Glasto alternative....

[dccool]

So, I have decided to try something new this year....(enforced as I didn't get lucky on T day!).

Before anyone states the obvious I am not expecting a 'Glastonbury lite' or an alternative anywhere near as fantastic as Glastonbury is/was/can be!

Just want a quick view point of those fellow Glastonbury goers that have a secondary festival they go to.

Been to Glastonbury 9 times over the past 20 years and also Reading and Leeds festivals (never again) in to all sorts of music etc so more about atmosphere and vibe than headliners.

Any pointers much appreciated......thanks

 

[Woffy]

Boomtown. Suspect you'll hear this suggested a lot.

[donthaveacoolname]

Irelands electric picnic gets great reviews. If you wanted to travel, early September 

[stuwilky]

If you're a fan of the Avalon type areas at Glastonbury then I'd heartily recommend Bearded Theory on the second bank holiday in May.  Great friendly atmosphere, good for kids, although enough going on until very late if you're so inclined, can take your own booze - but the bar is well run and very reasonable.  

[stuartbert two hats]

The obvious question is which bit(s) of Glastonbury do you love the most. There is no other festival with everything that Glastonbury has, but you can find something similar to each part of it in other festivals. If you like the SE corner, then Boomtown is great. If you want some well known bands + comedy, but no beats, then Latitude might be up your street.

If you like it when the Levellers headline a stage, then Beautiful Days is probably for you.

So, more info required. Maybe rank the aspects/areas from most to least important?

[dccool]

2 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

The obvious question is which bit(s) of Glastonbury do you love the most.

Best thing for me is bimbling around finding stuff so I guess I like all aspects of glasto equally...if I had to pick the Glade and Park areas are where I spend most of my time.

Ideally would like a festival where the camping and arenas are open with no hassle going in between the two.

27 minutes ago, Woffy said:

Boomtown. Suspect you'll hear this suggested a lot.

Thanks Woffy, checked this out and it looks a good choice

[deebeedoobee]

Boomtown for the imagination and shambala for exploring the Unknown/ weird/ wacky. 

[morph100]

Beatherder if you like the glade part of Glastonbury 

[Neville Street]

If the Park is a favourite area then End of the Road is great. It's also like G and BDs in that you can wander around with your own beers, etc., but has a great beer festival included on site.

[Beaver89]

This doesn't necessarily fit with your desires but I did Bestival on the off-year and thoroughly enjoyed it. It's got that tense energy of Reading for the first day or so but soon settles down to a more Glasto vibe later on. The other virtue of it is that is is a fuck tonne smaller geographically so your feet won't be wrecked by day 3.

You will see from my signature that my festival experience is not that broad as Glasto does me quite nicely thanks. I do not recommend Evolution. It is a stage in a carpark with teenagers sat in it. I assume the teenagers are permanent and they put the festival up around them.

Boom Town, End of the Road and Hop Farm always seem to get a good rep and Latitude takes my interest at the larger end.

[stuartbert two hats]

I've heard good things about the vibe at Bearded Theory. Can anyone else comment who has actually been?

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

If it's a bit of all hours chilled out vibe you want then I'd thoroughly recommend Shambala. No segregation of camping and arena type thing. You can bring a shed load of alcohol with you and drink it anywhere you like. Not so great if you are only in to big name bands etc Oh, and it has a fancy dress theme for the Saturday evening. Mind you, fancy dress takes place all over the days of the festival. I once went to a stall once to buy something and they were all on acid. When I proffered them money for an item the bloke behind the till's response was something along the lines of ' keep that yourself, we don't want your money'.  The actual owner of the stall was lying on the grass laughing his tits off to himself. That kind of sums the place up.

Edited February 14, 2016 by Yoghurt on a Stick

[JoBalls]

We did Latitude last year and I thought it had a really good atmosphere... The Comedy area was the stand out bit, the lineup was decent enough on the music stages and there was a really decent amount going on after hours which you don't normally get at the more commercial festivals like V and R&L. We managed to drink until 4am most nights. It has an arena area but campsites are close and it was not difficult to carry in some spirits.

The late night area in the woods is really cool and has an awesome pine smell, and the toilets at Latitude are far and away the nicest festival toilets I've ever encountered. 

If we couldn't get tickets to Glastonbury one year (touch wood this won't happen) or in the fallow year I would definitely choose Latitude as my alternative fest.

[stuwilky]

8 hours ago, stuartbert two hats said:

I've heard good things about the vibe at Bearded Theory. Can anyone else comment who has actually been?

 

Been to the last 5.  Its my favourite festival of the summer!

 

Its really easy - everything close together and feels much smaller than it actually is (apparently its 10,000 people - feels like half that!)

Edited February 15, 2016 by stuwilky

[A Guy Called Matt]

12 minutes ago, stuwilky said:

 

Been to the last 5.  Its my favourite festival of the summer!

 

Its really easy - everything close together and feels much smaller than it actually is (apparently its 10,000 people - feels like half that!)

I thought it was only 5k - so spot on what stuwilky said above.

Cracking little(ish) festival.

[davidd]

9 minutes ago, stuwilky said:

 

Been to the last 5.  Its my favourite festival of the summer!

 

Its really easy - everything close together and feels much smaller than it actually is (apparently its 10,000 people - feels like half that!)

Great little festival, although not been for a couple of years.

As far as i'm aware they have a licence for 10,000 but choose to sell only 5- 6,000 tickets as they want to keep a nice chilled and spacious atmosphere. That was the case a couple of years ago anyway, may have changed but from the way you describe it it doesn't appear to have.

[russycarps]

I'd go to primavera. Great line up this year, guaranteed good weather, cheaper, less Brits in attendance...What's not to like?

In fact, I'm half considering not bothering with glastonbury and going there instead myself.

The one in Lisbon looks good too. Lisbon is the greatest city on earth.

 

[ghostdancer1]

Body&Soul festival in Ireland. weekend before Glastonbury so usually has some of the same acts, no separation between arena and campsites, lots of little weird and wonderful things to do and see.

had the likes of Caribou, Goldfrapp, M83, Jon Hopkins, Nick Cave, PiL, Nicolas Jaar, Darkside, James Murphy, Spiritualized, St. Vincent all playing in the past.

 

[whisty]

If you like West Holts it's got to be Womad.

[cdm22]

52 minutes ago, russycarps said:

I'd go to primavera. Great line up this year, guaranteed good weather, cheaper, less Brits in attendance...What's not to like?

In fact, I'm half considering not bothering with glastonbury and going there instead myself.

 

 

Its sold out now so that could be a bit tricky

[Chris Lfc]

Rock Wercher was great last year just depends if you're into that sort of lineup this year 

[russycarps]

7 minutes ago, cdm22 said:

Its sold out now so that could be a bit tricky

bloody foreigners!!

 

 

[Henrik]

Bestival is great. It's the only festival I have been to that I could compare to Glastonbury.

Obviously it's not as good - It's a hell of a lot smaller for a start. The site is cool though; you can wander about and discover things. It's not just a stage and a few tents in a field.

Hearing very good things about Boomtown too.

[Yokel Again]

Agreed with whoever said if you like the Park, do End of the Road. Great little festival.

[buddiepaul]

I can't vouch for some of the others, but End of the Road is excellent.