new layout good or bad?

[towen65]

Any idea the reason for moving everything around, especially swapping the stages??? I thought the sound on the V stage was awful it got lost in that open space and unless you were right down the front you couldnt hear. I just think if somethings not broke dont fix it.....preferred things the way they were..and if you cant hear the acts on the main stage I think theyve made a booboo!!!!

[Gabs]

The main stage was so vast, it was crazy. It was nice having the extra space around it but I agree the sound could have been better.

Also the JJB tent was too far away, it was a mission getting over there.

Other than that I thought the layout was pretty good.

[pearl5girl]

Wasn't a fan of it - seems to take too long to get anywhere and then there was the sound issues...

[Phil-itfc]

seemed to work well. lot more open spaces about the place for a sit down. and it only took 10 mins from one side of the arena to the other. I hope it remains like this in the future.

but yet again another year with a lack of bin and the bins they do have not being emptied

[loosechange]

Apart from the terrible sound at the main stage, I thought the new layout worked really well - certainly didn't feel as crowded as previous years.

[ark]

The rubbish is disgusting! puts me off going again tbh, wading through peoples plates to get from Main to C4 stage.

Sessions stage was empty for most of the bands we saw in there, which was a shame, but it is quite a trek from Sessions to JJB.

Do the sound desks have to ge quite so big / quite so near the stage? Unless you were in front of the sound desk you got either crap view or crap sound (or both), and yet in front of sound desk was rammed, with more and more people pushing in all the time (e.g. Stereophonics, Muse). Also lots of "VIP" s (?) being let into the sound desk area - nice view from the front of it

[yellowbedwetter]

Overall, I thought the new layout was slightly better, don't mind the walking from stage to stage. More bins, more toilets, more exits would have made it even better

[Honeyfuzz]

I hated it, JJB was in the middle of nowhere, had to produce tickets twice to even get in. Also main stage was shit for someone thats 5ft 2, could see Muse AT ALL (only reason I went), the old main stage was well good. Still felt very crowed, sound at main was shit

[random_man]

I really didnt like the new lay out! the only bit that worked was the Ch4 Stage - but hey that was just the old V stage so why wouldnt it!

the new V stage was too open, the JJB was too out of the way - it just lead to not needing to go anywhere really - did any one actually go right of the V stage???

[mudshark]

I agree with the other posts, the sound on the main stage was pretty poor unless you got reasonably close and in the middle....and why make us walk further to get to the red camp site?

[westv]

The rubbish is disgusting! puts me off going again tbh, wading through peoples plates to get from Main to C4 stage.

[Gingerbond]

Got to agree with several others...the sound on the V stage was awful!

[westv]

Got to agree with several others...the sound on the V stage was awful!

[plectrumknight]

Loved the new laytout, much more space around the stages, nice chill out area by the JJB. My only issues was the toilets, not enough

[The Fella]

I heard that they had to swap the stages over as the Muse stage was too big to fit into old area where the Channel 4 stage - well, that is what Virgin Radio were saying.

Although I was initially a bit concerned by the new layout, I agree with others here, and though it worked really well. There is much more space around the main stage, and if you stayed to the right of it, it was quite quick to cut up to the back, and then over to the Channel 4 stage. I agree that the JJB Arena was a bit of a treck, but that seemed a lot bigger too, and wasn't filling up as quickly as other V's.

On the whole, I would say an improvement, although definitely agree that they need more speakers around the arena if they are going to stay with the layout for future V's, and they should still have a bar by the left side of the second stage - too many queues for the beer this year!

[supersunshine]

We were new to the V layout, and found it really good.

There really wasn't any distance at all between the stages, and I didn't feel squashed at all in comparison to other festivals like Reading and IOW.

i think I read somewhere that they swapped the stages round as the trees hampered the views on the V stage last year.

[TheDog]

hated it, i liked the mainstage where it was before, i felt the trees gave it a nice little back drop and there was never much of a problem to see sound was better as well.

i hope they revert it back to its former self next year

[Fluter]

hated it, i liked the mainstage where it was before, i felt the trees gave it a nice little back drop and there was never much of a problem to see sound was better as well.

i hope they revert it back to its former self next year

[jessieman]

Any idea the reason for moving everything around, especially swapping the stages??? I thought the sound on the V stage was awful it got lost in that open space and unless you were right down the front you couldnt hear. I just think if somethings not broke dont fix it.....preferred things the way they were..and if you cant hear the acts on the main stage I think theyve made a booboo!!!!

[jessieman]

I hated it, JJB was in the middle of nowhere, had to produce tickets twice to even get in. Also main stage was shit for someone thats 5ft 2, could see Muse AT ALL (only reason I went), the old main stage was well good. Still felt very crowed, sound at main was shit

[fairy_]

I liked the new layout. And for those saying that couldn't see, I'm 5ft 2 and for once I could actually see the majority of what was going on. I hated the old layout with those stupid trees.

Edited August 19, 2008 by fairy_

[supersunshine]

I think I must have been in a different festival!! I could see Muse perfectly, and were not that far back, am 5 Foot 7, so maybe a little taller than some girls, but I thought the sound was good as well.

[Faelfain]

I found it a little confusing, and hard to figure out where everthing was in relation to each other compared to before, but at the same time I liked that layout, mind you, I only really went over to the main stage for a small number of acts compared to channel, and everytime was in a good spot for the sound. But I do admit where the 4 stage was this year is the better spot, it does make more sense for the main stage to be there.

But I agree, what was with the miles of walking to the red campsite? That was just painful!

[Carpetburn]

I've been to all the V's and I have to say I found the new layout pretty disorientating at first. I think the reorganisation was due to health & safety reasons and was probably part of the conditions the local council set for their getting a licence with a bigger capacity.

It took me until Sunday to get used to the layout, but with the exception of the V (main) Stage I quite liked it.

I thought the sound was terrible on the main stage unless you were right up close. What with my missus only being 5' 2" and with the sound as it was I quickly gave up on Muse and went to see Richard Hawley (it was that bad! )

But I liked the 2nd Stage where it was in many ways and it will come into its own with a decent line up (unlike the Saturday where only Shed Seven, The Hold Steady and Prodigy stood out.

As for the JJB it's fine where it is although they need a few more loos, a bigger bar (queued for ages) and some more food stalls. I have to say I didn't leave the JJB from Calvin Harris through to the Chems on the Sunday, but had to resort to red wine when they ran out of Strongbow

[Benj]

I much prefered the older one but have even more of a problem with the new camping layout than the arena.