Paul McCartney Concert at Fedex Field a Crappy Experience

I woke up this morning to a caller on DC101 talking about the Paul McCartney concert at Fedex Field this past Saturday night. Although the music was fantastic, everything else was abysmal, resulting in some fans vowing they would never return to Fedex Field ever again:

- Traffic delays of 2 hours for the 50,000 crowd was so bad, they delayed the concert an hour so people could get to their seats

- Water was turned off on parts of the concourse due to a blocked pipe. This resulted in toilets not being able to flush and sewage running out on the concourse. "It stunk real bad" proclaimed the caller. "People were buying water and bringing them into the bathroom."

- "There was hardly any food," another listener says. "They were running out of drinks."

- Major complaints about the extra ticket fees, specifically parking:

"EVERY SINGLE TICKET FOR THE PAUL MCCARTNEY CONCERT SOLD THRU TICKETMASTER INCLUDED A $10 PARKING FEE ****REGARDLESS**** AS TO WHETHER OR NOT ONE MIGHT TAKE PUBLIC TRANSPORATION! I guess that's part of their near $40 per ticket for convenience/shipping fees per ticket. Anyway, I called both TicketMaster and FedEx Field and each one told me that the other one was to blame.

"Whatever, that is plain B.S. and should NOT happen. I asked how many seats were available for the concert as opposed to the number of parking spaces available and GUESS WHAT? Way more seats for parking spaces. So, can you imagine? 8 people in a car makes an $80 parking fee for one car!!!!! It makes me sick that I don't have the option of whether or not I want to pay for parking. If I park, then I pay. If I take public transportation, then I don't pay, it's as simple as that! So who made up the rule to include a per person parking fee in the price of each concert ticket?"

"We certainly apologize to the fans for any inconvenience," said Zack Bolno, spokesman for the Redskins. Bolno blames the backup on a "new audience unfamiliar with the stadium."

Redskins games host 90,000 fans, so it is a little baffling that 50,000 people couldn't get in on time. Although for Skins games, fans trickle in over a 4 hour period versus a concert where most people probably arrive at the same time. Bolno said most people used only one entrance to FedEx Field while four others were under-utilized. I can imagine the anti-Snyder blogs will be in full force this morning. I believe this is Fedex's first event in quite awhile. They will have a chance to make it up when Fedex Field hosts the Real Madrid match this coming Saturday. I added in the Paul McCartney set  list after the jump. 

[Source: WTOP, NBC4]

Paul McCartney's Set List for Fedex Field events tonight, August 1, 2009!

"Drive My Car"
"Jet"
"Only Mama Knows"
"Flaming Pie"
"Got To Get You Into My Life"
"Let Me Roll It"
"Highway"
"The Long and Winding Road"
"My Love"
"Blackbird"
"Here Today"
"Dance Tonight"
"Calico Skies"
"Mrs. Vanderbilt"
"Eleanor Rigby"
"Sing the Changes "
"Band on the Run"
"Back in the U.S.S.R."
"I'm Down"
"Something"
"I've Got a Feeling"
"Paperback Writer"
"A Day in the Life"/"Give Peace a Chance"
"Let It Be"
"Live and Let Die"
"Hey Jude"

McCartney Set Encores:

"Day Tripper"
"Lady Madonna"
"I Saw Her Standing There"
"Yesterday"
"Helter Skelter"
"Get Back"
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)"/"The End"