Waldbühne — Attraction in Berlin

ADVICE for future concert goers! The show was incredible the bad review is solely for the poor entry process and to help future attendees. These problems could easily be solved with an email from the organisers explaining the rules of the venue prior to the concert and high signage at the entrance so that people can clearly see where they need to be. I arrived early with more than plenty of time before the show started only to be stuck in ques and actually miss the start of the show. Extremely poor planning from the staff at the event. With a venue capacity of 22000 it is a sea of people when you arrive. There is no clear directions from staff or clear signage of what the protocol for entry is or where you need to be. People que unknowingly for an hour in the wrong area to then be sent to a different que for another hour. There was a sign for bag rules but with so many people you cannot see the one sign that's at ground level until you are right next to it. The majority of people had the same issue as myself. You join the flock of people heading for the entrance, only to finally get the front and be told you cannot come in with a bag. The staff walking around with megaphones could have used them to direct people clearly and loudly instead of aggressively turning single people away at the gate. You are not allowed to have a bag larger than A4 paper size. You must join the huge bag storage que which moves at a snails pace because there is just one person in a booth slowly taking bags. Its also 5 euro for the service. You are also not allowed an umbrella. You are not allowed a water bottle, even an empty reusable water bottle. Umbrellas and water bottle go to a different storage area and are collected separately. Obviously collecting your backpack is just as ridiculous a process as dropping it off. Join the long slow que while the staff frantically search for the correct bags by torch light. What...

I will start with the good, the setting and acoustics are excellent, and there is not a bad seat in the house. The staff at concessions was lovely. However for the Pearl Jam concert I attended last night, the entrance into the venue was incredibly disorganized and dangerous. We were told that the doors would open at 4:00 PM, they did not open till past 5:30 PM. During this time, we were moved by the staff from our line several times where we finally ended up in a crowd (no line) of several thousand that needed to be pushed together into a small place in order to enter the venue/security checks. A woman kept screaming on a megaphone but she was not audible and only agitated the crowd more. I could not breathe, we were all directly under the sun and I was crammed against a body on all sides. If there had been any panic or push forwards, many people could have died or been seriously hurt as there was no way out at a certain point in the “line” and only metal barriers on all sides. The security witnessed the problem and did nothing to stop it when they could have widened the entry and opened more lanes to let people in. Several security staff were standing around doing nothing. It was a hot day and people were angry, uncomfortable and it was a miserable experience. Pearl Jam more than made up for it during their performance, but I’m sure if they had known the danger and stress their fans went through in order to get in, they would...

What a great way to meet people! You and thousands of your fellow concert-goers will start your Waldbuhne experience jam packed like pickles in a jar in a sweltering S-banh train, arriving full of sweat and angst.

Then you will all crowd the incredibly long and steep steps as you make you way to the very uncomfortable bench seating, where there isn’t enough space for two people to sit side by side and cross their arms at the same time. But don’t worry, those uncomfortable benches will soon give way to intense back pain, so that will take your mind off of it.

And make sure you use the toilets and get your food and very expensive drinks before you sit down! Because it’ll be so awkward for you to step over everyone in your crowded row to get back out, because there’s only one way in and out of each section and row.

In case of an emergency, there’s no way that everyone could get to safety given that there are only 4 exits to this place, at the very top of the tall and dangerous stairs -- all exits will be choked by the many thousands of people struggling to get up the incredibly long stairs to get to safety.

If Waldbuhne were to host a free concert with Elvis, Michael Jackson, George Michael, and a Beatles reunion, I still wouldn’t go back...