May 4, 2010 
In what can only be described as an empty gesture, Groovin’ The Moo management have apologised to festival goes such as myself who were stuck lining up for three hours just to get into the festival last Saturday.
“GTM is extremely sorry for the delays at the entrance at Bendigo last Saturday.
We’ve spent the last 2 days reviewing the situation and essentially our plans for the entrance were based on previous years’ arrival patterns. As such we did not anticipate such a large number of people arriving at midday. We were caught short, to say the least.
These delays have never occurred at any previous GTM, did not occur at Townsville and we are determined that they will NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN.
All your feedback is greatly appreciated, we understand your criticism and we want to assure everyone that these delays were not due to lack of care or trying to cut corners.
Again GTM apologises to everyone affected at Bendigo.”
So, do I get half my money back?
I don’t know how they didn’t see this coming: they knew that the festival was sold out for months in advance, they knew that more people would be going than in previous years, and they knew that this increased demand would lead to people rocking up earlier.
And why was nothing done after the first hour or so when it was clear everything was a disaster? They could have opened the gates the whole way or something radical like that.
At least they came out and apologised, but really this means nothing and is just an attempt to get us to come back next year. I don’t know how assuring Bendigo punters that we were the only ones affected is meant to make us feel better either.
Better than nothing though I suppose.
Review here.
And Pluck Your Strings 
the best part of my day was when we left early to go see a movie. shambolic.
While we arrived at 11:55am and got in at a swiftly timed 12:20pm, I did have friends who reportedly were stuck in the line from about 1pm to 3.30pm. No one I know of was stuck in the line for a full 3 hours, but I’ll take your word for it, and well, 1 hour lining up is bad enough. The other important unspoken factor may have been that alcohol wouldn’t have lasted if all those people were let in straight away. I have a feeling it may have been a strategic delay…
Good point with the alcohol, however I think the backlash against the waiting time probably is even worse than the backlash against alcohol running out would have been.
There have been heaps of letters to the editor in the Bendigo local paper, tons of negative write-ups on blogs, and just a lot of angry feelings by such a long wait. Even Triple J posted this apology. Ultimately I don’t think it would be a wise strategic move at all.
I was waiting from about 12.20-3.20, and I know people who arrived quarter of an hour after me who ended up waiting for even longer just because they weren’t prepared to snake their way through the line.
Glad you got in on time at least though : )