Festival Help 2012

[worthyraver]

Luckily for you I have been doing some extensive research especially this year, here are the results from the Epping jury:

Bestival 2009

I went to this with the lads and it was the best "go-mental" festival I have ever been to, the site is beautiful and seems to suit a festival very well, great selection of acts, nice vibe and great disco biscuits! (although the festival is not responsible for the last one). This year they have made the site bigger and I have just checked the map it looks better than ever. The vibe there was similar to Glastonbury, but the age range younger. It does have an arena which I dont like and although I never tried to sneak anything though loads of people did as the security seemed mainly to be checking for wristbands.

Camp Bestival 2011

I was here with the family me and the missus and the four kids Molly (5) Maisie (4) Freddie (2) Arthur (2), yes I know I should have bought a telly!

Lovely site in the grounds of Lulworth Castle, however if you think the "hill of death" is steep at Glastonbury you will be in for a serious shock here, unless you pay the extra for camping plus in which case I think you camp and park on the same level. Usually has some decent acts as well as Mr Tumble et al to keep the parents and kids happy. After this years festival there were a lot of complaints on the Sunday Best forums that there were too many unattended teenagers drunk and or whizzing off their tits, now I personally never really noticed this but I am in the minority. They have taken steps to do with ticketing and admission to try to reduce this for next year.

The site does have an arena but they made no checks whatsoever for booze or even wristbands, this I think added to the teenage "problem" once word got out. This was the first festival I had taken the kids to and they loved it, definitely going back next year.

Standon Calling 2011

I also took the family to this one, however I nearly backed out because I thought there maybe no other kids there and it might be too much of a "rave". I am so glad I took the chance as this was the best festival I have ever been to, only 5,000 on site so you see the same people every day almost unbelievably this place was friendlier than Glastonbury, disco in a cowshed no arena what is not to like. There were lots of other families in attendance and the natural amphitheatre of the main stage is excellent plenty of room for us to sit near the back with the kids. Speaking of the kids they preferred this to Camp Bestival no Mr Tumble but a swimming pool and a log in the middle of the main stage. No teenage "problem" here for the simple reason that there was not any, I did not even notice this until I was home and the missus pointed it out. Fantastic place obviously all over this one for next year, additionally Battles were fantastic just an amazing performance.

Shambala 2011

Again with the family I had very high hopes for this one especially after the experience of Standon Calling, about 10,000 people on site they dont announce the line-up and they have never advertised all word of mouth. However it was nowhere near as friendly as Standon Calling, and the main stage area was very cramped. On the plus side the site is very flat and it is a very short walk to your car and there is no arena, very disappointed with the line-up as I said they dont announce it and I can see why, the only decent bands were "leaked" before the start for example Lamb. Considering Standon Calling's line-up blew Shambabla's away it did notice. Will I go back next year? if the leaked acts are good and the weather forecast is fantastic then maybe, however the plan is to go to Beautiful Days instead.

Bestival 2011

90% going: not with the family though.

[JC-Mo'Fucka]

Anyone got much experience of boomtown fair or secret garden party?

These are top of my list for next year, mainly because a.the music has looked right up my street and b.they look like crazy fun.

[eFestivals]

Luckily for you I have been doing some extensive research especially this year, here are the results from the Epping jury:

Shambala 2011

<snip> the main stage area was very cramped. </snip>

On the plus side the site is very flat and it is a very short walk to your car and there is no arena, very disappointed with the line-up as I said they dont announce it and I can see why, the only decent bands were "leaked" before the start for example Lamb. Considering Standon Calling's line-up blew Shambabla's away it did notice. Will I go back next year? if the leaked acts are good and the weather forecast is fantastic then maybe

Cramped? When?

If you found the main stage area cramped I suggest that you walk the extra 10 yards to the opposite side of the stage. There wasn't any point I didn't have ten times as much room as the minimum I'd have liked.

As for the music, I didn't see one 'bad' band - tho it's not a festival that's about just the music anyway. The musical quality was far better than you'll get at most other festivals that go for the trendy or 'names'. I can only think that your disappointment was caused by the shortage of well-known names.

[paulo999]

Although it has one of the most draconian own-booze policies (coupled with unfriendly enforcement at the gate - for those not in campervans), I was blown away by Secret Garden Party. The most exquisite site ever. Boat rides and swimming on the lake. Swans. Setting fire to an entire stage on the Saturday night. Endless things to get involved in, some borderline comedy-dangerous. Arcadia made a human crossbow, firing people into the lake. An amazing outdoor dance arena made from straw bales. Venues hidden in the woods, bridges big and small, an island... it's festival disneyland.

At Glasto there's 3.5 punters for every crew/performer. At SGP it's a mental 2:1 - every third person is putting the show on. 16000 punters - 9000 crew & performers.

Downsides? Apart from the booze policy, they don't spend loads on the music (the money goes on the creative around the site) - and the main stage sound was a bit rubbish. But then again it's stuck in a corner, perhaps suggesting how important they think a "main stage" is at the event.

It's now a very close second to Glastonbury in my list - never thought anything would occupy that spot.

[JC-Mo'Fucka]

Although it has one of the most draconian own-booze policies (coupled with unfriendly enforcement at the gate - for those not in campervans), I was blown away by Secret Garden Party. The most exquisite site ever. Boat rides and swimming on the lake. Swans. Setting fire to an entire stage on the Saturday night. Endless things to get involved in, some borderline comedy-dangerous. Arcadia made a human crossbow, firing people into the lake. An amazing outdoor dance arena made from straw bales. Venues hidden in the woods, bridges big and small, an island... it's festival disneyland.

At Glasto there's 3.5 punters for every crew/performer. At SGP it's a mental 2:1 - every third person is putting the show on. 16000 punters - 9000 crew & performers.

Downsides? Apart from the booze policy, they don't spend loads on the music (the money goes on the creative around the site) - and the main stage sound was a bit rubbish. But then again it's stuck in a corner, perhaps suggesting how important they think a "main stage" is at the event.

It's now a very close second to Glastonbury in my list - never thought anything would occupy that spot.

Edited September 5, 2011 by JC-Mo'Fucka

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

Although it has one of the most draconian own-booze policies (coupled with unfriendly enforcement at the gate - for those not in campervans), I was blown away by Secret Garden Party. The most exquisite site ever. Boat rides and swimming on the lake. Swans. Setting fire to an entire stage on the Saturday night. Endless things to get involved in, some borderline comedy-dangerous. Arcadia made a human crossbow, firing people into the lake. An amazing outdoor dance arena made from straw bales. Venues hidden in the woods, bridges big and small, an island... it's festival disneyland.

At Glasto there's 3.5 punters for every crew/performer. At SGP it's a mental 2:1 - every third person is putting the show on. 16000 punters - 9000 crew & performers.

Downsides? Apart from the booze policy, they don't spend loads on the music (the money goes on the creative around the site) - and the main stage sound was a bit rubbish. But then again it's stuck in a corner, perhaps suggesting how important they think a "main stage" is at the event.

It's now a very close second to Glastonbury in my list - never thought anything would occupy that spot.

[Uh-Oh!]

Because I have to book my holiday so far in advance, I'm now semi-comitted to Big Chill 2012 (assuming its on the same schedule as this year) However I am slightly concerned at reports of arena booze bans, though apparantly easy to get past, the words 'ban' and 'restrictions' at a festival leaves me cold. Also reports of feral youths running around in full on Lord of the Flies mode are slightly off putting. Anyone know how things went this year?

[festigoer]

I've done quite a few UK festivals in the past 6 years, and none of them match up to Glastonbury. I would quite like to do RockNess, but I am going to book Exit Festival in Serbia in the next few months because it's a bit different. None of this rain stuff that seems to blight Glasto every year, and it's absolutely dirt cheap!

£89 for early bird tickets for Exit 2012, flights are around £100 return and transfer to Novi Sad (where the festival is) is about £15 from Belgrade. That's for the price of a Glasto ticket already. You can get some bloomin' nice rental apartments for about £17 a night as well, camping is apparently not advised due to the high temperatures at the festival.

Anyone been to Exit before?

[eFestivals]

Because I have to book my holiday so far in advance, I'm now semi-comitted to Big Chill 2012 (assuming its on the same schedule as this year) However I am slightly concerned at reports of arena booze bans, though apparantly easy to get past, the words 'ban' and 'restrictions' at a festival leaves me cold. Also reports of feral youths running around in full on Lord of the Flies mode are slightly off putting. Anyone know how things went this year?

I didn't go in 2010 when there were loads of reports of it being over-run with 'feral' kids, so while I went this year I can't compare things with the year before. This year I didn't get the impression of it being over-run with 'feral' kids - tho there were certainly a lot of kids there, as made obvious by the young girlie screams (rather than the more normal 'adult roar' that's heard at fests) that greeted the likes of Jessie J and Kanye West.

It's not too surprising that the audience is changing tho - it's part of a deliberate plan by Festival Republic I think, who obviously plan to make the financially-failing festival they've taken into a financial success. That means attracting more people, and the best way to do that is to make it moire appealing and relevant to younger people.

There's always been a booze ban for the arena at Big Chill (since I've been going anyway). The security are stricter now than they used to be, tho I guess a determined person can still get around them if they tried - but their general robustness made Big Chill the only fest that I didn't try sneaking some spirits into this year (tho I reckon I could have had I bothered trying).

[outlinereality]

Neil, Shhh indeed!

Did it this year and bloomin' loved it! I only saw one idiot over the whole 4 days & the amount of freedom was great. I'll be going back next year with the high hope that I'm not crying over Glasto too much!!

Lots of cool hidden bars too

I'm assuming you were there as you were so subtle about it!!

[marcwilson87]

Try going abroad for one! Lowlands just outside of Amsterdam was one of my favourite times ever (may have been mass amounts of very magical mushrooms) or try Sziget in Budapest. All of the large ones in the UK are put to shame by Glasto!

[Homer]

The best answer is go to Bestival. It's a pain in the @rse to get to but you should do it once and it's just like a smaller Glast. It's still big enough though - I got around pretty much all of it I suppose last weekend, but still didn't make the Enchanted Forest so it's just about the right size. Also, I've been three times and no one's ever searched me for booze on the way into the arena.

I would also recommend generally Super Bock Super Rock in July. I went this year and for 80 euro the headliners were Strokes, Arcade Fire and Arctic Monkeys (on, and it was f*cking awesome!).

The English alternatives I'm considering for next year are Shhhhhhhhhhh, Boomtown Fair (any thoughts?) and Beautiful Days.

Also, Camp Bestival, can you go and treat like Bestival with a group of mates, or is the family thing all encompassing?

[DiscoDolly]

Glasto is way to large an area for me to cover now. Im Impaired in my mobility and when it gets muddy the options to get around are severely limited. I know this is the same at every other festival but the sheer scale of glasto means an epic journey just to get from A to B with overcrowding meaning i sometimes have to just turn around and head somewhere else. The frustration really boiled over for me this year because for the first time the massive distances beat me and so 2012 is the perfect opportunity to try out smaller festivals. Im not overly concerned with big name bands because to be honest ive seen just about anyone ive really wanted to see ( im no youngster!! ).

Secret garden party tickets have been paid for and im really looking forward to that as a first timer but if anyone could suggest another festival Id be very grateful

[5co77ie]

The English alternatives I'm considering for next year are Shhhhhhhhhhh, Boomtown Fair (any thoughts?) and Beautiful Days.

[Greenish]

The English alternatives I'm considering for next year are Shhhhhhhhhhh, Boomtown Fair (any thoughts?) and Beautiful Days.

[amfy]

I went to Big Chill this year and had a great time. There were definitely no "feral kids", but lots of little kids who seemed to feel really safe to wander around unaccompanied collecting cups all day. The campsites were quiet and spacious. The arena was also very spacious - maybe a little too much so, but I think it fell between 2 markets this year. Last year they really tried to open it up to Yoofs and as a result lost their traditional audience who didn't enjoy the all night tent bonfires and "alaaan" shouting competions.. This year they didn't try to attract the yoofs back (lesson learnt) to some extent they got neither yoof nor their traditional audience, and it was probably only about half sold.

That said, the set up is great and if you like the line up when it comes out, I don't think you can go far wrong. I am hopeful that more of those who used to enjoy big chill will return next year, especially with no Glastonbury. I'd really like it to survive.

You definitely need to give your beer smuggling some thought, but it isn't impossible - although - actually- not beer. We took spirits in twice a day every day and only one of us got caught once. Even then he was allowed to take it back to the tent, it wasn't confiscated, and he brought it in about 45 minutes later!