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Festival cancelled due to mud


The other Bellboy
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Can't help but think that there's a disaster / catastrophe waiting to happen with one of these smaller new festivals. Only takes one company to really turn the screw on profits and scrimp so much that all sorts of corners are cut. With Glasto off next year I sense there will be even more opportunity for an unscrupulous business man / landowner to make a quick killing at the expense of 5-10,000 innocent festival goers, then go bust and avoid paying out refunds. I personally wouldn't go to any festival that wasn't a few years old. I'd never go Leeds / Reading again as it felt very unsafe last year, in lots of ways. 

Feel sorry for the poor sods trying to get off that site today. 

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41 minutes ago, Bonaneas said:

Can't help but think that there's a disaster / catastrophe waiting to happen with one of these smaller new festivals. Only takes one company to really turn the screw on profits and scrimp so much that all sorts of corners are cut. With Glasto off next year I sense there will be even more opportunity for an unscrupulous business man / landowner to make a quick killing at the expense of 5-10,000 innocent festival goers, then go bust and avoid paying out refunds. I personally wouldn't go to any festival that wasn't a few years old. I'd never go Leeds / Reading again as it felt very unsafe last year, in lots of ways. 

Feel sorry for the poor sods trying to get off that site today. 

Yeah can't be long until the UK gets its very own Fyre Festival.

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6 hours ago, mashedonmud said:

You just gotta accept whatever nature throws at ya and get on with it. Can't help thinking this is Health and Safety nonsense. I'd feel cheated if a part refund is not offered as I would of stayed and seen the bitter end. If I'd been present. :P Wimps in charge of proceedings me thinks. You book your tickets and take a chance regarding weather gods.

Health and safety....

This video is not for the faint hearted but is a good demo for why all the health and safety requirements and fuss over weather are taken very seriously in the festival business. 

WARNING: people died here. That's why it's taken so seriously.

 

Edited by frostypaw
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3 minutes ago, frostypaw said:

Health and safety....

This video is not for the faint hearted but is a good demo for why all the health and safety requirements and fuss over weather are taken very seriously in the festival business. 

 

WOAH, you just posted a snuff movie there. A bit more of a warning than 'not for the faint hearted' is required. 

Not cool.

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7 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

WOAH, you just posted a snuff movie there. A bit more of a warning than 'not for the faint hearted' is required. 

Not cool.

Apologies. Bit hardened to it after worrying about it all the time - post edited to be clearer

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1 minute ago, frostypaw said:

Apologies. Bit hardened to it after worrying about it all the time - post edited to be clearer

Cheers. I know this kind of stuff appears on Facebook feeds all the time, but it's pretty hard to see people get killed on video, even if it is from a distance.

I totally agree with the point you're making though.

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Yeah sorry again. I crap myself dealing with small numbers - tens of thousands at these big events and it becomes clear why events production is one of the most stressful jobs out there as they all demand the entertainment NOW as per the lineup while the world tries to screw it up for you, and then the artists turn up

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4 minutes ago, frostypaw said:

Yeah sorry again. I crap myself dealing with small numbers - tens of thousands at these big events and it becomes clear why events production is one of the most stressful jobs out there as they all demand the entertainment NOW as per the lineup while the world tries to screw it up for you, and then the artists turn up

As hard as that was to watch (and I saw it after you posted the warning - thanks for adding that) I think it serves as a good reminder that while we might whinge when things become "too safe" that there is often a tragedy that has led to it being that way.  What I might think of as being ridiculously risk averse others may wish had been in place before their loved ones were killed or injured.

From what I've read though, YNot's cancellation was due to poor organisation and a desire to maximise profits (or minimise losses)  rather than any onerous health and safety legislation.  The organisers coming out with the fact that they have ordered wood chips is one thing, them being the most useful material for the conditions (which could have been predicted beforehand) and them being used appropriately are a completely different matter.  

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7 hours ago, mashedonmud said:

You just gotta accept whatever nature throws at ya and get on with it. Can't help thinking this is Health and Safety nonsense. I'd feel cheated if a part refund is not offered as I would of stayed and seen the bitter end. If I'd been present. :P Wimps in charge of proceedings me thinks. You book your tickets and take a chance regarding weather gods.

 

4 hours ago, GETOFFAMYLAWN said:

Did you vote for Brexit?

Dear God.

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8 minutes ago, Ommadawn said:

Dear God.

It's not that big a leap tbh - the forced perception of H&S law as an inconvenience forced on us by Brussels has been an ongoing theme for my entire working life.
I was forced to illegally work in pesticide soaked safety wear that was meant to be single use but had been in repeated use with all sorts for three years for a year of promises that they'd look into it before I just downed tools and refused and was threatened with being fired..... all those bosses were pro-Brexit to escape H&S legislation.

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I've been to Y Not the last 3 or 4 years but couldn't go this year. Most of my friends who usually go still went. Real shame, I've honestly had some more fun there than at Glastonburys in the last couple of years.

But this just stinks of cutting corners. I've heard that the coaches they laid on to get people off site early on Sunday still cost £20 and even the phone charging was £5! Bearing in mind that there's pretty much no mobile phone signal there and some parents had simply arranged to meet their kids at some time on Monday for example, this is just scandalous.

For comparison, I went to 2000 Trees in the last fallow year. And after the amount of rain on the Thursday and seeing the main stage arena (down hill) waist deep in water at the top, I wouldn't have even been bothered if they had cancelled. But we woke up on the Friday and they'd worked through the night to sort it and the festival went ahead with hardly any disruption (apart from mud obviously). After that, I can't see a reason why any property run festival could be called off because of rain.

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2 hours ago, Mash011 said:

Yeah can't be long until the UK gets its very own Fyre Festival.

I don't just mean a financial rip off, I mean a serious fatality and injury type situation.

Imagine if that stage fire at tomorrowland happened here, and having a big crowd scramble up a sloped muddy hill? See how far downhill due to corporate greed Leeds/ Reading & Vfest has gone ?? Even Kendal calling wouldn't put stage times out this weekend unless you bought a lanyard for a tenner. Festivals are now rivalling domestic holiday expenditure, its a multi multi million pound industry now and that means cost cutting and profit Maximisation and greed and incompetence and organisers / owners not giving a shit about punters once the SOLD OUT signs go up, which is what happened in sport which caused tragedy upon tragedy. Music festivals could go the same way. 

Ive just been to Benicassim and I can honestly say it's Fuck all to do with European H&S legislation. Each stage including the main one had the barrier right up to the stage pretty much, with no huge stupid pit like we get over here. It's nowt to do with Europe. 

Edited by Bonaneas
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Having been a regular at Y-Not for a number of years, I have to say the mud does look awful this year but I'm not sure if it looks substantial worse than what I've seen in the past. The whole organisation of the festivals seems to have been a disaster from the get go and the excessive number of thefts hasn't helped things. It's simply outgrown itself I think and they are trying to cram in too large a festival in to such an awkward site.

As my most local festival it's a shame to see this happen, although I have to say the organisation and general vibe of the festival in 2015 was significantly worse than previous years and it seems to have slid more downhill.

Edited by jparx
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Anyway fuck the organisers of YNot and their greed. That festivals dead in the water after all this bad publicity. No one in their right mind will go there next year. Good riddance to scum like that abandoning poor sods in mudded up fields then cheeky c**ts charging £20 for a bus. Utterly horrendous. Efests should have a sticky of where the 'owners' also own so we can keep tabs and boycott them and spread the news. No doubt they'll shut the company down and start a new one but directors are all publicly traceable. 

Edited by Bonaneas
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18 minutes ago, Bonaneas said:

I don't just mean a financial rip off, I mean a serious fatality and injury type situation.

Imagine if that stage fire at tomorrowland happened here, and having a big crowd scramble up a sloped muddy hill? See how far downhill due to corporate greed Leeds/ Reading & Vfest has gone ?? Even Kendal calling wouldn't put stage times out this weekend unless you bought a lanyard for a tenner. Festivals are now rivalling domestic holiday expenditure, its a multi multi million pound industry now and that means cost cutting and profit Maximisation and greed and incompetence and organisers / owners not giving a shit about punters once the SOLD OUT signs go up, which is what happened in sport which caused tragedy upon tragedy. Music festivals could go the same way. 

Ive just been to Benicassim and I can honestly say it's Fuck all to do with European H&S legislation. Each stage including the main one had the barrier right up to the stage pretty much, with no huge stupid pit like we get over here. It's nowt to do with Europe. 

Reading and Leeds and V Fest come under the umbrella of the biggest live entertainment festival in the world which puts on hundreds of events annually. In event of catastrophe, it's those I'd expect to be best prepared for it rather than newer companies that appear on the scene without working out how to pay for it all.

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5 hours ago, dirty_dog said:

just got back from this festival and it was pretty grim, put a tent peg through my knee so ended up in the first aid centre on the friday and then woke up in the first aid centre early hours this morning after over doing it last night and somehow lost my phone.

not the best weekend I've had  

How do you end up putting a tent peg through your knee?!:blink:

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4 minutes ago, Bonaneas said:

Efests should have a sticky of where the 'owners' also own so we can keep tabs and boycott them and spread the news. No doubt they'll shut the company down and start a new one but directors are all publicly traceable. 

To be fair, it's no secret who's running the show.. Y Not is ultimately owned & controlled by Global via Broadwick - who over the past few years have bought up quite a lot of mid sized Festivals and now claim to be the 2nd biggest festival promoter in the UK (presumably behind Live Nation).. According to their website, in the UK they have Standon Calling, Rewind, Field Day, Truck, Boardmasters, South West Four, Festival No 6, Kendal Calling, Victorious & Lost Village. So I'd guess that most people who go to more than a couple of events over the course of a year will be at one of their festivals at some point.

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connecting the dots and doing a little research it all stems back to the aquisition of various festivals by Broadwick Live, who are in turn owned by Global. No coincidence that all of:

Ynot 2017

Truck 2017

Festival No 6 in 2016

are all owned / operated by broadwick live.

these are the only major festival Fuck ups I can recall over the last 12 months or so. they are all run by the same company.

I am going to lost village end of August and now to find out that broadwick has a significant stake in lost village is making me nervous slightly. If there is no bad weather it will go off without a hitch but I will be very apprehensive if there's some shitty weather afoot.

its a fair bit smaller than either of these festivals and no real massive headline bands (its mainly DJ focused if you don't know) but the capacity for a fuck up seems real now.

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1 hour ago, Bonaneas said:

I don't just mean a financial rip off, I mean a serious fatality and injury type situation.

...

Ive just been to Benicassim and I can honestly say it's Fuck all to do with European H&S legislation. Each stage including the main one had the barrier right up to the stage pretty much, with no huge stupid pit like we get over here. It's nowt to do with Europe. 

2
1

You mean the "huge stupid pit" that was installed across festivals after 9 people died in a crowd crush at Roskilde 2000?  All these changes are due to serious fatalities and injuries!

Edited by fowls
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Been to the last 7 years at YNOT. There's no doubt they made big cut backs this year to save cash. Previously there's always been track matting or similar in the car park from the start of the festival - there was none until today and then just a few bits near entrances. Previously there's always been security guards in towers in campsites - there wasn't any this year. I think that's why there's been so many Thefts. They always had lights down the emergency service paths through campsites - again none this year. 

The organisers reported having 80 tonnes of wood chip - yet made no attempt to sort out the mud in the main arena or on the main paths. So not sure where this was used!!!

Previously family camping had designated wristbands and you were checked going in and out the area - this year anyone could camp in there. 

The water taps didn't even work in family camping for over a day.

they couldn't even be arsed to put signs up outside the tents so you knew which was which venue. 

So badly organised and evidently profit driven and cost cutting. Been to numerous festivals in worse weather and they've never cancelled acts or shut early. Utter chaos and plain and simple, the organisers fault. They made it unsafe, not the weather!!!

thankfully I have happy memories of glastonbury to look back on this year. Instead of just that shit storm :-)

 

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30 minutes ago, fowls said:

You mean the "huge stupid pit" that was installed across festivals after 9 people died in a crowd crush at Roskilde 2000?  All these changes are due to serious fatalities and injuries!

No I don't. And I'm a big PJ fan and know exactjy what changes were made afterwards as I went to their first post-Roskilde 20 or so EU shows in 2006. I don't mean the barrier in the crowd I mean the space between the front rail and the stage. There was only enough room for a couple of security / camera people deep at Beni, but over here it's 20-30 feet, probably more for likes of pyramid. Last time I looked Roskilde is in Europe, like Spain, so why the huge difference? Beni main stage is 50-60k people I think. The point I was making is it's nothing to do with EU H&S. 

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3 minutes ago, Bonaneas said:

No I don't. And I'm a big PJ fan and know exactjy what changes were made afterwards as I went to their first post-Roskilde 20 or so EU shows in 2006. I don't mean the barrier in the crowd I mean the space between the front rail and the stage. There was only enough room for a couple of security / camera people deep at Beni, but over here it's 20-30 feet, probably more for likes of pyramid. Last time I looked Roskilde is in Europe, like Spain, so why the huge difference? Beni main stage is 50-60k people I think. The point I was making is it's nothing to do with EU H&S. 

ah okay, sorry I misunderstood.  Thought you were referring to the golden circle.


Yeah, Glasto's security pit is pretty large, but then again the stage is pretty high. Can't imagine it being all that comfortable for the front if they were closer, but it works out for more people further back I guess.

Edited by fowls
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1 hour ago, incident said:

To be fair, it's no secret who's running the show.. Y Not is ultimately owned & controlled by Global via Broadwick - who over the past few years have bought up quite a lot of mid sized Festivals and now claim to be the 2nd biggest festival promoter in the UK (presumably behind Live Nation).. According to their website, in the UK they have Standon Calling, Rewind, Field Day, Truck, Boardmasters, South West Four, Festival No 6, Kendal Calling, Victorious & Lost Village. So I'd guess that most people who go to more than a couple of events over the course of a year will be at one of their festivals at some point.

Thanks for that, I'd just never felt need to look it up! 

A GF is at Kendal right now and she says it's not overly safe either. Mass brawl in the camping field today, a girl laid out cold in front of main stage yday, stewarding very light, fuck all help for towing cars in mud etc. As was said on that twitter account, all security is arsed about is stopping alcohol getting in. For profit obviously.  

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