Quite interestingly though, I received an email from a arts marketing specialist from Sydney. She had read reports about White Night Melbourne. When I say “reports”, they were mainly status updates on Facebook. Apparently some people were not too happy with the event. The complaints ranged from the half a million people, not being able to see any of the street performances and also the queues to see shows that were housed indoors. I’m betting these are the people who probably listed the things they wanted to see and made the evening into a mission. Knowing that this event was highly publicized by the City of Melbourne and it gathered 300,000 last year, wouldn’t one expect people??? And lots of them??? I don’t know exactly what these complainants wanted. Possibly a private tour of the lighting displays?
There were also comparisons to Vivid Sydney. I just had to roll my eyes and… well, I rolled my eyes a lot. In fact, I can’t help rolling my eyes every time the words “Vivid Sydney” come to mind. I will have strong macular muscles until I succumb to Alzheimer’s.
Some people complained about not being able to get a drink. Well, this is something that could be done better. The bars could have had a respite from the 1am, 3am and 5am alcohol license. White Night Melbourne was supposed to close at 7am. At least for that night, let the folks have a bit of drink in licensed premises. It’s not like we are in King’s Cross Sydney that we king hit or coward punch randoms. Melburnites are a bunch of pretty happy and ridiculously outrageous people. Generally, people go out to have fun and not to be seen. Oh and interestingly, the Facebook “reports” I mentioned earlier? Written by people from Sydney.
I had a great time. I wanted to see as many as I can but without a list of what was available, I could safely say I saw all that I wanted to see.
