Coachella

[Matt42]

you haven't a clue. vfest and coachella as being similar in terms of the people attending? i've seen you get ribbed on here by those who wonder why you feel impelled to comment and sound authoritative on anything, and I've held back so far, but this is just ridiculous that you can compare the most 'clean' comfortable festival that is attended by mostly well-off americans (coachella) to the lout-heavy piss throwing mess that is V Fest. I am quite anti-Coachella, but not for reasons that it's like V Festival.

I mean it in the terms of they book bands like AC/DC, Radiohead, Atoms For Peace, Sigur Ros, The Stone Roses etc and they get tiny or minimal crowds because a large number of the attendees are going for completely different reasons. That a huge chunk of the attendees go for the EDM acts like Axwell^Ingrosso, Calvin Harris etc... The bands aren't even on their radar. I say it in the sense that it's a festival that heavily encourages people to take selfies, have their phones on them all the time and advertise as much as possible.

The fact I said it was Glastonbury attended by Vfestival and Creamfields goers is because majority of the attendees do not give a shit that bands such as AC/DC and Jack White are booked. They go for the EDM.

[giantkatestacks]

Teva - have you been to Burning Man?

[bennyboi]

I always balls my shit going into glasto, had to with booze though. I but two blunt wraps in the foil pack down there a few years ago and after walking 10yards they had a scissor effect on my scrotum, I was too close to the gate to rearrange and after another 200yards to get in and remove it there was a lot of blood!! Never even smoked them!!

[GlastoSimon]

It's wrong to judge a country's festivals by one or two (i hope no one judges us by V) but generally the notion of rules worries me at US fests. I was reading on the Jazz fest forum a discussion on whether you can get away with dancing in the blues tent without stewards asking you to leave?! Can you imagine that at glastonbury?!

What? What?!

That's utterly mad.

Always like the idea of doing a festival in the US if I ever get some money to do so in the future, but it's finding one which would be worth it - so far I've not really found one.

[rikkirascal]

I'm really hoping to go Austin Psyche Fest one year. Looks bloody amazing.

[fatyeti24]

I always balls my shit going into glasto, had to with booze though. I but two blunt wraps in the foil pack down there a few years ago and after walking 10yards they had a scissor effect on my scrotum, I was too close to the gate to rearrange and after another 200yards to get in and remove it there was a lot of blood!! Never even smoked them!!

what's even more mental about this is that blunt wraps aren't banned. i had no issue taking them in or out of the festival (i was staying outside the fence).

[thewayiam]

you haven't a clue. vfest and coachella as being similar in terms of the people attending? i've seen you get ribbed on here by those who wonder why you feel impelled to comment and sound authoritative on anything, and I've held back so far, but this is just ridiculous that you can compare the most 'clean' comfortable festival that is attended by mostly well-off americans (coachella) to the lout-heavy piss throwing mess that is V Fest. I am quite anti-Coachella, but not for reasons that it's like V Festival.

It riles me when people try compare the two when they have never been, they are nothing alike what so ever!

bonnarooo is a bit better...at least you can buy pints and walk to the stages with drink in hand...but it's the same thing as coachella where you enter an 'arena' of stages and afterwards it's back to a mega carpark (everyone basically drives to the fest) serving as after-hours. plus, the stages being all so near means sound bleeds, and these 'tents/sheds' are just horrible as you really can't see much regardless of where you are, while you hear the sound from other stages nearby.

nothing compares to Glasto. don't go to america trying to find something better or similar. the legal climate here prevents that.

Wilco's Solid Sound Festival is a cracker of a weekend festival if you like Wilco. I'm doing that this year as my own one-year break from Glasto. That's unless I miracle myself some Dead tiks for California for same weekend. Bon Iver and The National are curating a festival in Wisconsin too. these smaller ones are where the Americans can do well, not in doing poor copies of Glasto where they copy 'Silent Discos' and the lot.

I'd actually disagree with the sound bleed from stages, I didn't experience that, nor the issue with seeing who I wanted to. What I don't like with the idea of Bonnaroo is the bad management in terms of turning up early doesn't actually get you parked up closer to Centeroo!, which is kind of strange as it almost works on a 1st come last served basis.

And let's put it straight out there now, if Glastonbury took the whole you couldn't drink anytime and anywhere you wanted, it'd be a much different concept to 80% who went there, clearly the biggest bonus of the fest. We'd all want a lineup from the fest before we paid up etc.

this sums it up for me.

Behave!

Went to coachella in 2012 and it is excellent. I thought the drinking rules would annoy me but it really didn't. It was so hot any beer I drank didn't have much effect. their drug policies seemed pretty relaxed as well from what I saw.

It's not really comparable to Glastonbury. It's very different.

I really like Glastonbury but coachella is special too. Glastonbury probably shades it 60:40

I'm in a similar boat to this, I get the idea of walking around drinking is the bonus but it kind of plays out as would the bonus of it actually help if you needed water all the time as well until the evening, that's one's own opinion though. I think personally for setting, there is nothing better I've been to than Coachella, Glasto has it's views from the top etc which are really great but sunset at Coachella, given it'll be sunshine all day and no rain is a spectacle.

Coachella seems like my worst nightmare. Looks like it's full of c**** too.

You're wrong, VERY wrong. It's a very friendly festival.

[majormajormajor]

I went to Coachella two years ago. The line-up was pretty good.

It isn't a festival though in the European sense, it shouldn't be called such. It's a set of gigs in the desert, with strict rules to follow. And it's full of dickheads.

If you just want to go to see some bands play in searing heat and want to stay sober, it's good. If you think it's an actual festival, it isn't.

[majormajormajor]

I'm really hoping to go Austin Psyche Fest one year. Looks bloody amazing.

Sounds fun! Sitting around in a festival setting discussing Freud and Jung?

[majormajormajor]

Oh, you can and people do. There are plenty of people smoking weed around, and I've never actually seen someone busted for it inside the site. I'm sure there are plenty of more illicit substances around as well, but you won't easily find them for sale.

Funny story about sneaking booze in. A few years ago, when Blur and the Stone Roses co-headlined, we literally walked to the very front for Blur, with no trouble at all, as the crowd was so sparse. It was insane. We were no more than 10-15 meters from the stage. Most Americans only know Song 2, so nobody cared to see them (admittedly, that was all I knew before I met my girlfriend who is British, and the reason that I've made it to Glasto). Anyway, while up there, a guy was swigging on a plastic water bottle of some kind of booze and told us that it was "crotch vodka" and that he had smuggled in, wrapped in a plastic bag as a courtesy to his friends, in the crotch of his pants (trousers.. I think). I was inspired and the tactic has worked for me every time I tried it after that.

I actually think that was me you were talking to.

[thewayiam]

I went to Coachella two years ago. The line-up was pretty good.

It isn't a festival though in the European sense, it shouldn't be called such. It's a set of gigs in the desert, with strict rules to follow. And it's full of dickheads.

If you just want to go to see some bands play in searing heat and want to stay sober, it's good. If you think it's an actual festival, it isn't.

I don't get your view that it's not actual festival? By saying this, you're saying everything bar Glastonbury isn't an actual festival, because the only major different thing is has outside of the arena is that you camp with your car, which is a much better idea than not.

[Gnomicide]

Watching some of the stuff from yesterday on Youtube now. Always looks nice.

[Bisque]

Watching some of the stuff from yesterday on Youtube now. Always looks nice.

How did you manage to watch it?

I would definitely watch a band called "Get The Fuck Out Of My Pool".

Edit: ok I f**ked up.

Edited April 11, 2015 by Couchy

[Matt42]

Get the fuck out of my pool would 100% be my favourite band if they existed

[tevaburger]

Teva, have you been to V?

Thanks for that sweeping generalisation , I'm not a lout, and would never thrown mine or anyone elses urine or other bodily fluids

V has its place in my calendar and despite the festival snobbery that exists there are many different festivals that fit different peoples lifestyle.

i haven't been to V and am merely deploying a sweeping generalisation from friends who have been there and from others on here who seem to generalise about V and T in the Park. So, yes, i am guilty of generalising without having been but I wouldn't have suggested that comment without having many suggest that it can be like that at times.

and yes, i am ultimately a Glastonbury Festival snobbery in that nothing can really compare to that experience. we all love Glastonbury and are spoiled by it, and that makes it difficult going to other festivals because we know Glastonbury so well, and even when we experience some of the 'best bits' at other festivals we frequently observe that they've copied that from Glasto.

Yes, so you've got me on both points here.

Teva - have you been to Burning Man?

haven't been. Music is my passion rather than 'festivals' in general, and I wouldn't classify Burning Man as a music festival but as more of an 'experience'. I'm sure it's a fun time, but I wouldn't get as much out of it. I wouldn't spend 12 months of the year clamoring over the lineup each day like I would with Glasto. Glasto is so much more than a music festival and I appreciate that you can never see a band there and still have a great experience, but for me, it wouldn't be the same thing if you took away the core of the music on offer.

[tevaburger]

I'd actually disagree with the sound bleed from stages, I didn't experience that, nor the issue with seeing who I wanted to. What I don't like with the idea of Bonnaroo is the bad management in terms of turning up early doesn't actually get you parked up closer to Centeroo!, which is kind of strange as it almost works on a 1st come last served basis.

i found that the adjacent 'shed-like' stages were far too close, in addition to being too close to the second main stage, that you could hear stuff from other stage especially if you were at back of the shed. and the shape of the 'top' sort of ruined the lighting inside them, especially on a bright sunny day if you were lingered at back of a shed. i found it hard to sometimes make out the musicians on stage, and just generally didn't find i enjoyed sets in those 'sheds'.

yes, the parking situation was ridiculous. they wanted to fill up the faraway spots first.

I think Bonnaroo is fine for a US festival though. they try their best.

[russycarps]

i haven't been to V and am merely deploying a sweeping generalisation from friends who have been there and from others on here who seem to generalise about V and T in the Park. So, yes, i am guilty of generalising without having been but I wouldn't have suggested that comment without having many suggest that it can be like that at times.

and yes, i am ultimately a Glastonbury Festival snobbery in that nothing can really compare to that experience. we all love Glastonbury and are spoiled by it, and that makes it difficult going to other festivals because we know Glastonbury so well, and even when we experience some of the 'best bits' at other festivals we frequently observe that they've copied that from Glasto.

Yes, so you've got me on both points here.

haven't been. Music is my passion rather than 'festivals' in general, and I wouldn't classify Burning Man as a music festival but as more of an 'experience'. I'm sure it's a fun time, but I wouldn't get as much out of it. I wouldn't spend 12 months of the year clamoring over the lineup each day like I would with Glasto. Glasto is so much more than a music festival and I appreciate that you can never see a band there and still have a great experience, but for me, it wouldn't be the same thing if you took away the core of the music on offer.

The Essex one is as awful as you describe, the northern one was pretty good when I went in 2006

[Bisque]

The Essex one is as awful as you describe, the northern one was pretty good when I went in 2006

Blimey. I would never have thought Russy would have been to V, even back in 2006.

[majormajormajor]

I don't get your view that it's not actual festival? By saying this, you're saying everything bar Glastonbury isn't an actual festival, because the only major different thing is has outside of the arena is that you camp with your car, which is a much better idea than not.

I mean it has no sort of feeling of a fairytale-like 'away from the normal world' thing you get at any festival in Europe (and I include the UK in that term) when you just wander around in a daze for a weekend having the best fun of your life.

It just feels like you're in the desert watching some bands play while people take selfies next to you. And you can't even get a beer in your hand while you stand there.

[russycarps]

Blimey. I would never have thought Russy would have been to V, even back in 2006.

It was ace! Plus there was no Glastonbury that year. And radiohead headlined

Edited April 11, 2015 by russycarps

[Perks]

It just feels like you're in the desert watching some bands play while people take selfies next to you. And you can't even get a beer in your hand while you stand there.

How comes you can't have a beer while you're watching bands? This seems preposterous to me.

[shoptildrop]

How comes you can't have a beer while you're watching bands? This seems preposterous to me.

You can only drink in designated play pens at Coachella - I will never go there simply for this

[klipper]

You can only drink in designated play pens at Coachella - I will never go there simply for this

[tevaburger]

How comes you can't have a beer while you're watching bands? This seems preposterous to me.

it is ridiculous. certain 'set aside' areas at Coachella that are 'drinking areas' where you can buy drinks but cannot venture outside with your drink. so silly.

stranger still...festival i was at in 2009 called All Points West in NY/NJ...not only a cordoned off drinking area, but a wristband with about 6 'holes' on it that were punched out one by one after each drink you had. Apparently they thought that 6 pints were sufficient for someone to have through a day's worth of music. once you had your holes punched out, you were done unless you could get someone else to limit themselves to fewer than 6.

[willutalk]

Coachella can do one and so can people saying that it comes close. Not that I've been to both, but I wouldn't want to go.

The lineup this year bar AC/DC seems pretty substandard. Definitely not the strength and depth as Glastonbury.