Robberies, Traffic, late start, poor sound — Flop ahead of South Africa

Patrons of Tidal Rave 2022 have taken to social media platform Twitter to chronicle everything that has gone wrong with the show.

@OleleSalvador among several patrons’ complaints about the poor quality of the show and ill-planning, gave a review that covered almost all the complaints.

From robberies of patrons, to lack of water for patrons to buy to poor quality sound leading to Ghanaian act Black Sherif performing without sound among other unpardonable flops.

Most patrons were robbed of their cash and expensive phones after sitting in several hours of heat and traffic to get to the show exhausted and disappointed.

Ahead of the South African version of the show, many patrons in Ghana on Twitter have said this is their very last time wasting their money in a show like Tidal Rave.

Read Olele Salvador’s review:

Tidal Rave ’22 was a tidal wave of exhaustion, safety, & crashing emotions. Since its inception in 2012, this will be my first time attending Africa’s Biggest Beach Festival. It just may be the last. This is not a review. This is a thread of my experience.

[email protected] has come a long way. The festival has always given patrons a perfect cocktail of a road trip, a beach party & live music performances in the heart of Kokrobite. You must at least experience it once in your lifetime. Definitely not the kind I had yesterday.

Heading to the venue meant sitting in hours of traffic. I was up for it. That’s expected, right? However, at the time I set off(around 5pm), the traffic from the main road heading into Kokrobite was fairly okay. The gridlock started when we entered the town.

The distance from Bojo Beach Resort to the Luxury Beach Resort, where the festival was held, was only 700 meters away. It took us an extra 50mins to get there. We were lucky to have gotten a spot to park our car because everywhere was choked with cars. Double parking everywhere.

Some of the locals had to “rent out” the spaces in their compounds to accommodate cars as well. But it wasn’t enough. Okada riders took advantage of the situation & made some money by transporting people to the venue while others had to walk.

Arriving at the main entrance was a mammoth crowd. Patrons looking to either get in, wait for their friends & fellow ravers, or purchase tickets. This entrance wasn’t ticketed; the security/ticket checks were done after going through this gate. That was an unpleasant experience.had to empty my pockets & hold all my present “earthly goods” up around my chest level, lest I return home “naked.” We were like captives in a squid game, trying to get through a gate where the guards were waiting to hurt us. A near-breathless stampede was the only way out.

FF: On the grounds, there were a lotta smiles, fun activities, food, drinks, music, & people literally having the best time of their lives. A complete scenario of two different realities happening simultaneously on the same day. You couldn’t even tell the “sufferings” outside lol

The night finally drew nigh and like any other person there, we came to jam to some good music and live performances from the artists on the bill. The festival was slated to start at 12 midday & end at 10pm. Some had been there since 3pm. As of 8pm, no headline act had performed.

There were a couple of technical challenges here & there. Some of the opening acts had to perform acapella of their records cos for some reason, they couldn’t get their mp3s played. It worked for some, but it was extremely nauseating for others. Can’t blame them. Not their fault.

At 9pm, I decided to leave cuz imagine havin to come all the way to an event outside “town” & not a single headline act had performed. I heard they came after 11pm. Smh. Omw out, the traffic was even worse. The only 2-way street that leads to & out of the venue became 3-way.

Drivers using unauthorized lanes made it difficult for people like us to leave the town. There was no presence of the MTTD or Ghana Police to assist or ease the traffic situation. It had to take the locals to assume those roles to help. That was very worrying.

For someone who was just tryna get home after a disappointing stint as a first-time raver, I was stuck in traffic for 2+ hours. I could only imagine what the situation woulda been like after the event. It looks like the only jam I left Accra for was the jam of Kokrobite traffic.

could only imagine what the situation would have been if there was a medical emergency and an ambulance had to navigate its way through the traffic☹️. No emergency routes or even specific routes for VIPs. We are all using the same route.

obviously knows that this happens every time. Patrons sit in these unhealthy hours of traffic to get to the event. They would arrive very fatigued & won’t fully enjoy the experience. In hindsight, it’s not even good for drivers who would have to drive back. Why?

Drivers would be exhausted — sleeping behind the wheel, which could result in a variety of accidents; a cost they wouldn’t be responsible for. They also risk losing & spending more on fuel/transportation. Budgets are gonna be greatly affected.

So, although you have paid about 100 cedis for a ticket, you are most likely going to be spending in excess of 800ghs, all things inclusive, and yet, you are not getting the experience you paid for. For a festival that has come this far, all these things needed to be considered.

The lack of adequate police visibility at @tidalravefest was scary. You’ve probably seen the tweets about how people who stayed till the end allegedly suffered several attacks & robberies. This has been the icing on the cake for the festival each year. Security needs a 2nd look!

You’re literally paying to not only have fun but to be attacked and robbed. For free. You can’t be Africa’s Biggest Beach Festival & people risk losing their lives coming to the event. It’s the patrons that make the success of the event. Their safety is a priority! Your priority!

am not even looking at this through the lens of the just-ended Global Citizen Festival because we are aware of the investment that went into it. However, @tidalravefest is not a baby. We shouldn’t be having these conversations in 2022. It’s the barest minimum.