Zoe's festival review

Review
28/29/30th July 2000

Guildford Festival is a great little event in the heart of commuterville. It has a superb festival feel to it, resembling a mini-Glastonbury of sorts. There were no big name bands here, but the music was of good quality and various sorts that would whet most appetites. The setting of Stoke Park - essentially nicely cut playing fields - in Guildford meant that the walking was easy and flat, and despite some heavy downpours it drained really well.

The Weekend was blessed by some great sunshine which always makes things look good, but this would have been a great event whatever the weather. The organisers had set the site out in particular sections with the food stalls placed on one drag and the markets in their own separate space. This divided the stages, but at times forced you into walking a lengthy tour around stalls to make it to the other stage or food. Alternatively people were walking through camping areas as a short cut, which must have annoyed the campers who apparently suffered some thefts on Friday night.

The atmosphere at Guildford was great throughout the weekend, though as crowds poured in on Sunday some tensions arose. The crowd was a generally a middle aged group, though there were young and old too. There were lots of families with children who were catered for well in the Kids Zone. Most apparent was the whiteness of the crowd - this festival did not attract a multi-cultural group. It was really a very middle class event with families picnicking on blankets and the main crowds drawn to the stages rather than the dance tent.

The festival atmosphere was added to by occasional street performers and a great parade through the site of a drumming band with stilt walkers on Sunday afternoon. Detracting from the festival feel of things were the lack of 'alternative' style stalls and info and the horrible corporate 'honeys' prancing about in their corporate outfits selling drinks, ice cream and cigarettes. The dance tent was also a corporate affair with people being evicted for drinking the wrong type of drink inside. The dance tent itself was an impressive structure (also seen at Glastonbury) with an upstairs area and real club feel to it. DJ's had to work hard to keep the crowds enthused though - particularly because of the intense heat.

This is a festival that many people attend for the day and so the camping areas were not overcrowded. The loos were excellent, with paper and working sinks!! The lack of overnighters though meant that the mood of the festival easily changed from day to day, particularly with the heavy crowds on Sunday. The middle class day trippers were somewhat personified by one angry woman by the main stage shouting - 'Get off my blanket, it's my property and you will walk AROUND IT!'. Fortunately for her the 'Land is Ours' crew were not here, probably favouring the 'Big Green Gathering' in Somerset this weekend.

So, this festival was great, with good music and a nice friendly vibe. But overall it felt very 'safe', lacking any real edge. The organisers can't be blamed for the type of crowd that such an event draws - particularly with it's easily commutable, home counties setting. But, perhaps the introduction of some more environmental, craft and alternative political stalls would liven things up a bit and bring in a more varied audience. And please, next year, less of the corporate crap.