Friends Of Mine

[Subutteo]

Yeah I would be too. I would think between 3-4 thousand would be around there. A shame when it was 10k capacity. It takes away from the atmosphere which is the main reason I go to festivals!

[Katster]

It was ok. The bad weather at times couldnt be helped and I would sooner see stages pulled down BEFORE the weather did so after seeing what devastation wind at festivals CAN do (I am thinking bearded theory year before last...) but generally for a small festival I thought it was good.

However. Unless FOM is happy to become renowned for a thieves paradise the organisers really must improve security in the general campsites. Loads of people got done over on friday night and considering bearded theory had the exact same problem last year, the difference in how FOM handled it was astonishing. I was also surprised to see no fire towers or anything to help extinguish a BBQ had it got out of control and generally although nothing major kicked off I didn't feel safe at all.

As a first time festival it was ok but I think they have got a hell of a lot to learn if they want it to continue, succeed and grow in the future.

[jamjar]

So happy to be back from there. Really poor atmosphere probably due to low ticket sales and massive distances between stages (MASSIVE expanses of windy open ground) didn't help.

Highlight was finding out that the rumour of Willy Mason headlining Lake Stage was true. Low point was he came on the Lake Stage at the same time as Charlatans so what would have been the best set of the weekend was ruined by noise spill, so much so we walked away. There mustn't have been more than 20 people in the audience, it could have been awesome.

Did anyone hear about a stabbing / knife incident on the Friday? Not sure if it was a rumour (although I heard about it from staff) but more security would have been reassuring - we never got our wristbands checked anywhere we went.

For a first festival I'll let some flaws go, but for £90 you have a level of expectation which this didn't meet. If you're running a festival for the first time I guess you start small, which FOM didn't.

Nice toilets though.

[Wirephil]

Sounds like it was a bit of a mixed bag, I was tempted but glad I ended up hearing it from my back garden this year due to the weather. Will maybe give it a go next year when hopefully a few lessons will have been learned. I suppose teething problems are to be expected but the idea is great in my opinion

[blackplanet8]

The bad weather and losing 2 stages couldn't be helped and i would expect some teething troubles at a first time festival but this was the worst organized festival i've ever been too-----no programme[except a sheet of paper] a wasted oppurtunity to make some easy cash-the sheet of paper didn't include the comedy stage[did it happen?]the cinema [was there one]the restaurant[did it happen].The 40+ market stalls-not even close.The website says you can take your own alcohol in as long as theres no glass bottles--not true-they stopped you taking cans in with you.The biggest lie was the e-mail stating the festival had virtually sold out.No info point-there was no-one to ask about time changes.It costs next to nothing to put a notice next to each stage with timings on.

Thats my moans out of the way,because problems aside i still had a really good weekend---the location was good/a lot of really good smaller bands,excellent performances by virginmarys/young knives/phantom band--easy to get served at the bars/compact site,so not to much walking--if they can sort the problems i would certainly consider going again next year.I went to the first end of the road festival where less than 1000 people turned up out of an expected 5000 but the care and organization that went into that weekend ensured everyone went away happy and told others and now it sells out every year.

[Subutteo]

The bad weather and losing 2 stages couldn't be helped and i would expect some teething troubles at a first time festival but this was the worst organized festival i've ever been too-----no programme[except a sheet of paper] a wasted oppurtunity to make some easy cash-the sheet of paper didn't include the comedy stage[did it happen?]the cinema [was there one]the restaurant[did it happen].The 40+ market stalls-not even close.The website says you can take your own alcohol in as long as theres no glass bottles--not true-they stopped you taking cans in with you.The biggest lie was the e-mail stating the festival had virtually sold out.No info point-there was no-one to ask about time changes.It costs next to nothing to put a notice next to each stage with timings on.

[pinback]

So happy to be back from there. Really poor atmosphere probably due to low ticket sales and massive distances between stages (MASSIVE expanses of windy open ground) didn't help.

Highlight was finding out that the rumour of Willy Mason headlining Lake Stage was true. Low point was he came on the Lake Stage at the same time as Charlatans so what would have been the best set of the weekend was ruined by noise spill, so much so we walked away. There mustn't have been more than 20 people in the audience, it could have been awesome.

Did anyone hear about a stabbing / knife incident on the Friday? Not sure if it was a rumour (although I heard about it from staff) but more security would have been reassuring - we never got our wristbands checked anywhere we went.

For a first festival I'll let some flaws go, but for £90 you have a level of expectation which this didn't meet. If you're running a festival for the first time I guess you start small, which FOM didn't.

Nice toilets though.

[Cactusgirl]

Well we really enjoyed ourselves. It did feel lacking in numbers. It would be interesting to know how many tickets were not sold. But on the plus side no queue at the bars!

Took my 1yr old who loved it in his ear defenders. Impressed to find a disable portaloo with baby changing facilities. Ha ha how my criteria for a good festival has changed!!

Weather could have been better but not the organisers fault.

Not seen Bloody Marys before and they were AMAZING!!!

And showers in the campsite!! Wow! Was not expecting that!

Could have done with some toliets in the camping side as we were in the camper van field and it looked like they were the only loos.

And queue to pick up wristbands seemed very slow.

Overall had a great time and would go again.

[jamjar]

You contradict yourself here: massive distance between stages AND noise spill?

All the stages were really close together,

Edited May 24, 2011 by jamjar

[pinback]

Your point? Loud noise can travel quite a distance. The Lake stage and the Main stage were facing each other at opposite ends of a large field and the main stage completely drowned out the Lake Stage. If you look in twitter you'll see postings from people as far away as Stoke on Trent and Macclesfield complaining about being kept up at night because of the mainstage - now imagine if you're just at the other end of the field trying to listen to an acoustic act (which is what Willy Mason is.) It was loud - standing 30 feet away from Willy and at times I couldn't hear the words due to the sound spill.

Edited May 24, 2011 by pinback