Forwards Festival 2022

[zzzfest]

I thinks that’s the way Khruangbin sound — emphasizing Laula’s bass that is a big part of their charm. And to my ears the guitar sounded crystal clear.

Agreed that Jamie XX was an utter snooze fest. Not festival headliner material to begin with.

[scatteredscreens]

26 minutes ago, zzzfest said:

I thinks that’s the way Khruangbin sound — emphasizing Laula’s bass that is a big part of their charm. And to my ears the guitar sounded crystal clear.

Agreed that Jamie XX was an utter snooze fest. Not festival headliner material to begin with.

That's fair enough. I will admit I hadn't see Khruangbin live before. my bad.

[blutarsky]

Was keeping an eye on twickets as thought I may pop up for it, but ended up with other stuff clashing. Really fancied today. Cheapest I’ve seen on twickets is £28

[scatteredscreens]

Sound was far better today. Overall a good couple of days of music!

[clarkete]

8 minutes ago, scatteredscreens said:

Sound was far better today. Overall a good couple of days of music!

I went today and the whole set up was good, seemed like a pretty good follow on from the previous Downs festival.

Most of what I saw was Stage 1, but it was good that they finished Stage 2 before the Chems so that they got the biggest crowd of the night.  Both they and Roisin Murphy started early (her by 15 mins!) - can't recall whether I've ever seen that at a festival before.

They seemed to go down well, as did Sleaford Mods and Self Esteem - she said it was their 31st and final festival of the year and she had a hug with her backing singers and band and thanked her crew, bless her.

Good variety of food and not too many queues unless at peak times, the only bars I used were can bars and they had zero queue all day, which was great - anyone who went to the Downs in 2016 would have heard lots of complaints about the challenge of buying a drink back then.

[ian the worm]

I had a great day. Every act was great with Roisin and Kae topping it for me (as predicted) with the best crowd connection by far.

I found I could get between acts easily, especially when most of the field was playing ping pong between 1 and 2. The only food I bought had an acceptable queue time. Good bogs, great location.

The tiny side stage (wooden shed thing) wasn’t advertised well and we stumbled across Rozi Plain towards the end of the evening.

First time I’ve seen The Chems and am absolutely amazed at the show. 

6.5 bands for £50 and in bed by 11:30. Boom. 

Edited September 5, 2022 by ian the worm

[scatteredscreens]

1 hour ago, ian the worm said:

I had a great day. Every act was great with Roisin and Kae topping it for me (as predicted) with the best crowd connection by far.

I found I could get between acts easily, especially when most of the field was playing ping pong between 1 and 2. The only food I bought had an acceptable queue time. Good bogs, great location.

The tiny side stage (wooden shed thing) wasn’t advertised well and we stumbled across Rozi Plain towards the end of the evening.

First time I’ve seen The Chems and am absolutely amazed at the show. 

6.5 bands for £50 and in bed by 11:30. Boom. 

Yeah the Information Stage as it was called, it was there when it was previously the Downs also. I do like it earlier on in the day when you go and see a talk in there, feels nice and tucked away. Like you said though it's not well advertised when bands play.

[clarkete]

1 hour ago, ian the worm said:

The tiny side stage (wooden shed thing) wasn’t advertised well and we stumbled across Rozi Plain towards the end of the evening.

Did you not receive the set times email two weeks ago (about 24th)?

I got one directly, as did the ticket buyer and all the times were in there. 

[ian the worm]

I did get the email, but I didn’t spot the stage had music until I actually wandered in there randomly. It was a cool find. 

[Missrubberducky]

I thought the sound for chemical brothers was awful on multiple spots. We drove down from London for it and I left a bit disappointed, and slightly early. Caribou topped it for me. Everything else set up fine, such a shame about the sound.

[scatteredscreens]

16 minutes ago, Missrubberducky said:

I thought the sound for chemical brothers was awful on multiple spots. We drove down from London for it and I left a bit disappointed, and slightly early. Caribou topped it for me. Everything else set up fine, such a shame about the sound.

Sound was better than Saturday but still not up to snuff I agree, I'm very unlikely to go to outdoor gigs that aren't camping festivals soon with how naff the sound has been at most day festivals I've attended.

[Nippertje]

On 9/4/2022 at 6:57 AM, scatteredscreens said:

I have and it isn't a good one.

Sound is so bad on site, especially at stage 1 could barely here little Simz and we were very close. Khruangbin was mixed horribly and we were by the mixing desk which confused us. We barely heard any guitar for their whole set.

Overall thought it was pretty naff, think I won't bother with outdoor day festivals after this unless it's someone on an exclusive.

So agree with this. I went just to see Khruangbin and they massacred the sound mid-way through the set. Bass way too high and Mark's guitar barely audible. Summer Madness in the middle of the medley section was dreadful. Such a shame for fans who went to enjoy their music live. 

[clarkete]

I thought the sound was fine where I was (to the left of stage 1 as you face it) 

I suspect that large open space on the top of a hill on a slightly blustery day was sub optimal. 

[zzzfest]

13 hours ago, clarkete said:

Most of what I saw was Stage 1, but it was good that they finished Stage 2 before the Chems so that they got the biggest crowd of the night.  Both they and Roisin Murphy started early (her by 15 mins!) - can't recall whether I've ever seen that at a festival before.

Roisin was set to play 18:45 - 20:45 on timetable. I was bewildered when she finished the show at 20:30. I moved from Stage 2 to Stage 1 when she was supposed to start performing — which means I missed her show by 15 minutes or so. I’m annoyed now.

[ian the worm]

22 minutes ago, zzzfest said:

Roisin was set to play 18:45 - 20:45 on timetable. I was bewildered when she finished the show at 20:30. I moved from Stage 2 to Stage 1 when she was supposed to start performing — which means I missed her show by 15 minutes or so. I’m annoyed now.

Really annoying when the festival don’t publish updates online or on the big TVs. 

I was very lucky as my friend and I were sat on the ground about five people from the front in the middle waiting for her, when at 1830 when she suddenly started playing. SOoOoO lucky for me. But annoying for those that stayed longer at Spritalized. 

[brendan84]

Had a good day. No real sound issues for me.

Warmducher

Sleaford 

Caribou   

My faves of the day

 

Saw

[Neil]

4 hours ago, scatteredscreens said:

Sound was better than Saturday but still not up to snuff I agree, I'm very unlikely to go to outdoor gigs that aren't camping festivals soon with how naff the sound has been at most day festivals I've attended.

i'm surprised the promoters messed up the sound, as they're experienced with outdoor shows.

[clarkete]

1 hour ago, Neil said:

i'm surprised the promoters messed up the sound, as they're experienced with outdoor shows.

Ah was wondering if someone here would mention what the differences are from the predecessor, in terms of who runs it 😊

[Neil]

30 minutes ago, clarkete said:

Ah was wondering if someone here would mention what the differences are from the predecessor, in terms of who runs it 😊

i think the downs festival had rthe same peeps doingg production.

[clarkete]

40 minutes ago, Neil said:

i think the downs festival had rthe same peeps doingg production.

Ah interesting thanks.  It did seem to have a lot of similarities in terms of general layout, facilities and the like. 

[Enkidu]

Will it return next year?

[ian the worm]

47 minutes ago, Enkidu said:

Will it return next year?

Probs yes. Only issue I saw and have read was the shity sound mix. That’s a technical issue on the day, rather than a big festival design. 

It seamed very popular, great line up and lots of interesting messages being explored as well. 

[Neil]

My daughter is reporting hearing the fest from a long way out of Bristol. Might explain some of the comments about the sound. 

[PassingCloud]

Agree with others about the sound not being great at times. It was definitely  worse on Saturday, especially stage 1, because the wind was windier. Didn’t notice too many issues at stage 2. 
I wasn’t complaining for the price though. Thought it was a superb line-up. 
They could’ve done with a few more free water points,  but wasn’t really an issue, plus toilets were pretty busy a lot of the time. Great to see compost toilets at every toilet point though. 
Saw no trouble at all. A lot of Saturday daytime trashed people though 😄

[clarkete]

"The seven things I discovered at Bristol's newest festival FORWARDS" 

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife/seven-things-discovered-bristols-newest-7547865