Y-Not Festival

[glasto_mongrel_2008]

Is anyone on here going to Y-Not festival this year? Tickets on sale today. Think i'm gonna get one tomorrow

[thc]

Is anyone on here going to Y-Not festival this year? Tickets on sale today. Think i'm gonna get one tomorrow

[Paul ™]

Heard awful reports about it.. no thanks

[reefer432]

Hey Everyone,

Cheers for the feedback on the other forum (the original one from 08)... /index.php?showtopic=101826&hl=">http://www.efestivals.co.uk/forums/index.p...=101826&hl=

I thought I'd try and drop in a little bit of explanation to go with it all...

In 08 we lost our two biggest head liners (Cage the elephant and The mystery Jets) both seperately in the week build up to the festival. Both the bands were unfortunately taken ill/injured in totally seperate incidents and cancelled all their gigs for a few weeks.

Anyone who's dealt with agents will know that booking a band is a very time consuming process and at this point in the build up, much of the management time was diverted into find replacements. We tried everyone under the sun but only got one replacement (Hot Club de Paris for the Sunday).

On Friday morning (having been erected for two days, the main stage broke).

We used a reputable staging company who've worked on many great events like Glastonbury but they made a mistake in erecting the stage. We have safety completion certificates from the contractors but there was a mistake on their part in erecting it. However, as organisers, it is ultimately our responsibility and I totally accept this.

With all this in mind, I wanted to outline how we're looking to improve on next year.

We've got a dedicated emergency team to deal with any eventuality that will still allow the set up to continue as planned.

A new stage - The new stage looks amazing. Its bigger, better and the staging supliers are one of the biggest in the UK.

We're bringing in a huge dedicated art team who will spend the set up making it a beautiful site in the already perfect setting that is the Peak District.

Our Green Commitment - A 50 person strong dedicated recycling team to make sure we recycle everything we can and keep the festival clean throughout the weekend.

More Green - A travel reward scheme that addresses our carbon footprint. Festival goers get rewards based on how green their commute to the festival has been (the full launch of this scheme at the beggining of april)

Campsite lighting - Changing from the big lights, we're bringing in coloured more subtle lit walkways.

Camp fires - Strict marked out zones with no camping to ensure the camp fire zones are kept available

A sepearte accoustic and dance tent - In previous years we converted the same tent after nine o clock but this means we can decorate them perfectly to suite the different vibes

Workshops - in the day time, we've got Salsa, Yoga, Traditional african drumming and loads more workshops

Family camping - A much more segregated Family camping area

Things for the kids - we're bringing in loads more activities for children to keep them entertained

A better lineup - We've got our best lineup ever

Real ales and Local ciders - More and more!

More caterers - We've organised 6 querky catering stalls that will look after everyone from vegans to burger boys!

There are loads more little improvements like a beach bar, interviews with festival goers (played on the stage screen) but the above give you a general idea.

And lastly we've still kept the ticket price right down. £42 for the weekend (3 days and 3 nights).

From my point of view, the idea of the festival is to go with a group of people to a field and have a great time with a few drinks and see some great bands. The Festivals job is to faciltate this. The prettier the site looks, the more querky things there are to do the better.

It is also essential that the basics are there at good prices which is why we're doing £2 a pint £42 a ticket.

With people like Paul who have a wealth of experience at festivals, I wanted to just make sure I offered an explanation for any problems with 08 and the improvement plans for 09.

Ok, let me know what you think!!!

Cheers

Ralph

[glasto_mongrel_2008]

Sounds like you've done everything you can and just had some bad luck. Sounds like there were more than a few dickheads there though. I only live down the road so it's definitely a fest i'm considering especially at the fantastic price. Should be able to get a good group of my mates to go too.

[Leprekorn]

However your still being a little decieving in your advertisments if I search you on google i get the following snippit of information

"Music festival in Derbyshire. Previous bands include Mystery Jets, Cage the Elephant, Frank Turner."

This is from your own site listing bands that never actuall played.

I suppose I'm with the once bitten twice shy train of thought and although I appreciate you are trying to make positive change last year felt to me that the festival was more an expanded party for friends of the orginisers.

Edited March 25, 2009 by Leprekorn

[reefer432]

Hey Leprekon

I didn't even know that came up in google! I've emailed our webguys and its getting changed. We're certainly not trying to market it on last years pull outs! (Frank Turner was great though! - as always). Cheers for flagging that one!

We had well over 2000 people come last year and we definately go for a freindly atmosphere but as the organisers, we certainly don't have anywhere near that number of friends!!!

Totally fair enough about the "the once bitten twice shy" stuff but we were extremely unlucky last year and every mistake from the big to the small is being rectified. 2007 was an unbelievable year with on positive reviews really. 2008 had both good and bad (which you can see from the orginal link).

We're doing absolutely everything to make 2009 a huge success and with so much learning under our belts, things are looking great.

Anyway, your feedback it greatly valued so thanks very much for it!

Hope you have a top festival season wherever you decide to go!!!

Cheers

Ralph

[Paul ™]

Cheers for the posts, at least it goes to show you are listening unlike some festival organisers

Good luck with it

[Leprekorn]

Hey Leprekon

I didn't even know that came up in google! I've emailed our webguys and its getting changed. We're certainly not trying to market it on last years pull outs! (Frank Turner was great though! - as always). Cheers for flagging that one!

We had well over 2000 people come last year and we definately go for a freindly atmosphere but as the organisers, we certainly don't have anywhere near that number of friends!!!

Totally fair enough about the "the once bitten twice shy" stuff but we were extremely unlucky last year and every mistake from the big to the small is being rectified. 2007 was an unbelievable year with on positive reviews really. 2008 had both good and bad (which you can see from the orginal link).

We're doing absolutely everything to make 2009 a huge success and with so much learning under our belts, things are looking great.

Anyway, your feedback it greatly valued so thanks very much for it!

Hope you have a top festival season wherever you decide to go!!!

Cheers

Ralph

Edited March 26, 2009 by Leprekorn

[reefer432]

Again, that feedback is invaluable - To be honest its something I hadn't started to address... I'll make sure it gets sorted out though.

Thanks again for all your constructive feedback! The positives are nice too

Cheers

Ralph

[rabid]

Sounds like you're sorting out pretty much everything that pissed us off last year. We fully understand that you can have last minute problems with bands, equipment breaks down and unfortunately there's dickheads where ever you go. It was the feel of the place last year that was our main gripe - all straight lines in monochrome and those lights in the campsite that got the place nicknamed Stalag Y-Not.

I swore never again after last year but I may well be tempted. Good luck.