BST Hyde Park Reviews 212

I attended the BST Hyde Park festival with my 10 year old daughter. We bought her the ticket as a Christmas present and travelled from Tamworth. Whilst Olivia Rodrigo's performance was outstanding, the festival itself was so disappointing to the point where my daughter was in tears and asking to go home.

The water bottles: we began queuing for a water bottle and were told by the security team to come back in an hour as they were restocking. We returned after an hour, queued for 1 hour when the security team said they had sold out and abruptly told us there would be no point in queuing. Why werent these bottles given to each person with a ticket on arrival into the festival? Im sure you can imagine how disappointing it was for my daughter to see every other girl in the festival with a bottle and she could not have one.

The bags: very similar situation to above. We queued for another hour for the American Express experience to be told there were no bags left. A kind member of staff gave my daughter a patch as she could see how disappointed she was.

Food: we went to a food vendor to get my daughter a vegan dish as she is vegetarian to be told there wasnt any left - this was at 4pm. Another food vendor offered a kids menu with a meat option but if they wanted the vegetarian option, they had to pay the adults price.

The guts tour bus: we tried to have a look around this and were told it was closed.

It was so disappointing for my daughter to be turned down for everything that she tried to get throughout the day.

Luckily Olivia Rodrigo's performance massively lifted her spirits.

Saw Olivia Rodrigo yesterday evening. You spend a fortune for tickets and arrive 8 hours before the gig to get as good view as you can only to find out that the front of the stage is actually cordoned off for ‘gold zone’ ticket holders. An area that never got full probably because the tickets are so eye wateringly expensive.
Such a terrible gig experience. misery.
Save your money and go to a proper venue where it’s first come first served

Honestly, BST Hyde Park is the most poorly planned event I’ve ever been to and I will not be going again. I went to see Stray Kids on 14/07/2024 and while they were brilliant as always, the festival itself was a trainwreck from the beginning. I can't really do much more other than list out every single issue.

- From the beginning, once tickets were on sale they kept displaying the wrong maps for the event and kept adding in sections to the layout, so you bought tickets expecting to have access to a certain section and then suddenly half of the section no longer existed. So fundamentally misrepresenting what your ticket was.

- The customer support was abysmal. You’d email the support line and you’d get completely opposing answers depending on which member of staff answered.

- They kept trying to upsell people with ticket ‘upgrades’ but were very unclear about what the upgraded tickets actually included. I knew people who bought what they thought were upgrades, but when they got there on the day, they found out these new upgraded tickets were actually worse when weighed up against the original, and what they’d been told when querying these details with customer support was actually false. Luckily, they were allowed to honour their original tickets and get refunded.

- This one annoyed me probably the most. The day before the event, they plastered absolutely everywhere on social media that they would not be allowing people to queue early and would not make exceptions and had been pretty strict about it for the previous days for other acts. So I didn’t go as early as originally planned due to that, as it seemed pointless to go and just told to leave. Yet on the day when it came to it, they just allowed people to queue from the early hours of the morning, which was an absolute joke. Meant I was miles back in the crowd and could’ve avoided that had I known they were talking rubbish.

- The staff on the day had no idea what on earth was going on and the queue control was horrendous. I got gold circle HydeAway as it had a separate queue and entrance, but when I got to the venue, the queue was non-existent; it was just a clump of people weaving around, and there was no clear start or end to the line. There was one poor steward who had been left alone to try and wrangle about 400 people into something that resembled a line, which totally failed. It was absolute bedlam.

- Also with the staff, they seemed to have no clue which queue or entrance was which. I met two women in the queue who had come with their teenage daughters and had been told to go to the wrong entrance, so they had ended up queuing in the wrong line for genuinely about 4 hours before they were told it was the wrong queue and that they had to join the back of our queue.

- The management of gold circle was absolutely atrocious. It was blatantly oversold for the size, as they had cut the section in half to add a Diamond section after the initial sale. It got so dangerous and the stewards did nothing to actually help other than yell at the people at barricade who were being crushed and couldn’t do anything. It just slowly turned into a huge crush and was terrible. I know pit areas get crowded but I’ve never experienced something that bad.

- Also, whoever decided to design the stage so the screen on the left has a huge fake tree in the middle of it is an absolute moron. It means if you're on the left of the stage it's really hard to see the screen as it's at a weird angle due to the tree.

Summarised: Terrible organisation from as early as ticket sales, dangerously overcrowded, and the organisers don’t have a clue what they’re doing and just want to get as much money off you as possible. Really not worth it.

I saw Pink who I was so looking forward to seeing. The Screens are out of sync with the performers and it’s infuriating when you are not up front. A friend, who goes regularly, says it’s always the same. If I was the sound engineer responsible, I had some pride in my work and not look to piss people off. It spoiled the evening and I left early before she did her acrobatics.

This is the most overpriced park concert I have been to. £500 per ticket just a rip off. They don’t cater for people who are disabled or need a bit of assistance. It is appalling that you can’t take something to sit on. Having recently finished chemotherapy and little energy it would be nice if the organisers were a tad more considerate for inclusivity purposes.

This is the most corporate venue for gigs that I have ever experienced. I went to Hard Rock Calling to see Bruce Springsteen a few years ago and the experience was completely different, being fairly easy to get a decent view near the stage. Since becoming BST the prices are ridiculous and each year they seem to add yet another more expensive zone (Gold, Diamond, VIP) stopping people with a standard ticket getting anywhere near the stage. I have seen both The Killers and Billy Joel at BST. The sightlines are poor and not helped by the corporate tower right in the centre of the stage. Food and drink is expensive (so we had a picnic outside before going in). The only positive was that the security lady was very helpful when we went in. I would not recommend BST unless you were an avid fan with money to burn but if there was an alternative venue go for that!

I phoned the accessibility line to get some more info ahead of booking tickets tomorrow. I was told I was first in the queue but somehow was still on hold for 30 minutes

The issue at hand is that the accessibility options are rubbish. I am disabled, attending BST with a group of friends. I was informed that if I have an accessible ticket then I am restricted to the accessible area and cannot go into the general area with my friends. I explained that I am not in a wheelchair or anything, I just need access to a space that’s a little bit quieter where I can sit down if I need to as my mobility can be limited but isn’t always. But with their system I categorically would have to be segregated from everyone else. They assume that a disabled person would only be attending with their carer and cannot possible conceive different types of disabilities or disabled people having friend groups clearly. I was also told that the only type of proof they accept is some sort of card which I’ve never heard of, PIP, or DLA. The VAST majority of disabled people don’t receive any of these things because they are impossible to access. I have PIP but it took me 27 years of my life and 2 years of court to access, and it is only granted for a year. These accessibility policies are absolutely terrible and I don’t believe that they are in keeping with the equality act 2010. My choices are be isolated at the festival or get general admission and struggle throughout.

Shocking that all BST general admission tickets for ELO 's last gig sold out in moments. Clearly all bought by bots. Shocking also that BST rapidly escalate the price by Tiers. No excuse for that. Just a money making ploy and pure corporate greed. There should be only one General admission price at the time of sale or for resale of tickets.

This becomes more and more of a rip off every year. Ripped off by ticket master and their dynamic pricing, gross overpriced food options, you can only get anywhere near a semi decent view if you pay more for the "privilege", extortionate drinks and herded out through one small exit at the end.
What happened to being able to buy a ticket at one price? Why are there so many VIP options that only serve to exclude those who can't afford 300 for a single ticket?
Stop the greed and whilst your at it, sort out your terrible app.

Security made what should have been an amazing experience absolutely awful. The security staff were very aggressive for no reason. Have tried to complain to the festival organisers but they clearly don't respond to anyone expressing dissatisfaction. After first saying it had been escalated they have since completely ghosted us! Very poor experience.

A friend and I went to see Stevie Nicks on 12th July, she was incredible and it was a good day however, on checking our bank statements we have been overcharged for every single round of drinks we bought. We took it in turns buying rounds from the Born & Raised and Havana bars, pints were advertised at £6.50 each (without an Amex card) so each round should have cost £13, we were charged £15 each time, totalling around £20 worth of overcharges, we were never told of any additional fees, there was nothing mentioned regarding additional fees and I've now spent 2 weeks chasing BST to find out how to get that money back and I'm being ignored. We paid £310 for 2 x general admission tickets which is insanely overpriced as is considering you couldn't see the stage due to the VIP areas to then be overcharged is disgusting. Check your statements & Complain if you've been over charged. I'm reporting them to trading standards if I don't get a reply this week.

I don't know where to start. We paid a fortune for diamond VIP tickets, the description let us to believe this would be a special enclosure, it said we would have access to the ultimate bar with complimentary drinks, would be met at the gate by a host, with champagne, we would have close intimate views of this stage.... when in fact the truth was none of these.

The only benefit that we could see was that we had a dedicated diamond entrance but this let us into a rammed area, not even a place on the grass, huge queues for terrible food, and then when we went towards the stage the only thing we could see was the big screen. We were completely squeezed in like sardines, there was nowhere to move. It was a horrible horrible experience.

The worst thing was leaving when it was like a stampede as they corralled people through one small gate, the whole thing is an absolute scam and a disgrace.

PS Kylie was superb as always.

Very unfortunately the VIP experience did not meet our expectation this time.We have visited twice in previous years and purchased VIP tickets on both occasions and the experience has been excellent.
-our experience this time
-£1096.38 total purchase x 2 ultimate diamond vip tickets
-highly over subscribed
-very limited seating in the ultimate bar area,way too crowded for a VIP area
-the summer Garden way too busy,large queues for food and bars
-limited food choice in summer garden
-not the normal chilled out experience that we have had in the past
-Diamond viewing area absolutely rammed into a funnel shape due to the stage configuration
-Couldn't see the stage properly,side view,watched on screens.View of stage No good.
-unlikely to book this area again
-Not value for money this time,not even close
-very disappointed

We went to see Kylie Minogue in Hyde Park in Saturday 13th July 2024. We arrived after 15:00 although we were in the Gold Circle VIP hideaway and could have arrived at 13:00 an hour before general admission. We're so glad we didn't. We found the Hideaway area scruffy, no grass and nit enough seats for the amount of people in there. The queues for the bar weren't too bad not surprising as the drinks were so expensive. The food queue was long, food was expensive and only basic. The toilets were disgusting, there were attendants telling you when to go in but no one wiping down the water from the sinks that was all over the floor. The sinks were one side of the entrance door the hand drier the other, very impractical.
We paid the full price for our tickets only to meet people who had been offered £49 upgrades on their tickets to move firm GA to the golden circle. Who wouldn't take that. The golden circle is a huge area and not as described when buying your tickets, there's nothing golden about this area. We ended up in the left side of the stage so had very little view of Kylie especially when she was in the centre stage. We had the boom arm in our way of the stage view and Kylie only came across to our side of the stage once. We watched the concert on the big screen in front of us, an expensive night at the cinema with no popcorn!!!!!
Kylie was amazing with a fantastic voice, it was an emotional performance. We had really looked forward to this it was just a shame that the golden circle was so overcrowded.
When we left the venue it was difficuly to get out of the area, there are no taxis and no one to help with this.
We are still waiting for the merchandise we ordered in February, we hoped it would have arrived by now
This was our first and last visit to BST concerts, greed is definitely ahead of people and the overallbexperience. Our advice to anyone going, make sure you eat before going in, take your own water bottle it's the only thing that's free, don't expect to much. Be prepared to be pushed and shoved, expect long toilet queues with disgusting conditions. Take out a bank loan to afford the prices.

The hideaway & gold circle were over subscribed. There weren’t any seats and long queues for toilets, food & drinks. Not the VIP experience at all, there were not only less people outside of the hideaway but the queues were shorter. The gold circle was so tight even Kylie during the show stated “do you have enough room to dance you all look cramed”.

We went to the entrance to state our concerns and was sent to customer service who sent us to the box office who sent us back to customer service. Very poor customer service, given lip service and no real care. Given a QR code and told to complain to this.

Customer service told us that the VIP & gold circle had been over subscribed. Upgrades had been given for £10. At the box office near gate 20 the lady behind the desk denied this & said there weren’t anymore upgrades, until I pointed out the next desk along were giving gold circle wrist bands!

Been trying all week to complain to Ticketmaster as they have no phone number just a form to fill in and when I did receive a response it was:

Thanks for contacting AXS.

For event and venue information, the best thing is to check the venue website for the most up to date event details , timings and venue FAQs.
A total disgrace!!! Any suggestions to get help?

Absolutely horrible! I ordered two T-shirts for stray kids concert they were supposed to be with the tickets and cost 78pound yet not only they didn’t arrive at all, whoever I contacted they would just tell me to contact other places and so on and so on. Don’t ever buy any extras with the tickets no help whatsoever and can’t get it sorted

Kylie was fab, but wish she’d been on longer. Nearly 9pm then finish at 10.30pm. Went to Guns n Roses last year and they were on for 3 hours.
Anyway, drinks extortionate. £8.50 for a small can of pimms.
Toilets were pretty good.
Miles back from stage, couldn’t even see Kylie on the stage as so far away but I guess that is what you get for general admission. Thank good for big screens!
When has it been ok to smoke weed in venues? Maybe I sound old and miserable but I don’t want to smell that stench.
Security needs to sort itself out. At the end of the concert I went to go to the loo, said to my husband I’d meet him at a water dispenser after. It was so busy, people everywhere, it’s dark.
Went to loo, went to walk back to meet husband and security are stopping people going back that direction. Pushes me with his arm to block me. I said I have to meet my husband. He said no you need to exit. Sorry? Do you realise if I exit the venue with thousands of people, he won’t know where I am? We’ve no reception on our phones. We will lose each other? Could take hours to find each other again. No he refused to let me through. Two other ladies appeared saying they needed to get back to meet friends, same situation. He refused again blocking us. What an absolute jobsworth. He has women on their own, distressed, as we can’t get back to our friends etc and quite frankly not sure what we will do! Luckily we saw a gap next to another security guard and slipped through. Absolutely no need to treat us like that. Could have easily said go though. It wasn’t a problem but would have been a major problem if I hadn’t got back to my husband!

Treated like animals. I went to the Stevie Nicks concert on 12 July. She was fantastic but I didn’t see her once, except on large screens. The event was a total rip off. The greed displayed by BST was disgusting and as general admission ticket holders, we felt unwelcome, despite paying £120 each. The golden circle at the front was so big that we were pushed way down the field. It was impossible to see anything (and we weren’t at the back). They had built huge VIP boxes near the stage which blocked the view for thousands of people. Food and drink prices were extortionate. At the end of the night everyone was funnelled out of a small exit and they shut the paths to Marble Arch. People were treated like animals instead of adults. I’ve been to lots of Hyde Park concerts which were great before BST took over. Most open air concerts allow people to roam freely but not BST. I will never go to another BST concert.

Paid £350 for VIP gold circle, only to end up with diamond circle which cost less. No one directed us to the VIP area. Food prices were sky high. Security had no people skills and were very rude and arrogant not even searching properly! Shame we could not take stools o sit on as it was a long day. Still waiting for a t-shirt I purchased back in February.