Who's in for 2017?

[Tequilamockingbird]

It's obviously very quiet on this forum considering there's been no posts since 2015.

Watching the Glastonbury coverage has properly put me in the festival mood so just thought I'd come on here to see if anyone else is coming to Bella 2017? 

[devilman]

Not me this year (at the moment). First year in a long while that I won't be there. Line up didn't grab me so i decided on Leeds or Bloodstock instead for Aug. Looks like Leeds. The line up has improved and it is always good so I'll be grumpy that weekend now

[Tequilamockingbird]

 

On ‎26‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 11:04 AM, devilman said:

Not me this year (at the moment). First year in a long while that I won't be there. Line up didn't grab me so i decided on Leeds or Bloodstock instead for Aug. Looks like Leeds. The line up has improved and it is always good so I'll be grumpy that weekend now

I think a lot of people aren't that impressed with the line up this year which is why it hasn't sold out yet.

I can't say that I'm excited about anyone in particular more just for the weekend as a whole.  

I'm a bit disappointed that Feeder are on the Garden Stage on Thursday, wasn't planning on buying a ticket for that  may have to reconsider.

[devilman]

On 6/28/2017 at 0:52 PM, Tequilamockingbird said:

 

I think a lot of people aren't that impressed with the line up this year which is why it hasn't sold out yet.

I can't say that I'm excited about anyone in particular more just for the weekend as a whole.  

I'm a bit disappointed that Feeder are on the Garden Stage on Thursday, wasn't planning on buying a ticket for that  may have to reconsider.

Man you have got some influence! Feeder have swapped with First Aid Kit

[Peanutsinger]

We're also skipping it this year. The line-up is poor and Belladrum has lost its magic for me. It gets more expensive every year and the quality is going backwards. Last year I felt very short changed and it didn't have the same atmosphere. 

I noticed the change of line up has angered people. I'm not conviced it is a genuine mistake. Sister Sledge should never have been booked as a headliner and adding Feeder already looked like an effort to boost ticket sales.  

First Aid Kit were announced in June to play Wilderness Festival on the Friday night. Belladrum sat on the double booking for weeks before mentioning anything which I think is rather cheeky. Feeder fans had already bought Thursday add on tickets and now First Aid Kit fans now have to do the same. It might help Thursday night sales, but people are annoyed by it. 

The Fatherson nonsense angered me last year. The lanyards were out of date due to bands pulling out and that left last year's line up a bit thin. We attended the "special guest/cancelled" slot on the main stage to find it was a band that was due to have played earlier.  What annoyed me is Belladrum changed all the plans and put Fatherson in an early slot and decided to announce that on social media. Great idea when nobody has internet!!

A lot of people are more than a little annoyed at all these mistakes happening. Belladrum don't seem particularly good at organising things. The days of Belladrum selling out with ease are long gone. 

[LJS]

I like the line up this year. Franz Ferdinand, the pretenders, feeder all good with enough lower down the bill to make me happy.

But I've never really gone to Bella just for the line up and have always enjoyed a few folk I'd never heard of before.

It must be a bit of a concern for them that they haven't sold out  though, whatever the reason.

[Peanutsinger]

4 hours ago, LJS said:

I like the line up this year. Franz Ferdinand, the pretenders, feeder all good with enough lower down the bill to make me happy.

But I've never really gone to Bella just for the line up and have always enjoyed a few folk I'd never heard of before.

It must be a bit of a concern for them that they haven't sold out  though, whatever the reason.

There has been too many complaints from the regulars over the past 2 years. Reading the posts on social media during and after the last couple of years it has been wall to wall complaints.

Look at how many people didn't get in for the Proclaimers 2 years ago. Last year the traffic flowed better, but they didn't have enough people on the gates to let people in. We queued for the best part of 3 hours to get in. 

Bizarrely they checked everyone's bags on their first entry, but then freely allowed everyone with a wristband to come back with their second load unchecked. If they step up security checks it'll take all week to get people in. 

It annoyed me last year just how many underage people were paralytically drunk. It did appear to their parents setting them loose of the fruity ciders. 

We didn't have good neighbours last year which was a first at any festival. Normally we've been lucky to land next to a good squad. I've never been to a festival where there hasn't been good people to meet. Usually everyone is up for a right laugh. 

Sales dropped off last year a bit too. Spare tickets weren't getting anywhere near face value. I know a couple of people with spare tickets and they are only getting lowball offers this year. 

 

We're trying to get Kendal Calling tickets this year. I wish I had bought them a while ago. Their line up is far better and tickets were also much cheaper and that's with an extra day.

Edited July 8, 2017 by Peanutsinger

[brandycoke]

Yes, i'll be heading along this year . Headliners look decent enough , but Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes, and Deaf Havana are the two that i'm most looking forward to .

There's way too much Scottish generic landfill crap that seem to get booked every year  , but hey , pissed up punters seem to like it enough.

[Peanutsinger]

I see they've just added Twin Atlantic again. 

I read they are playing in the Hot House stage. They have a bigger following than most bands on the main stage.  

I can't see what night they are playing. 

[Tequilamockingbird]

I can completely understand people would be pissed off if they'd bought a Thursday ticket just for Feeder & they've now swapped. Although it's worked in my favour I was looking forward to First Aid Kit too. 

Really looking forward to Frank Carter. 

Excited about Twin Atlantic too, seen them twice this year & they didn't disappoint. 

I agree the headliners maybe aren't

up to standard of prevous years but still good. I always buy my ticket before line ups announced as I enjoy the weekend as a whole & love going to see stuff that I maybe wouldn't pay to see individually. 

On 10/07/2017 at 0:47 PM, Peanutsinger said:

I see they've just added Twin Atlantic again. 

I read they are playing in the Hot House stage. They have a bigger following than most bands on the main stage.  

I can't see what night they are playing. 

It's Friday night. I'm a bit concerned that the Hothouse won't be able to hold the number of fans who will turn up. 

[Peanutsinger]

2 hours ago, Tequilamockingbird said:

I can completely understand people would be pissed off if they'd bought a Thursday ticket just for Feeder & they've now swapped. Although it's worked in my favour I was looking forward to First Aid Kit too. 

Really looking forward to Frank Carter. 

Excited about Twin Atlantic too, seen them twice this year & they didn't disappoint. 

I agree the headliners maybe aren't

up to standard of prevous years but still good. I always buy my ticket before line ups announced as I enjoy the weekend as a whole & love going to see stuff that I maybe wouldn't pay to see individually. 

It's Friday night. I'm a bit concerned that the Hothouse won't be able to hold the number of fans who will turn up. 

It won't come close to getting everyone in. A few smaller bands already pack the tent out with ease.

It would make more sense to me to have them on the main stage at an earlier time slot. 

[devilman]

I'm wondering how Frank Carter will get on. His stuff is nothing like they have seen at Bella before, I hope he gets a decent crowd or  acts like his won't come again. Twin Atlantic is a strange booking. If the website is to be believed there are only 200 tix left so sticking a band like that on a small stage seems unnecessary and possibly even dangerous.

[Peanutsinger]

3 hours ago, devilman said:

I'm wondering how Frank Carter will get on. His stuff is nothing like they have seen at Bella before, I hope he gets a decent crowd or  acts like his won't come again. Twin Atlantic is a strange booking. If the website is to be believed there are only 200 tix left so sticking a band like that on a small stage seems unnecessary and possibly even dangerous.

Belladrum have made announcements about last few tickets left for a while. It was less than 10% back in May. Looking at Skiddle they list a few Belladrum tickets as "last few left". They list the 2 and 3 day festival tickets as "selling quickly". I've no idea how Skiddle set their thresholds. 

We had to leave the Alabama 3 gig last year as the tent was dangerously overcrowded. There was a further queue of people trying to get in. Twin Atlantic going head to head with The Pretenders is going to send a lot to Twin Atlantic.

It does strike me as a late desperate attempt to sell tickets. It makes no sense to use Twin Atlantic to sell tickets and then put them in a tent too small for the crowd. 

I'm not sure what they are anticipating the outcome is going to be. 

Edited July 12, 2017 by Peanutsinger

[Tequilamockingbird]

8 hours ago, Peanutsinger said:

Belladrum have made announcements about last few tickets left for a while. It was less than 10% back in May. Looking at Skiddle they list a few Belladrum tickets as "last few left". They list the 2 and 3 day festival tickets as "selling quickly". I've no idea how Skiddle set their thresholds. 

We had to leave the Alabama 3 gig last year as the tent was dangerously overcrowded. There was a further queue of people trying to get in. Twin Atlantic going head to head with The Pretenders is going to send a lot to Twin Atlantic.

It does strike me as a late desperate attempt to sell tickets. It makes no sense to use Twin Atlantic to sell tickets and then put them in a tent too small for the crowd. 

I'm not sure what they are anticipating the outcome is going to be. 

I agree, it wouldn't surprise me if Twin Atlantic were booked as a surprise/TBA act and they've decided to announce it to pull some more ticket sales. I really hope they prepare for the crowd that's likely to turn up.

I was in King Tuts at T in the park 2014 for The Proclaimers when it was over crowded and its not an experience Id like to repeat. The sides of the tents were being pushed, felt really unsafe.

Edited July 12, 2017 by Tequilamockingbird
spelling

[Tequilamockingbird]

12 hours ago, devilman said:

I'm wondering how Frank Carter will get on. His stuff is nothing like they have seen at Bella before, I hope he gets a decent crowd or  acts like his won't come again. Twin Atlantic is a strange booking. If the website is to be believed there are only 200 tix left so sticking a band like that on a small stage seems unnecessary and possibly even dangerous.

Is Frank Carter booked for Main Stage?

[devilman]

3 hours ago, Tequilamockingbird said:

Is Frank Carter booked for Main Stage?

I doubt it but I'm not sure the splits are out yet.

[Peanutsinger]

There is some bizarre sales tactics going on. 

For months it been nearly sold out. Today they sent out emails and announced on their Facebook page it was sold out. 

However check for tickets and they are still available. It's only the weekend plus Thursday night tickets. I'm guessing Thursday night sales are very poor.

Edited July 15, 2017 by Peanutsinger

[Peanutsinger]

3 day tickets have now sold out.

 

However, 2 day tickets have suddenly become available and ability to upgrade to the 3rd day still available. I think they've bumped that cost up.

 

 

[devilman]

It's a scam innit. I hope this halts the march onwards to greater commercialism, the festival was fine the way it was. Stick with the original winning boutique formula and everyone's happy. 

[Peanutsinger]

Looks like it's only upgrade tickets going now. 

We've decided 100% we aren't going and there will not be any late change of heart now. We have got tickets for Kendal Calling. The line-up there blows Belladrum to bits. The tickets are also cheaper and they don't charge full price for 12+ either. 

I've felt Belladrum have been pushing things too hard and it costs too much for what it is. Costs are going up, but the quality is going the other way. 

I'm still waiting on the Twin Atlantic fall out. They've got them listed third on the line up poster. How many people have bought tickets on the back of them and are going to get a shock when they find they can't get in the Hothouse tent? 

Hopefully this year will give them a little wake up call that demand is falling. I'm not sure they can afford for this year not to be a success and lose any more fans.

[Peanutsinger]

That's 3 day tickets available again. 

 

[devilman]

Aye I'm definitely out despite the offer of a free ticket. I'm up to 6 festivals this summer anyways so I'm not too bothered but I'll probably be grumpy when I see Facebook posts filtering out  I often feel for the bands on the seedling stage that get a handful of punters plus their hangers on, if it's not busy this year it'll be those that suffer and are possibly chopped next time. 

[Peanutsinger]

Other than the bigger names it always stands out how poorly attended most of the bands are. A couple of times I've mentioned that I'm not a fan of the line up and get reminded that Belladrum isn't about the line up. It's the "atmosphere", It's a "Mini Glastonbury"......

A couple that she knows came along last year and we agreed to meet up. They were desperate to show off their new £80,000 camper van and we missed The Super Furry Animals. I couldn't believe how many people were doing the same in the camper section. They had zero interest in the music at all. 

There is a hard-core following that just demand the same bands all the time. Every time I read the social media pages I can guess who people are going to be shouting out for.

Whatever happened to the Brew at the Bog festival? I went a couple of times and enjoyed that. It then went bust. It was coming along nicely too and didn't make sense how it went. 

I see someone else hosted a new festival at the same place this year. 

 

[devilman]

1 hour ago, Peanutsinger said:

Other than the bigger names it always stands out how poorly attended most of the bands are. A couple of times I've mentioned that I'm not a fan of the line up and get reminded that Belladrum isn't about the line up. It's the "atmosphere", It's a "Mini Glastonbury"......

A couple that she knows came along last year and we agreed to meet up. They were desperate to show off their new £80,000 camper van and we missed The Super Furry Animals. I couldn't believe how many people were doing the same in the camper section. They had zero interest in the music at all. 

There is a hard-core following that just demand the same bands all the time. Every time I read the social media pages I can guess who people are going to be shouting out for.

Whatever happened to the Brew at the Bog festival? I went a couple of times and enjoyed that. It then went bust. It was coming along nicely too and didn't make sense how it went. 

I see someone else hosted a new festival at the same place this year. 

 

There's always the party in the campsite types who are only there for the headliners or sometimes not even that at every festival. It's about getting a balance in the line up so that music fans go too. I think Bella had it just about right for the most part although I remember watching We are the Ocean in a pretty empty tent. It was last year watching We Came From Wolves early in the day in an embarrassingly empty seedling tent that I realised that something was going a bit wrong. The likes of Colonel Mustard get a rammed crowd though so maybe gimmicky feel good bands are what people want rather than talented musicians. There is a lot of repeat attendees who attend Bella who wouldn't dream of going to another festival but the more commercial and less boutique it becomes the less people like that will attend.

Brew at the Bog suffered from poor sales and so Brewdog pulled their sponsorship. The guy that picked it up ran off with the profits and didn't pay the artists. The guy that owns the farm ran it this year as Northern Roots. It was smaller but quite good. I'd consider going again but it'll need to sell more tickets or it won't be running again either. When I pulled up there were so few people camping I thought it had been cancelled.

[Peanutsinger]

I went to Brew at the Bog a couple of times and thought they were doing well. I really enjoyed it. 

Looks like Loopallu will be in real trouble too. I didn't realise that they had lost their campsite and original venue. It's not that clear on their own ticket page that there is no camping. Can Ullapool manage to cater for so many people? Will be go without camping and the big expense of hotels? 

 

 

I see there is still tickets for Belladrum. They keep selling out and reappearing in dribs and drabs. 

Edited July 25, 2017 by Peanutsinger