Alchemy festival 17th - 19th Sept 2010

[highsince81]

IF YOUR THINKING OF GOING TO ALCHEMY NEXT YEAR (2011) THEN READ THIS FIRST.......

Seven trains, two buses and a extortuionately priced cab later and I arrived, a bit disheartened to be honest... BUT....

Thankyou, Thankyou, Thankyou .... Wow Wow and Wow.... Journey forgotten about in a heartbeat...

The best festival, The best people, The best music, The Best Food (pizza mmmmmmmmm) Just THE BEST of everything...

Well done Ellen and Toby... you did it and you did it good n proper, flippin marvellous!!!!

I survived with no voice and was not very organised to be honest, but thanks to the amazing people from the E fest camp and the Alchemy crowd I had the best time ever and there isnt enough space on here to praise it completely.

I love you all.....

Roll on 2011..... Im prpearing already!!!

[highsince81]

Well, what can i possibly say about this stunning end to my festival season!! Alchemy fest, i tip my hat to you!

You certainly listened to some of the issues raised from last year and stepped up to the mark.

What a stunning choice of venue and the lay out, which was split side on from the main stage, gave it a feel of a much more interesting space to wander round. the healing area and woods, which led out to the river, were excellent!! Sat by the river early saturday morning watching drogonflys had a majical feel to it.

The lighting, the toilets and the food stalls were much improved --- i think i ate from ever vendor and never had anything questionnable!!

The kids stuff was always well attended, i almost wanted to have brought a child with me just to learn how to balance on a ball!!

I could go on ....

Just a massive thinks to everyone i met, and re-met.

and on a final note ... Y.M.C.A

[highsince81]

HEY GUYS ITS ANGEL!!

i thought i would finally use this account. lovely meeting you all especially greenfairy and dave, i feel like i have another set of parents! your both so lovely.

glad i bought the gazebo and will be jazzing it up for bearded theory. looking forward to doing the tent up and fixing it, what a great find!

alchemy-

you guys worked really hard and im so happy it worked out well, i have no complaints, and it is the best festival i have been to and iv been to loads!

really looking forward to seeing what you bring us next year and will hopefully help you guys out a little.

glastomad x

[highsince81]

Fantastic weekend!

It was a great efests camp too, good to see everyone.

[highsince81]

Simply Brilliant festival. Vibe was the best all year, the bands and DJ's were epic and the company fantastic.

Thanks once again to Toby and Ellen for a great weekend....

Normally I am sullen and depressed for the first few days but I am still on such a buzz from a great great great few days...

Cant wait till next year...

Woohoo!

[highsince81]

I can't believe I'm the only one who had teary eyes when I left

[highsince81]

I figured the word 'seat' was pushing things a bit far

[highsince81]

Would Some Very Lovely Efesters mind emailing me whatever pictures they have got for Alchemy 2010, pretty please with a great big 'Arrghhhh' on top!!!

My phone died on the Friday night and I need pictures so I can retain the MASSIVE grin that is currently on my face!!!

xxx

[highsince81]

Oh and my voice has returned to its usual bubbly tone!!!!

So for one last time..... (well till next year)... " Get out my pub!!!!!" and "You Slags!!!"

xxxxxx

[theampersanddevil]

Ha Ha

Jo you pilchard!!!!

Great to hear from you girl, I'll tag you in the photo of you and your big pink snake!

Can't wait for next year and my pizza oven seams crap now, I want one of them big oveny things.

[theoldalchemist]

I have at least a zillion very positive things to say about this excellent festival, but they'd all be even more positive if it wasn't for one utterly unforgiveable crime.

The so called 'Beer Tent' was a total disgrace :angry:

I hope if any of the organisers are reading this, that they pay some serious attention to this lamentable apology for a 'bar' for next year.

People (Flip and others etc.) who'd gone previous years had praised the range of ales formerly available, which among much else (all the music, the atmosphere and so on, and none of that disappointed us newcomers this time) we were hugely looking forward to.

I think somewhere much much further up, months ago in fact, Mr Alchemy referred to the ale choice being repeated for 2010.

But what did we get?

John Smiths Extra Shite ( :angry: x 10,000!), Carling, and some moderately good cider that had run out by Saturday -- lunchtime, I believe?

A Theory I have, purely speculative I admit, is that the bar spec may have been reduced for cost reduction reasons -- and maybe to get rid of any profit sharing with other (more experienced/professional?) organisations/businesses. If there's any truth in this Theory at all, then it must surely have been 100% plus counterproductive -- I never saw any queue in that bar, the staff were most of the time standing around, and a fair bit of money must surely have been lost.

My sympathies with the organisers are miminal on that one thing, because a well planned, well stocked, better ale filled/better lager filled/better cider filled bar would have done so much good for the festival both in terms of happy punters, fewer bar related complaints (surely it's not just me on this??), more profit, and the MC of the Beer tent stage not feeling obliged to force himself (surely?) to refer to 'plenty of lovely beer'** when urging people to buy there between bands, on Saturday afternoon ...

**'It's not true!!!' someone loudly shouted. That may perhaps have been me ... echoing the thoughts of literally tens present!

Apologies for lengthy rant, but we're beer drinking professionals, it was our last festival, we had money to spend which we ended up not doing, and like many music festival fans at this kind of festival, we're truly committed CAMRA types. We go to shedloads of music festies every summer (and beer ones in the winter! ) and we've rarely if ever seen any beer tent so awful outside the Reading style mega corporate ones that we nowadays avoid.

Festivaldeb especially is actually massively involved in the Swansea Bay Beer Festival (100 plus beers plug plug!) and we have access to all sorts of helpful tips/advice and positive ideas beyond just the harsh** sounding criticism.

**but fair, I'd assert!!

The Alchemy festival was new to us and a wonderful revelation in pretty much every other respect ... they really really let themselves down with that disgrace of a bar though!

Sort it aht for 2011 please!!

This aspect could be a bit of a dealbreaker for one or two of us re coming back (which we'd really like to but ... )

[theoldalchemist]

Really sorry that you feel that way about the beer supplies - we did our best in difficult circumstances but it is certainly something that we will learn from next year, please don't let it put you off. I understand the need of getting what you want and appreciate the importance of real ale and ciders - we had to do what we could in the short term - another learning experience! We'll certainly do better next year and hope to see you there!

[theoldalchemist]

i didnt even notice it was the communal fire pit until the last day... i just thought it was were the hulahoops were!

[rabid]

Lovely to meet you both and all....

Rabid Static Mushroom man!!! Arggghhhhhhh!!! hehe

Hows the parrot by the way????!!!!!! xx

[timespeedsup]

Oh and my voice has returned to its usual bubbly tone!!!!

[rabid]

Can someone confirm something for me, did it rain on Saturday night?

[timespeedsup]

Can someone confirm something for me, did it rain on Saturday night?

[smog]

Early hours of Sunday morning it did.

We could have had a meteor shower on Saturday night and I probably wouldnt have noticed

[rabid]

Not half. Or at least, how it felt in the tent when it woke me up early hours.

Are you being funny though? Imagine how those Sunday morning puddles got there if it hadn;t rained?!?

[smog]

[superdry]

Well maybe I had been in the river then, apparently I came back from my bimble with mongrel soaked.

Edited September 24, 2010 by superdry

[rabid]

I found you both in the woods just as you were trying to get some security dude to convince Mongrel it was a good idea to jump over the ditch because there were no hills to roll down. Thats when it started raining, so we wandered over to Kaplick/Kerplunk/Kaplonk stage to stay dry but you wouldn't get under cover because the green spots looked cool! So you got wet!

!

[Alchemy Festival]

I have at least a zillion very positive things to say about this excellent festival, but they'd all be even more positive if it wasn't for one utterly unforgiveable crime.

The so called 'Beer Tent' was a total disgrace :angry:

I hope if any of the organisers are reading this, that they pay some serious attention to this lamentable apology for a 'bar' for next year.

People (Flip and others etc.) who'd gone previous years had praised the range of ales formerly available, which among much else (all the music, the atmosphere and so on, and none of that disappointed us newcomers this time) we were hugely looking forward to.

I think somewhere much much further up, months ago in fact, Mr Alchemy referred to the ale choice being repeated for 2010.

But what did we get?

John Smiths Extra Shite ( :angry: x 10,000!), Carling, and some moderately good cider that had run out by Saturday -- lunchtime, I believe?

A Theory I have, purely speculative I admit, is that the bar spec may have been reduced for cost reduction reasons -- and maybe to get rid of any profit sharing with other (more experienced/professional?) organisations/businesses. If there's any truth in this Theory at all, then it must surely have been 100% plus counterproductive -- I never saw any queue in that bar, the staff were most of the time standing around, and a fair bit of money must surely have been lost.

My sympathies with the organisers are miminal on that one thing, because a well planned, well stocked, better ale filled/better lager filled/better cider filled bar would have done so much good for the festival both in terms of happy punters, fewer bar related complaints (surely it's not just me on this??), more profit, and the MC of the Beer tent stage not feeling obliged to force himself (surely?) to refer to 'plenty of lovely beer'** when urging people to buy there between bands, on Saturday afternoon ...

**'It's not true!!!' someone loudly shouted. That may perhaps have been me ... echoing the thoughts of literally tens present!

Apologies for lengthy rant, but we're beer drinking professionals, it was our last festival, we had money to spend which we ended up not doing, and like many music festival fans at this kind of festival, we're truly committed CAMRA types. We go to shedloads of music festies every summer (and beer ones in the winter! ) and we've rarely if ever seen any beer tent so awful outside the Reading style mega corporate ones that we nowadays avoid.

Festivaldeb especially is actually massively involved in the Swansea Bay Beer Festival (100 plus beers plug plug!) and we have access to all sorts of helpful tips/advice and positive ideas beyond just the harsh** sounding criticism.

**but fair, I'd assert!!

The Alchemy festival was new to us and a wonderful revelation in pretty much every other respect ... they really really let themselves down with that disgrace of a bar though!

Sort it aht for 2011 please!!

This aspect could be a bit of a dealbreaker for one or two of us re coming back (which we'd really like to but ... )

[rabid]

Appologies!!

The bar was not as we wanted this year! At one point I was considering not having a bar as the stress caused by the bars at the other events have made me wonder if was worth it for what we got. It wasn't but running the bar ourselfes has made a big difference and means we have come much closer to breaking even than we otherwise would have done.

I prommise that the bar will be much better next year and will have a selection of real ales and enough cider to last the weekend. Not run a bar before and again have learned lots!!

Just wait and see!!

Apologies again!!

[Alchemy Festival]

Super ealry bird tickets for Alchemy 16th - 18th September 2010 are now on sale (or will be on website shotly). The first 100 tickets will be £20 - there are around 40 of these left. The second 100 tickets will be £30 3rd 100 £40 4th 100 £50 and the remaining tickets will be £60 - the same as this year - There will be no increases in ticket prices.