Going Downhill?

[AiiShotTheDJ]

Just after people's opinions on Weston this year. In all the years I've gone, this is probably the least I've enjoyed V. Here's a few of my negatives:

• The amount of young people off their face on drugs - never seen it that bad before, especially as they couldn't handle it and ended up trashing the campsite for 3 nights in a row (I was on the red/gold border)

• The amount of times I was offered drugs - on Saturday, I had three people "knock" on my tent and ask me if I wanted pills/coke, then had some young lads off their face already asking me to either sell or help them find a pill dealer

• No Strongbow tent - this just lost them some brownie points!

• Market stalls - there seems to be less and less stalls every year

• No "freebies" - I can remember walking round and it being full of brands offering samples and general fun things e.g. Rowntree Randoms silent disco, coca cola bottle exchange for hoodies

• General atmosphere

• Sound quality - the sound quality was awful at some points - especially in the indie disco

• 3 hours to get out of the Weston park grounds whilst watching the "events" management razz around on the golf carts just for fun and seeing the car parking staff sitting in the corner smoking when they were meant to be directing traffic

• The toilet queues because girls refused to wipe a bit of wee off of the seat

There were some highs though - not all doom and gloom

• Snow Patrol - always a high

• The toilets were in pretty good nick this year - only saw a couple that I couldn't (literally couldn't - I'm not squeamish!) go in

• The people in our immediate proximity to the campsite were lovely

• The sunny weather and having a Strongbow outside the tent

• Newton Faulkner- always makes me smile because of how happy he is to perform

• Noel Gallagher

Just a small rant! Think I'm off to a new one next year - it's definately Glastonbury and maybe Leeds or T

Edited August 20, 2012 by AiiShotTheDJ

[efcfanwirral]

Ill put my full thoughts on later, but I'd say if points 1 and 2 are a problem you should definitely steer clear of Leeds!!!

Edited August 20, 2012 by efcfanwirral

[AiiShotTheDJ]

Ill put my full thoughts on later, but I'd say if points 1 and 2 are a problem you should definitely steer clear of Leeds!!!

[vfestnoob]

Going to have a bit rant but I have to say I agree with you, This was my third v festival and probably my last. I've never known it to be full of so many "scrotes", I was sober this time round which maybe opened my eyes a bit more but there where drugs everywhere yet the "security" on the gates into the arena where searching "normal" looking people throwing away small bottles, umbrella's and chairs or whatever else they saw fit to be confiscated from friendlier looking people, yet people who where blatantly doing drugs where being allowed through scott free.

I was very dissapointed with the security, many of them just blatantly didn't want to be there and couldnt be arsed, where as others went to severe extremes of being arsey with people for no reason. I have a bit of a personal issue with the way I was treated by one of them, maybe a bit personal but I have an ileostomy bag on my stomach and a massive scar after a recent operation... and when I was patted down at the gate the guy tried to rip my shirt up, i kept hold of it to try and stop him and explain but he just overpowered me and ripped my top up infront of loads of people, never been so embarassed in my life, and got nothing but a dirty look from him.

Made the mistake of camping on red, been there before and it was fine however this year it was ridiclous and the most cramped ive ever seen it, peoples tents ended up practically pitched on top of mine, which meant my tent was constantly being trampled on by people going past, one night I was going to sleep and a guy was tackled into my tent being chased by security.

The place was just full of kids who couldn't handle their ale and drugs, aswell as so many older "scallies" who where just intent on ruining the weekend for other people. along with security "ironically" G4S whore where inept and stewards who where as good as useless. and the lineup wasn't exactly that impressive either. and dont even get me started on the rip off prices of everything. not sure if its worth it anymore.

[AiiShotTheDJ]

Going to have a bit rant but I have to say I agree with you, This was my third v festival and probably my last. I've never known it to be full of so many "scrotes", I was sober this time round which maybe opened my eyes a bit more but there where drugs everywhere yet the "security" on the gates into the arena where searching "normal" looking people throwing away small bottles, umbrella's and chairs or whatever else they saw fit to be confiscated from friendlier looking people, yet people who where blatantly doing drugs where being allowed through scott free.

I was very dissapointed with the security, many of them just blatantly didn't want to be there and couldnt be arsed, where as others went to severe extremes of being arsey with people for no reason. I have a bit of a personal issue with the way I was treated by one of them, maybe a bit personal but I have an ileostomy bag on my stomach and a massive scar after a recent operation... and when I was patted down at the gate the guy tried to rip my shirt up, i kept hold of it to try and stop him and explain but he just overpowered me and ripped my top up infront of loads of people, never been so embarassed in my life, and got nothing but a dirty look from him.

Made the mistake of camping on red, been there before and it was fine however this year it was ridiclous and the most cramped ive ever seen it, peoples tents ended up practically pitched on top of mine, which meant my tent was constantly being trampled on by people going past, one night I was going to sleep and a guy was tackled into my tent being chased by security.

The place was just full of kids who couldn't handle their ale and drugs, aswell as so many older "scallies" who where just intent on ruining the weekend for other people. along with security "ironically" G4S whore where inept and stewards who where as good as useless. and the lineup wasn't exactly that impressive either. and dont even get me started on the rip off prices of everything. not sure if its worth it anymore.

[vfestnoob]

Pretty much the same experience I had then. I ended up stuck near a mosh pit when Example was on and I got pretty panicked because I didn't want to be getting knocked about because of my stomach. managed to stay away from it but those people weren't there for the music. I had a disabled access band for the platforms and saw a few acts from there where I felt safe, but had to watch on my own because they wouldn't let anyone in with me. there was 2 women , well I say women, I think it was some teenager being picked on by an older woman off her face, and a big crowd just chanting "whooop der it is" whilst watching, no one helping the poor girl.

The whole place stank of piss and the amount of rubbish was ridiculous, the toilets to give credit where slightly better than previous years but still not enough of them, although most people where just urinating wherever they saw fit anyway. It seemed like a lot more tickets had been sold than usual aswell. I'm only 25 so it's not like I'm just having a whinge for the sake of it, i was genuinely disheartened by some of the ridiculous sh1t I saw this weekend. In the past myself I've been quite happy having a drink and smoking a bit of the funny stuff round the tent with friends, but people where just off their faces throwing all sorts around the campsite, I could go on forever. infact after these rant's im having im convinced I won't be going again. Judging the comments on the facebook page it seems like a lot of people are really angry about it all aswell. never known anything like it.

[AiiShotTheDJ]

Pretty much the same experience I had then. I ended up stuck near a mosh pit when Example was on and I got pretty panicked because I didn't want to be getting knocked about because of my stomach. managed to stay away from it but those people weren't there for the music. I had a disabled access band for the platforms and saw a few acts from there where I felt safe, but had to watch on my own because they wouldn't let anyone in with me. there was 2 women , well I say women, I think it was some teenager being picked on by an older woman off her face, and a big crowd just chanting "whooop der it is" whilst watching, no one helping the poor girl.

The whole place stank of piss and the amount of rubbish was ridiculous, the toilets to give credit where slightly better than previous years but still not enough of them, although most people where just urinating wherever they saw fit anyway. It seemed like a lot more tickets had been sold than usual aswell. I'm only 25 so it's not like I'm just having a whinge for the sake of it, i was genuinely disheartened by some of the ridiculous sh1t I saw this weekend. In the past myself I've been quite happy having a drink and smoking a bit of the funny stuff round the tent with friends, but people where just off their faces throwing all sorts around the campsite, I could go on forever. infact after these rant's im having im convinced I won't be going again. Judging the comments on the facebook page it seems like a lot of people are really angry about it all aswell. never known anything like it.

[vfestnoob]

the place was just full of scum, I actually said to my mate that it seemed like the place where the lowest of the low go for a holiday. your right about morals, people didnt have any. A lot of people there, and it wasn't just kids, there where adults who where just as bad, had no respect at all for anything or anyone and just seemed to think that they could do whatever they wanted without consequence, and because of the shoddy attitude of the security, they where right. I hope things change but I doubt they will.

Wasn't all doom and gloom though, I did enjoy the weekend generally and the silent disco was brilliant (except for having to leave if you wanted the toilet meaning you had to queue again wtf?) just to many things have put me off.

[AiiShotTheDJ]

the place was just full of scum, I actually said to my mate that it seemed like the place where the lowest of the low go for a holiday. your right about morals, people didnt have any. A lot of people there, and it wasn't just kids, there where adults who where just as bad, had no respect at all for anything or anyone and just seemed to think that they could do whatever they wanted without consequence, and because of the shoddy attitude of the security, they where right. I hope things change but I doubt they will.

Wasn't all doom and gloom though, I did enjoy the weekend generally and the silent disco was brilliant (except for having to leave if you wanted the toilet meaning you had to queue again wtf?) just to many things have put me off.

[vfestnoob]

The carling exchange tent was awesome. Just watched the video, epic fail haha

[Pierce1991]

Generally agree with a lot of whats been said here. I come over from Ireland, and probably wouldn't have come this year but Oxegen was cancelled so didn't really have many options. I really enjoyed most of the acts I went to but the crowd just wasn't great. The thing I've always loved about V was the relaxed crowd who were mostly there for the music. This year I felt that wasn't really the case. I'm only 21 but felt old there for the first time ever. The Killers, Turner, Murs, Noel and Snow Patrol were all great but the crowd just wasn't. I think the worst thing I saw was a guy at Snow Patrol who just started urinating in the middle of the crowd before falling over into his own puddle of wee. It would take a pretty special lineup for me to head back next year.

[paulomas]

i've never been to V so i can't really judge, but I've just watched a video on youtube of a man sliding across the mud on his belly and stopping right under a girl doing a piss in the middle of a crowd of people.

probably won't be making a trip to V any time soon

[StephenManc]

I took my wife this year and stayed in Green which was over crowded we pitched up early near ish to 2 other couples and thought "ye this will do" then after setting tent up and then sorting out all our gear inside ther tent I walked out the door into another tent literally almost pegged int my doorway! and groups of loud annoying lads letting everyone know as loud as poss how many young naive girls they werer going to "nail" and how much mdma they sneaked in!!!!

Know I was in my early 20's once and had my fun but always tried to show respect to other paople which I reckon 40% of the crowd this wasnt the case. It come to a head for me on Sat night when two meat heads with vests on offered my Mrs £50 for certain services to which point Id had enough and cracked. I wont go into what happend as am not too proud of it but have to admit still feel a little satisfaction from puttin d**kheads in their place.

All in all Sunday made up for it I made a conscious decision to ignore the crap I was seeing around me and enjoy the bands and I wasnt disappoiunted in that sense.

In my opinion V could be amazing if one thing gets sorted, The staff. It needs to made clear s=certain thing wont be tolerated ie throwing piss, agression (hands up I snapped), Seperate camps for mixed groups wouldnt be a bad idea either, and more things to do in and around the arena..........

Sorry for rant again like the lad I could go on but Ill try and take the positives from it and it totally depends on the line up nextyear but at the min I think Glasto is the way forwrd for me.....

PS Sorry my typing is bobbins.......

Edited August 21, 2012 by StephenManc

[rug568]

I got there at 4pm on Saturday and left at 11:30 so i can't really judge, but i thought the atmosphere was terrible. Defiantly felt that a large proportion of the crowd didn't give a fuck about the music.

[AiiShotTheDJ]

Generally agree with a lot of whats been said here. I come over from Ireland, and probably wouldn't have come this year but Oxegen was cancelled so didn't really have many options. I really enjoyed most of the acts I went to but the crowd just wasn't great. The thing I've always loved about V was the relaxed crowd who were mostly there for the music. This year I felt that wasn't really the case. I'm only 21 but felt old there for the first time ever. The Killers, Turner, Murs, Noel and Snow Patrol were all great but the crowd just wasn't. I think the worst thing I saw was a guy at Snow Patrol who just started urinating in the middle of the crowd before falling over into his own puddle of wee. It would take a pretty special lineup for me to head back next year.

[AiiShotTheDJ]

i've never been to V so i can't really judge, but I've just watched a video on youtube of a man sliding across the mud on his belly and stopping right under a girl doing a piss in the middle of a crowd of people.

probably won't be making a trip to V any time soon

[AiiShotTheDJ]

I took my wife this year and stayed in Green which was over crowded we pitched up early near ish to 2 other couples and thought "ye this will do" then after setting tent up and then sorting out all our gear inside ther tent I walked out the door into another tent literally almost pegged int my doorway! and groups of loud annoying lads letting everyone know as loud as poss how many young naive girls they werer going to "nail" and how much mdma they sneaked in!!!!

Know I was in my early 20's once and had my fun but always tried to show respect to other paople which I reckon 40% of the crowd this wasnt the case. It come to a head for me on Sat night when two meat heads with vests on offered my Mrs £50 for certain services to which point Id had enough and cracked. I wont go into what happend as am not too proud of it but have to admit still feel a little satisfaction from puttin d**kheads in their place.

All in all Sunday made up for it I made a conscious decision to ignore the crap I was seeing around me and enjoy the bands and I wasnt disappoiunted in that sense.

In my opinion V could be amazing if one thing gets sorted, The staff. It needs to made clear s=certain thing wont be tolerated ie throwing piss, agression (hands up I snapped), Seperate camps for mixed groups wouldnt be a bad idea either, and more things to do in and around the arena..........

Sorry for rant again like the lad I could go on but Ill try and take the positives from it and it totally depends on the line up nextyear but at the min I think Glasto is the way forwrd for me.....

PS Sorry my typing is bobbins.......

Edited August 21, 2012 by AiiShotTheDJ

[xxtinkerbellxx]

All the reasons above are why this was my first time in 7 years that I didn't go. I actually hated last year and it put me off ever going to V again. I'm only 22 but just feel like I don't fit in there any more, the place is swarming with 15/16 yr old kids who can't handle their beer and get enjoyment out of setting tents on fire etc. I will never forget last year seeing two lads jumping on a girl's tent while she was asleep inside, ripping it to shreds whilst laughing. It was p'in it down and the poor girl had no where to sleep, all her stuff soaked, we ended up letting her kip in our tent because we felt so sorry for her. I also couldn't believe that I saw d*ckheads in orange pushing portaloos over with people inside of them, one of which was a little girl. It's just not my idea of fun at all any more, I've found much better festivals to spend my £ on that actually have nice normal people going to them, good security, and you don't get ripped off at every given opportunity!

[DTichborne]

I gave up a few years ago after, while sleeping at night, some idiots next to us threw a gas canister onto a fire, which made a big flare shoot off, which in turn set my friend's tent on fire. I hadn't been drinking that day and we were able to leave there and then at about 2.30am (fortunately it was the last night). The gas canister was bought into play when they couldn't get enough fire for their liking from climbing the camping perimeter fence to pull wood off the trees in the park.

As we got to the exit of the camping area, it transpired that security had been made aware of the incident. They hadn't actually gone up to deal with the people, they were merely aware of the incident.

[Indie53]

It's full of scrotes. Don't know if i'll go V again, but it seems Glasto is the only major fest these days that's alright.

[vfestnoob]

Seeing all these reply's just proves how downhill things have gone, The sad thing is I can't see things going back to how they where so long as Branson is still getting money in his pocket. for every nice person deciding they've had enough there'll be plenty scrotes waiting in line to get a ticket. I'm going to try probably in vein to get a glasto ticket, but its worth a shot. As far as the carpark is concerned I must have been really lucky as I left at about half 9 and was probably out on the road about 60-90 minutes later, when i got home at around 2pm one of my friends was still stuck on the carpark! plenty stewards on the way in to take my 15 quid to park my car and direct me in, think I saw about 3 people on the way out. I think the suggestion above about seperate campsites for mixed groups or even a small one just for familys or couples is a great idea in theory, not sure how it would be implemented but it would make people feel a lot safer in the campsites.

[iAmThePriest]

This was my 5th time at V (Had last year off), and i've never known anything change so much, for the worse in such little time.

Far too many young groups of lads/lasses prancing around pissed up, taking drugs. Amount of times that I'd been asked if I wanted to buy any was endless. Me & My mate got searched coming into the campsite from the carparks, cos the sniffer dogs could smell something, which will be weed from everyone smoking it in Arena. Why wasn't the sniffer dog there when people were arriving?!

We parked in East Car Park, was aiming to go down to Yellow, but was directed into Blue or Red, as they were the only campsites open. Why didn't they just open all the sites in first thing? Then they wouldn't have stupidly long queues all the time?

Down in the main bit, gota say, getting into the Arena was pretty quick compared to a couple of years ago, but they're proper strict now on the searching front.

In the main part, noticed that they dint have as many stalls as they used to be, and I swear theirs far more folk that go now than over the past few years.

Campsite wise in Blue, was alright, apart from people pissing where ever possible, We told 2 young lasses to piss somewhere else, which resulted in us getting Ketchup sprayed down our tent. I've got no problem with Scousers, but when you get some that are like that, they let you all down!

Safe to say, IF I go again, I'm actually going to spend that bit more, and go V Style camping. Gets you away from all these little 'f*ckwits' with tracky bottoms, pockets full of pills n coke, who love making their weekend, by spoiling it for others! But more than likely, I'll not be there in a hurry ...

[iAmThePriest]

Seeing all these reply's just proves how downhill things have gone, The sad thing is I can't see things going back to how they where so long as Branson is still getting money in his pocket. for every nice person deciding they've had enough there'll be plenty scrotes waiting in line to get a ticket. I'm going to try probably in vein to get a glasto ticket, but its worth a shot. As far as the carpark is concerned I must have been really lucky as I left at about half 9 and was probably out on the road about 60-90 minutes later, when i got home at around 2pm one of my friends was still stuck on the carpark! plenty stewards on the way in to take my 15 quid to park my car and direct me in, think I saw about 3 people on the way out. I think the suggestion above about seperate campsites for mixed groups or even a small one just for familys or couples is a great idea in theory, not sure how it would be implemented but it would make people feel a lot safer in the campsites.

[footix2]

Didn't seem too bad to me. I've been to Leeds which can be far more sinister (especially on Sunday night) and a lot more skanky.

We suffered the opposite really. Despite us being relatively normal neighbours (just enjoy a drink and a party), we had a neighbouring tent ask us to piss somewhere else when it was basically just through the fence into an area with trees. It was Ok for them to empty their piss bucket there though. The some folk asked us to turn the music off cos they wanted some sleep too. Now, it might have been a little bit loud, but it's a damn festival and it goes without saying that quietness and much sleep will be hard to come by. They should bring earplugs if they find it noisy, or drink more so sleep comes easier.

Piss bombs seemed to be less frequent this year too, but I got hit with the odd lager bomb, though I always find that refreshing!

[led]

I've been going to V for about the last 10 years or so, and can definately see a decline in the level of 'clientele' they attract.

Thankfully I've never really seen any horrendous incidents, but certainally noticed a higher level of drugged up people and hammered youngsters wandering around (punching each other this year seemed to be fashionable!), which is a shame.

I really enjoyed this years festival, mainly because there was a good level of 90's indie bands there which is my fave type of music - I think the only way you're going to be able to get rid of all the knobs and smack heads is to revert back to good old fashioned guitar music bands i.e. loose example and tinie temper etc (tho I did enjoy both of these acts), but that style of music does seem to attract the riff raff.

Other observations, as previous posters have mentioned: liked 'cocktail cocktail', thought this was a good stand in for loss of bacardi bar, just a shame it wasn't a bit bigger so could have a good dance in it. Didn't bother with 'our house' as thought it was pants last year (never seemed to be full). Price of drinks an absolute joke!! £4.20 - come on V, your pulling our pants down - there's no wonder people sneak drink in when you charge those kind of prices. We arrived about 3am on the Friday morning, but for some reason were all held in blue campsite until 7am (lucky it wasn't raining) it just seemed to wind everyone up. I know it says on website campsites dont open till 9 but if the volume of people are there already, surely they could let people get set up in whichever campsite they wished there and then?!! Toilets I thought were much better this year than previous years.

Not sure if seperate campsite idea works, we went as a mixed group, ranging from ages 19 - 37, we weren't rowdy or caused a nusiance so if this idea was implemented would still be bunged in with the knobs. I don't know.

If anyone reading this is involved in organising festivals - do an indie style one, it'd sell out quickly I think and attract a more mature crowd :-)