Sonic Bloom Slammed For Overcrowding and ‘Disgusting’ Porta Potty Conditions

For its 2022 edition, Sonic Bloom got messy due to poor logistical handling.

With their first return to Rye, Colorado since the start of the pandemic, Sonic Bloom received major criticism from fans for selling too many tickets without expanding physical capacity or amenities. Festival organizers also saw some unpleasant words for the “disgusting” porta-potty situation that had toilets flooded with waste. 

With such a praised lineup, Sonic Bloom gained quite a buzz leading up to the four-day festival. This led to an abundance of tickets being sold—apparently more than they should have released. With all of 2020’s expected attendees plus new ticket holders for 2022, the festival was bursting with people among the grounds. Fans criticized the event when they were unable to see some of their favorite artists on multiple occasions due to there being more people than the stage could handle. 

Stop overselling music festivals @SONIC_BLOOM shit killed my vibe more than the weather, you can’t just double the amount of tickets you sell and then not change anything else about the event, disappointing.

— Marty Muzik (@3420nodeals) June 20, 2022

The festival received even more unkind words when they ran into major issues with their bathrooms. According to attendees, the porta-potties ran out of toilet paper and didn’t get serviced at the rate they needed to. In addition, many cited that the hand-washing stations quickly ran out of water, leaving those in attendance frustrated with the lack of infrastructure. 

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After feeling the heat from the fans in attendance, the Sonic Bloom team took to their social media to give some insight as to why the festival didn’t go as expected. They stated that the sanitation company they contracted, “only sent two trucks and it took them 10 hours to service everything.” The post apologized to the fans who had a negative experience at the festival and expressed that they are “grateful for your support and patience as we tried our best to meet all of the challenges we faced.” 

While this year might not have been Sonic Bloom’s best job, their intent to improve and reflect on the festival gives hope to all of their fans that the event will be better in the future.