Brilliant weekend - Feedback Post

[lighty2]

Superb weekend all round really - i don't think we could of had better weather at Wychwood this year.

Our kids (4,7, thoroughly enjoyed them selves too.

Toilets were fantastic - clean throughout the whole weekend although i don't know why they were taken away from the camper van field so early on Monday morning (8am) when people hadn't had a chance to use them.

Super Furry Animals were superb and showed themselves to be one of the best live bands around - shame they don't get the recognition they deserve. Also enjoyed Little Boots.

Roald Dahl tent was fantastic - the 2 guys who tell the stories are brilliant.

The food stalls were all great - we enjoyed working our way around them! Great to not see the usual burger and and chips vans and see some real alternatives with something for everyone.

One gripe i have is that by Sunday afternoon some of the traders and even some of the tents were closed - even though they still had stuff to do listed in the programme (eg, The High School Musical singalong didn't happen which my daughter was looking forward to) - the festival lasts til Monday so i wouldn't expect things to start shutting down before Sunday night at the earliest.

Plus was it really necessary for the one of the bands in the main bar (forgot the name??) to go on about getting "f*cked up on Ketamine" on Sunday afternoon in between their songs in a room full of families. I realise you can't have censorship at festivals but you'd think at somewhere with such a family vibe like Wychwood they'd use a little discretion.

They were only minor gripes but thought i'd include them here - would love to hear any other thoughts.

We were all sad to leave which is a true mark of how fantastic the whole weekend was.

See you next year.

[Mountainman]

Our family all had a great weekend! So much so that we have again booked for next year.

Congratulations Wychwood on excellent organisation. Everything went like clockwork and the marshalls were, without exception friendly and eager to help. Music line-up was varied and interesting, and we discovered some great bands, particularly Wyches. Would like to maybe see some jazz on the smaller stages. Didn't rate the comedy much, especially the escaping from cling-film - pathetic!! Shame Arthur Smith was late on Sunday when a lot of people (us included) had gone.

Yes, the toilets were better than ever, and we didn't hear of any tent thefts.

However a noisy late night party on early Sunday morning (near the quiet area!!) went unchecked.

Well done Wychwood.

[campin' queen]

Another pair of 2010 tickets purchased here

Was really pleased there was a bit of organisation about the 'van fields this year - even late comers seemed easily able to drive in and find spaces, with no risks of being blocked in for early leavers.

Spent quite a lot of time in the Hooky tent and really enjoyed a lot of the Tom Robinson sessions bands, would love to see something like that again. Will definitely be checking out more of some of those artists now.

Also great to have seperate bins for the "not-plastic-cups" as last year seemed a bit pointless having special cups that ended up all in the "general waste" bins anyway. A few more of these particular bins away from the bars would have been good too.

I think we ate from most of the food places over the weekend and very pleased to see prices didn't seem to have increased since last year. We did stifle our amazement to hear someone whinge about £3 drinks prices, and wanted to ask where they usually drink as that is certainly on a par with the local pubs, pretty good for festival prices and according to my fella, Old Hooky was a fantastic choice.

The loo's were really clean all festival (credit to everyone who used them as well!)

The crew we met (volunteer stewards and official security) were all friendly

Only requests for improvement -

1) a couple of (or well signed) water points in the arena would have been nice (the smell of the alcohold gel makes me feel nausious so like a quick rinse in water before eating).

2) was really not happy when the last 2 of the loo's nearest us disappeared at 8:10am (the others having been taken even earlier If this is part of the loo contract, could you have a sign saying they'll be removed early and location of other nearby loo's - dont mind walking further, but want to be sure there'll actually be one when I get there! I was there when the loo guys came around and they didn't even say anything to the queue of people waiting to use them, until they pushed one loo over onto the floor and someone in the queue asked what was happening :-/

The latter point was the only downer on an otherwise fantastic weekend! Well done Wychwood

Edited June 1, 2009 by campin' queen

[5867dude]

That was a great weekend, and the best wychwood I have been to. The beat on Saturday were great, if you missed them then I feel sorry for you!

The prices were reasonable for food and drink, with some good stalls that I went to often including the Vegan and Vegi stall as I am myself a proud vegetation. I was impressed by the amount of stalls that had no meat products what so ever!

The one stall that looked out of place was the EA hub thing! Why go to a festival if you are just going to sit playing games all day?

A great festival, enjoyed by all of my family!

[JasonTee]

Great weekend here. My wife and I organised the Healing Gardens (which were behind the traders to the left of the stage for those of you who didn't find us!). Music was great, highlight for us was the Dohl Foundation on Sunday evening, just a pity we couldn't stay to watch the end of their set.

A massive shout out to the stewards who were friendly to a man (and woman)...when we were trying to get our tents off-site on a busy Sunday evening, they unlocked the gate for us within minutes and waved us off. Other festivals take note!

A massive thank you to Graham and the WW team for a great festival, one that deserves to go from strength to strength

[rseamer]

I couldn't agree more with all the comments made. My first time at Wychwood and my 2 kids (aged 8 and 10) said it was the best festival they had ever been to and they've done quite a few in their young lives ! We spent a lot of time up at The Green area but did also catch a few bands. You can read a bit more on my blog by clicking HERE

My only downsides were missing The Beat and The Wonderstuff (engaged elsewhere)

Couldn't fault the Festival in anyway, except for maybe a few standing water points on the campsite as well as sinks would be useful. (If I missed them I didn't see them) Otherwise spot on - congratulations to all the team involved...you ever made the weather great !

[sprocketrocket]

Hey guys that was my first wychwood and I doubt it'll be my last.

Music-wise there were three Big highlights for me....

SFA on friday night (missed the stuffies cause our train was cancelled )

Mr B the Gentleman Rhymer was pure class.

and the Travelling band were Awsome.

Atmosphere-wise great friendly atmosphere, If you can find a way of keeping the number of punters up on a sunday that would really help.

I've always been dubious of silent disco's but my wife convinced me to try it, and that was great too

Food was yum. I tried a few but kept going back to the tartiflette stall.

Its nice to go to a festival where the tents aren't all crammed up right next to each other.

I'm sure theres loads more to say but I'm too tired.

[surfncanoe]

Hi there

My first Wychwood festival and thoroughly enjoyed it. Atmosphere was great and the staff were brilliant.

Thought the music acts were ace, especially the Oysterband, wonderstuff and The beat.

I agree with another person on the forum who didn't like the EA tent. I know that this is a family festival, but would like to think that we were encouraging youngsters to do different things, which was provided for them. Wasn't keen on the blow up slide either.

Another suggestion, could we have some comedy on during the day. I would like to have seen some, but there were always headliners on at the same time.

I have booked my tickets for next year!!

Well done Wychwood. I hope my other festivals can come near to the friendliness of this one.

Ian

[shugie]

My third Wychwood, first time with the entire family, and it was a corker. Really enjoyed Little Boots, something of a surprise there. And very nice to see Atila the stockbroker again. Rather regretted the need to retire early in order to get the kids to bed and miss Dohl Foundation, what we could hear on the way back sounded excellent.

Childrens literary festival was good, excellent idea, if a little expensive on the book front, shame that a couple of people missed their slots. I didn't see the poet laureate, but my wife did, and said it was excellent; personally I felt Bellowhead to be the better option, but then I'm a philistine.

Stewards were very friendly, with the exception of one bolshy woman at the entrance, and I did give her cause I suppose, by having the temerity to appear sans wristband.

Can't say I was bothered by the EA tent, it seemed popular, and if that's what kids want to spend some time doing fair enough, although I didn't encourage mine to go in there. Bouncy slide seemed popular, but is a bit naff for a festival I reckon.

Roald Dahl stuff was excellent, much enjoyed by the oldest two, and the youngest was just amazed by all the flags and people, happiness all round.

I had a go at the bloke removing the toilets from the family camping this morning, and he moaned and said "I've got to remove 100 toilets by 12 this morning". I stood in front of, but not touching, his lorry and tried to get support to block him in to make him leave a couple of toilets, as clearly a couple would have been fine, but everyone was being very English and looking the other way. I rather suspect his contract was for 100 toilets until 12 though. Bit rude really. But the toilets were kept mostly clean with paper and soap, so credit for that.

I succumbed to post festival enthusiasm and bought next year's tickets last night, hope the weather is as good then as it was this year.

[jima]

Hi, new to boards but have been to 4 Wychwoods.

We were in a group of 10 campers who all thoroughly enjoyed the weekend.

No real gripes but was slightly disappointed in the amount of people that abused the 'drop off' luxury, and neglected to take thier cars off the course, even after a very polite notice was placed on windscreens by stewards.

Rant over, now to the good points.

Food was fantastic again (especially the Goan fish curry).

Beer was fantastic again.

Music was fantastic again (especially Wonderstuff).

Toilets were clean and well stocked again.

Had friends come down on a saturday pass who also had a wonderful time, and am hopeful that they will do the full weekend next year.

Jim.

[fubab]

Absolutely FANTASTIC weekend again!!!!!

but........

WHERE WERE THE MARGARITA SLUSHIES?????????????????????????????????????????????????????

[roundabout]

What a brilliant weekend, I got to see over 40 acts, some of them previously unknown to me. Highlights for me were The Beat, Supergrass, The Black Bloc, Alex Cornish, Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer, Shteti Superstars, Justin Adams & Juideh Camara, Bellowhead, Cara Dillon, The Long Notes, and what an end to the festival by Dhol Foundation. I just wish I hadn't got my bus pass and had the energy to dance more than I managed to, my head wanted to keep going, but the legs said no.

Also saw some good stuff in the Hooky Tent.

My only gripe concerns the PA's. (I seem to be the only one on here) The main stage was being overdriven on Friday and distorting, quite spoiled my enjoyment of the music, but it did improve at some point on Sat.

The Hooky Stage PA was ok for bands, in fact clearer than the Big Top PA, but the comics could only just be heard from the back, felt like it was set to No. 5 and it needed to go up to No 8 or 9.

The Big Top PA just sounded echoy all weekend, with the vocals having a distant quality, but the MC's mic always seemed fine!! Hadn't noticed this echoy quality in previous years.

As usual the louder bands on the main stage encroached on any quieter acts in the Big Top, (but this wasn't as noticable after Friday), not sure what can be done about that, my son suggested a bank of speakers between the two entrances to the Big Top to block out the main stage, would that work? I don't think it's just because I'm an old git, my son agreed about all the points re. the PA's. But gripe over, I had the best Wychwood so far, and the weather . . . what more could we have asked for?

Oh, and finally did The Silent Disco, what a riot, don't know why I hadn't been before.

[fessbegler]

We had a great time again at Wychwood this year (3rd year in a row) already booked for next year.

The Good -

Music - As always a great mix of music from the glorious retro-uptempo Beat to the dirty pop of Ten Bears via electronic princess Little Boots through the anthemic Revere to master fiddler Juldeh Camara (+JA). There was even some grungy rock from The Witches. I doubt there's a more varied musical selection at any other UK festival. Well done, especially to the Doghouse Promoters and Tom Robinson's net sessions - a very high standard of music selected by them both in the Hooky Tent.

Food and Drink - A great selection again (though I missed the Wickwar beers - what happened to them?) and good prices compared to most festivals I've been to. Great having a bar in the main arena - saves spilling beer on a long walk. I Missed the frozen margaritas this year - slush puppies for Adults!

Recycling - It's not only the cleanest music festival I've been to, It's the cleanest event I've ever been to. Well done to the staff and the public for being responsible and USING THE BINS!

The Bad -

Those black folding chairs in the beer tent - if you didn't sit on one you were lucky.

Main stage Friday volume - way too loud - it got better by saturday but it should have been right from the start.

The Big Top Stage - could it be any hotter? It's fine with 20 people but when it's full I could roast a duck. More openings please if it's the same weather next year - especially for the poor people on stage.

Drinking Water Taps - I eventually found one. Although it's nozzle could have doubled as a shower, this made it easier to find where the tap was located by the stream coming from it.

Seating near the food areas - much better than previous years, could do with a few more benches though.

Kids on bikes in the main arena - why?

Band Times / Names - when entering the festival everybody should get a time sheet or have a big poster on the front of each stage (in fact I'd like a PDF one before so I can put it on my phone/camera) I don't want to spend £4 for an incomplete time listing and band bios I've read online already. If you want to make money have a SMS text - service with band times on.

The healing gardens - this is really down to them but do they want to be stuck next to a rocky bit of concrete near to the (quite loud) main stage. I'd imagine it's quite hard to relax with a massage and being pounded by bass.

Website band line up - It's a basic piece of marketing but it was REALLY longwinded to find out who was on at this years festival. I bet you lost a fair number of customers this year by hiding your best asset deep in the website.

Home page - click - Lineup - click - Friday - Click - back to lineup - click - saturday - click - back to lineup - click - sunday etc etc...

Or

Homepage with poster of whole lineup on (like Reading festival's Iconic 'Yellow' poster)

I'm Ugly ( I didn't get around to..)

Any of the Workshops - I hear they were great

The Silent Disco - I didn't hear anything (ho..ho.. er no)

The Camping (I'm local... but it looked nice. Glad to see more security though)

The Comedy - just too tired

The EA tent - I have no problem with them. Everything in moderation.

[yasgursfarmhand]

For my penny's worth, the new addition I liked this year was the radio station. Enjoyed listening to that at breakfast time. Played a great mix of tracks. Not the most professional operation in the world but that added to it's charm. Hope you do it again next year.

[mario man]

Just a short note from me to say well done to the organisers, my first time & found Wychwood to be as good if not better than I had heard. Personal highlights were the Stuffies & SFA on the Friday night, think I was in heaven! Foodwise I was very impressed & pleased to see a lack of standard burger vans, a great selection of food on offer.

& well done with the weather, very well arranged!

[Araignee Mechante]

Well done Wychwood team on The Green. Hordes of superheated children had a wonderful time - a huge achievement. As a more or less newbie practitioner I felt looked after all the way - real help was forthcoming when I encountered a technical hitch! Great to be made so welcome and, yes, the gentlemen on the gate were just that. Blessings and sweet sleep to you all.

[Heroes]

This was my 4th Wychwood festival.

I just wish that the momentum could be kept up till Sunday. The vibe just never seems the same on a sunday and maybe in future years I should just get a day pass instead of a weekend pass.

This was my first year of camping at the Fest and I was quite shocked to have to pay for a shower £2.50 when in the camping details on the website is states that showers are available....but no mention of a cost.

My biggest gripe of the weekend was having to be searched every time I passed from the campsite to the main area.......even my 3 year old daughters drinking bottle was opened and sniffed. The toilets were removed way too early too.

But these are only problems with the camping, the whole festival was a great experience once again.

[Aaron95]

The Good

• We didn't hear of any thefts this year. I really hope there weren't any and the extra measures the organisers and the police put in place have ended that sort of malarky.

• The weather. Damn that was hot. It was almost too hot to drink beer.........I said almost.

• All of the stewards we met were really helpful and friendly. Even the ones looking through bags at the entrance.

• Mr B The Gentleman Rhymer - just hilarious.

• Discovered quite a few new bands I would most likely never have heard of unless we had been at a festival like Wychwood. I have to say Tom Robinson's lineup in particular was great. Not everything was to my taste, but there was a real variety of talent on the stage.

• The beer. Initially I thought it was a bit steep until my OH pointed out that we pay about £2.60 down the pub, so really for a festival £3 was pretty reasonable. It is and the Old Hooky in particular was very tasty.

• The tea bus. It provided the perfect way to relax for a bit whilst enjoying a nice cuppa and a cake.

• The silent disco. Seemed a lot busier than last year, and was all the better for it. Great way to round off the evenings.

• The non-music stuff. There seemed to be thousands of kids there and every one seemed to be having a great time. We don't have lids, but everyone we spoke to who did was over the moon with the activities and also the safe feel and atmosphere of the festival.

The not so good

• My hangover on Sunday after drinking that Addlestones cider Saturday night. What the heck is in that stuff!!! Lethal I tells ya and I swear my tent still smelled of apples on Monday!

• I thought the headliners were a bit disappointing. Supergrass were OK, but why did they not play their biggest hit?

• Super Furry animals were just not my cup of tea. In previous years, even if I didn't know their music very well, all of the headline bands have been the sort of thing you can get into very quickly. Super Furry Animals were just not in that category for me. And to open a festival where the majority of the audience are not big fans with stuff from your unreleased album was a bit strange IMO. I thought The Wonderstuff were far better and would have been my first choice as headliners.

• Who put Mundo Jazz on at the same time as Supergrass?

• Um, that's about it.

[david3103]

Another year, another Wychwood, another suntan :-)

My fourth year as a Steward and this year thanks to Sue I got to work my ticket overnight so saw more of the festival.

Highlights? Well, this year I had paying customers with me in the shape of wife and 8yr old granddaughter and the team on The Green were tremendous. As were the staff at Pizzaz(?) who made breakfast pitta breads with the kids.

The Mummers! In the sunshine on Saturday afternoon they were perfect.

Mr B obviously

Saturday evening in the Hooky Bar, right through to the legend that is/are Mundo Jazz.

Shame about the audience for the comics on Friday night. Phil James was genuinely funny to my ears but it seems that the Wychwood comedy audience often isn't on the right wavelength.

Sadly I had to leave partway through Robin Ince and thus missed the burst of Mundo that followed him.

Major issues? None, but I do think that the removal of ALL cars other than those which are needed for the disabled campers should be enforced.

Will I be back - hell yes, as will wife and granddaughter and possibly more!

[MrHew]

My biggest gripe of the weekend was having to be searched every time I passed from the campsite to the main area.......

[si_t]

[*]I thought the headliners were a bit disappointing. Supergrass were OK, but why did they not play their biggest hit?

[nick149]

Hi

Just enjoyed a terrific weekend at the Wychwood festival - the highlights were;

- the weather (doh!)

- atmosphere - very friendly & relaxed (my wife and our 3 year old boy had never really done a festival before, so it was great that they felt comfortable and safe)

- the camper van field - we had such a sweet set up, a bit of space, lush green grass, everything pretty close (i.e. not a half mile trek to and from the action) reasonably quiet too!

- the helter skelter and the bouncy slide (allowed our boy to feel like he was somewhere a bit special where he could enjoy things) as well as us

- the lovely tea and cake bus and shaded space to drink it in (out of posh tea cups - at a festival - I mean come on !)

- Big Blue Sun - fantastic local band played on Sunday in the Hawthorn tent.. sublime

- Wychwood fm - asked if we could play a song on air on the Saturday (we were there with Musiclab) and they welcomed us with open arms - it was a bit special to play live on air however small the set-up. Also caught a bit of their show on Monday which was warm and chaotic!

- Coconut shy - the classic fairground con - I swear I hit a coconut full on with a quick throw and it didn't even hint that it may fall off - we paid again and had another go!

- Toilets - best festival bogs yet

Things that could (in my small opinion) be improved -

- open the ticket office earlier on Saturday and Sunday - the first impressions were a bit disappointing and chaotic - the workshop I was involved with started at 10 on the Saturday and the idea was to get there early, set up, relax and then get to the workshop on time. Instead, because the office didn't open till 10, it was a palava for everyone (other performers and helpful stewards too). It makes sense to (just for two days of the year) to try and open at 8am.

- Er I really think thats about it, maybe a few more people to fill some of the outer tents in the evening, but thats up to them.

Loads of photos and happy memories - will return again

Thanks wychwood

Nick

[MrHew]

..... but Supergrass not play 'Alright'? .... bizarre.

Ask 10 people to name a supergrass song, and over half would say 'Alright'. It's probably the main reason that they can command the fee they do in 2009 and headline a festival of this size.

[helena_merged]

It was wonderful yet again. Fantastic weather, great music and some real highlights.

I loved The Beat, Rook and the Ravens, Ten Bears, Goldheart Assembly, Ade Edmonson and the Bad Shepherds, but for me, The Travelling Band were the best thing on.

As always, the tea garden was a delight, food generally okay, but i remember the carribean food stand in 2007, and have missed it ever since. However where were the frozen margarita people??! As other people have said, the headliners were not for me, but i knew that before i came, it was not a problem for me, however get the Pretenders next year and i will be happy!!!

I loved the Doghouse stage, and I hope that they continue to come to Wychwood - there was mention that they would not be back next year and it would be a tragedy if that was the case.

My only complaints - not enough water points on the festival site, and too small a quiet zone for camping in, i am sure that it was much bigger last year. Not impressed by the kids screaming at 2.30 in the morning in the family area on friday night!!!

-also why oh why were people thinking it was okay to drive up the racecourse track in areas marked no go? it is a fantastic location for a festival and i would hate to see a selfish few jeopardise it.

In all a brilliant festival and long may it continue.

[roundabout]

My biggest gripe of the weekend was having to be searched every time I passed from the campsite to the main area.......even my 3 year old daughters drinking bottle was opened and sniffed.