THE ORGANISERS OF Longitude have issued a public apology after festival-goers experienced crushes and long delays while trying to access the Dublin music festival.

Reports on social media suggested that queues stretched well over an hour to get into the festival, with others reporting “overcrowding” in the queue.

Photographs from the scene yesterday showed large numbers of people waiting to get through the barriers into the festival.

Organisers have this morning apologised for what happened but said they had urged those attending to arrive as early as possible.

In a statement posted on Twitter, managing director of Festival Republic Melvin Bell said:  ”The opening hour of yesterday’s entry was not what I wanted. We had encouraged people to arrive early and they heeded the encouragement to a greater level than anticipated making that first hour difficult and I owe those caught up in it an apology.

However, every single person caught up in the shock of the uncomfortable start was able to continue into the concert and enjoy the day despite that. As you would anticipate, my teams have worked throughout the night to improve the entry for today and tomorrow so everyone can enjoy Longitude at its best.

Ahead of the festival, organisers had said that large bags and backpacks would not be allowed into the festival.
On the Longitude website it says “to avoid lengthy queues, we strongly advise that you do not bring a bag”.

The Weeknd will be headlining tonight.