my first Download!

[cejx]

The Good!

The line-up

The punters - ridiculous friendly bunch

The posh VIP bit round the back - thank you nice toilets, nice bar and sofas

The incredibly lovely staff.

The Bad

The weather (out of their control). However, they should have made allowances knowing it was going to piss it down. Metal tracks in the campsites - in fact metal tracks all over, and more direct access between sites.

Crap/non existent signage.

The shambles of opening the arena on the Friday morning. Again, it was wet, it was muddy - they knew this... but funneling 50000 people down that track was clearly stupid... hence the black outs, the freak outs and the minor scuffles that we breaking out around us.

Europe's announcement of cancelation 25 minutes after they were supposed to come on.

The utter lack of knowledge that the lovely staff had - particularly the security and the INFO staff. eg.

Where are the nearest toilets? Dunno, but there are loads.

How do I get out of the carpark? Dunno

How do I get back to the Orange campsite at 2am? Didn't know there was an Orange campsite!

Where do I get my extra wristband? Dunno!

it went on and on and on!

We'll be back next year!

xx

[t8yman]

Yeah Friday was a pisstake, getting an arena only wristband involved walking to 3 different places, all on opposite sides of the site, only to finally be sent to the main arena entrance, the staff weren't briefed properly at all.

[gjammer]

...and I wanted to see Cancer Bats! Saw one song in B Ts set which was a bonus I suppose!

Edited June 11, 2012 by gjammer

[lharris92]

don't think it was that well published, but cancer bats got put to the redbull bedroom jam stage at 22.20pm because of the delays and whatnot. i suppose if you were watching someone else then you may not have known. also if you didn't have access to the app/site then it wouldn't have been well publicised i guess.

[neilloggie]

How do I get back to the Orange campsite at 2am? Didn't know there was an Orange campsite!

[kaosmark2]

Staff knowledge and mud control was poor. And the long walk between campsite and arena would be a major pain even if it were dry.

Anyone know why they closed the track for moving to the arena late Sunday afternoon? We were heading from the campsite to see Soundgarden and had to go round towards the entrance and round instead of via the track.

[gjammer]

I asked them..they said they had to prepare the track for a race.

[kaosmark2]

Seems a bit ridiculous that after hiring the site for the weekend they can't even make full use of it then. Particularly as they opened it later.

[ap3311]

Bad: Traffic control on the Friday was absolutely ridiculous. I've been to many big scale events like this before including festivals and I've never ever seen anything quite so chaotic. I understand there were problems with mud in South car park but even so it was appaling. Took almost 2 1/2 hours to get in from coming off the A42. Getting out on Monday was completely fine and if anything there were more cars then so I have no idea what was going on on Friday afternoon.

Arena opening late I guess. Well I'd be annoyed about this except I was sat in my car so didn't exactly care...

The weather of course, but nothing anyone could have done about that. Maybe put down some walkways in the campsites next year?

Stewards were a bit hit and miss, some were very informative and helpful; others couldn't give a fuck and were just there for the free ticket.

Messages on the big screen: lost count of how many Fenton, "Arrow to the Knee" jokes and other associated things that went up there. There were even Brony messages. FFS it's not 4chan, why not enjoy a weekend away from the computer?

Good: The bands. Once the music started the mud was all forgotten. Excellent lineup and enjoyed pretty much every band I saw.

Entertainment in the village. Having only done Reading I had low expectations I guess but I thought it was great. Silent Disco was fantastic and had a good time in the club tent as well.

Campsite banter. Really friendly people, not many dickheads where I was.

Thought the toilets were fine tbh. No long drops is definitely a good thing and they held up surprisingly well. I've seen far, far worse...

Edited June 12, 2012 by ap3311

[cejx]

They probably thought you meant a camp site for Orange customers.

The Friday delay was pathetic, they should have been well prepared for the wet,it had been forecast for weeks.

Also this year the amount of crap people left behind again,i can pat myself on the back knowing we left only a black bin bag of rubbish.

And left with a brand new(used for 5 nights) £300 tent. BONUS.