Similar smaller festival

[dizzymoo]

On 7/28/2019 at 8:36 PM, Beerqueen said:

My friend mentioned this to me as a possibility next year.  I've had a quick look at their Facebook page and website and my first thought is that the lineup for this year didn't look great (though I admit I hadn't heard of most and I might love them all once I listen to them!), it seems expensive (£190 for Thursday-Sunday - wow puts the great value of Glasto in perspective!!!), a few posts on FB saying the organisation was chaotic, not enough camping, too many people for the site, not enough music.  It isn't making me feel like it's top of my list.  It doesn't help that I'm not into science either!

Will be interested to hear what @dizzymoohas to say about it!

Ah sorry for being slow to report back.  Really enjoyed Bluedot but there are some major caveats.  The campervan plots were marked out and only 6x4m (contrary to the 7x6m stated on Bluedot's own website), and we were only able to use our caravan awning because the stewards put us at the end of a row.  The field was already boggy when we arrived but they didn't put any metal road down until several vans were stuck.  However, everybody was found a spot eventually and we soon got talking to our neighbours. It was 10 min walk from the campervan field to the arena, quite hard going in the mud, for which organisers seemed ill prepared.  But absolutely nobody seemed to mind, even the lady dragging a wheelie suitcase and wearing flip flops.  Stewards were supposed to stop people taking food and alcohol in but I didn't see any bags being searched;  only checks were for wristbands.  Decent selection of food including lovely wood-fired pizza and good veggie vans.  Alcohol expensive (£5-6 a pint) but I don't tend to buy much at festivals.  The cashless system worked well in my experience but I know there were problems when the wifi went down. It was easy to get unused cash refunded and they waived the £1 admin charge (presumably in response to complaints on facebook).  I really enjoyed the headliners, much more than I expected; New Order were on particularly good form.  The setting is amazing, with the Lovell telescope next to the main stage.  One massive issue is the sound bleed between stages, particularly Deep Space disco and Orbit stage.  The other pain in the arse is the poor phone signal, deeply ironic given the location. We could sometimes manage calls but messages rarely got through.  However it's a tiny site compared to Glasto so you can usually find people eventually.  There were some lovely light/sound installations in the arboretum after dark, and light projections onto the telescope into the early hours. Lots of interesting science talks (but sound from other stages could be a problem). Best of all was the comedy.  The upgraded stage is a huge improvement on last year's and two of the best performances (of any kind) I've ever seen were here.  One was Abandoman rendered speechless (a rare thing indeed) by a procession of luminous spacecraft, stars and aliens going past the tent in the middle of his act. The other was The Dark Room with John Robertson, which rounded off the Sunday night perfectly.  If  you have the chance to see him, just go. We spent the last hour of the festival absolutely crying with laughter.

So in summary, it's a lovely little festival with a really good-natured vibe which can rival Glasto for magical moments. But it's also marred by some major practical and admin issues. However it's only been going 4 years and there seems a genuine desire to listen to punters and improve things.  It would be a huge step forward to allow people into the campsites on Thursday evening without charging £30 extra each; we'll see if they take that on board.

Here are some inexpertly taken pics:

 

[Beerqueen]

Thanks.  I'm still in two minds.  But we were looking as an alternative for Glasto if I don't get a ticket so I'm hoping it won't be needed!  I still think 2000trees sounds more up my street though.

[danbailey80]

Anyone ever done small world festival? It's a spin off from a tent in Glastonbury green fields I believe. 

http://www.smallworldsolarstage.org/smallworld/SW-festi/SWsummerFesti.html

 

[stuartbert two hats]

Anyone ever tried here:

I've got a day ticket for the Saturday.

[Jay Pee]

Hi,  Yes, Moovin.  Been a couple of times and it is really small but with a great vibe.  Lots of people who were around on the Northern Club Scene back in the 80's and 90's and Herbie (organiser) is some sort of Hacienda Connection so there is credibility and passion there.

We took a live in vehicle (mobile bar), but for those camping, they allow ZERO alcohol into the campsite! You pre-order beforehand from them and collect from a kiosk in the field.  I don't know what the mark up is on booze in the campsite field.

It is quirky with the main bar being one cow shed facing the main stage... which is another cow shed.

The only downside last year was a caravan full of challenging characters camped near us playing Fuckin Gabba for three days!  It was hard work in the night for anyone in a tent near them.

As has been said many times, its no mini Glastonbury but it is a good little festival in a scenic setting.

[stuartbert two hats]

22 minutes ago, Jay Pee said:

Hi,  Yes, Moovin.  Been a couple of times and it is really small but with a great vibe.  Lots of people who were around on the Northern Club Scene back in the 80's and 90's and Herbie (organiser) is some sort of Hacienda Connection so there is credibility and passion there.

We took a live in vehicle (mobile bar), but for those camping, they allow ZERO alcohol into the campsite! You pre-order beforehand from them and collect from a kiosk in the field.  I don't know what the mark up is on booze in the campsite field.

It is quirky with the main bar being one cow shed facing the main stage... which is another cow shed.

The only downside last year was a caravan full of challenging characters camped near us playing Fuckin Gabba for three days!  It was hard work in the night for anyone in a tent near them.

As has been said many times, its no mini Glastonbury but it is a good little festival in a scenic setting.

Brilliant, thanks! The web site gives contradictory information on the gate times. In one place it says it shuts at 10, but in a couple of other places it mentions the bars shutting at 2. When do the actually kick people out?

[Jay Pee]

I would have thought its a late chuck out / finish mate.  2 am rather than ten pm sounds more accurate.

I have a couple of tickets for the weekend and a live in pass if anyone is on for it.  I am open to offers.

We have had a big change in plans and are reluctantly having to swerve it now.

new dog being collected tomorrow and a few other hurdles have appeared since i purchased the tickets

[danbailey80]

Victorious Festival..?

Anyone been? Always has a good lineup but if I honest being based in Portsmouth seems rather poles apart from Glastonbury. That said I'm prob going tomorrow as I live near. 

Any tips? 

 

https://www.victoriousfestival.co.uk

[Pinhead]

On 8/15/2019 at 7:37 AM, danbailey80 said:

Anyone ever done small world festival? It's a spin off from a tent in Glastonbury green fields I believe. 

http://www.smallworldsolarstage.org/smallworld/SW-festi/SWsummerFesti.html

 

Its vice versa actually - Small World had their own 2? independant festivals before appearing at Glasto.

[stuartbert two hats]

If anyone's at Moovin tomorrow, I'll see you there. Here's the line up.

 

[Jay Pee]

How was it? We had our new puppy to look after instead.

 

 

[Peter_Quaife]

On 8/23/2019 at 7:27 AM, danbailey80 said:

Victorious Festival..?

Anyone been? Always has a good lineup but if I honest being based in Portsmouth seems rather poles apart from Glastonbury. That said I'm prob going tomorrow as I live near. 

Any tips? 

 

https://www.victoriousfestival.co.uk

What a great lineup. Had never heard of it before 

[gmb1992]

On 8/23/2019 at 7:27 AM, danbailey80 said:

Victorious Festival..?

Anyone been? Always has a good lineup but if I honest being based in Portsmouth seems rather poles apart from Glastonbury. That said I'm prob going tomorrow as I live near. 

Any tips? 

 

https://www.victoriousfestival.co.uk

Bit late now but I really like Victorious, it doesn't have camping onsite so it has more of a daytime festival feel even though it's on for multiple days. 

The location is on Southsea seafront so this year with the weather it was perfect - sunny with a sea breeze 

It's a fairly big site with a few different stage and really good food options and you can get early bird tickets for £25 (per day)  so pretty reasonably priced. 

I'm fairly local (Winchester) so can get a train but not sure if I'd travel much further for it. 

Edited August 28, 2019 by gmb1992

[DarrenVonBoathook]

For those who like Bearded Theory, tickets went on sale this morning.

Super Early Bird tickets sold out in seconds, Early Bird in a couple of minutes, but I imagine there are plenty of standard ones left...

[baggienick68]

Recently back from End of the Road. Nice line-up. Great food. Cider Bus. Relaxed vibe. My wife is waiting for a hip op and the Customer Service folks were wonderful. Great weekend. 

[Rufus Gwertigan]

I keep on plugging it but Knockenvirroch is fantastic. Set in a forest with a brook running through it and it is intimate with around 1500 punters. The only issue is that it is the same weekend as Bearded Theory (Spring Bank Holiday) 

[BlueDaze]

7 hours ago, DarrenVonBoathook said:

For those who like Bearded Theory, tickets went on sale this morning.

Super Early Bird tickets sold out in seconds, Early Bird in a couple of minutes, but I imagine there are plenty of standard ones left...

bit of a cock-up from See on ticket sales here this morning so i read... Loads of people ending up with tickets bought multiple times (some even saying 4 x tickets and caravan passes..!!).. See Tickets posted an apology on the BT facebook page citing a coding error.

I missed out on the early bird myself so may wait to see how the line-up takes shape.

[dotdash79]

42 minutes ago, BlueDaze said:

bit of a cock-up from See on ticket sales here this morning so i read... Loads of people ending up with tickets bought multiple times (some even saying 4 x tickets and caravan passes..!!).. See Tickets posted an apology on the BT facebook page citing a coding error.

I missed out on the early bird myself so may wait to see how the line-up takes shape.

See tickets weren’t selling tickets for BT

[BlueDaze]

1 hour ago, dotdash79 said:

See tickets weren’t selling tickets for BT

 

You  are correct... I guess the thread i was reading was for 2019 tickets ? (hence why they werent selling them this year..)..

Their early bird tickets sold out in less than 2 minutes on demand then...

[DarrenVonBoathook]

20 hours ago, BlueDaze said:

 

You  are correct... I guess the thread i was reading was for 2019 tickets ? (hence why they werent selling them this year..)..

Their early bird tickets sold out in less than 2 minutes on demand then...

There or one or two posts on facebook today saying they've ended up with double tickets after the first attempt showed sold out and they went round again only to discover they had bought both sets, so maybe some of the gremlins are still there.

 We don't really know how many (or few) early bird tickets there are. If it's just a handful then they would sell out quickly.