35 replies to this topic

[Dukeeyyy]

I agree with the others, Hop Farm is a safe bet as well.

[JID]

luckysalt, on 23 August 2011 - 08:16 PM, said:

Hop Farm looked like it had a great line up overall, but wasn't amazing in depth, Prince day looked awful [I know it was tacked on at the last minute]

The old Phoenix festival line ups were superb, Im expected the same alternative bill next year, keep the chavs away and great line up for me!

yeh im looking forward to seeing what sort of line up they have next year

[olly sanders]

End of the Road Festival in Dorset is the best one i've ever been to. Going again next week and I can't wait. Great bands, great atmosphere and hot & spicy cider. Awesome festival. Couldn't recommend it enough.

I'm done with V now. Used to go every year but decided against this year due to the horrendously chavvy lineup. Glad I stayed away as well after reading the stories on here. I'm sure it'll be worse next year as well... all those rioters from a few weeks ago have probably sold all their stolen TVs and are now buying Early Bird tickets with the money.

[phil the shrew]

If you live in the midlands area and go to V at Weston Park then the Big Chill in Herefordshire might be an option. Its traditionally been quite a folk and world music festival but has gone a bit more commercial in recent years with the Chemical Brothers headlining this year

Quite a few people seem to have had bad camping experiences at V this year. If you want a festival which you can stay off site at, but still get on and off site ok then Reading and Leeds is a decent option

With no Glastonbury next year I'll give V another go. Living near the site I don't have to camp and I think getting off site each night is a big bonus as you get a good nights sleep and no worries about you tent getting visitors in the night.

[thetime]

I would recommend a European festivals.

Rock werchter is a good chilled festival with hardly any dicks you get at the likes of v.

4 days of music and is cheapvto get there.

4 days of music plus camping cost around the 190 quid mark this year.

[chchel]

Have my eye on Brownstock which is very soon, never been but the line up seems ok and again its only local.  

I've been thinking I might introduce my daughter to the festival experience but V is definitely not the place...I've seen things that she doesn't need to see yet.  I have looked at the Hop Farm one and I think last year there were some free day tickets available.

[TheNewUnion]

There's no doubt in my mind, reinforced by what has been said above, if you want to avoid the dicks you need to avoid the music that (sadly) attracts those dicks. Some great suggestions, Hop Farm might be the one for me next year, but Big Chill always looks good.

[the_hedge]

Download and Sonisphere are great festivals if you don't mind your music on the heavy side. Pretty much chav free as well. Will never return to V after going to those 2.

[gjammer]

I tend to enjoy the smaller festivals but if you want guitar bands where the crowd is good, there is a good atmosphere and there are big names then have a look at Sonisphere.  Don't know if that's a bit heavy for what you are looking for but I thoroughly recommend.

[xxtinkerbellxx]

gjammer, on 29 August 2011 - 06:51 PM, said:

I tend to enjoy the smaller festivals

Exactly the same here. After discovering a few smaller festivals over the last few years I don't think I will bother with the big ones any more. Y Not festival and Strawberry Fields festival are the best fests I've ever been too. They are organised so well and the atmosphere is just amazing, they are everything a fest should be

[rug568]

reading/leeds

reading is my favourite festival (i have been to glastonbury)

[thetime]

rug568, on 30 August 2011 - 06:19 PM, said:

reading/leeds

reading is my favourite festival (i have been to glastonbury)

nah if someone want an alternative to the nobheads stay away from reading/leeds as theres more dickheads at r&l.

[gjammer]

xxtinkerbellxx, on 29 August 2011 - 08:41 PM, said:

Exactly the same here. After discovering a few smaller festivals over the last few years I don't think I will bother with the big ones any more. Y Not festival and Strawberry Fields festival are the best fests I've ever been too. They are organised so well and the atmosphere is just amazing, they are everything a fest should be

And the reason in my opinion??  Because with no really big "today" (sorry for the quotes) names to pull in the masses, you tend to get a wider variety of music lovers who are also looking for an experience rather than just ticking off bands they have seen.  I might be wrong of course and there is nothing wrong with V if that is what you are looking for...it's just there is more than that out there to enjoy

Edited by gjammer, 30 August 2011 - 10:22 PM.

[rug568]

thetime, on 30 August 2011 - 07:16 PM, said:

nah if someone want an alternative to the nobheads stay away from reading/leeds as theres more dickheads at r&l.

he just said he didn't like chavs, and there are no chavs at reading.

Although there are a lot of indie kids, who it can be argued are just as annoying as chavs.

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

rug568, on 01 September 2011 - 09:37 PM, said:

he just said he didn't like chavs, and there are no chavs at reading.

Although there are a lot of indie kids, who it can be argued are just as annoying as chavs.

There are definitely chavs at Reading. Can't speak for Leeds.

From what I've heard, Leeds is supposedly the better of the two. If you want an actual festival, I'd suggest Bestival, End Of The Road, Primavera or Secret Garden Party. Reading can be good, but I wouldn't define it as a festival.

[Flaminglippy]

I stopped doing V 2/3 years ago (for some of the reasons you mentioned)...done IOW and Kendal Calling since...IOW's OK, same kinda size as V but fewer knobheads, generally the line-up are worse though (nowhere near as much choice). Kendal's the one though...great crowds, great line-ups, real ale, lovely setting...perfect. The organisers are really friendly, actually respond to comments on their FB page, they actually still run it like a festival rather than some massive corporate marketing machine. The headliners aren't the level you'd get with the likes of V/IOW etc but they're normally decent and the new band stage has some absolute corkers on. The Cribs were phenomenal this year

Edited by Flaminglippy, 25 September 2011 - 02:39 PM.