Alternatives

[DJL]

1 hour ago, Perks said:

What’s Blue Dot like? Just had a quick look at the line up

My favourite festival after Glastonbury.

My kind of electronic music (i’d Never do Creamfields etc but would choose synths over guitars any day). Busy but not rammed, big enough to have decent headliners but not so big that you have major clashes or trouble getting between stages,  Family friendly and few teens there which (purely selfishly) helps create a chilled but still lively atmosphere. Well organised and a unique site. Can not recommend highly enough.

[Perks]

Cheers dudes, I’ll get myself in that thread.

We’ve the money now, as it’s the Glasto pot, but trying to persuade me buddy.

[bennyhana22]

1 hour ago, Perks said:

Cheers dude, yeah have heard good things, and the line up is stunning this year. You’ve convinced me. I really fancy it, just gotta try and persuade me pal, he thinks it’s too expensive. But it’s Wednesday till Monday isn’t it? I didn’t think it was bad, although the pricing structure did confuse me a little. What’s your thoughts? Thanks

OK...

So, musically it was a bit of a new experience for me. It has a profile that began with reggae and dub 11 years ago, but has broadened massively now. BUT, it's not a 'normal' festival, where you might expect to watch bands in the day and dance to your personal choice of dance music all night. For me, I had to do a lot of homework to make sure I had enough stuff to see in the daytimes, but I did find it. But then I like folk and Americana and there are Districts that have that too. There's a fair amount of punk and metal too. 

Argh - it's almost too difficult top explain! I'm a techno head and like dancing all night, but I'm not massively keen on daytime dancing (daytime is for bands, nighttime is for techno! If  you're into DnB, Bassline etc then you can have that all day and night. There's also a very good trance lineup, again all day and night, and I found myself dancing to a lot of trance in the day!

As @vintagelaureate says, a lot of the revenue is spent on the production. That means it is spectacular (I spent quite a lot of time there thinking that, in fact, Glastonbury doesn't try quite hard enough regarding production!). The Districts are all completely different to one another and look amazing. There's a narrative story in which you can take part - there are actors on site for the entire festival, acting as part of the story. Every day huge numbers of people take part in following tips and clues to navigate around various parts of the festival. The attention to detail in that is incredible. And they don't strand still. There were new Districts last year and again this year with (bugger it!) a big push on more techno! 

Best thing you can do is to read as much about it as you can - the eFests threads will always help - and look at the website, galleries etc. Because it's so different in feel to conventional festivals it took me a couple of days to 'get it'. Now that I have, I know that a return visit in a few years would be an even better experience.

A few questions that would help me to advise:

1. how old are you?

2. what sort of band genres do you like?

3. What sort of dance music do you like?

4. Is a ridiculous amount of drug use an issue for you?!

Answer those and I can help to persuade you and your mate!

Ben