Parking nightmare at Killer concert

A great concert was overshadowed by a killer parking problem at Emirates Palace last night.

More than 14,000 concert-goers arrived at the Abu Dhabi venue to see US rock band The Killers live. But in a change from previous concerts, organisers moved parking to a new sandy lot over a kilometre’s walk from the Emirates Palace.

Cracks in the so-far untarnished reputation of concert-organisers Flash started to appear as many queued in cars for more than hour to enter the car park and then spent an additional hour waiting to leave it following the concert. Flash declined to comment on the changes and would not say if they would remain for the Creamfields festival on Friday or the Rihanna concert on New Year’s Eve.

The long walk only added to the disappointment of many.

Previous concerts at the Corniche venue, including Bon Jovi, Christina Aguilera and Elton John to name a few, have been operated with little or no complaints from guests.

“I have never waited for longer than 20 minutes,” said one concertgoer. “Why would you change something which works so well? It doesn’t make any sense.”

Other revellers reported longer than usual queues for food and beverages.