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bv
The U ARENA is a brand new venue. It cost Euro 360 million to build, with a capacity of 40,000 people for concerts. It opened last with, with the first Rolling Stones show. Exit out of the venue AFTER the show was blistering fast in 5-10 minutes. Still, there is one thing I don't understand:

Why is there a single path entrance and exit? Everybody need to enter and exit through a narrow bridge pass next to the big Arch near the Defense metro station. Why?

Also, there are gates all around the arena, marked with numbers, like any other venue. Why do they have to force all 40,000 people into queuing through basically one queue, one door (i.e. doors 33 right next to each others)?

The venue is 360 degrees dome. The world is 360 degrees. Why do they board the U Arena like an airplane? Or like the checkin at a hotel, a single point entry? Is it all about security and the fear of terror?

It does not make any sense to have 40,000 people jam packed at gate 33. I have been to hundreds of shows but I have never ever seen anything like this. Not before the show, and certainly not after the show.

Did they only finish one door out of many? Or is only one road finished in & out of the venue? Is it private or unfinished land all oround the venue, except for the 20% in use around gate 33?

I 100% agree with you about the entrance...but 100% disagree about exit. Exit have been incredibly easy last sunday. I just never had to stop walking (ok, slowly) till the Subway train. I think that the one way exit through the bridge pass avoid the jam at the subway station. But don’t ask me how you can make things easier in both ways, entrance and exit because i’ve no clue...

^ Exit has been among the easiest on this tour. OK, maybe the bar is low: The Germans, Swiss and Austrians all failed. The idea is to work out the exit strategy as soon as you get in.

The other trick for getting in is to know enough French to speak it badly. The guards will just wave you in rather than suffer your tortured syntax.

In Copenhagen it was also bad. Heightened security because of terror risks. It’s good to know that they think about people’s well-being sure, but tell me how it adds to the security to have extra entrance points? If some psycho wanted to kill a lot of people, he’d just do it there instead wouldn’t he?

JumpingKentFlash

Entrance was an absolute mess at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday. We ended up going for sushi instead. Came back at 8:00 p.m. and it was much better. Inside it was horrible getting to the pit entrance as well.

Going home (via RER station) was easy and not too crowded. This will be a great venue once they figure things out.

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JumpingKentFlash
In Copenhagen it was also bad. Heightened security because of terror risks. It’s good to know that they think about people’s well-being sure, but tell me how it adds to the security to have extra entrance points? If some psycho wanted to kill a lot of people, he’d just do it there instead wouldn’t he?

It's all a big act, and I'm not sure they think about our well-being more than the overtime pay. I was surprised to see trash receptacles around the U Arena. Big fail in Terrorism 101.

A disaster. I was directed to "33" where I stood for two hours prior to admittance. The line began to move, I was frisked and as I presented my ticket, I was told I could not be admitted at that entrance and needed to go to another. I freaked. After all, I had staked my claim for two hours at that point. At the second entrance, "14", I was told go to back to "33". I lost it. Finally, some U Arena guy escorted me, and a few other individuals who had gotten bad advice, into the arena but the damage was done as approximately 10 minutes had already gone by. Terrible.

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steffialicia
A disaster ... Finally, some U Arena guy escorted me, and a few other individuals who had gotten bad advice, into the arena but the damage was done as approximately 10 minutes had already gone by. Terrible.

10 minutes of the show?! Disgraceful. My commiserations.

(And if not, it's still disgraceful. No one deserves to be stressed-out at an entertainment event.)

These comments about getting into the show, even after making plans to get there in really good time, are just not fair on fans who have paid big money in a lot of cases.
It can ruin the whole night having all that stress and aggravation.
I've been lucky enough to have always got into or out of gigs with no real stress problems at all.
Was thinking of going to one of the Paris shows, but although I dearly love watching The Stones play live, I'm glad I didn't go .

I really feel for you steffialicia and all the other fans who had a real bad time getting in.

I honestly couldn't cope with all that in my current state of mind.

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steffialicia
A disaster. I was directed to "33" where I stood for two hours prior to admittance. The line began to move, I was frisked and as I presented my ticket, I was told I could not be admitted at that entrance and needed to go to another. I freaked. After all, I had staked my claim for two hours at that point. At the second entrance, "14", I was told go to back to "33". I lost it. Finally, some U Arena guy escorted me, and a few other individuals who had gotten bad advice, into the arena but the damage was done as approximately 10 minutes had already gone by. Terrible.

It also was very bad organized in lucca. nobody knew where we had to go with our lD tickets. After 2 hours of walking we found the right entrance. we were both @#$%& up.
jeroen

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DeanGoodman

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steffialicia
A disaster ... Finally, some U Arena guy escorted me, and a few other individuals who had gotten bad advice, into the arena but the damage was done as approximately 10 minutes had already gone by. Terrible.

10 minutes of the show?! Disgraceful. My commiserations.

(And if not, it's still disgraceful. No one deserves to be stressed-out at an entertainment event.)

No, not 10 minutes of the show, but 10 minutes of the opportunity to get the best spot in the pit.

I do not agree on the narrow bottleneck bridge theory. I walk with thousands of people in a slow low queue. I try to step to the side of the queue but a gendarmerie (in a line of 10 other same kind) is protecting the Jeep with automatic machine gun so better be in the queue or they will shoot me.

So I walk in line with everybody in this queue and man y many do not take the Metro they walk on with me and in all other directions. Some to hilton, some to Melia, some to IBIS, some to Novotel, many over the bridge to La Seine. Why is there a big big nomanland around most parts of the venue area, unavailable for walking? It will be like this for EVERY event I assume.

In a circiular venue, say Esprit Arena Dusseldorf, Soldier Field Chicago, or any other venue, there are 20-40 doors, and after the show or the game they open all doors, so that people may walk not one door by 50,000 people but 50,000 divided by 50 = 1,000 out of each door.

The U Arena single in & out lane is may be made to prevent terror, I don't know, but terror do love many people in one place, so the way it works now is simply not smart. It should be fixed, before the next Stones tour to Paris in 2020.

Bjornulf

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bv

The U Arena single in & out lane is may be made to prevent terror, I don't know, but terror do love many people in one place, so the way it works now is simply not smart. It should be fixed, before the next Stones tour to Paris in 2020.

2020! I'm with you all the way!

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bv
...before the next Stones tour to Paris in 2020.

>Sticky: Stones Tour 2020 (rumored)

Hoping for the best on Wednesday show! Sunday had some difficult moments for me.
My friends had crazy experiences on the first show. Let’s hope 3rd time is a charm and the new arena finally gets it together! The first show was just insane
I don’t know how I was spared the grief some of my friends went through but I witnessed it all. The refusal for pit entry because the ticket said “No filter
Pit” was unbelievable - but I witnessed it! Unfortunately it all comes down to
the whim of the particular security guard (if you ask three security guards a
question - you will get three different answers). Thinkimg positive: the last show will go smooth and security will lighten up.

So, the walk way between the Pit up front,
Stones stage design, or U Arena bright idea?
I tell you what, I think there could have been a riot
if the security had opened the gate up front Sunday night
and just let people push and shove there way past fans already planted and watching the show!
Fans are old (er) just like the RS you cannot expect everyone to be able to walk an extra lap or 2 around stadiums.
Anyway, I’m a novice rookie
but Dean Goodman if that was you in the #1 position at the gate
who took off like a winning race horse, throwing up arms for security without
being asked,
impressive. 251 shows right there.

I did have to show them my ticket and pointed out where it said Filter Pit, had to kind of make my point with them, but they did let me in after a 25 second or so delay.

But my big question is: is it an advantage to b there early and if so, by what time and at what gate?

plexi

It appears that the original plan was to have Pit and Fosse Or enter at Gate 14. That makes perfect sense as it would allow easy access to the front of the stage. I don't know why they didn't stick with that plan.

As posted in the paris 2 live thread:

We arrived at the arena at 17:50 only to be directed to gate 14 by several different security staff. Eventually we talked our way into the gate 33 area to find thousands of fans all lines up for gate 32 and 33. Both Fosse, Fosse Or and pit ticket holders were lined up in one big area. At this point it was already 17:50. We had no luck walking up directly to the pit line as it didn't seem to exist. Also here security staff had no clue about the pit tickets. At 18:05 or so the doors opened and we queued up but of course the line was moving very very slow because of the individual security checks performed at the doors. We decided to have a drink in one of the bars surrounding the venue and returned at 19:00 to find the same mess. At this point I was starting to get upset and I pushed myself towards the area far left of gate 33. Much to my surprise the security standing next to the fences there immediately let us in. @ U Arena, a sign over there would be helpful next time! Fans with pit tickets should go straight to the fences on the left side of gate 33 instead of waiting in the general fosse/fosse or lines. You needed to enter the pit through Ronnie's side which was almost empty when we arrived. We proceeded to Keith's side using the walkway underneath the stage. We ended up being 5 rows from the stage and perhaps 3 rows from the walkway which for me was a great spot. It gave us a great overview of what was going on at the stage.

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swimtothemoon
.....
The refusal for pit entry because the ticket said “No filter
Pit” was unbelievable - but I witnessed it! Unfortunately it all comes down to
the whim of the particular security guard (if you ask three security guards a
question - you will get three different answers). Thinkimg positive: the last show will go smooth and security will lighten up.

Give authority to people without giving them the knowledge nor the instructions and you get into that kind of mess.
If you ask me, a dream situation for people with bad intention.
If "security" know nothing about how to get from A to B in the U Arena, what will they do in case they have to organise emergency evacuation?????

Still needing to get an answer to this: is it an advantage to get there early and if so, by what time and at what gate?


plexi

Hi Bjornulf. I was there with my GF from Chicago. Her First my umpteenth. It was chaotic which I was afraid of as I was expecting New Venue-Itis. We got shunted away from Gate 14 (even though people were going in there) and finally made it to gate 33. We got in and walked down to the floor. No Wristband. I figured the ticket we had would work. The entrance to the Pit on Ronnie's side rejected us. We went over to Keith's side and they guys there apparently were up to speed and they banded us and let us in. It was stressful to say the least after flying halfway across the globe to see the Stones but all was made worthwhile eventually! Also of very cool note was the beer dispensing system they had that fills glasses from the bottom to the top! I have never seen anything like it! It was a great show and Keith was really ON.