Photo: Hemera
A reader named Shira Bannerman writes:
I just spent the week at SXSW, an indie music festival in Austin, TX, that attracted around 230,00 attendees. (Well, first it’s an interactive media and movie fest, but I only went for the music fest portion. I’d also specifically like to mention that my experience is only reflective of the free concerts, as I didn’t pay for a wristband and don’t know if that experience is much different.)
With all of the free giveaways –- food-related and swag –- one item that was especially difficult to come by was water. At some venues, there were coolers of Fizze Izze’s, PBR and Lone Star beers, coffee drinks, and ice cream, but there was hardly ever any water. Most venues made you empty a water bottle before entering (a practice that makes sense to me since bars don’t want to get into trouble for hidden alcoholic beverages), but there was hardly ever water for refills on the inner side of the fence. One venue (Cheer Up Charlie’s) forced you to leave your empty water bottle outside (a practice I don’t understand). And another venue (Fader Fort) made you empty your water bottle, and then choose between waiting in line for a bottle of water or a beer/liquor drink. The bartenders would not give you both at the same time, so if you wanted to hydrate while drinking your alcoholic beverages underneath that hot sun, you had to spend the time waiting in line for a drink again. It’s hard (if not impossible) for a concert-goer to choose free water (which should be free!) over free beer (which is not usually free). And, discounting what in our minds “should” be free, it’s hard for a 20-something concert-goer to pass up a free beer at any time.
My question is: Why would this ever be a sensible business model? How could putting up barriers to hydrating a drunk and sweating group of 230,000 benefit anybody? Certainly, all of the concert-goers, who had probably been drinking alcohol for most of the day and are consistently out in the hot Texas sun, could use water. I am surprised that I didn’t hear reports of dehydration or of SXSW-ers going to the hospital. Why wouldn’t the city of Austin or the concert hosts be incentivized to give us water –- only so that they wouldn’t have a sick and dehydrated crowd on their hands? And why didn’t Aquafina or Evian use the opportunity to promote their brand by giving out free water for advertising benefits? Who does it benefit to leave so many thirsty, but alcohol-loaded, young people at a city-wide festival? I’ve seen water tents and emergency personnel on-hand for other mass gatherings, like rallies. Why neglect a big, outdoor music festival?
My only thoughts:
- From what I’ve read, beer is actually “optimal for rehydrating the body,” — even for athletes.
- We need to know whether there actually were a lot of dehydrated people at the event. Maybe the beer worked out great.
- I am not sure that water wants to be free any more than information wants to be free.
- Even if something makes sense at the macro level, there is no guarantee it’ll get done on the micro level.
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I think that water should be more accessible at the SXSW music festibal. After attending the Lollapalooza music festival in Chicago and the Austin City Limits music festival in Austin, I know that water is a vital area that needs to be straightened out at SXSW. At the two festivals, water was sold for $2 and if you brought your own reusable water bottle, you could get free refills. Water was very affordable and most importantly, very accessible. I thought that this business model was smart because there is such a high demand for water that by having it at a fixed rate of 2 dollars, then you can ensure that anyone can buy a bottle of water or bring their own; it was also very easy to get water because there were so many water stations packed with a large supply of water. With SXSW, many people don’t want to drink beer all day and not remember who they saw perform. Many people might just want some refreshing water. As the day goes on, the demand for water goes up since the concertgoers are out in the sun longer and are sweating profusely. The supply of water is sufficient at the festival, but that supply is not very accessible. This would lower the demand of water throughout the day and the amount of people who suffer from dehydration. I do not think it should be free because the goal of SXSW is to make a profit, and with all of the free shows, they try to make a profit as best as they can. By charging two dollars for water, SXSW could possibly make a profit, because the high demand of water would create a steady stream of revenue throughout the day. SXSW already does sell water at the bars, but they should try to create a separate water station for people who just want water; this would create shorter lines at the bar and the festival would meet the demands of the people easier. Do I think water should be more accessible at the festival? Yes. But should water be given out free? No, because the main goal of this festival as a firm is to make a profit.
Since alcohol is a diuretic it is going to make things worse if you are dehydrated. All American beers are over 4% alcohol, which is more than enough to have an effect. The rehydration article can be generously described as a creative interpretation of what the study actually showed. Of course providing free beer is likely to produce over-hydrated people, so the main adverse effect may be in the lines at the restroom.
Main economic reason for providing beer over water; drunk people spend more money.
There are legitimate reasons for banning/emptying containers and most concert venues I have attended do so. First, people throw stuff (the bar scene in the Blues Brothers comes to mind). Second, when venues that serve alcohol also allow entry to under 21s they have to keep the two strictly separated or risk large fines.
Cheer Up Charlies was forced by TABC to not allow water bottles in. We carry a mixed beverage permit. By law, the State of Texas prohibits individuals from entering a space that sells mixed beverages to bring any “liquids” in and prohibits any “liquids’ from leaving the space. We actually did have lots of free water for our all ages crowd to drink. We also had plenty of free snacks.
Tamara. Owner. Cheer Up Charlies
Elementary, my dear Shira. Simply follow the money.
If Shira wilts in the hot Texas sun in mid-March, she should definitely avoid the Austin City Limits festival in September. SXSW temps were in the high seventies/low eighties except for the last weekend when the temps got to the mid to upper eighties. I’m guessing that most folks visiting from colder climes probably enjoyed spring weather.
Um, they do have free water at Sxsw. In a state like Texas, not having water available everywhere is deadly. Everyone uses….Water Fountains. Sxsx is made of a bunch of snobs from The Coasts who consider a water fountain like breathing poor people’s air. It’s a cultural difference.
In the hot months, an outdoors active person can easily consume a gallon & 1/2 a day.
Sxsw is making water available in quantity, but users don’t consider refilling a bottle as viable.
Locally Austin is proud of the quality of it’s public water supply from hill country aquifers.
One interesting occurrence of this was at a concert I was at when I was 19. It was a blazing hot day and the concert was on the field of a baseball stadium with the only drinks a beer tent and H2O for $5/bottle. Needless to say few bought water and halfway through the show so many people were passing out the fire department made them stop and started hosing down the crowd with a fire hose (which was pretty fun/scary). Always surprised that doesn’t happen more often.
Many venues I was at (including The Parish and The Mohawk off the top of my head) had 5 gallon coolers of water and plastic cups available day and night. It’s been that way for as long as I can remember…