Palm Tree Music Festival (PTMF) made its Singapore debut last Saturday (18 April), hosting musical performances by popular DJs and artistes such as Alesso and John Summit.
However, after the weekend, attendees have provided feedback on their underwhelming experience of the event.
This included issues such as long queues, obstructed views, and “unfair” treatment.
Local talent Erika Maguicay took to TikTok on Tuesday (21 April) to list down “everything wrong” with the festival.
Speaking to MS News, Ms Maguicay said she was excited to catch the likes of Marlo, Alesso, and John Summit live.
@e.m.p.m on TikTok
In her video, she shared that she had purchased her General Admission (GA) tickets on 30 Jan, almost a month before the festival.
Ms Maguicay forked out S$417.56 for two tickets, including a “refundable ticket” insurance in case she was unable to attend the event.
However, a week before the event, she received a 30% off ticket discount code, despite already paying full price.
Her gripe wasn’t targeted at those who managed to take advantage of this discount.
“We are mad at the event organisers because why did we get punished for being so excited for the event?” Ms Maguicay questioned.
At the festival itself, the actress mentioned that “nobody was happy” with the drinks and toilet setup.
@e.m.p.m on TikTok
In her TikTok video, Ms Maguicay said: “My friend and I missed an hour of Alesso’s set because we had to queue for the toilet, queue to pay for the drink, and then queue to collect the drink.”
Looking back at her previous concerts and music festival experiences, she noted that other festivals also used a similar structure for selling drinks.
In fact, Ms Maguicay wished she had left the drinks queue earlier to catch more of Alesso’s performance.
She told Ms News that she has been to other music events in Singapore that were “well-organised”.
I expected a well-streamlined security, ample toilets, as well as good, well-staffed drinks system at PTMF.
Ms Maguicay mentioned that she and her friends weren’t even trying to buy alcoholic drinks, and that they just “needed water as a necessity in the heat”.
Addressing the festival’s stage setup, Ms Maguicay felt that the VIP area took up the majority of the space available, leaving GA ticket holders with an obstructed view.
@e.m.p.m on TikTok
“We couldn’t really get a beautiful, proper centre view because it’s blocked by the VIP stage,” she shared.
According to her, the VIP ticket holders had priority for drink queues and toilets. However, she added that a commenter in the post said that despite paying for VIP, they still had to join the long queue.
Ms Maguicay also shared that one of the staff from the festival had sent her a text from the internal staff group chat, where staff were indifferent to the feedback received.
Image courtesy of Ms Maguicay
Netizens took to Ms Maguicay’s social media posts to share what their PTMF experience was like.
Some shared that despite paying for VIP tickets at a hefty price, there was no proper segregation from GA ticket holders.
Image courtesy of Ms Maguicay
One netizen commented on her Instagram post that despite queuing for an hour, they were unable to collect their drink even after paying for it.
Image courtesy of Ms Maguicay
A staff member at the event shared that even on the operations side, things did not go smoothly — with staff forced to close bar counters and open more cashier counters.
Image courtesy of Ms Maguicay
MS News reached out to PTMF for more information.
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Featured image adapted from @e.m.p.m on TikTok and Palm Tree Festival on Facebook.