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Jack

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Jack

Jack

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With summer fast approaching, and tickets on sale, what festivals are people heading to this year?

 

We're mixing it up and going to Leeds Festival with some people we met at a festival in Serbia 3 years ago. We normally meet at a festival once a year - Creamfields in 2010, Hideout festival in Croatia last year, and make a couple of trips to visit them in Manchester.

 

This will be my first experience of Reading/Leeds. Anyone been? Loads of us went to IOW last year as well and I'm guessing Leeds will be similar.

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tartan_saint

tartan_saint

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I usually do 3 or 4 festivals a year... Bestival being by far the best in Britain IMO. If you're looking for something abroad, Berlin festival is decent as is Tomorrowland in Belgium and Exit in Serbia. Depends on your music tastes I suppose.

 

I've already been to the Bugged Out Weekender this year and will be going to Tomorrowland, Creamfields and Bestival

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Jack

Jack

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Did Exit Festival in 2009, best festival I've done by far. So diverse and a 25000 capacity dance arena/stage.

 

Tomorrowland is on the cards at some point, only found out about that recently. Done Creamfields twice so we wanted to do something else for the August bank holiday.

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The Cat

The Cat

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We always go to End of the Road festival. Also going to Wilderness this year. Maybe Green Man too.

 

Oh and Bloc which is is at Excel Centre in London this year with Orbital, Hyperdub showcase, Richie Hawtin, Flying Lotus, Squarepusher, Four Tet, Battles. The list just goes on and on and on.

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Sheaf Saint

Sheaf Saint

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I'll be making my annual pilgrimage to Beatherder in Lancashire - this will be my fifth year running. A proper grass roots festivale with no attitude, no corporate sponsorship and no bullsh*t. I'm also going to Optimus Alive in Lisbon in July to see The Stone Roses and Radiohead mainly, but that's more going to be a city break with some live music inbetween than a proper festival where you shut yourself away from reality for the weekend.

 

I went to Bestival last year - thought it was OK but a crap atmosphere. The crowd was very stereotypically white, middle-class teenagers in their festival chic, who didn't actually appear to be appreciating a lot of the music and only went there to be one of the cool kids (perhaps it's just because I'm getting a bit old that I thought that though) and given the amount of hassle it is getting there, I don't think I'll be in a hurry to go again. Good lineup this year though.

 

I see there is no Big Chill this year. The organisers claim it is because it clashes with the Olympics, but I reckon it's because their gamble to turn it into a commercial cash-cow last year spectacularly backfired on them. When Festival Republic bought it out they tried to re-brand it into a commercial pop festival and most of the loyal fanbase who used to love it as a showcase for great independent music (like me) turned their backs on it in protest.

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shurlock

shurlock

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F**king hate festivals - like watching football in an olympic stadium with a massive running track and no roof.

 

Nothing beats a gig in a smallish, in your face club. Remember watching Primal Scream at the time of XTRMNTR at the Hammersmith Palais and decided from that day forth never to go near a festival. Music and being out in the sticks doesn't mix.

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Jack

Jack

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If you're in to DnB or Dubstep, I've heard excellent things about this http://www.outlookfestival.com

 

That's the week before Hideout festival on the island of Pag in Croatia. Went to Hideout last year. Great venue for a festival, but hard to get to, and they double the price of everything for the 2 weeks of the festivals on the Island. Still worth it though, but be prepared to spend £3+ a drink.

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Saint_Jonny

Saint_Jonny

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F**king hate festivals - like watching football in an olympic stadium with a massive running track and no roof.

 

Nothing beats a gig in a smallish, in your face club. Remember watching Primal Scream at the time of XTRMNTR at the Hammersmith Palais and decided from that day forth never to go near a festival. Music and being out in the sticks doesn't mix.

 

Agree that smaller gigs are ALWAYS better, but I don't mind the festival scene, as long as you get far enough forward and fairly central. Problem with festivals is the amount of teens that turn up, haven't been to many gigs before and act like total ****s.

 

Download for me this year, lineup is ace.

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Jonnyboy

Jonnyboy

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F**king hate festivals - like watching football in an olympic stadium with a massive running track and no roof.

 

Nothing beats a gig in a smallish, in your face club. Remember watching Primal Scream at the time of XTRMNTR at the Hammersmith Palais and decided from that day forth never to go near a festival. Music and being out in the sticks doesn't mix.

 

So long it's not a headliner there's no reason you can't get intimate and really feel it with the fans at the front.

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Sheaf Saint

Sheaf Saint

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F**king hate festivals - like watching football in an olympic stadium with a massive running track and no roof.

 

Nothing beats a gig in a smallish, in your face club. Remember watching Primal Scream at the time of XTRMNTR at the Hammersmith Palais and decided from that day forth never to go near a festival. Music and being out in the sticks doesn't mix.

 

That's a shame. If it's big headline acts you want then I agree that it's better to see them in a smaller, indoor venue because they will play for longer and probably come back for an encore etc.., but there are so many positive reasons to enjoy festivals other than just the headline acts.

 

For me it's not really about the headliners - it's more about the little-known, obscure stuff going on in the smaller tents/stages. Over the last few years I have discovered so many good new artists / bands that I would never have known about if I hadn't stumbled across them randomly at a festival.

 

On top of that there is the togetherness of getting all your mates together on the campsite. It's really hard to convince my mates to go and see certain gigs sometimes because people invariably have different tastes, but last year there was a group of about 20 of us all camped together at Beatherder and although we didn't all go to see the same acts, we had a bloody marvellous time.

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The Cat

The Cat

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That's a shame. If it's big headline acts you want then I agree that it's better to see them in a smaller, indoor venue because they will play for longer and probably come back for an encore etc.., but there are so many positive reasons to enjoy festivals other than just the headline acts.

 

For me it's not really about the headliners - it's more about the little-known, obscure stuff going on in the smaller tents/stages. Over the last few years I have discovered so many good new artists / bands that I would never have known about if I hadn't stumbled across them randomly at a festival.

 

On top of that there is the togetherness of getting all your mates together on the campsite. It's really hard to convince my mates to go and see certain gigs sometimes because people invariably have different tastes, but last year there was a group of about 20 of us all camped together at Beatherder and although we didn't all go to see the same acts, we had a bloody marvellous time.

 

Good post. Agree with all of it. Beat-Herder looks quality, just a pity it's so far away.

 

As for the Big Chill, well the early festivals were superb - some of the best I've been to. It all went tits up when they moved it to Eastnor and Pete Lawrence left. Nowdays it's nothing more than the MK Dons of the festival scene.

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shurlock

shurlock

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That's a shame. If it's big headline acts you want then I agree that it's better to see them in a smaller, indoor venue because they will play for longer and probably come back for an encore etc.., but there are so many positive reasons to enjoy festivals other than just the headline acts.

 

For me it's not really about the headliners - it's more about the little-known, obscure stuff going on in the smaller tents/stages. Over the last few years I have discovered so many good new artists / bands that I would never have known about if I hadn't stumbled across them randomly at a festival.

 

On top of that there is the togetherness of getting all your mates together on the campsite. It's really hard to convince my mates to go and see certain gigs sometimes because people invariably have different tastes, but last year there was a group of about 20 of us all camped together at Beatherder and although we didn't all go to see the same acts, we had a bloody marvellous time.

 

Some good points.

 

I guess its just a taste thing. Agree its hard go to smaller venues in large groups, though I've found them to be great places to hit it off with strangers who are there specifically for the same act. All for listening to random stuff, though I tend to do most of that experimentation in private. Gigs are the end point for me, the consummation of that album or band you've listened to repeatedly months, sometimes years before. Probably makes for a tighter and more exclusionary atmosphere; but I like that tribalism about music and a small venue is the perfect setting. Plus the music I listen to translates p i$$-poor to festivals and outdoor venues -either its too jangly and discordant or too lush or too introspective.

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Golden Balls

Golden Balls

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I go to IOW every year mainly for the atmosphere. Missing it this year though. Didn't really like Reading when I went. V was ok but chavy. Boardmasters was good last year, although it somehow made me feel old.

 

Hoping I can blag some free tickets to something through work.

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Jonnyboy

Jonnyboy

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just found out about Retrotrax Festival & bit gutted i will be on holiday when its on :(

its an Oldskool dance festival being held at Bath Racecourse on Sat 12th & Sun 13th May. 150 DJ's & acts in 5 arena's covering the usual genre's.

http://retrotraxfestival.co.uk/

i'd go just to see DJ Easygroove again :adore:

 

You'd get on with my mate, he raves about Easygroove :-D

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Dr Who?

Dr Who?

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None of them stand out for me, except a few below.

 

Download - Metallica (black album) with support from the Biff.

 

Reading - all the headliners - The Cure, Kasabian, and the Foos. The rest of the line up does not justify a weekend ticket. Think I will just catch a few smaller gigs!

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Mattio

Mattio

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Bestival for me. The headliners don't matter, its the experience of bestival, you find new music you love or have never heard anything like at every turn... Of course the headliners were good last year but I ended up missing The Cure to see Willy Mason on a tiny bandstand basically sat next to him as he played.

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st alex

st alex

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Don't lnow if it counts, but will probably go to Ejector Seat festival (in the middle of Southampton). Always good to support local music, and there usually turns out to be some decent stuff.

 

I've worked at some of the bigger festivals (IOW & Reading), and thought they looked awful. Much prefer smaller intimate festivals where you get genuine people going to enjoy themselves rather than teenagers and other morons going to see commercial acts. And it doesn't take 40 mins to get from your tent to a stage. Went to End of The Road last year and thought even that was getting a little too big.

 

Will probably go to Festibelly as its small, closeby and cheap. And I'll go to Golden Down as it's small, closeby and like the lineup. Hope to go to some others a little further afield as well if they look good. Was thinking of going to Dimensions festival in Croatia (which is a new one following Outlook Festival) however if I went to a festival abroad I'd want a more international feel to it, it seems to be geared exclusively to Brits which has put me right off the idea.

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sfcuk fan

sfcuk fan

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Undoubtedly my favourite summer weekend ( if you fancy something a bit different ) !

 

Keep your music festivals, they're all the same commercialised sheep herding rip off zones.

 

How do you fancy 30,000 plus bikers in a field with a drag strip, music, beer and strippers ? :smug:

 

 

http://www.bulldogbash.com/

 

 

Reasons to go :-

 

 

Only £ 50 a ticket including camping

Loads of custom bikes,

Strippers in the titty tent and on stage,

Massive beer and rave tents,

Loads of custom bikes,

Drag racing on the drag strip and wicked displays,

Main stage including Status Quo, The Damned + loads more

Did I mention loads of custom bikes ?

 

Hell you can even race your own bike on the drag strip.

 

http://www.bulldogbash.com/

 

Get your ass to Stratford-upon-Avon for a proper weekend :smug::smug::smug:

 

 

 

.

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Jack

Jack

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Was thinking of going to Dimensions festival in Croatia (which is a new one following Outlook Festival) however if I went to a festival abroad I'd want a more international feel to it, it seems to be geared exclusively to Brits which has put me right off the idea.

 

I think I'm right in saying that Outlook festival is the same as Hideout festival in that it was set up by the people who run The Warehouse Project, which is based in Manchester. Hideout was top notch but you're right in that it's aimed at Brits. I was talking to a couple of girls from Zagreb who have a holiday on the island where the festivals are (Pag) every year, and they were gutted that they couldn't get into the clubs being used for the festival.

 

If you want a festival abroad with an international feel, try Exit Festival in Serbia. We went in 2009 for the 10th anniversary and it was by far the best festival I've done. 8pm-8am for 4 nights from Thursday to Sunday. It's set in a 17th century fortress which is so cool, loads of stages including some crazy small stages which are well worth checking out. The most expensive beer I found was the equivalent of about £1.30, a mixed grill at a restaurant in town will cost you about a fiver. Serbian people are very friendly and a good laugh (and the women are hot). Door to door, the week cost less than £500 in total.

 

I can't say enough good things about it and can't wait to go back sometime. Maybe next year.

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