Closest thing to Glastonbury..

[BluesManP]

On 7/1/2024 at 1:30 PM, majormajormajor said:

 

Officially you can't take your own beer into the festival area. But it's hardly policed.

 

Green Man is my 2nd favourite festival behind Glastonbury. It's just wonderful. Smaller site, beautiful surroundings, great crowd, partying options until 3am.

 

Line-up always has interesting stuff if you're less of a Radio 1 listener.

 

Do you know other festivals like Glasto and Green man? I am not a big fan of edm, I don't need to party until 3am but I need arts and crafts and super friendly quirky people

[BluesManP]

5 hours ago, BookAngel said:

For people looking for a festival further north, Kendal Calling is pretty good on everything except, you guessed it, the own-alcohol policy (only allowed in campsites).

 

Is it like glasto though? As in no arena, no alcohol limits, more than the music (talks, arts, crafts)

[Neil]

womad is still a lovely event on a beautiful site, and less up-tight than many festivals.

[gooner1990]

5 minutes ago, Neil said:

womad is still a lovely event on a beautiful site, and less up-tight than many festivals.

how was it missing Glastonbury for the first time in 40 ish years?

[Memory Man]

Kendal is fine but isnt like glastonbury at all

 

Bluedot was a bit more (same organisers) but also annoying on arena vs campsite

 

of the ones ive been to its def green man and end of the road but both skew to a festival veterans crowd (regardless of age of punter they are all festi heads / regulars)

Edited July 2 by Memory Man

[incident]

37 minutes ago, BluesManP said:

Isn't boomtown full of 18 years olds like Reading and leeds?

 

I'd say that R+L is more the 16-18 year olds, and Boomtown is more the 18-21 year olds.

 

But yeah. Very easy to feel old there.

 

To try and answer the original question - there is no closest thing to Glastonbury. There's lots of festivals that are excellent in their own right, but none that are (or even try to be) as all encompassing - for the most part, they'll each have a target audience and so it's going to be a case of going where your personal tastes fit best.

 

Personally I'd say Shambala is one to look at. It doesn't generally have much in the way of "name value" acts, which will put a lot of people off, but instead it does spread the money across small venues and as a result has far more variety and non music stuff than you'd expect for a festival of that size.

Edited July 2 by incident

[Neil]

1 hour ago, gooner1990 said:

how was it missing Glastonbury for the first time in 40 ish years?

lovely 🙂 

 

didn't miss it at all.

[smogo]

On 7/1/2024 at 1:10 PM, Gashead86 said:

I wondered if anyone had any alternative festival suggestions that have a similarity to Glastonbury?

 

Was not able to be on the farm this year and as much as I will be doing my best come T day in Oct, I am also bracing myself for the possibility of not getting tickets... 

 

With this in mind, does anyone have a suggestion for a festival that has the same sort of feel as Glasto that may be worth checking out? 

 

The biggest plus points for me of Glasto over other festivals I have been to over the years are: 

 

• No 'arena', cannot stand being herded in and out of an area to see the acts! 
• Relaxed attitude to bringing your own beer in, ie not forcing you to buy their warm piss water 
• 'More than the music', cliche I know, but I do really love the fact that there is so much going on other than the music.. Cinema, circus, comedy, arts etc etc 
• Afters, I have been to several festivals in my time where everything basically stops after the acts and you either make your own entertainment or go to bed! 
• Atmosphere, the magical feel of the place makes it for me. Have again been to many an other festival (V, T etc) and always found them incredibly sterile by comparison 

 

Anyone been to any other festivals that tick at least a few of these boxes? 

 

Any suggestions greatly appreciated! 

 

All I'll say is: RIP Bestival. It had all of the above, and on a much more manageable scale than Glastonbury.

[Frankly Mr Shankly]

3 minutes ago, smogo said:

 

All I'll say is: RIP Bestival. It had all of the above, and on a much more manageable scale than Glastonbury.

100% this. Bestival was perfect. 
 

It encompassed all the great bits about Glastonbury, but with its own unique identity and on a much more manageable scale. In terms of being a full experience and not just feeling like you were watching bands in a soulless field, I’d say Bestival was as close to Glastonbury as you could get.
 

I personally preferred it to Glastonbury. 
 

 

[amfy]

7 hours ago, BluesManP said:

Isn't boomtown full of 18 years olds like Reading and leeds?

Boomtown is very young but it is gradually becoming more mixed. The youthfulness gives it an incredible energy which is fantastic to be around, & forget about feeling old, no one cares.

 

Our group are all in our 60s now and we steward with Oxfam there. We’ve found the crowd to be lovely generally, just so into their music, friendly, inclusive…..errrm lots of MDMA etc….

This year will be our 3rd time back there and we love it (although I will admit to absolutely hating it for the first 24 hours so I guess I would say be prepared to push through that because it’s worth it!) The overall production on the festival is amazing and if ‘exploring’ is your thing it’s got a whole story to follow around a series of different ‘districts’.

 

its D&B heavy but there’s also plenty of other options about & there’s plenty to see in other genres.

[incident]

1 hour ago, smogo said:

All I'll say is: RIP Bestival. It had all of the above, and on a much more manageable scale than Glastonbury.

 

Bestival was good, but aside from the death throes final year, it very much did have an arena and all the restrictions that come with that especially on taking in your own booze.

[Jacko45]

Anyone done Isle of Wight?

[CaledonianGonzo]

Yip

[Jacko45]

2 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Yip

 

Whats it like in comparison?

[CaledonianGonzo]

Night and day.  It's a big gig in a city park.

[gooner1990]

8 hours ago, Neil said:

lovely 🙂 

 

didn't miss it at all.

 

Was the right call then! 🙂 

[Kaboom Boxer]

2 hours ago, amfy said:

although I will admit to absolutely hating it for the first 24 hours so I guess I would say be prepared to push through that because it’s worth it!

What differed in the first 24 hours compared to the rest of the festival?

[CharlotteB]

I'm off to Green Gathering in August. I'm hoping that has big Green Futures vibes. 

[glastorome]

On 7/1/2024 at 1:45 PM, Jacko45 said:

Latitude is a fantastic festival. 

 

It ticks all your boxes barring it does have an 'arena' but with it being a hell of a lot smaller site, you can drink much more at camp and go back and forth. 

 

It's laid out brilliantly well, has that magic feel and has pulling power for some really good sized acts.

 

You'll be able to walk between stages, never miss anyone you want to see and it's never got that 'too busy' feeling. 

 

I'll be considering it again next year instead of Glasto. 

 

Loved Latitude when we went with the kids 2015-2017, but there's only so many years in a row you can take the kids as the kids area doesn't change that much. 

 

Absolutely loved Latitude and it does have a mini Glasto feel to it with the emphasis on performing arts and a lot of hidden areas up in the woods, plus the site is beautiful and a nice size.  

 

My kids will be 18 and 16 by next years Latitude and we've had a bit of talk about going back again as a family as it will be a much different festival for us all now they're older.  

[Jacko45]

3 minutes ago, glastorome said:

 

Loved Latitude when we went with the kids 2015-2017, but there's only so many years in a row you can take the kids as the kids area doesn't change that much. 

 

Absolutely loved Latitude and it does have a mini Glasto feel to it with the emphasis on performing arts and a lot of hidden areas up in the woods, plus the site is beautiful and a nice size.  

 

My kids will be 18 and 16 by next years Latitude and we've had a bit of talk about going back again as a family as it will be a much different festival for us all now they're older.  

 

They also have the bonus of the comedy stage which gets brilliant acts. 

 

I'll certainly be considering Latitude again next year line-up dependant. 

[Adam75]

10 hours ago, incident said:

 

I'd say that R+L is more the 16-18 year olds, and Boomtown is more the 18-21 year olds.

 

But yeah. Very easy to feel old there.

 

To try and answer the original question - there is no closest thing to Glastonbury. There's lots of festivals that are excellent in their own right, but none that are (or even try to be) as all encompassing - for the most part, they'll each have a target audience and so it's going to be a case of going where your personal tastes fit best.

 

Personally I'd say Shambala is one to look at. It doesn't generally have much in the way of "name value" acts, which will put a lot of people off, but instead it does spread the money across small venues and as a result has far more variety and non music stuff than you'd expect for a festival of that size.

We  chose Shambala when we failed to get Glastonbury tickets, so pleased to here this

 

(it's also very local to us)

 

I'll report back in a couple of months!

 

[glastorome]

27 minutes ago, Jacko45 said:

 

They also have the bonus of the comedy stage which gets brilliant acts. 

 

I'll certainly be considering Latitude again next year line-up dependant. 

 

Yes, absolutely loved the comedy stage when we've been, reckon the site will be much easier to get around as well now my kids are older. 

[septemberwillow]

Another vote for Green Man - we did that in the 2018 fallow year and loved it. Such a beautiful setting and a great vibe.

[Jacko45]

1 hour ago, septemberwillow said:

Another vote for Green Man - we did that in the 2018 fallow year and loved it. Such a beautiful setting and a great vibe.

 

Only issue I can see with Green Man is lack of more popular acts, the vibes/site etc look brilliant.

 

 

[LinvoyPrimus]

On 7/1/2024 at 1:13 PM, mario man said:

As does Green Man

 

Does Green Man not also share that rather unfortunate Glastonbury trait of 'tickets sell out f**king immediately' these days?