LAWKS! It’s the Next Announcement Thread 2022!

[Hugh Jass II]

The only downside to BYOBB is that it's hard to keep stuff cool.

Personally I think I'd rather pay bar prices than drink warm canned lager.

[Barneym]

1 minute ago, Hugh Jass II said:

The only downside to BYOBB is that it's hard to keep stuff cool.

Personally I think I'd rather pay bar prices than drink warm canned lager.

I totally agree, I actually don’t take much drink to Glastonbury apart from the spirits for during the headliners but I’m lucky enough that I can afford to buy cold pints for the weekend, if I take myself back to my Reading days as a teen and in my early twenties it would have been amazing to take your own and I’d have happily drank warm beer all day. It’s one of the best things about the festival and what gives it such a relaxed vibe I think.

[waltere]

6 minutes ago, Hugh Jass II said:

The only downside to BYOBB is that it's hard to keep stuff cool.

 

[nikkic]

7 minutes ago, Hugh Jass II said:

The only downside to BYOBB is that it's hard to keep stuff cool.

Personally I think I'd rather pay bar prices than drink warm canned lager.

Cold beers from the bar during the day.

Festival strength rum and cokes (which I bring with me) in the evening. 

Flavoured vodkas whenever I need to turn it up a notch. 

[squirrelarmy]

2 hours ago, gfa said:

 

You get used to it eventually anyway, we were a group of 12 at Reading last year and lost no alcohol at all smuggling it in. It actually becomes sort of fun trying new ways to smuggle as much in as possible - its not hard at all to get a plastic bottle with spirit mixer in each + a can

I think my record booze smuggle at Leeds fest was 12 cans in one go. Security wasn’t the greatest. 

[gfa]

5 minutes ago, squirrelarmy said:

I think my record booze smuggle at Leeds fest was 12 cans in one go. Security wasn’t the greatest. 

thats more than a standard crate!

[philipsteak]

1 hour ago, TheDayman said:

Having the campsites intertwined within the festival, and no security walls breaking things apart, was the biggest shock for me at Glastonbury. It's incredible.

 

 

Electric Picnic lost its soul when John Reynolds (RIP) was pushed out. Reynolds had a vision similar to Glastonbury's. After the financial crash in 2008, his venues Tripod & Crawdaddy left him under considerable financial pressure. Although the festival wasn't linked to these ventures, my anecdotal understanding is that they were leveraged to push him out of the festival he created.

No one can argue that EP hasn't grown massively since then. But each year it pulls further away from its roots to becoming another generic festival with an imbalance towards profit over substance.

 

Getting that balance right is something Glastonbury absolutely excels in. Here's hoping All Together Now can grow to be the festival Reynolds envisioned.

That's a shame to read. It always used to look so good. Would've liked to do it at some point. 

[TheDayman]

4 minutes ago, philipsteak said:

That's a shame to read. It always used to look so good. Would've liked to do it at some point. 

It's a shame alright but John did set up a new festival in 2018 - All Together Now - which incorporated his vision. It's inaugural year was a flying success but John then tragically passed away shortly after. It was obvious for 2019 that the festival had lost it's leader as it was marred with problems. Nature also unfortunately went against them with horrible weather and weirdly, a wasp infestation too.

Covid has delayed the 3rd edition but hopefully it has given them time to get things on track again.

[rubick]

Just now, TheDayman said:

It's a shame alright but John did set up a new festival in 2018 - All Together Now - which incorporated his vision. It's inaugural year was a flying success but John then tragically passed away shortly after. It was obvious for 2019 that the festival had lost it's leader as it was marred with problems. Nature also unfortunately went against them with horrible weather and weirdly, a wasp infestation too.

Covid has delayed the 3rd edition but hopefully it has given them time to get things on track again.

That lower campsite was relatively wasp free. The queue up that lane to get to the wristband exchange was insane though, and we'd beaten the traffic problems. Some food vendors had run out of grub by early Sunday evening. The Sunday weather was apocalyptic rain for much of the afternoon. Can't wait to go back all the same, 2nd wave announcement on Wednesday 😂

[TheDayman]

10 minutes ago, rubick said:

That lower campsite was relatively wasp free. The queue up that lane to get to the wristband exchange was insane though, and we'd beaten the traffic problems. Some food vendors had run out of grub by early Sunday evening. The Sunday weather was apocalyptic rain for much of the afternoon. Can't wait to go back all the same, 2nd wave announcement on Wednesday 😂

We left Dublin at around 9am... think it was 7:30pm by the time we got into the car park (for anyone else reading that's normally a 2 hour drive). We then ended up in the overflow campsite and which was polluted with wasps...

That said, was still a great festival. Roll on July! 

[rubick]

4 minutes ago, TheDayman said:

We left Dublin at around 9am... think it was 7:30pm by the time we got into the car park (for anyone else reading that's normally a 2 hour drive). We then ended up in the overflow campsite and which was polluted with wasps...

That said, was still a great festival. Roll on July! 

Jeez, that's grim alright. We live in Antrim so stayed overnight in Naas and got to the carpark for 10.30am - was still TWO HOURS on that Lane of Wasps before getting a sniff of the wristband exchange. We have friends that drove on the morning from Down, 12 hours total, putting their tent up in darkness. Breakfast calzones and seeing Patti Smith twice more than made up for any logistical problems we may have had. And how great to see the Arcadia Afterburner after so many years!

[efcfanwirral]

4 hours ago, clarkete said:

I only went there once, during a fallow year.

I had no idea that they had the camping and arena bits separate and security between them.  I got put on the naughty step for being worse for wear when going into the arena and I think I may have had a bottle of some sort of hooch very unsubtly shoved in my sleeve which they didn't like either.  Plus as you say only a couple of brands of booze.

They had some decent acts on and the stages etc were OK, but the rest of it just seemed so alien to me.  Even with the superfence once you're inside you just go where you like.

 

4 hours ago, Hugh Jass II said:

Sometimes we forget that Glastonbury is the exception. Pretty much every other festival I've been to has some sort of central "arena" where all of the entertainment is and you camp outside of that. None of them let you take your own booze and whatnot in (the old Bestival was at least very lapse in how strongly they enforced this).

 

I'll always defend V because of the lineups - if you liked the sort of stuff they had on, which i did, it was an incredible chance to see loads of bands over 2 days - like 8-9 each day. You knew what you were getting, there was no suggestion of it being like Glastonbury.

Muse and the Strokes 04, Oasis 05, Radiohead 06, Stone Roses 2012 - I saw loads of bands I loved for the first time at that festival and had a blast each time I went. 

For me Glastonbury AND V (or Leeds depending on the lineup) was a good summer as V I'd focus on the music fully, knowing I could run between stages easily. But at Glastonbury I watch far less bands just because of the distance between stages, plus I'm more likely to go for a punt of someone I wouldn't normally buy tickets for and who won't be at other festivals (Olivia Rodrigo, Crowded House etc)

The type of music V had has downsized to the likes of Kendal Calling, which is my second festival of choice for this year. Tried and tested 2 festival formula though I'm aware not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to do it that way

Edited April 4, 2022 by efcfanwirral

[clarkete]

7 minutes ago, efcfanwirral said:

 

I'll always defend V because of the lineups - if you liked the sort of stuff they had on, which i did, it was an incredible chance to see loads of bands over 2 days - like 8-9 each day. You knew what you were getting, there was no suggestion of it being like Glastonbury.

Muse and the Strokes 04, Oasis 05, Radiohead 06, Stone Roses 2012 - I saw loads of bands I loved for the first time at that festival and had a blast each time I went. 

For me Glastonbury AND V (or Leeds depending on the lineup) was a good summer as V I'd focus on the music fully, knowing I could run between stages easily. But at Glastonbury I watch far less bands just because of the distance between stages, plus I'm more likely to go for a punt of someone I wouldn't normally buy tickets for and who won't be at other festivals (Olivia Rodrigo, Crowded House etc)

The type of music V had has downsized to the likes of Kendal Calling, which is my second festival of choice for this year. Tried and tested 2 festival formula though I'm aware not everyone is fortunate enough to be able to do it that way

As I say my experience was only one year, but my perception at the time was that some acts at V had quite short sets compared to at G.  Did that also help you see more during each day or am I misremembering? 

[efcfanwirral]

3 minutes ago, clarkete said:

As I say my experience was only one year, but my perception at the time was that some acts at V had quite short sets compared to at G.  Did that also help you see more during each day or am I misremembering? 

Yeah some of the smaller acts got half hour slots and it steadily went up to the usual slot lengths in the evening with headliners getting the normal amount of time, so it definitely helped

Everything you said about the beer, separate arena is exactly what it's like but I guess glastonbury has always been the exception, at least if you want to see some commercial acts

Edited April 4, 2022 by efcfanwirral

[FrankieX]

2 hours ago, Hugh Jass II said:

The only downside to BYOBB is that it's hard to keep stuff cool.

Personally I think I'd rather pay bar prices than drink warm canned lager.

I've found that cans get pretty cold if left underneath the ground sheet of my tent. Then I put them in a cool bag in my backpack. They aren't ice cold, but typically a bit cooler than ambient.

I also did a taste test of multiple ciders several years ago (very hard work), and decided that Thatchers Gold was the best one at room temperature. It saves a lot of time, effort, and money if you bring something which doesn't have to be just above freezing for you to enjoy.

[FrankieX]

2 hours ago, squirrelarmy said:

I think my record booze smuggle at Leeds fest was 12 cans in one go. Security wasn’t the greatest. 

My brother-in-law claims to have snuck a mini keg in to Download. He's a big lad, well over six foot tall, and apparently had it between his legs whilst wearing a massive poncho. I guess security may just have not wanted to check there...

[Enda Krabappel]

6 minutes ago, FrankieX said:

I've found that cans get pretty cold if left underneath the ground sheet of my tent. Then I put them in a cool bag in my backpack. They aren't ice cold, but typically a bit cooler than ambient.

I also did a taste test of multiple ciders several years ago (very hard work), and decided that Thatchers Gold was the best one at room temperature. It saves a lot of time, effort, and money if you bring something which doesn't have to be just above freezing for you to enjoy.

When they used to serve Thatchers at the bars, I’d get a pint with ice then top the pint up with cans…good times.

[clarkete]

2 hours ago, squirrelarmy said:

I think my record booze smuggle at Leeds fest was 12 cans in one go. Security wasn’t the greatest. 

 

[The Martini Police]

2 hours ago, Hugh Jass II said:

The only downside to BYOBB is that it's hard to keep stuff cool.

Personally I think I'd rather pay bar prices than drink warm canned lager.

Agreed. Never take lager, no point because it tastes awful warm. Cans of cider, bars for beers.

[fightoffyour]

6 minutes ago, The Martini Police said:

Agreed. Never take lager, no point because it tastes awful.

FTFY

[squirrelarmy]

20 minutes ago, FrankieX said:

My brother-in-law claims to have snuck a mini keg in to Download. He's a big lad, well over six foot tall, and apparently had it between his legs whilst wearing a massive poncho. I guess security may just have not wanted to check there...

Same method for myself. I’m also 6 foot plus and it was a very wet festival so plenty of extra hiding places. 
 

@clarkete they weren’t that far up! 😂

[Olshansky]

5 hours ago, Hugh Jass II said:

Sometimes we forget that Glastonbury is the exception. Pretty much every other festival I've been to has some sort of central "arena" where all of the entertainment is and you camp outside of that. None of them let you take your own booze and whatnot in (the old Bestival was at least very lapse in how strongly they enforced this).

 

At Coachella (which I would never attend again if you paid me) it's even worse than this.  Yes you have to go through security every day from the campsite, but also, once you're in you're in.  If you go back to your tent for any reason you forfeit the day. 

They don't let you on the grounds until noon, so everyone queues in the hot sun all day until they can get in.   It's so hot in the desert, that they actually have someone coming by the tents to make sure you're not in there past 8am because they don't want people to pass out from the heat.  So basically you have 4 hours to kill in a queue every day.  Get searched.  can't go back.  and then once you're in - you can only drink alcohol in the beer tent or in designated areas.  No alcohol in front of the stages.  It's actually quite ridiculous. 

[gfa]

6 minutes ago, Olshansky said:

At Coachella (which I would never attend again if you paid me) it's even worse than this.  Yes you have to go through security every day from the campsite, but also, once you're in you're in.  If you go back to your tent for any reason you forfeit the day. 

They don't let you on the grounds until noon, so everyone queues in the hot sun all day until they can get in.   It's so hot in the desert, that they actually have someone coming by the tents to make sure you're not in there past 8am because they don't want people to pass out from the heat.  So basically you have 4 hours to kill in a queue every day.  Get searched.  can't go back.  and then once you're in - you can only drink alcohol in the beer tent or in designated areas.  No alcohol in front of the stages.  It's actually quite ridiculous. 

Ridiculous policies like this only serve to push people towards drugs. I wonder why they have the designated areas though - surely its for licensing as they must lose so much money because of it, @Suprefan any ideas?

[Hugh Jass II]

20 minutes ago, Olshansky said:

At Coachella (which I would never attend again if you paid me) it's even worse than this.  Yes you have to go through security every day from the campsite, but also, once you're in you're in.  If you go back to your tent for any reason you forfeit the day. 

They don't let you on the grounds until noon, so everyone queues in the hot sun all day until they can get in.   It's so hot in the desert, that they actually have someone coming by the tents to make sure you're not in there past 8am because they don't want people to pass out from the heat.  So basically you have 4 hours to kill in a queue every day.  Get searched.  can't go back.  and then once you're in - you can only drink alcohol in the beer tent or in designated areas.  No alcohol in front of the stages.  It's actually quite ridiculous. 

I know people who have been who have said similar.

Everything about Coachella sounds shit.

[Olshansky]

Just now, Hugh Jass II said:

I know people who have been who have said similar.

Everything about Coachella sounds shit.

it really is.  It's a also very LA - very much a scene, and a place to be seen. Selfie Kingdom.  Now, as a New Yorker, there's always been a rivalry between us and LA so take that into consideration with what I say... it's not like New York has a better festival or really even any festival to put up against it.  But yeah, Coachella sucks.