WFD Posted August 30, 2021 Report Share Posted August 30, 2021 The craft bar is brilliant value compared to Leeds - same price per pint but getting Lagunitas IPA or Redchurch at 5.5% compared to the 3.8% Carlsberg at Leeds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harryy Posted August 30, 2021 Report Share Posted August 30, 2021 feels very busy on-site today… maybe more so than previous years when i’ve been although not sure bmth/catfish were big sellers and the XX was way too long ago for me to remember! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFD Posted August 30, 2021 Report Share Posted August 30, 2021 23 minutes ago, harryy said: feels very busy on-site today… maybe more so than previous years when i’ve been although not sure bmth/catfish were big sellers and the XX was way too long ago for me to remember! First time here so no comparison point but it does seem incredibly busy - the toilets and in particular the food outlets are overwhelmed, but unusually the bars are not too bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jannybruck Posted August 30, 2021 Report Share Posted August 30, 2021 Quite honestly today felt oversold, even comparison to Friday and Saturday. Not sure what went on, maybe a bunch more corporate freebies or locals tickets or something? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean1234321 Posted August 30, 2021 Report Share Posted August 30, 2021 I gave up on Foals after a couple of songs, was down the right hand side and it sounded like I was listening to them through a £5 speaker from Home Bargains. I was very near the front for Caribou and I thought the sound was really good for them, so perhaps I just was just in a bad spot for Foals (not that I was too bothered about seeing them). Anyone see Swim School? They gained a fair amount of new fans today...a very confident young band, not really my cup of tea overall although enjoyable enough and will keep an eye on them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mackem Posted August 30, 2021 Report Share Posted August 30, 2021 (edited) 19 minutes ago, Sean1234321 said: Anyone see Swim School? They gained a fair amount of new fans today...a very confident young band, not really my cup of tea overall although enjoyable enough and will keep an eye on them. Yep - me. When she said they’d had a mosh pit at Latitude I thought ‘yeah good luck with that’ as the audience seemed rather tame. 5 minutes later: bang! It all kicked off. Good fun, good band. Edited August 30, 2021 by Mackem Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fraybentos1 Posted August 30, 2021 Report Share Posted August 30, 2021 30 minutes ago, Sean1234321 said: Anyone see Swim School? Think I heard them while waiting for about 10 hours for food they sounded decent. wtf was up with today ? I was at the strokes 2 years ago and they said that was a sell out and it was no where near as busy as today. It was abolutelty mobbed and the food and toilet queues were insane. Was a 35 min wait for a toilet before Bombay and about the same for food ... mental . Bars were fine tho which was weird Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mynameismatt Posted August 30, 2021 Report Share Posted August 30, 2021 only selling cans isn’t ideal but it makes the bar queues a dream. Enjoyed today, i went for Caribou and Nadine Shah so avoided the worst crowds, and Caribou exceeded my expectations and were great. Also didn’t have the sound issues with Foals really, but that coupled with playing the drawn out songs in a row at the end meant there were loads leaving early Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diamond24 Posted August 30, 2021 Report Share Posted August 30, 2021 I never normally moan about sound at festivals, but it wasn't great tonight. I had a pretty good position for foals but if someone was to have a normal speaking level conversation next to me, it would drown out the music Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gingerevans84 Posted August 30, 2021 Report Share Posted August 30, 2021 Very dodgy sound by the sound desk to the left of stage. Didnt feel like a proper Foals gig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Placid-Casual Posted August 31, 2021 Report Share Posted August 31, 2021 (edited) Not too impressed with that - sound wasn't fantastic for anything I saw and really poor for Foals, queues were shocking, not a great atmosphere at all (though can imagine a sunny/warm day being a factor there) On the upside, all the bands put in good shifts and it was a decent lineup more or less throughout. Will try and catch most of the ones I saw at better venues Definitely soured urban/park day festivals a bit for me though, probably a matter of taste too in honesty Edited August 31, 2021 by Placid-Casual Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stereodista Posted August 31, 2021 Report Share Posted August 31, 2021 Could not agree more on yesterday feeling oversold, and that VIP viewing bit in front of the East stage really didn’t help. Felt touch-and-go at times during Foals, with plenty being lifted over the back barrier from Olympic Airways onwards. Much preferred Caribou for that reason; less so those insistent on bawling “whoomp, there it is” over more or less every song… Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFD Posted August 31, 2021 Report Share Posted August 31, 2021 Had a good day all round, good decent spots for most acts so sound was OK for me. General theme of my texts to people back home oop north was that it was good to see acts like that attract crowds like that, and it would be good to have something like that outside of London, but the trade off was it was such a pain getting food and going to the toilet, because of the sheer numbers. The smaller stages were mostly well attended from what I saw, although that dipped as the bigger acts came on - I went to see Nadine Shah who started with a very small crowd (though it improved a bit), and she mentioned it and said "but I won't say a word against Bombay Bicycle Club, one of them is his son", pointing to her guitarist. The mass rushed walk from BBC to Foals was quite something to see, I know it served a purpose to split the crowd but just added to the chaotic feel. Daughter was in the thick of it for Foals and reported a lot of people getting pulled out - as already mentioned above, the VIP view area cut the available space in half which didn't help. I ended up near the BSL "stage", which wasn't so frantic but wouldn't have liked to have gone any further in. It was my first time there and I'd go back, the line ups are always good from my old indie dad perspective. Oh and thanks to on this thread who said to head to Bethnal Green for the tube afterwards, it was an absolute doddle. We also went in that way and had lunch at the Florist Arms - the barman said they'd had hardly anyone in on other APE days, so he was the only one on, and the place was full by the time we left with what were clearly APE punters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacksamthompson Posted August 31, 2021 Report Share Posted August 31, 2021 10 hours ago, Sean1234321 said: I gave up on Foals after a couple of songs, was down the right hand side and it sounded like I was listening to them through a £5 speaker from Home Bargains. I was very near the front for Caribou and I thought the sound was really good for them, so perhaps I just was just in a bad spot for Foals (not that I was too bothered about seeing them). Anyone see Swim School? They gained a fair amount of new fans today...a very confident young band, not really my cup of tea overall although enjoyable enough and will keep an eye on them. We were exactly the same - right at front for caribou - sounded great. Went behind the barrier for foals, by the sound desk (ironically) and the sound was shite - went to the back and it was much better. Got so much abuse just for politely getting out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean1234321 Posted August 31, 2021 Report Share Posted August 31, 2021 34 minutes ago, WFD said: I went to see Nadine Shah who started with a very small crowd (though it improved a bit), and she mentioned it and said "but I won't say a word against Bombay Bicycle Club, one of them is his son", pointing to her guitarist. I rushed over to her from Caribou and felt bad about how small her crowd was. Ideally I would have seen her but the fact is I've seen her many times and Caribou only a couple, so I had to go with them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Superunknown Posted August 31, 2021 Report Share Posted August 31, 2021 Not normally one to care too much about sound especially when I’ve had a few beverages but the sound was absolutely atrocious. Was down the middle near the sound desk and gave up during Spanish Sahara and went to stand by the side near the bars where it was marginally better. Really shocking, couldn’t get into any of the songs, very frustrating. On another note I did see Nikolaj Coster Waldau there, pretty sure it was him anyway. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean1234321 Posted August 31, 2021 Report Share Posted August 31, 2021 9 minutes ago, Jacksamthompson said: We were exactly the same - right at front for caribou - sounded great. Went behind the barrier for foals, by the sound desk (ironically) and the sound was shite - went to the back and it was much better. Got so much abuse just for politely getting out. Same with me actually, was a pain to get out but I think even ten minutes in the BBC crowd were still filtering in. I still don't get why that didn't have BBC sub Foals and have Caribou headline the other stage...would have been far better for crowd movements and probably safer too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WFD Posted August 31, 2021 Report Share Posted August 31, 2021 22 minutes ago, Sean1234321 said: I rushed over to her from Caribou and felt bad about how small her crowd was. Ideally I would have seen her but the fact is I've seen her many times and Caribou only a couple, so I had to go with them. I had never seen her, having missed out a couple of times (think I even had a ticket once and couldn't make it) so made sure this time. Meanwhile the crowd for The Magic Gang in the same tent was spilling out of the sides (or seemed to be when I went past, there might have been plenty of room inside). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theesundayroast Posted August 31, 2021 Report Share Posted August 31, 2021 Although I stayed for most of the set, it was disappointing to hear the decline in sound quality for Foals after I had been standing in a similar place for most other main stage acts with it still sounding great. Despite the smallish crowd, Nadine Shah really blew me away. Very glad I went to check her out having not listened to anything by her beforehand. Compared to Leeds festival which I was at on the Friday, I think the two main stage set-up worked so much better here with the other stages being 'on the way' between the two. The problem with Leeds was the other stages all being out the way which meant you very rarely caught a sizable crowd from passing traffic. Hope they keep this for next years events. Echoing above, the only issues I really saw were the toilet queues which were horrific and for the food (which thankfully did die down later in the evening). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jacksamthompson Posted August 31, 2021 Report Share Posted August 31, 2021 (edited) 42 minutes ago, WFD said: I had never seen her, having missed out a couple of times (think I even had a ticket once and couldn't make it) so made sure this time. Meanwhile the crowd for The Magic Gang in the same tent was spilling out of the sides (or seemed to be when I went past, there might have been plenty of room inside). big crowd in the tent for magic gang - highlight for me. Although the sound again was funny even in the tent*. Felt as though the buzz of people talking was a constant battle with the band Edited August 31, 2021 by Jacksamthompson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dom Wall Posted August 31, 2021 Report Share Posted August 31, 2021 7 minutes ago, Jacksamthompson said: big crowd in the tent for magic gang - highlight for me. Although the sound again was funny even in the stage. Felt as though the buzz of people talking was a constant battle with the band I thought the sound in that stage was off all day. Working Men’s Club really struggled with it, even forgetting the sound cutting out in Valleys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean1234321 Posted August 31, 2021 Report Share Posted August 31, 2021 Working Men's Club seemed to have a nightmare the first couple of songs culminating in them walking off when the sound cut out completely. I actuality didn't think they would come back but they did and was all good in the end. Wish they had longer then half an hour though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the wonderwhy Posted August 31, 2021 Report Share Posted August 31, 2021 1 hour ago, Sean1234321 said: Working Men's Club seemed to have a nightmare the first couple of songs culminating in them walking off when the sound cut out completely. I actuality didn't think they would come back but they did and was all good in the end. Wish they had longer then half an hour though... They only played for about 35 minutes when I saw them at their own gig anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dales Posted August 31, 2021 Report Share Posted August 31, 2021 On 8/30/2021 at 11:18 AM, xxialac said: Got it completely wrong on likelihood of free tickets for this year and sorry for being an argumentative dick about it. You were not completly wrong, tickets for the London Grammer/Jorja Smith day were made available on a number of restricted sites with controlled membership "Emergency Services/Government Department Staff Only" and "Charity" websites. So you were correct that there would be spares its just they are now being more discrete/strict on how they are distributed. So out of the dates this was the day that must have sold worse. I went to the Monday after getting back from Victorious and so a little tired and could not be bothered to run from stage to stage and so watched what I think was the West stage from Holly Humberstone to BBC. Really enjoyed everyone on that stage and thought Bombay were ace and enjoyed them more then watching them at the Islington Assembly Hall last week. The only time I went to the other main stage was for Foals. Like others, I was shocked by how bad the sound was on the other stage for Foals. Lasted about an hour before I just gave up on them. I thought they were dull even without the sound issues and I am a fan! There was an endless stream of people leaving complaining about how bad it was. Doubt they would have won over many new fans and dissapointed a few of their current ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brave Sir Robin Posted August 31, 2021 Report Share Posted August 31, 2021 Enjoyed that a lot, especially Working Men's Club (who were fantastic, even at 3pm and with the sound cutting out early on) and Caribou. Didn't notice any major sound issues from where I was for Foals, although I was fairly well refreshed by that point... Bars were great, but as with many festivals this year it seems, there weren't anywhere near enough food stalls or toilets - the latter a pretty major issue that they surely have to improve on next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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