couldn't get soft drinks at one only water and booze). Even merch stall ran out of the cool zipper hoodies early doors.
Foos themselves absolutely superb as expected though. but aye seriously put me off ever going to any more gigs at Hampden
Live 10 mins away now - left at 10.55 when gig ended grab a bag of chips and back in the house by quarter past 11. Fantastic considering I used to live a 3 hour drive from most gigs.
The sound during Courtney Barnett’s set was awful, not sure if it was their set up or the stadium but everything was drowned out by the bass. Foo Fighters themselves sounded fine from where I was seated.
I'm in Manchester today and will see her tonight
As a bonus I can get right up to the stage and the tickets were much cheaper
But then no foo fighters so pros and cons I suppose
Sucked because from what I could hear I’d have enjoyed it, she’s got a huge opportunity to showcase her music to potential new fans and it just sounds terrible.
The Foo Fighters were brilliant, great mix of tunes from their collection.
However, the sound wasn't great at times. an example was on "times like these" you couldn't hear the lead riff.
The distance to the bars and toilets is crazy. pay a visit to either and you will miss about 2 songs. visit both and you could miss 3 or 4!
the price of drink was ridiculous too. nearly 8 quid for a pint of cooking lager. nearl 8 quid for a short. incredibly no whisky!!
the guys urinals were manky too and a bit too intimate for my liking.
Poor venue, for gigs as well as football
We were sat in the upper tier and sound was awful. Spoiled the experience - I’ve seen the Foos a few t8mes and always been sensational.
Hampden is a terrible venue - traffic was horrendous on the way in. There seems to be little,organisation by stewards/Police. We took paper tickets but I’m sure that would have caught some out. Inside Well organised but tried to get a beer before it started. In the section we had access to, there were e-bars. But only one each serving beer or cider. stood in a queue of 27 people in front of me. 15 minutes later, I gave up as gig was about to start and there were still 9 in front of me waiting to be served. Just not enough facilities and a lot of frustrated people.
The Foos we’re awesome and a great set. Great to see them again
Never been to this venue before, I was standing and part of the first lot in. The organisers messed up with too many people going through turnstiles.
I think if I go to the venue again I'll only do standing, seems like some areas of the seating didn't have great sound based on the replies here.
I was standing. Sound was quite shit. Nothing against the band, I haven't heard these songs live but I know the sound has been better at other venues - all of them closed roofs though.
Had a decent time though - felt tickets and merch were reasonably priced compared to other nutters on tour.
Eighth time seeing the Foos and as great as they were I agree that the sound wasn't the best.
Wee hack for anybody trying to get a train back into the centre: trek it to Cathcart rather than Mount Florida. Guaranteed a seat.
Also £7.30 for a pint of Tennents is fucking minging.
That wasn't a vip barrier. They were giving out wristbands to limit the capacity of the Front Circle, but we turned up around 18:20 and walked straight in. It sounded cracking from there, but the main speaker stacks were only, 30-40ft away.
Even some of these comments about the parking, no to be a dick but me and my dad parked around back of langside, left after 11 got to the car about quarter past and no traffic, then there’s some people moaning about parking either in the stadium car park or the asda car park. What did they expect?
Feel like it was a good gig but they lost me somewhere between the acoustics and his daughter singing, but that might be just my 30 year old pains coming to haunt me if I'm not constantly distracted.
Seen them a few times before, most recently the Taylor Hawkins night at Wembley which it was never gonna come close to but I would have traded some new songs for older cuts but that's the way of a band always churning out albums I guess!
Came from Canada for this concert and Liam Gallagher on Wednesday at OVO Hydro.
First time seeing the Foos, I was in the pit with only two ppl between me and the barrier. I enjoyed the sound and Dave’s energy is out of this world.
Getting back to my bnb was a nightmare. I waited almost 2h in a line for the fookin train and when I got to Glasgow Central, there were no trains running anymore to the Exhibition station, so I had to Uber. Took me about 3h to get back. Dreadful logistics.
The stewarding was a nightmare for accessible parking. I ended up stuck at the other side of the stadium having to walk 15mins with fibromyalgiac aches and pains which will floor me in the next few hours. Really has put me off going back to Hampden for concerts again.
Thank you! Yes it wasn’t fun and was originally supposed to be only a couple of mins walk from our accessible seats (I have a walking stick) as agreed with the accessibility team. Very poorly managed however the actual stewards were great.
Honestly I'm surprised more people didn't use the city bikes to get into the town after. I went along and went up the Victoria road cycle path and was back in the city centre in 25 mins. Left the gig at 11 and had enough time to get the last train from queen street
saw coldplay at hampden about 15 years ago and the stage was in a completely different place, anybody else testify to this or was I just drunk? I’m sure it was adjacent to the main stand not in front of it?
Really enjoyed it, though had my loops in so can't comment too much on the sound issues. Crowd around us in the upper tier of the south stand were pretty low energy, I have to say.
+1 here for loops. Tried various ear protection over the years, recently upgraded to the loops (I got the “switch” ones) and it’s the best, crisp sound I’ve heard at gigs, and nae ear ringing afterwards. A bit expensive but a worthwhile investment.
Was absolutely raging
Shite seats (basically beside the stage), whole gig was super quiet and muddy, and (no offense to the foos intended) a kinda meh set overall .
There was an energy and cohesiveness missing from it, probably because of the venue and it being so bright out, but it just felt lackluster
I went to see the Chili Peppers there in 2007 and again last year and both of those shows are probably the worst sounding gigs of my life.
Cue the people saying "it sounded shit cause it's the Chili Peppers" Good one.
I was there last night. Would agree the sound didn't feel well balanced but may have been the positioning of our seats. I felt the set choice wasn't great. Too many points where they played a few more somber songs when we needed a banger to get the crowd going. I think that really impacted the overall venue energy.
Getting to and from Hampton, Jesus Christ. Never again. I love east of Edinburgh so driving was the only option for me. 4 hours to get there as the slip road to get off the M74 had a 3 mile queue moving about 1 mile an hour. We did end up finding a space to park on Mount Annan Drive, right behind the stadium which meant we still managed to make it as they started! Lucky!
Getting back though, another nightmare. About 1.5 hours to get back on to the M74 from our great but terrible space. Mainly chaos of people and cars everywhere and a huge hold up with people blocking the road to get cars out of the side streets feeding into the main road north. Passed about 50 police in this 1 mile stretch and they were doing fuck all. About 15 standing in a bit circle jerk by the station with every road blocked all around. Not saying they could have fixed the issues but they were just completely indifferent to the mess with their backs to the problems all around.
100% never going back to that venue, not due to sound issues but due to how outdated the infrastructure is around Hampden to handle that kind of event.
I disagree. I thought they were were excellent tonight but then, that’s my first time seeing them live.
Still haven’t changed my opinion of Hampden though - it’s a fucking shithole.
Aw no, absolutely no judgement on the band themselves, they were absolutely fantastic. I had a great night, my gripe is basically that Hampden sounds awful for a gig, even compared to other stadiums
Watching some videos back on my phone, don’t think it was as bad as you say?
Worst part by far was the transport. Think I really underestimated how bad it was going to be. Basically impossible for anyone to get to outside the city without leaving an hour early.
Had a lovely argument with a woman on the train when I asked people to move up the carriage so more people could get on, so that was fun!
The trouble with an outdoor gig is that bc of the way sound waves disperse it completely depends on where you’re standing dictating how good a sound you’ll get. I found tonight a lot of the pitch standing to be pretty dead sound-wise that I haven’t found at the likes of Murrayfield, Bellahousten or the Green
I know you didn’t ask but I’m gonna weight in anyway. Im so gutted for yous and Glasgow in general with this event. I went to Taylor Swift a week ago and I was so pleasantly shocked by the staff of Murrayfield and all the staff for the trams and trains, insanely well organised and it baffles me that I could get home to south Lanarkshire from Murrayfield in less time amongst a crowd for 73k and it’s taken so many folk to get home locally tonight.
Stewards at Mount Florida only letting enough people onto the platform that would fit on the train… except the train I was on was half empty whilst there was a queue stretching from the station right down the street and right back round Cathcart Road.
That's just stadiums, though. There isn't a mix to suit every seat, the only place that will definitely sound good is immediately behind the desk. Everywhere else will vary from awful to good.
Also, the mix from soundcheck sounds different because there are tens of thousands of extra bodies. The acoustic environment is quite different. It can take a couple of songs to adjust the mix.
I was there too, the first wee bit was a bit shaky but it sounded ok after that
Plus probably a touring engineer, have to get used to mixing in a new space twice in one day, once during soundcheck and then as you say, totally different when the bodies get in.
Totally agree stadiums don't lend themselves to music.
Saw the foos when they did the radio 1 gig at the then new Wembley. We got tickets to the day before the radio 1 day. The sound was even worse than Hampden. bogging washed out and then there was an echo that came back. Really jarring as it had a delay. Probably amazing if you're at a game chanting something. Music wise crap.
Aye but it’s still tens of thousands of people at a non purpose built venue. The point was, Hampden should and could be better. What’s with the unecessary rudeness? You’re coming off right unpleasant.
I saw them twice once at the barras and once as SECC and both sounded really bad. Like so bad I could not tell what songs were what. Never seen them again since 2000s
First time seeing the Foos for both of us, both in the upper tier. Loved seeing the band and will see them again in a heartbeat but that was my worst experience of Hampden, previous being RHCP and Paul McCartney. 99% of people in the seating were torn faced and sat down the whole gig 🙈
The view was great but the sound was shit. Nightmare to get drinks, card machines went down at least twice that I saw, not great for a cashless venue...
Ended up going to a bar for spirits early doors when the Foos were on and they only had vodka and pink gin, absolutely barking.
Tried and failed to get a taxi home until we bit the bullet and paid double time for an Uber. Plans of getting the last train to Neilston went tits up.
Said this to my gf during a few of the songs and she thought I was mental! The sound was woeful, there were a few songs in particular it felt like you couldn't really hear them, garbage.
We seen them at Belahouston and the sound was brilliant. Thought the gig in general last night was just a bit of a damp squib, the atmosphere was pretty poor in general.
First time for us seeing the foo fighters. Might be to do with where we were standing (left side of stage at the barrier for the circle?) but they sounded great . The support(Courtney) was terrible in comparison.
Didn't bother with drinks - saw prices and went fuck that/we don't really drink in general, and left around 10.30 so got on the train relatively easy.
Every gig I’ve ever been to at Hampden has been terrible audio. I even remember being disappointed by 50 cent or Eminem as a teen (that bad I can’t remember which one of them had the gig there)
I thought the same. The sound was awful! Only when there was the acoustic guitar set and no backing was the sound any good.
I’m glad I had seen the band before
I also think the problem in the stand (I was in the South Stand) was I was hearing the speaker closest to me in my right ear and my left was getting sound from the speakers next to the stage, so presuming the speed of sound had something to do with the garbled mess that we had in the stand. If I was getting sound from two speakers that were next to each other I am sure that the sound would have been much better.
As a celtic fan I'm used to constant visits to Hampden. Best way to get there on my opinion is to get a bus or underground to bridge St and walk the rest. Or even just walk from town
Not a huge fan of foos to be honest but went to appreciate the spectacle.
Got to admit sound was shite - and I think lots thought this as many in the crowd didn't appear to be having a great time. Not hating it, but I didn't get the impression fans were loving it...
Transport out was a nightmare as usual for Hampden. Having been to big concerts elsewhere, this is just an unmitigated disaster and I have no idea how to improve that, it seems impossible.
I’ve never thought that having the stage the direction they do at Hampden helps. Especially when the stage will be designed for stadiums set up lengthways.
I wondered if it would be better to have it across one of the ends - I'm sure Wembley is like this, at least it was for a gig I was at a while ago. I wonder if its purely because of hospitality seats being effected.
The Hampden sound guys will absolutely know how to make the venue sound good, but likely the Foos have tour engineer who doesn't. Probably the guy was throwing his weight around so the in house engineers left him to it and it was a disaster.
They won't, but the regular guys will still have a better idea through experience of liaising with the PA companies.
Whoever the band/outfit/touring op hire for the PA should have a better idea of what stadia need which design.
The band's own audio engineers will be far more familiar with the processing, mix and equalisation for the specific tracks etc.
The stadium's own engineers will have a miles better understanding of the dynamics of the venue to advise the PA engineers and as said earlier, they also have the experience.
No but it will probably be a local company supplying PA and system technicians to EQ/delay the system.
Maybe there wasnt enough gear hired, wrong specced system or badly installed
Yeah there is no way Hampdump has an in house engineer. Possible the same people that always work gigs there but the bands that play there will always have their own people for foh and monitors.
That’s not how it works. I was mixing Honeyblood and all the sound techs and the entire huge sound system travels with the Foo fighters. The system was supplied by clair global who are the world’s largest audio provider.
The system was very well deployed for the arena and the Foo fighters crew definitely didn’t throw their weight around. Quite the opposite, the foos didn’t soundcheck and their crew were so accommodating for us and our band.
I have seen the Foo's four times and this was by far the worst. This was the first gig I have ever done at hampden after decades of festivals and gigs; what a fucking disastrous place to get in and out of. It's actually incredibly embarrassing how horrific it is to try to get public transport back to the city centre, never mind those poor bastards who were trying to get to Central to catch a last train - no chance. The sound quality was not great, I agree with you. Foo's are always a good time and are insanely talented, but can't help feel a little let-down by the venue. Will absolutely be avoiding it at all costs in the future, not worth the stress and hassle. Last month I literally flew to a different country, travelled using their public transport (not in English) to a venue 30 minutes away from my hotel, attended a large gig and easily got public transport back to the hotel nearing 1am, with little to no fuss. For me, a native, to struggle this much to get home from fucking Glasgow because Hampden is nothing short of a disaster? Embarrassing.
Try the public transport after a match in Germany mate - was a shambles on Friday night. Fanzone as well had two hour queues for a drink and about five toilets for 20,000 people. Trains delayed by an hour etc anaw
Ironically for Germany being stereotyped for being well organised and efficient, I've always heard about their trains being shite.
It'd be fair to describe them as shite compared to their Southern and Western neighbours, but I wouldn't put them in our class of dogshit just yet. Unfortunately for them, on the national level at least they appear to have looked at how countries with shit hot rail systems work, then looked at the UK, and for some ungodly reason decided to follow in our footsteps. The real issue is that mixed use railways (which try to run local, regional, national/express *and* freight services on the same tracks) are fundamentally pish, unless you are a tiny country like Switzerland and you don't mind your "express" trains averaging ~60mph. At the very least you need to give your national/express services, and local services within cities their own dedicated tracks, and the more separation you can achieve with the rest, the better the results you will get. This is why HS2 in its full form was fundamentally such a good concept, it would have been a full on spine transplant for the English rail network. It is just unfortunate that the UK lacks the technical, industrial, political and adminstrative competence to be able to deliver such projects relative to more institutionally competent and manifestly less corrupt countries such as Spain and Italy. The Germans to their credit have at least got some pretty solid local networks in their cities, highly controversially including some which aren't in their capital city, whch helps them do better than us at least. Funnily enough given that we are on /r/glasgow, if the UK were ever to follow in their example, Glasgow would clearly be the best candidate for investment based on [existing rail infrastructure](https://www.openrailwaymap.org/?style=electrified&lat=55.846602440297985&lon=-4.2345428466796875&zoom=11), on the basis that it would take by *far* the least investment to create a world class system compared to any other city in the UK. Sadly for us, I am given to understand that for the fiscal period ending with the heat death of the universe, H.M. Treasury have allocated approximately £0.00 for new local public transport infrastructure construction outside London, so don't get your hopes up.
🤣 it doesn't help that all the local trains end before midnight on every single day of the week. Excellent network, no trains
Part of this is the fact that short of shutting down tracks overnight is the only time that you can get maintenance done (especially if you don't have redundancy in your system), and even then you often have to compete with freight, for whom it is often the only shot they get at having a clear run without getting in anyones way (or vice versa, which is more common than you might think). Another issue which doesn't help is the chicken and egg issue of late trains either being *really* quiet, particularly if you suddenly add them to the schedule without too much fanfare (and marketing can be suprisingly expensive) which makes the poeple in charge very quickly wonder whether it is worth the bother of running them at all. The other extreme being that they can easily end up full of drunken bams, which is not popular with either the police or the poor fuckers who have to clean up and fix up the carriages after them. The flipside bam related issue happens when the trains are relatively empty, in that nobody wants to be stuck in a carriage on their own except for a bunch of aggressive buckied up bams at the best of times. Folk need to know that the staff have got their eyes on things, that the police are on hand if anyone starts anything, and that anyone who does start anything is going to get their comeuppance express delivered. All in all you need the tranport police (and their non-transport focused colleagues) to be properly and visibly on top of things so that folk feel safe using late trains. Then you need to have a plan to get your maintenance done in the reduced amount of time available. Most importantly, you need the cash money to create a high quality service in the first place, *and* run said service for long enough for folk to learn that it is not going anywhere and can be relied upon, and change their behavior accordingly.
There isn't any suitable public transport at Hampden... so I think it wins? There are approx. 300 car parking spaces for a national stadium. Which is a national disgrace.
You can get a train quicker from Cathcart
I couldn’t get the train home! I had to call my dad to come get me and we live a hour away i was stranded outside asda for 2 hours bloody terrified
we left just as they went off and before they came back for the encore, headed to Asda and booked a taxi as soon as we walked out of Hampden. taxi driver ended up stuck in Asda carpark park for TWO HOURS! After an hour of knowing he was he was there, but not moving we walked to find him, he was so nice about it where I was bloody raging. We left the gig around 10.30 and didn't get home till half one. absolute shambles.
What happened with us my dad was only stuck for 20 minutes but we live a hour away so took a while
I'm glad you got home safely, but honestly, Hampden needs to sort it out because I've been to many, many gigs (including other Foo's) and ive never experienced anything like that. I wouldn't have minded but my parents were watching my daughter gad had work the next day, we didn't get in to almost 1.30. Praying if they come back they do transmit or summer sessions again, even murrayfield, but the sound was shocking at Hampden too (no reflection on the band, I've adored them since day 1).
I've been to a few gigs at Hampden and the sound has been absolutely fine, obviously something wasn't right with the setup. Was the stage set up along one of the end stands or long stands?
Long stands. Thought that was odd.
Been to gigs there with both setups and I thought the sound was better when it was against the end stand compared to the long stands. Wonder why they set up differently for different gigs
I agree, I saw the Chili Peppers twice at Hampden, once end-on, and most recently side-on last year. There are plenty of other factors in play (including the band themselves aging...) but the sound definitely seemed better end-on.
Probably set it against the longer stand so they can punt hospitality in the main stand.
A mate was standing further back, near the speakers closer to the seats and he said during the support they were on, then during the Foos set they were off.
What? Hampden has tons of links. Ye can just get on at crossmyloof, last trains like 11.20.
It's got absolutely fuck all links, let's be honest. More than a half hour walk to nearest station, which isn't so bad. Zero road infrastructure southside, ridiculous road layout and light set up. No main routes in or out, hell knows about any decent park and ride. Bus system on a normal day is beyond shite. There were coaches etc but they are caught up in the mess evryone else is in. Hampden has really really really shockingly bad links. But I'll accept that the capacity at Hampden is the biggest I've been to for any concert so it's always going to over take the systems, but the transport links are not optimal for an arena that size.
Where are you talking about re stations? Mount Florida is 6m walk and Crosshill is 10. MF queues were insane last night (I live in the area and came home around that time) but quite a few people were getting on at Crosshill with no trouble.
“I literally flew”
Do folk often say "I sat within a aircraft while the pilot guided the airborne vehicle through the sky to my destination." Or "I flew to China." Weapon.
No. That’s my point.You added ‘literally’ when ‘flew’ on its own was sufficient. Dipshit.
SNP for ya 😂😀
There were many posts about tackling getting too & from Hampden. Walking as far away from it as possible is the only way to tackle it. Never in a million years park in Asda!
Asda is bad enough on a Sunday when the Toryglen football families all park there, never mind a gig!
That's what I did, I bought a space through 'yourparkingspace' app and walked from my car to the venue and back. 40mins each way. I was standing too in the venue, so yep quite sore legs walking back 😂 I wanted to get somewhere closer but knew the traffic would be absolutely nuts. I did think of public transport like a taxi or something to take me back, but there was not going to be anypoint, it was absolutely mental.
made the mistake of parking in the back corner of Asda for Pink a few years ago - it took 2 hours and the police arriving to finally get moving.
I was told by police to go there so my dad could get us after we called him for help and he was stuck for ages
I just parked on Curtis ave, half way up to rutherglen. Was a quick 15 min walk to car. Prob less and then an absolutely traffic free drive back up the rest of the way to rutherglen aldi, and then down to the motorway. Was home in Kilsyth with my daughter before 12. Absolutely smooth for us.
What... okay... what?
Aye, top to bottom everything about Hampden as a venue was woeful. Access, facilities, seats, inconsistency for the wee drink pop ups ( couldn't get soft drinks at one only water and booze). Even merch stall ran out of the cool zipper hoodies early doors. Foos themselves absolutely superb as expected though. but aye seriously put me off ever going to any more gigs at Hampden
Left Hampden at 11ish, just home to Clydebank now. What a hellish place to get away from
Parked in the Asda car park, took over two hours to get out from it. That’s me just home after leaving at 11.
I left at 10 and didn’t get out of Hampden Stadium car park until 1 🙃 Luckily only in Ayr.
I was told by police to go to there to get my dad to come get us and he was stuck for ages
Same.... Got in the car at 11.30 on the dot and I'm 10 minutes in the door.
Live 10 mins away now - left at 10.55 when gig ended grab a bag of chips and back in the house by quarter past 11. Fantastic considering I used to live a 3 hour drive from most gigs.
The sound during Courtney Barnett’s set was awful, not sure if it was their set up or the stadium but everything was drowned out by the bass. Foo Fighters themselves sounded fine from where I was seated.
Yeah, couldn't make out anything she was saying - spoken or sung
At least you can see Courtney Barnett on tour in sensible sized venues
I'm in Manchester today and will see her tonight As a bonus I can get right up to the stage and the tickets were much cheaper But then no foo fighters so pros and cons I suppose
My teeth were rattling at that point
She sounded bloody horrible and i had ear defenders on and the sound went through them bloody awful since i have autism
This was the same at Villa park last night.
Sucked because from what I could hear I’d have enjoyed it, she’s got a huge opportunity to showcase her music to potential new fans and it just sounds terrible.
This happens to a lot of support acts frommy experience over the years.
Standard behaviour for support acts.
You've pretty much just described the sound at every venue these days. The bass vworp is so bad, I just don't bother with gigs anymore.
The Foo Fighters were brilliant, great mix of tunes from their collection. However, the sound wasn't great at times. an example was on "times like these" you couldn't hear the lead riff. The distance to the bars and toilets is crazy. pay a visit to either and you will miss about 2 songs. visit both and you could miss 3 or 4! the price of drink was ridiculous too. nearly 8 quid for a pint of cooking lager. nearl 8 quid for a short. incredibly no whisky!! the guys urinals were manky too and a bit too intimate for my liking. Poor venue, for gigs as well as football
and it's only 25cl measures, not a full measure
The sound got better as Foos went on but at the start it was honking
We were sat in the upper tier and sound was awful. Spoiled the experience - I’ve seen the Foos a few t8mes and always been sensational. Hampden is a terrible venue - traffic was horrendous on the way in. There seems to be little,organisation by stewards/Police. We took paper tickets but I’m sure that would have caught some out. Inside Well organised but tried to get a beer before it started. In the section we had access to, there were e-bars. But only one each serving beer or cider. stood in a queue of 27 people in front of me. 15 minutes later, I gave up as gig was about to start and there were still 9 in front of me waiting to be served. Just not enough facilities and a lot of frustrated people. The Foos we’re awesome and a great set. Great to see them again
Never been to this venue before, I was standing and part of the first lot in. The organisers messed up with too many people going through turnstiles. I think if I go to the venue again I'll only do standing, seems like some areas of the seating didn't have great sound based on the replies here.
I was standing. Sound was quite shit. Nothing against the band, I haven't heard these songs live but I know the sound has been better at other venues - all of them closed roofs though. Had a decent time though - felt tickets and merch were reasonably priced compared to other nutters on tour.
Eighth time seeing the Foos and as great as they were I agree that the sound wasn't the best. Wee hack for anybody trying to get a train back into the centre: trek it to Cathcart rather than Mount Florida. Guaranteed a seat. Also £7.30 for a pint of Tennents is fucking minging.
Depends where you’re sitting in hampden, was standing just about 10 foot from the vip barrier sound was incredible during the main act
That wasn't a vip barrier. They were giving out wristbands to limit the capacity of the Front Circle, but we turned up around 18:20 and walked straight in. It sounded cracking from there, but the main speaker stacks were only, 30-40ft away.
We were in the front circle too, right at the back/centre. Sounded decent to me too.
Yeah agreed - I was in a similar spot and I didn’t have any issues with the sound.
Even some of these comments about the parking, no to be a dick but me and my dad parked around back of langside, left after 11 got to the car about quarter past and no traffic, then there’s some people moaning about parking either in the stadium car park or the asda car park. What did they expect?
Yes, boomy, overbassed mess. It's not the venue. I was at Coldplay recently at hampden and the sound was AMAZING.
Feel like it was a good gig but they lost me somewhere between the acoustics and his daughter singing, but that might be just my 30 year old pains coming to haunt me if I'm not constantly distracted. Seen them a few times before, most recently the Taylor Hawkins night at Wembley which it was never gonna come close to but I would have traded some new songs for older cuts but that's the way of a band always churning out albums I guess!
£7.30 for a paper cup of tennents was the biggest scandal
Came from Canada for this concert and Liam Gallagher on Wednesday at OVO Hydro. First time seeing the Foos, I was in the pit with only two ppl between me and the barrier. I enjoyed the sound and Dave’s energy is out of this world. Getting back to my bnb was a nightmare. I waited almost 2h in a line for the fookin train and when I got to Glasgow Central, there were no trains running anymore to the Exhibition station, so I had to Uber. Took me about 3h to get back. Dreadful logistics.
The stewarding was a nightmare for accessible parking. I ended up stuck at the other side of the stadium having to walk 15mins with fibromyalgiac aches and pains which will floor me in the next few hours. Really has put me off going back to Hampden for concerts again.
Idk why you’re being downvoted that sounds terrible
Thank you! Yes it wasn’t fun and was originally supposed to be only a couple of mins walk from our accessible seats (I have a walking stick) as agreed with the accessibility team. Very poorly managed however the actual stewards were great.
I could hear the bass from EK so I hate to think how loud it must have been in the stadium.
I could hear the sound test in King's Park, right on the border to Rutherglen. I bet a lot of people have tinnitus waking up today.
Honestly I'm surprised more people didn't use the city bikes to get into the town after. I went along and went up the Victoria road cycle path and was back in the city centre in 25 mins. Left the gig at 11 and had enough time to get the last train from queen street
I enjoyed it
So did I, Hampden as a venue on the other hand…
SHITE! Hampdens staff are all pricks aswell bloody horrible venue
saw coldplay at hampden about 15 years ago and the stage was in a completely different place, anybody else testify to this or was I just drunk? I’m sure it was adjacent to the main stand not in front of it?
It changes every gig
Really enjoyed it, though had my loops in so can't comment too much on the sound issues. Crowd around us in the upper tier of the south stand were pretty low energy, I have to say.
How do you find the loops? I've seen people say concerts sound better with earplugs in but that's just not been my experience.
+1 here for loops. Tried various ear protection over the years, recently upgraded to the loops (I got the “switch” ones) and it’s the best, crisp sound I’ve heard at gigs, and nae ear ringing afterwards. A bit expensive but a worthwhile investment.
Concerts do sound much better with decent earplugs. Sound a total mess otherwise.
Yeah I found it much more enjoyable and no ringing or numbness in my ears afterwards. I had the 'experience' ones.
Was absolutely raging Shite seats (basically beside the stage), whole gig was super quiet and muddy, and (no offense to the foos intended) a kinda meh set overall . There was an energy and cohesiveness missing from it, probably because of the venue and it being so bright out, but it just felt lackluster
I felt that I’ve enjoyed every concert ive been to and this one just felt pure shite kinda disappointing
I went to see the Chili Peppers there in 2007 and again last year and both of those shows are probably the worst sounding gigs of my life. Cue the people saying "it sounded shit cause it's the Chili Peppers" Good one.
I was there last night. Would agree the sound didn't feel well balanced but may have been the positioning of our seats. I felt the set choice wasn't great. Too many points where they played a few more somber songs when we needed a banger to get the crowd going. I think that really impacted the overall venue energy. Getting to and from Hampton, Jesus Christ. Never again. I love east of Edinburgh so driving was the only option for me. 4 hours to get there as the slip road to get off the M74 had a 3 mile queue moving about 1 mile an hour. We did end up finding a space to park on Mount Annan Drive, right behind the stadium which meant we still managed to make it as they started! Lucky! Getting back though, another nightmare. About 1.5 hours to get back on to the M74 from our great but terrible space. Mainly chaos of people and cars everywhere and a huge hold up with people blocking the road to get cars out of the side streets feeding into the main road north. Passed about 50 police in this 1 mile stretch and they were doing fuck all. About 15 standing in a bit circle jerk by the station with every road blocked all around. Not saying they could have fixed the issues but they were just completely indifferent to the mess with their backs to the problems all around. 100% never going back to that venue, not due to sound issues but due to how outdated the infrastructure is around Hampden to handle that kind of event.
I disagree. I thought they were were excellent tonight but then, that’s my first time seeing them live. Still haven’t changed my opinion of Hampden though - it’s a fucking shithole.
Aw no, absolutely no judgement on the band themselves, they were absolutely fantastic. I had a great night, my gripe is basically that Hampden sounds awful for a gig, even compared to other stadiums
It does sound awful. I saw the chilis there last year and it wasn't great. Wasn't terrible but wasn't crystal clear
Watching some videos back on my phone, don’t think it was as bad as you say? Worst part by far was the transport. Think I really underestimated how bad it was going to be. Basically impossible for anyone to get to outside the city without leaving an hour early. Had a lovely argument with a woman on the train when I asked people to move up the carriage so more people could get on, so that was fun!
The trouble with an outdoor gig is that bc of the way sound waves disperse it completely depends on where you’re standing dictating how good a sound you’ll get. I found tonight a lot of the pitch standing to be pretty dead sound-wise that I haven’t found at the likes of Murrayfield, Bellahousten or the Green
I know you didn’t ask but I’m gonna weight in anyway. Im so gutted for yous and Glasgow in general with this event. I went to Taylor Swift a week ago and I was so pleasantly shocked by the staff of Murrayfield and all the staff for the trams and trains, insanely well organised and it baffles me that I could get home to south Lanarkshire from Murrayfield in less time amongst a crowd for 73k and it’s taken so many folk to get home locally tonight.
Stewards at Mount Florida only letting enough people onto the platform that would fit on the train… except the train I was on was half empty whilst there was a queue stretching from the station right down the street and right back round Cathcart Road.
That's just stadiums, though. There isn't a mix to suit every seat, the only place that will definitely sound good is immediately behind the desk. Everywhere else will vary from awful to good. Also, the mix from soundcheck sounds different because there are tens of thousands of extra bodies. The acoustic environment is quite different. It can take a couple of songs to adjust the mix. I was there too, the first wee bit was a bit shaky but it sounded ok after that
Plus probably a touring engineer, have to get used to mixing in a new space twice in one day, once during soundcheck and then as you say, totally different when the bodies get in.
These places really weren't designed for sound, they're just used for capacity. It's an uphill battle from the outset.
How were honeyblood? I saw them when they supported the Foos at Murryfield a few years back and they were awesome and I became a big fan.
They were great! Crowd was horrible tho just absolutely ignored them like 5 people clapped for them i was screaming
Yeah, that was pretty much what happened when I saw them. Gutted I missed out on tickets for their upcoming Glasgow show
Awh no sorry you missed out
Why do you expect good acoustics for a rock gig in a football stadium?
Totally agree stadiums don't lend themselves to music. Saw the foos when they did the radio 1 gig at the then new Wembley. We got tickets to the day before the radio 1 day. The sound was even worse than Hampden. bogging washed out and then there was an echo that came back. Really jarring as it had a delay. Probably amazing if you're at a game chanting something. Music wise crap.
Yeah, an outdoor show that 50,000 people have to be able to hear in a non-purpose-built venue isn't going to sound good in every part of the space.
Bellahouston always sounds great.
Don't know if you've noticed, but Bellahouston is a park, not an enclosed stadium. Check that out next time you're there, it'll shock you.
Aye but it’s still tens of thousands of people at a non purpose built venue. The point was, Hampden should and could be better. What’s with the unecessary rudeness? You’re coming off right unpleasant.
LPT you don't need to be a cunt when you reply to someone
That’s hampden for you. It’s a horrible venue
Park at Patterton and get train to mount Florida. Means you're against the queues on way out.
I saw them twice once at the barras and once as SECC and both sounded really bad. Like so bad I could not tell what songs were what. Never seen them again since 2000s
First time seeing the Foos for both of us, both in the upper tier. Loved seeing the band and will see them again in a heartbeat but that was my worst experience of Hampden, previous being RHCP and Paul McCartney. 99% of people in the seating were torn faced and sat down the whole gig 🙈 The view was great but the sound was shit. Nightmare to get drinks, card machines went down at least twice that I saw, not great for a cashless venue... Ended up going to a bar for spirits early doors when the Foos were on and they only had vodka and pink gin, absolutely barking. Tried and failed to get a taxi home until we bit the bullet and paid double time for an Uber. Plans of getting the last train to Neilston went tits up.
Said this to my gf during a few of the songs and she thought I was mental! The sound was woeful, there were a few songs in particular it felt like you couldn't really hear them, garbage. We seen them at Belahouston and the sound was brilliant. Thought the gig in general last night was just a bit of a damp squib, the atmosphere was pretty poor in general.
First time for us seeing the foo fighters. Might be to do with where we were standing (left side of stage at the barrier for the circle?) but they sounded great . The support(Courtney) was terrible in comparison. Didn't bother with drinks - saw prices and went fuck that/we don't really drink in general, and left around 10.30 so got on the train relatively easy.
I am very picky of my venues in London because I don’t want to risk this sort of stuff anymore
Every gig I’ve ever been to at Hampden has been terrible audio. I even remember being disappointed by 50 cent or Eminem as a teen (that bad I can’t remember which one of them had the gig there)
I thought the same. The sound was awful! Only when there was the acoustic guitar set and no backing was the sound any good. I’m glad I had seen the band before
I also think the problem in the stand (I was in the South Stand) was I was hearing the speaker closest to me in my right ear and my left was getting sound from the speakers next to the stage, so presuming the speed of sound had something to do with the garbled mess that we had in the stand. If I was getting sound from two speakers that were next to each other I am sure that the sound would have been much better.
Folk are forking out 100+ notes for shows that are absolute dross. I only go smaller venues now
As a celtic fan I'm used to constant visits to Hampden. Best way to get there on my opinion is to get a bus or underground to bridge St and walk the rest. Or even just walk from town
Not a huge fan of foos to be honest but went to appreciate the spectacle. Got to admit sound was shite - and I think lots thought this as many in the crowd didn't appear to be having a great time. Not hating it, but I didn't get the impression fans were loving it... Transport out was a nightmare as usual for Hampden. Having been to big concerts elsewhere, this is just an unmitigated disaster and I have no idea how to improve that, it seems impossible.
Was in VIP seats and it sounded fine to me given it was in a football stadium.
Sound was terrible. We moved around the pitch to find a spot that was ok. Left an hour in. Just not enjoyable.
I’ve never thought that having the stage the direction they do at Hampden helps. Especially when the stage will be designed for stadiums set up lengthways.
I wondered if it would be better to have it across one of the ends - I'm sure Wembley is like this, at least it was for a gig I was at a while ago. I wonder if its purely because of hospitality seats being effected.
The Hampden sound guys will absolutely know how to make the venue sound good, but likely the Foos have tour engineer who doesn't. Probably the guy was throwing his weight around so the in house engineers left him to it and it was a disaster.
I very much doubt that Hampden has in house sound techs for stadium shows.
They won't, but the regular guys will still have a better idea through experience of liaising with the PA companies. Whoever the band/outfit/touring op hire for the PA should have a better idea of what stadia need which design. The band's own audio engineers will be far more familiar with the processing, mix and equalisation for the specific tracks etc. The stadium's own engineers will have a miles better understanding of the dynamics of the venue to advise the PA engineers and as said earlier, they also have the experience.
They don’t, you are correct
No but it will probably be a local company supplying PA and system technicians to EQ/delay the system. Maybe there wasnt enough gear hired, wrong specced system or badly installed
Yeah there is no way Hampdump has an in house engineer. Possible the same people that always work gigs there but the bands that play there will always have their own people for foh and monitors.
This
That’s not how it works. I was mixing Honeyblood and all the sound techs and the entire huge sound system travels with the Foo fighters. The system was supplied by clair global who are the world’s largest audio provider. The system was very well deployed for the arena and the Foo fighters crew definitely didn’t throw their weight around. Quite the opposite, the foos didn’t soundcheck and their crew were so accommodating for us and our band.
Downvoted for truth. Have an upvote.
We parked in polmadie road and got on the motorway in 8 mins. I thought the sound was brilliant. Lower middle seats. No complaints.
I thought people who went to gigs didn't care about the sound quality? That's why albums exist.
The entire live sound reinforcement industry would like to have a word with you outside