Secret Garden Party 2022?

[MrBarry465]

1 hour ago, H123 said:

@MrBarry465 Any comment on your Chemical Brothers BS rumour? Not sure what you gain from lying to people, very odd.

I wasn't 'lying' I had been given that information by someone who was doing bookings for the festival. I asked multiple members of staff over the weekend on site and they all believed the same to be true as well.

 

To me it sounds like some of the people doing bookings had been given false information to hype the event up.

[gfa]

3 hours ago, MrBarry465 said:

I wasn't 'lying' I had been given that information by someone who was doing bookings for the festival. I asked multiple members of staff over the weekend on site and they all believed the same to be true as well.

 

To me it sounds like some of the people doing bookings had been given false information to hype the event up.

hype up the long sold out event that Kae Tempest is headlining... seems unlikely to say the least

[MrBarry465]

Test

[Lostchimp100]

Worst festival of all time, I feel completely ripped off. Awful vibe too 

[grumpyhack]

My daughter, a seasoned festival-goer, came back saying it was the worst organised fest she's ever been too.

[MrBarry465]

4 hours ago, Lostchimp100 said:

Worst festival of all time, I feel completely ripped off. Awful vibe too 

I've been saying the vibe was shit as well, it felt like loads of people who didn't know what festivals were....

What were your thoughts? 

[Sku]

Quote

SGP has been my favourite place on earth since first attending in 2010, and I've been 5 or 6 times since, but this year sadly it was a bit of a joke.

1. Line up. The way the programme of artists was held back meant that nobody had a clue what was going on, and alongside there being no internet on site, it was just a ramble around to try and work out what was going on and when. And everyone was left disappointed as we'd hoped some of the 'surprise artists' were more than just people who had performed at small stages over the years being given headline slots.

2. Curation. There has always been such a great diversity to the festival, but I have to say, aside from Chai Wallahs, the line up was shit. We walked from one area to the next trying to find a decent vibe, but it was just B-Tech level doof doof dance music everywhere. The fact that the Dodgems basically had the best music of the weekend and crowds gathered there to dance says it all about the rest of your curation.

3. Main stage, some decent acts but no true headliners, I hear you guys struggled to book artists and it showed. The fireworks were spectacular as always, but the fact that your best artist of the weekend was a bloody aeroplane is ridiculous.

4. Paint fight. You had everyone gather and wait in the burning sun for 45 minutes, no music playing, except a couple of seconds of a tune here and there which then got stopped. Was like being at a party where drunk girls are fighting over an iPod. We watched you cover all the speakers in silence, then your lame hosts decided to try and start a singalong of 'All you need is love', but they didn't even know the words. Shameful. Just really shows the lack of preparation across the board.

5. Toilets/bins. We know festivals are grim for this, but the toilets and bins were a fucking joke. We were told we'd get back £20 of our ticket money for giving in 2 full bags of rubbish, but there was barely anywhere handing bags out, or giving info about it, and no phone signal to find out. Everywhere was overloaded with rubbish and overflowing with shit, desperate girls having to publicly piss on hay bales after queuing for toilets, which were all a horror show.

6. No internet. No phone signal. No way to find your friends or any festival info. Shambolic, and not rectified.

7. Drinks. How is it you can buy a balloon or a bag of K within seconds wherever you are on site, but if you want a drink you might aswell walk to Mordor? Not enough bars, random stops to service all the time, surely it shouldn't be that hard to sell booze to a thirsty crowd?

8. Cash only. The amount of vendors which couldn't accept cards meant that so many people couldn't eat or drink what they wanted, and queues for places were crazy if they accepted card, as no one had cash. Plus your cash machines were then often empty, and guests left hungry and annoyed.

9. Ethos. The spirit and magic of SGP was diminished around 2013/14 when it became oversubscribed by the wrong types of punter, and I had hoped this break would've brought things back, but instead it was worse if anything. Burning Man you clearly aren't, when you can't even facilitate and implement the Leave No Trace ideals that you wanted to push. It's all well and good to write a bunch of shit on your website, but give us a fair chance to enact it, instead of saying 'no bringing single use plastic on site', then selling drinks in disposable plastic cups (if you were lucky enough to find an open bar). Do as I say, not as I do mentality.

10. Preparation. We have been in the midst of a heatwave for a good few weeks now, yet there were minimal spots for shade. How hard would it have been to build a few more shady structures to protect your punters from heat stroke etc. Also after 2 years of Covid, there were no handwashing facilities by each toilet, no sanitiser, and the odd tap to fill your water bottles here and there, but not always easily found. There should be one by every toilet.

I never thought I would leave the garden a day early, but by yesterday afternoon we had had enough and decided to leave the burning bin of sadness that we used to love. 

Proper let down and you should seriously reconsider everything if you plan to do more in future.

Stole this from a Facebook comment. It pretty much sums up how I felt about the festival perfectly.

Feel like it needs to be preserved on here before it gets lost in the vast archives of Facebook.

Of course, I did enjoy some sets at the festival, and there were a few great acts booked. But I'm pretty sure I would have had a much better time seeing those acts at literally any other festival.

I won't be going back.