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Festival cancelled due to mud


The other Bellboy
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On 7/31/2017 at 5:50 PM, Badlands said:

Was just thinking this, been on their website and there's a fair few owned by Global. 

Reluctant to give any sort of praise to them, but I spent the weekend at Kendal (which is ran by them) and thought the setup was decent. Clean toilets most of the time, genuine attempts to lose the mud and beer under a fiver. 

Kendal isnt "run" by Global or Broadwick live. It is run by a company called from the fields ltd. Broadwick basically own a stake in Kendal but I would imagine they probably let the original team get on and run it, properly, as they have been doing for years.

I guess where things have gone wrong (truck, Y Not, Fest no 6 2016) is where the new owners have taken more of a front seat role in organising, or at least pulled tight the purse strings of those who were doing the front line organising so they couldn't possibly do it properly. Or worse, completely tried to change the type of event that it used to be, and growing it too quickly (i.e all of the aforementioned) 

Broadwick seem to have left kendal alone mainly, as they are well established, & therefore know what they are doing and crucially this year they sold out - and sold out early on. Having  said that i would not be surprised if they try to up Kendal's capacity significantly next year without making the thing much larger in overall size.

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On 30/07/2017 at 1:02 PM, BlackHole2006 said:

Been looking at the Y-Not thread and apparently there have been a huge number of thefts this year to the point where the police stepped in and they got their licence revoked. 

I don't want to point fingers but looks like they might be using the mud as a smokescreen for what's really going on behind the scenes. 

I agree old son.... Looking at the pictures there's green grass.. It's looked a tab muddy but christ we at Glastonbury half expect that sort of mud lol but I don't think that's why they shut down Y...... Apparently the security didn't give a toss and people were just camping anyway no one was checking wristbands.. Sounded like a right mess.. 

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2 hours ago, The other Bellboy said:

You need to stop getting married and find one ya like;)

Seriously its hard to believe how different your experience was than some of the other reports i've read, we know how different the experience can be at Glasto for each of us, but its such a massive site and its so easy for people to have a hundred different experiences, but at a smaller festival i'm surprised that it can still be so varied just by a few details changing - you had a great time and i'm really glad you did.

Never been to a small festival, don't which is the smallest out of T, Reading or Download but i would still class all of those a big i guess. Doing the Abbey Extrav' next weekend and this will be the smallest event i've ever been too but can't imagine any issues at all.

We were seriously thinking of a smaller family friendly one next year - will be a lot more research required before any decisions made after these events.   

Mad isn't it? to go even further into how crazily lucky we got, because we arrived on the thursday our car park was relatively untouched on Sunday and we got out without much bother at all, when people in the next field were being towed. 

I used to be completely anti smaller festivals for the reason that I just assumed they couldn't possibly be well organised, but Kendal Calling made me change my mind on them. It's a shame that there seems to be issues this year with some but I'm sure there are some good ones about. Like you say research is needed though. I was shocked that Y Not changed so much over one year

WE just have to hope Global realise that these events need to actually run properly to get people coming back long term, and maybe reinstate the old organisation teams. 

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1 hour ago, Memory Man said:

Kendal isnt "run" by Global or Broadwick live. It is run by a company called from the fields ltd. Broadwick basically own a stake in Kendal but I would imagine they probably let the original team get on and run it, properly, as they have been doing for years.

I guess where things have gone wrong (truck, Y Not, Fest no 6 2016) is where the new owners have taken more of a front seat role in organising, or at least pulled tight the purse strings of those who were doing the front line organising so they couldn't possibly do it properly. Or worse, completely tried to change the type of event that it used to be, and growing it too quickly (i.e all of the aforementioned) 

Broadwick seem to have left kendal alone mainly, as they are well established, & therefore know what they are doing and crucially this year they sold out - and sold out early on. Having  said that i would not be surprised if they try to up Kendal's capacity significantly next year without making the thing much larger in overall size.

Spot on and I agree about future capacity increase being a worry. Especially if we see a repeat of this years mud.

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Reading about Y Not made realise in hindsight that Truck was very poorly run. 

On the Friday we arrived an hour after gates opened and ended up queuing for nearly 4 hours; there were no stewards or queuing system with the queue ending up going down a small country lane which was also being used by drivers leaving the festival. After 3 hours of queuing Truck finally posted a statement on social media saying they had "opened up more lanes to increase the flow of people".

Thankfully it was sunny so we weren't waiting in the rain, but there was no water access points or stewards to hand any out water. By the third hour of queuing an ambulance was seen arriving at the queue, no idea why though. 

Truck's excuse was they just assumed people would arrive at a steady pace throughout the whole day, and not at the beginning :rolleyes:

Arrived in the car park around 10 30am, had my tent set up by 3 30pm! I've made quicker progress at Glastonbury!

This as well as minimal security in the campsites; no bag searches upon entering the festival & arena (I saved so much money smuggling cans into the arena) and hay only being laid out in the entrance to the arena. The staff and stewards were nice, I can't fault them!

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Luckily I arrived early to Truck so I only queued for about an hour to get in, but I can agree with the minimal security and generally rubbish organisation. They put down some hay in a few bits of the main arena, but everything else was left with the mud. The hill on the way in from the family camping and entrance was pretty treacherous by the Sunday. I was not searched once at all the whole weekend so happily managed to smuggle in all my cans, but thats not very good from a security point of view.

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From another forum this pretty much sums it up in terms of disorganised chaos.  The mud wasn't the problem and these are not my words:

-----------------------------------------

"Okay, as seasoned festival goers we're not put off by a bit of mud, festival toilets, or some degree of disorganisation.

Our first contact with staff on the campervan wrist band shed was positive. Very friendly and bubbly.

However, doubts started to seep in once we had set up and headed towards the arena.

Firstly, where was it? No signs whatsoever, so we started walking up a lane in the pouring rain, which had we continued would have led nowhere.

We doubled back to the last gate we had seen, back of the Quarry I think, and got some vague directions from the 'officials' there.

The gate we had gone through to get to this lane had now been closed, which necessitated a further hike back almost to where we had started, and up through the tented camping.

Thus far we were not deterred, eventually found the main arenas and set about finding a program, given they normally tell you where and when everything is.

Why these were not on sale at entry, or where wrist bands were given out goodness knows, and it took us some time in the pouring rain to find the cabin selling them.

Great, now armed with a timetable off we went to find some bands .... then quickly realised none of the tents were labelled and there were no signposts, so we had to ask fellow punters which venue we had walked into, then orientate ourselves to the map on the lanyard ... which then fell apart and into the mud as it was not waterproof!!!!

So, we worked where everything was, headed down to the main stage to see Clean Bandit, only to be almost swamped by people heading away from the stage ... saying they had just finished, like nearly an hour early, something that just never happens at festivals!

After something to eat back at the van we headed back over to the Quarry to see Frank Turner. Sound quality was abysmal to start with but then improved .... it did seem very full in that tent though, we wondered why? 

Much as we love Frank, we will see him at Beautiful Days, so we left before the end to catch some of the Vaccines. Yeh, to be confronted by an empty stage and main arena.

Okay, so the weather was bad, but how hard would it have been to have made an announcement on social media, or even had some staff walking around in sandwich boards or with placards with the change of times announcement .... nah nothing.

Saturday we were still feeling open minded about the whole thing, and wandered down to the main stage to watch another band, which we missed as the timings had changed again.

It was then we noticed the only announcement, a revised schedule on the the big screens, which I pictured and posted on the Y Not Festival FB page to help others, as they had not bothered to do so themselves at Y Not.

Still we soldiered on through the mud, saw Beans on Toast and some others. Things got a bit lairy where we stood for Jake Bugg, security almost invisible, but we found a great spot for the Stereophonics, which was a brilliant set, and cannot complain about the view or sound quality, even if security was again somewhat lacking.

Having said that the rather drunk lady that encroached into the sound desk area and remained there unchallenged for some 10 minutes was quite entertaining.

We traipsed back through the mud that night still feeling okay about the whole thing and looking forwards to Maximo Park in particular on the Sunday.

So, Sunday morning peering out of the van curtains at like 8am I notice hoards of people clearly leaving and think it a bit odd. We take a look at the Y Not website and FB page and see nothing untoward, so brew a pot of tea and find some cookies.

Its not until an hour later we finally see an announcement, via other social media that the whole thing has been cancelled.

We figure there is no point rushing, so a couple of hours later when we finally venture out of the van I talk to our neighbour, who it turns out is still not aware the whole thing has been cancelled.

This latter point highlights our initial gripe, a total lack of communication from the organisers, from the lack of signage on entering the site and main arena, to letting us know about the changes of times, to letting us know the whole thing was called off.

It also has to be said that there does appear to have been a total lack of planning for the conditions, and whilst the lack of security had its advantages, those were outweighed by the feeling that a potential catastrophe could occur, and reading some posts nearly did.

Whilst we enjoyed the bands we saw, and were not put off by the rain or mud, we do feel badly let down by the organisers, and for missing numerous bands we had looked forwards to seeing since purchasing our tickets in February.

Whilst not necessarily expecting a full refund, we would welcome an amount proportionate to our loss of enjoyment, which has to be at least around the 50% mark, but possibly a lot more.

I had thought Y Not had a good reputation, and whether that is the case or not is now immaterial as I think it unlikely we would ever brave this festival or any run by the same company, as this one was so clearly shambolic!!!!!

Whilst our experience was clearly not as bad as that of many others, we do really feel for those that had a totally crap time,  particularly those robbed or whose tents were engulfed in mud.

So for us, the Y Not is now a memory never to be repeated, next stop is Farmer Phil's the Beautiful Days both of which I am sure will live up to expectations.:-)"

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19 hours ago, efcfanwirral said:

forgot to mention-  i saw male security frisking female punters. They aren't allowed to do that are they?

I think they can do with the punters permission, but they (she in this instance) has every right to wait for a same sex security/have one available. Ideally there should be at least one of each gender at every point where they would need to pat someone down.

I went to a gig in London just after the Manchester bomb and security was understandably tight. The disproportionate amount of guys/girls in the crowd was more so than the security, so there were female security staff with no queue offering to pat down the blokes if they didn't mind. (for clarity it was all 100% professional and civil from both punters and security)

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On ‎02‎/‎08‎/‎2017 at 11:24 AM, lazzareo said:

From another forum this pretty much sums it up in terms of disorganised chaos.  The mud wasn't the problem and these are not my words:

-----------------------------------------

"Okay, as seasoned festival goers we're not put off by a bit of mud, festival toilets, or some degree of disorganisation.

Our first contact with staff on the campervan wrist band shed was positive. Very friendly and bubbly.

However, doubts started to seep in once we had set up and headed towards the arena.

Firstly, where was it? No signs whatsoever, so we started walking up a lane in the pouring rain, which had we continued would have led nowhere.

We doubled back to the last gate we had seen, back of the Quarry I think, and got some vague directions from the 'officials' there.

The gate we had gone through to get to this lane had now been closed, which necessitated a further hike back almost to where we had started, and up through the tented camping.

Thus far we were not deterred, eventually found the main arenas and set about finding a program, given they normally tell you where and when everything is.

Why these were not on sale at entry, or where wrist bands were given out goodness knows, and it took us some time in the pouring rain to find the cabin selling them.

Great, now armed with a timetable off we went to find some bands .... then quickly realised none of the tents were labelled and there were no signposts, so we had to ask fellow punters which venue we had walked into, then orientate ourselves to the map on the lanyard ... which then fell apart and into the mud as it was not waterproof!!!!

So, we worked where everything was, headed down to the main stage to see Clean Bandit, only to be almost swamped by people heading away from the stage ... saying they had just finished, like nearly an hour early, something that just never happens at festivals!

After something to eat back at the van we headed back over to the Quarry to see Frank Turner. Sound quality was abysmal to start with but then improved .... it did seem very full in that tent though, we wondered why? 

Much as we love Frank, we will see him at Beautiful Days, so we left before the end to catch some of the Vaccines. Yeh, to be confronted by an empty stage and main arena.

Okay, so the weather was bad, but how hard would it have been to have made an announcement on social media, or even had some staff walking around in sandwich boards or with placards with the change of times announcement .... nah nothing.

Saturday we were still feeling open minded about the whole thing, and wandered down to the main stage to watch another band, which we missed as the timings had changed again.

It was then we noticed the only announcement, a revised schedule on the the big screens, which I pictured and posted on the Y Not Festival FB page to help others, as they had not bothered to do so themselves at Y Not.

Still we soldiered on through the mud, saw Beans on Toast and some others. Things got a bit lairy where we stood for Jake Bugg, security almost invisible, but we found a great spot for the Stereophonics, which was a brilliant set, and cannot complain about the view or sound quality, even if security was again somewhat lacking.

Having said that the rather drunk lady that encroached into the sound desk area and remained there unchallenged for some 10 minutes was quite entertaining.

We traipsed back through the mud that night still feeling okay about the whole thing and looking forwards to Maximo Park in particular on the Sunday.

So, Sunday morning peering out of the van curtains at like 8am I notice hoards of people clearly leaving and think it a bit odd. We take a look at the Y Not website and FB page and see nothing untoward, so brew a pot of tea and find some cookies.

Its not until an hour later we finally see an announcement, via other social media that the whole thing has been cancelled.

We figure there is no point rushing, so a couple of hours later when we finally venture out of the van I talk to our neighbour, who it turns out is still not aware the whole thing has been cancelled.

This latter point highlights our initial gripe, a total lack of communication from the organisers, from the lack of signage on entering the site and main arena, to letting us know about the changes of times, to letting us know the whole thing was called off.

It also has to be said that there does appear to have been a total lack of planning for the conditions, and whilst the lack of security had its advantages, those were outweighed by the feeling that a potential catastrophe could occur, and reading some posts nearly did.

Whilst we enjoyed the bands we saw, and were not put off by the rain or mud, we do feel badly let down by the organisers, and for missing numerous bands we had looked forwards to seeing since purchasing our tickets in February.

Whilst not necessarily expecting a full refund, we would welcome an amount proportionate to our loss of enjoyment, which has to be at least around the 50% mark, but possibly a lot more.

I had thought Y Not had a good reputation, and whether that is the case or not is now immaterial as I think it unlikely we would ever brave this festival or any run by the same company, as this one was so clearly shambolic!!!!!

Whilst our experience was clearly not as bad as that of many others, we do really feel for those that had a totally crap time,  particularly those robbed or whose tents were engulfed in mud.

So for us, the Y Not is now a memory never to be repeated, next stop is Farmer Phil's the Beautiful Days both of which I am sure will live up to expectations.:-)"

I really hope these folk get some sort of refund - but I expect they won't, I think the only thing that could possibly sway the organisers to offer one is the fact that this and other festivals they are involved are really going to take a hit on attendance next year. I would think a high proportion of festival goers are repeat attendees and not so many each year are new / haven't done any research~?

Cant imagine going to a festival without any signs, its been a while since I've been to anywhere but Glastonbury so I can't remember how good the signs were there but we did do Winter wonderland last Christmas and Butlins this last easter and the signs were really poor which made life very hard, so I can only imagine how bad it is when not in a good state a festival!

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Well they've given everyone a 50% refund

http://www.ynotfestivals.co.uk/y-not-2017-official-statement/

Quote

Admin

 

4th August 2017

REFUND INFORMATION & Y NOT 2017 OFFICIAL STATEMENT 

REFUND INFORMATION

FIRST OF ALL WE ARE SO SORRY FOR THE DELAY IN GETTING FINAL INFORMATION TO YOU. WE COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND THIS ENTIRE SITUATION HAS BEEN A FRUSTRATING ONE, THERE ARE LOTS OF DIFFERENT PARTIES INVOLVED AND IT CAN TAKE SOME TIME TO GET FINAL INFORMATION. PLEASE KNOW THAT THIS HAS BEEN PRIORITY NUMBER ONE SINCE THE CANCELLATION OF THE FINAL DAY OF THE FESTIVAL.

 

TICKETS 

A REFUND OF 50% OF YOUR TICKET COST INCLUDING VIP/THURSDAY (ALSO AS UPGRADES) HAS BEEN PROCESSED, WHICH DOES EXCLUDE BF AND POSTAGE. THIS SHOULD BE IN YOUR ACCOUNT NEXT WEEK, IN SOME CASES THIS COULD TAKE UP TO 14 DAYS DEPENDING ON YOUR BANK.

 

SOME EXAMPLES BELOW:

Ticket TypeRefund Amount

Tier 1 £94.50£47.25

Tier 1 Thursday Entry £109.50£54.75

 

WHAT DO I NEED TO DO?

NOTHING. THE FUNDS HAVE BEEN CREDITED TO THE CARD WHICH MADE THE INITIAL TRANSACTION. 

 

GLAMPING

A THIRD OF YOUR GLAMPING COST WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY CREDITED TO THE CARD WHICH MADE THE INITIAL TRANSACTION.

 

EXAMPLES BELOW:

ItemRefund Amount

Bell Tent £400£133.34

Tipi £550£183.34

 

ARE THERE THINGS NOT INCLUDED?

BOOKING FEES / POSTAGE

CAR PARKING

CAMPERVAN / CARAVAN

SHUTTLE BUS / COACH

PLEASE READ BELOW FOR A FURTHER NOTE ON THIS YEAR’S FESTIVAL.

 

 

 

A STATEMENT ON Y NOT 2017 

 

OVER THE PAST 12 YEARS Y NOT HAS BUILT A REPUTATION AS AN HONEST AND SINCERE MUSIC FESTIVAL, PROVIDING THE PROMISE OF A GOOD TIME.

A LOT OF THE SAME TEAM HAVE BEEN INVOLVED WITH THE FESTIVAL SINCE THE BEGINNING AND WE KNOW THAT Y NOT COULD NEVER HAVE EXISTED WITHOUT THE TRUST AND SUPPORT YOU HAVE SHOWN US OVER THE YEARS. IT HAS BEEN SO DISTRESSING TO SEE THAT DAMAGED OVER THE PAST FEW DAYS. 

WE WERE HIT WITH EXTRAORDINARY AND HIGHLY UNPREDICTABLE WEATHER BOTH DURING THE BUILD AND OVER THE WEEKEND ITSELF. THERE WERE LEVELS OF INFRASTRUCTURE IN PLACE TO DEAL WITH ADVERSE WEATHER, HOWEVER WE REACHED A POINT WHEN THE FORECAST WAS CHANGING HOURLY AND THERE BECAME A RISK THAT EMERGENCY SERVICES WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO ACCESS AREAS OF THE SITE. EVERYONE’S SAFETY WILL ALWAYS COME FIRST AND THE MOST DIFFICULT DECISION WE’VE EVER HAD TO MAKE, BECAME THE ONLY RESPONSIBLE OPTION.  

THIS YEAR WE COMPLETELY RECOGNISE THIS WAS NOT THE Y NOT FESTIVAL YOU DESERVED AND IT’S NOT THE EXPERIENCE WE WANTED TO GIVE YOU. 

WE HAVE LISTENED TO ALL YOUR CONCERNS ABOUT HOW THE EVENT WAS DELIVERED AND THERE WILL BE MORE DETAILED INFORMATION ON HOW WE’RE ADDRESSING THIS, COMING SOON.

OUR INTENTION WITH EVERY Y NOT IS TO GIVE YOU THE BEST WEEKEND OF YOUR YEAR. WE ARE VERY SORRY THAT SO MANY OF YOU DID NOT HAVE THE EXPERIENCE YOU HAD HOPED FOR, AND WE DEEPLY REGRET THE DISAPPOINTMENT CAUSED TO ALL OF YOU.

WE WILL RETURN IN 2018, FULLY COMMITTED TO DELIVERING THE BEST SHOW IN OUR HISTORY AND PUTTING RIGHT WHAT WENT WRONG IN 2017.  

WE WANT TO ADDRESS THE FEEDBACK WE’VE RECEIVED ABOUT THE FESTIVAL THIS YEAR, WHICH WILL RELEASE FURTHER INFORMATION ON IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR SUPPORT AND AGAIN, OUR APOLOGIES.

Y NOT

Edited by fightoffyour
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For those going to Hope & Glory in Liverpool I hope you got in. Sounds like utter chaos and shambles. Bands running over two hours late. Impossible to get a drink, over crowded and feeling unsafe.

Group of 5 friends went, first three queued for 2 hours to get in, the other two went a bit later but were refused entry cos they were told the festival had 'oversold tickets'! They have hotel booked etc and bought their tix months ago on early bird. Utter disgrace. Who runs Hope & Glory? Add them to the black list. 

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2 hours ago, H.M.V said:

Friend commented on Facebook saying they left after 10 minutes. Utter shambles. 

What is with the sudden spate of festivals fucking up so royally lately? 

See the 5 previous pages of chat regarding corporate ownership and profiteering being put before safety and comfort of punters. A worrying trend that's getting worse year by year as there are more and more festivals taking place. 

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To be fair, I went in 2016 and thought It was a great, well organised mid sized festival. Shame it has gone pear for all involved, and the punters more so this year. 

It is logistically impractical for that festival to expand, or cut corners (if that's what happened) imo.

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2 hours ago, Gnomicide said:

That Twitter announcement is a disgrace.

It is indeed . I went yesterday fortunately only got day rather than weekend ticket . Queued was long wait . Got in was 90 mins behind schedule at 3pm . Later on was 2 hours behind . Was a bit dubious when Twitter feed wouldn'tgive stage times even day before . The bars were to few and badly organised the toilets were in wrong place creating a crush area between stages . Lots of technical problems badly drawn boy had to switch first 2 sings to keyboard as his guitar Mic didn't work then it did . Embrace came on and no sound at all ....i know some will say good . But had to go off for 5 mins and come back on . Stage times never revised . Charlotte church off the bill without any announcement . James got a slightly later finish but had to debate which songs to cut . Feel sorry for lots I spoke to who had come for weekend . On plus side the crowds at stage were fine no crush I was aware off . The artists who got to play in main did good job . The weather was good the crowds were friendly and it looked fantastic in moonlight when James played . As it's my home city really sorry it didn't work great idea really poorly organised.  But I still had fun 

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If I wasn't away with the family I'd have gone, shame it didn't work out as it could've become a regular thing. Profits were due to go to charity (Manchester attack victims) but that will be scuppered if refunds are given. 

Looks like they are blaming the production company but that doesn't account for lack of bars, toilets and overcrowding.  

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Fairly accurate description.  Bars were a shambles.  And I always thought 12500 capacity seemed way to big for the size of the area . Pity I hope there is some money left over to help the Manchester appeal but with refunds fear not . I saw the tweet blaming production manager can't put everything down to one person . 

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