Willy Wonka experience jibe from punters angry at Colourbeat Drums show

Attendees of a globally touring show have been told they "got Wonka'd" as their "amateurish" experience was compared to the infamous Willy Wonka Experience.

London's Colourbeat Drums performance was branded "mildly funny to a point where it stopped being funny" and "beyond horrible" by furious internet users, who took to Reddit to complain about the highly popularised experience. Promotional materials had marketed the event as an LED-drum performance that "transforms epic film soundtracks into a live music spectacle of sound, colour and light".

But the experience, which is run by FeverUp entertainment, failed to land with people who signed up, with attendees complaining that the marketing used in advertising did not match the "abysmal" final product.

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In the original post, the furious event goer said they paid £50 to attend the concert held at the Shaw Theatre on Euston Road, and were left struck by how "beyond amateurish" their experience was. Promotion for the event, they said, appeared to have been AI generated, with pictures purportedly showing the event looking like "nothing compared to the actual show".

Attendees added that the end product seemed "incredibly low" value. They said: "The audio and performance were abysmal - sorry for the harsh word - to the point where I found myself surrounded by a cacophony of indistinguishable sounds (the How to Train Your Dragon bit when they stand beside the audience), which is when I also saw my wife wince in pain.

"The "plot" was just a collection of random 'scenes' accompanied by narration that could have very well been purchased on Fivrr from a foreign art student needing an extra buck.

"The led strips on their drums, per my wife's words, were worse than the ones I bought for the bedroom a few years back. The production value of the show was, unfortunately, incredibly low, the performance was entirely detached from the attempt at narrative."

"There were 'battles' taking place where the power balance was apparently swaying from one side to another." They added: "A large part of the hour was also spent by drumming on... Some hard plastic cones, rather than any drums, while relying on the background music."

The user was widely backed in the comments by others who had similar experiences at the event. Another user added the experience "was beyond horrible", and a third who also saw the Colourbeat Drums said they found it was "beyond disappointing", adding: "The second hand embarrassment almost hurt me physically."

Another said: "From the technical delay at the start it was clear that this was an amateur performance, my views confirmed once I saw the dreadful LEDs!"

"I rather hoped that a strong musical performance might detract from the poor staging, but alas there was so little musicality that I’m not convinced that the performers were musicians in any conventional sense." One person went as far as to say the original poster had "got Wonka'd", to which the original poster replied: "That was my exact first thought!".

The former comment was a reference to the widely-panned Willy's Chocolate Experience, a disastrous, unlicensed event held in Glasgow, Scotland, in February 2024.

The experience became a viral sensation after pictures emerged showing the poorly put-together children's event at the Box Hub Warehouse. Incredible pictures from the event showed the obvious AI-generated marketing material and poor quality props hastily assembled in the middle of an otherwise bare warehouse. Among the characters at the event was one silver-masked man named "The Unknown" who jumped out from behind a mirror to surprise patrons.

The event left children in tears and parents furious, police were called, and two women who played Oompa Loompas saying they were forced to switch off their phones due to the extreme social media backlash.

The Daily Mirror has contacted FeverUp for comment.