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If I can't go to Glasto - what's IOW like?


Beerqueen
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Still hoping to get a resale ticket in April, have applied for WaterAid and Shelter but.....if I can't go to Glasto, can someone tell me what IOW is like?  It looks fairly mainstream from the lineup - which is fine, I quite like mainstream.  And there's also bound to be other smaller acts I like.  But what is the general feeling of the festival like?  Youngers getting pissed?  Families?  Oldies?  A mixture?  

I have tried to find some answers but most reviews are of the music rather than the festival itself so not much help really.  And I know I can rely on what you lot say (well some of you).

Hope it doesn't come to it but am beginning to think it will.

p.s I am still hoping to go to my regular smaller festivals but am looking for a replacement about the same time as Glasto i.e. June.

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1 minute ago, Beerqueen said:

Defeatist I know but am beginning to think they are 8 million trillion people going after 3 actual opportunities to go.

so ... opportunities still to come ..... the 2 charities you have tried for ....plus  oxfam ? work opportunities cropping up right up to the festival ... bus resale ... main resale ... several competitions .... still plenty of chances ... keep the faith as much as you can CF 

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Just now, crazyfool1 said:

so ... opportunities still to come ..... the 2 charities you have tried for ....plus  oxfam ? work opportunities cropping up right up to the festival ... bus resale ... main resale ... several competitions .... still plenty of chances ... keep the faith as much as you can CF 

Whisper it quietly but I don't even know if I want to work there!  Convince me please!  I have got tickets in the resale before but every year trying for tickets seems to be getting more brutal!

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Just now, Beerqueen said:

Whisper it quietly but I don't even know if I want to work there!  Convince me please!  I have got tickets in the resale before but every year trying for tickets seems to be getting more brutal!

hopefully you can get it as a fall back option and decide from there ? .... its not an ideal thing for me but if I get it ill put my all into it .. better than watching it on a box in the living room 

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1 minute ago, Beerqueen said:

Whisper it quietly but I don't even know if I want to work there!  Convince me please!  I have got tickets in the resale before but every year trying for tickets seems to be getting more brutal!

Imagine yourself sitting at home on the Friday of the festival. I bet future you will be wishing you were there even if it meant working.

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Thanks both - I needed to hear that!  I guess I just think that if I'm working full shifts will I have the energy left to enjoy it.  But only one way to find out - I always said to my kids, try everything offered once (which is moral and legal!!) and if you don't like it at least you'll know and you won't have to do it again.  I should listen to myself sometimes!  Yep I AM GOING TO BE THERE. 

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25 minutes ago, Beerqueen said:

Still hoping to get a resale ticket in April, have applied for WaterAid and Shelter but.....if I can't go to Glasto, can someone tell me what IOW is like?  It looks fairly mainstream from the lineup - which is fine, I quite like mainstream.  And there's also bound to be other smaller acts I like.  But what is the general feeling of the festival like?  Youngers getting pissed?  Families?  Oldies?  A mixture?  

I have tried to find some answers but most reviews are of the music rather than the festival itself so not much help really.  And I know I can rely on what you lot say (well some of you).

Hope it doesn't come to it but am beginning to think it will.

p.s I am still hoping to go to my regular smaller festivals but am looking for a replacement about the same time as Glasto i.e. June.

It’s waaaaaay to early to throw in the towel and settle for Isle of Wight. 
 

Keep the faith! 😀

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I’ve been to IOW 3 times and the only reason we don’t still go is the cost of taking a motorhome. We had 3 great years.

however IOW is not a Glastonbury alternative, it’s about as far from Glastonbury as you can get.

it’s more of a sit in front of the main stage all day watching pop music type of festival. There is the big top which is basically the JP tent and a couple of smaller stages with people Ive never heard of but others will have.

there is almost nothing else to do, a few shops, a fun fair( which is far too loud and too close to the stages) and that’s it.

its very family friendly, a nice atmosphere and I’ve never queued more than 2-3 minutes for a drink. It’s a long walk from the camping to the arena and the last year we went they are very hot on searching for alcohol smuggling.

I’ve never seen any trouble and generally they have good weather.

the toilets in the arena are really good, and the food is general festival stuff, not Glastonbury levels, but better than just burgers and pizza.

We now go to latitude instead, but that’s a very different festival.

 

 

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Once you volunteer you will never pay again once the bug takes hold. Do what I did and go round and ask random volunteers from different companies would they come again, what the perks were, and how that charity or company treated them. It will be an eye opener.

Edited by marathonsteve
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I did the IoW once and never again. The week after I was running a course on event planning and I used thew IoW as an example of how not to plan an event. 

The line up was good but, as is often said about Glastonbury, it's not just about the music.  IoW was Incredibly corporate, searches on the gate and police sniffer dogs.  Not allowed to take in your own food and drink but have to purchase the corporate crap at silly prices.

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54 minutes ago, marathonsteve said:

Once you volunteer you will never pay again once the bug takes hold. Do what I did and go round and ask random volunteers from different companies would they come again, what the perks were, and how that charity or company treated them. It will be an eye opener.

I have to say I was talking about Glastonbury not IOW

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1 hour ago, jow95 said:

The smugness of having a ticket in me wants to say there’s an IOW forum for this but I am interested. Considered IOW during the fallow but never materialised

 

2 hours ago, Smeble said:

I’ve been to IOW 3 times and the only reason we don’t still go is the cost of taking a motorhome. We had 3 great years.

however IOW is not a Glastonbury alternative, it’s about as far from Glastonbury as you can get.

it’s more of a sit in front of the main stage all day watching pop music type of festival. There is the big top which is basically the JP tent and a couple of smaller stages with people Ive never heard of but others will have.

there is almost nothing else to do, a few shops, a fun fair( which is far too loud and too close to the stages) and that’s it.

its very family friendly, a nice atmosphere and I’ve never queued more than 2-3 minutes for a drink. It’s a long walk from the camping to the arena and the last year we went they are very hot on searching for alcohol smuggling.

I’ve never seen any trouble and generally they have good weather.

the toilets in the arena are really good, and the food is general festival stuff, not Glastonbury levels, but better than just burgers and pizza.

We now go to latitude instead, but that’s a very different festival.

 

 

 

31 minutes ago, grumpyhack said:

I did the IoW once and never again. The week after I was running a course on event planning and I used thew IoW as an example of how not to plan an event. 

The line up was good but, as is often said about Glastonbury, it's not just about the music.  IoW was Incredibly corporate, searches on the gate and police sniffer dogs.  Not allowed to take in your own food and drink but have to purchase the corporate crap at silly prices.

That is exactly what I wanted to know - and why I asked on here because I wanted to know how it is compared to Glasto.  I did go on to the IOW forum but it is soooo quiet over there and I thought if it just full of people who only went to IOW they wouldn't be talking in the same way as I needed (as someone who's never been).

So Glasto or bust then!

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1 hour ago, marathonsteve said:

Once you volunteer you will never pay again once the bug takes hold. Do what I did and go round and ask random volunteers from different companies would they come again, what the perks were, and how that charity or company treated them. It will be an eye opener.

I disagree. I enjoyed volunteering, but I'd not volunteer at Glasto if I had a ticket. Maybe at another festival where there's not much to see, but not at Glasto.

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4 hours ago, grumpyhack said:

I did the IoW once and never again. The week after I was running a course on event planning and I used thew IoW as an example of how not to plan an event. 

The line up was good but, as is often said about Glastonbury, it's not just about the music.  IoW was Incredibly corporate, searches on the gate and police sniffer dogs.  Not allowed to take in your own food and drink but have to purchase the corporate crap at silly prices.

That’s pretty much every festival in the world bar Glastonbury and a few other.

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I completely get where Beerqueen is coming from as I don't want to work it either. I would have done when I was younger and nearly did one year before getting a resale ticket, but that was back when I had to go no matter what. I've skipped a year since then and now know that I would rather do another festival as a punter than work it. Total respect for people who do and I'm sure it would be fun and great to give something back. But my partner and I get limited holidays and we want to chill out together for a few days (and festivals always exhaust me even without working these days).

I would never go to IoW because the line-up is not to my taste, but have been looking for alternatives this year as the truth is I'd rather go to another festival as a customer than work Glastonbury. Blue Dot line-up is super tempting so I think I might go to that regardless and the leave the resale in the lap of the gods... I think Beerqueen is right that chances in the resale alone are slim, but I've accepted that I think. I know I could probably get in somehow if I worked, but think I'll leave that to someone else and focus my efforts on having  wonderful time elsewhere. 

There are some other great festivals out there, smaller ones especially.

Edited by Zoo Music Girl
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