Foreign Festivals

fulhamfanincork

Hiya lads,

Myself and my friends have just come back from our first oxegen and it was immense. Outrageously good.

However next year we want to broaden our horizons and go to a foreign festival.

Any recommendations?

cheers.

Dermo

I've been to Leeds, Rock Werchter(Belgium) and Nova Rock(Austria)
My favourite by quite a margin is Nova Rock. It was amazing, everyone was friendly, food was good, drink was cheap and frozen Margeritas and frozen Daquiris. What more could you ask for?

Thinking about going to Rock Am Ring or Roskilde next year but I seem to prefer the smaller festivals (< 100,000 people)

fulhamfanincork

Dermo wrote: »

I've been to Leeds, Rock Werchter(Belgium) and Nova Rock(Austria)
My favourite by quite a margin is Nova Rock. It was amazing, everyone was friendly, food was good, drink was cheap and frozen Margeritas and frozen Daquiris. What more could you ask for?

Thinking about going to Rock Am Ring or Roskilde next year but I seem to prefer the smaller festivals (< 100,000 people)

Is the greenman festival is wales any good, does anybody no?

rossie1977

depends on your music taste i suppose, if rock is your thing like me then download, its so easy to get to, you can walk to the venue from east midlands airport (which has flights from a number of irish airports), i had a great time there this year, got to see ac/dc, megadeth, deftones, rage against the machine, motorhead, stone temple pilots and aerosmith, slash and dave grohl playing the drums

df1985

I was at T in the park this year.Its oxegen but better in nearly every way.

jc_eire

Sziget Festival

Budapest, Hungary (August)

Dermo

df1985 wrote: »

I was at T in the park this year.Its oxegen but better in nearly every way.

well maybe except for the rape, 2 attempted murders and 1 death this year

aflib

Dermo wrote: »

well maybe except for the rape, 2 attempted murders and 1 death this year

get over it.happens all the time

Minstrel27

Dermo wrote: »

well maybe except for the rape, 2 attempted murders and 1 death this year

It is only angels that attend Oxegen of course.

starfish12

isle of wight, fly to southampton airport and ferry to the island, get there quicker than driving to oxegen from dublin

Dermo

Minstrel27 wrote: »

It is only angels that attend Oxegen of course.

Oh, I know how bad Oxegen is. Promised myself I would never go back there camping. Will stick to my low crime mainland european festivals

bodhrandude

You should give RockNess a go in Scotland its well worth a visit
It was a great line up this year and it only rained a bit on the Sunday, it happens in the second weekend in June. Check out the linky for 2010.
http://www.rockness.co.uk/lineup/lineup-2010

AnonoBoy

aflib wrote: »

get over it.happens all the time

I'm pretty sure I've been to big festivals that nobody was murdered at.

df1985

Dermo wrote: »

well maybe except for the rape, 2 attempted murders and 1 death this year

i did say nearly.....

I had the time of my life anyway.

Dermo

df1985 wrote: »

i did say nearly.....

I had the time of my life anyway.

I've always wanted to go to T in the Park but it seems too much like Oxegen. What are the big differences? (apart from the accent)

AnonoBoy

Dermo wrote: »

I've always wanted to go to T in the Park but it seems too much like Oxegen. What are the big differences? (apart from the accent)

Not that much - mostly the same bands overall, run by different branches of the same promotions company so they normally try to sign bands up to play both.

df1985

I found the crowd substantially older than oxegen. im 24 and was about the average age. In the group of scottish people i was with there was only one younger than me and the ages went into the thirties.at oxegen i feel old.

The crowd is very friendly, although i think i got a lot of good attention for being irish.

Drink is cheaper, they have a system of tokens you buy first and then exchange them at the bar. This meant no queues at the bar, i never queued, just strolled up. also no 2 drinks per person nonsense.

Drugs are much better and widely available if thats what you're into. (i realise this can put people off too but i didnt see the "mad out of it" type of people you see at oxegen who take stuff and then just want to cause trouble)

Food was cheaper, and of a good standard. Also the campsites had their own bars serving till very late. these would be inside music tents that had djs going till late. (similar to the xbox/nokia stage at oxegen but with bars)

security is tighter-i know there was the 2 stabbings and rape that will get all the attention, but i didnt see any trouble.there was the usual drunk people acting the fool but if they got out of hand it was nipped in the bud very quickly. there isnt a hope of any knacks sneaking in to simply cause trouble either or for day trippers to get into the campsite with how their ticket system works.

few drawbacks-toilet queues seemed worse than at oxegen.they did have the posh toilets you could pay for though.....badly needed.

the site is HUGE. bigger than oxegen, everything is very spread out, can almost discourage you from going to other stages.



I suppose when it comes down to it they are similar enough, Im just going on my experience which was far better than my previous times at oxegen.I

AnonoBoy

Drink and food being cheaper is just a reflection of them being cheaper generally in the UK of course.

df1985

very true and in fact scottish people at it found drink and food expensive, to an irish person though its cheap.

Dermo

AnonoBoy wrote: »

Drink and food being cheaper is just a reflection of them being cheaper generally in the UK of course.

Doesn't matter why it's cheap, just as long as it is cheap

Seamonster

For me it has to be this one;

http://fiberfib.com/en/line-up/benicassim-festival-2010/

Personally, I would never go to Oxegen again. Went when I was 20 - 25, it was OK, I just felt ripped off and shat on though with regards to bus service, security etc.... I think whether you are 18, 68 or 34, no-one can deny that continuous rain, mud, cold and crap facilities is totally cack. There is not enough competition between festivals in Ireland to keep standards high and prices low. MCD have it sewn up so can take the p!ss.

Benecassim - sun all weekend, a better line-up every year than Poxegen, a lovely beach minutes down the road, cheap food, great crowd, cheap flights there too. I love it, lots of Irish go too, would totally recommend it. I'm actually going this weekend!!

Another nice one is in UK - Big Chill. Depends on what music you like. Benecassim covers all styles though.

Captain_Generic

You should try Roskilde, by far the best festival i've ever been to (out of EP, Oxegen and Benicassim). Acres of space, friendliest people, incredible women, fantastic lineup (most years), theres a lake onsite (only gets filthy by the last day), and people are encouraged to bring their own soundsystems which leads to the most elaborate stage speaker wheely carts you'll ever see (and they don't play sh*t music).
Tickets are about the same as Oxegen but theres 4 days of warmup music and 4 days main lineup, 9 days in total if you camp at the gate the day before it opens to get a sweet spot(which lots of people do every year).
The only real drawback is that drink and food onsite is a bit of a ripoff, and prices in Denmark are higher than here in general.

big dan

jc_eire wrote: »

Sziget Festival

Budapest, Hungary (August)

+1

1 week camping.

Great weather. About 30 degrees C during the day.

Cheap drink, less than €2 for a pint. Cheap food.

Great people and atmosphere. Never saw any hassle, or anyone falling round locked (excluding myself).

Only thing that lets it down a little is sometimes the line up can be a little weak, but there are so many stages and other things to do that you'l always find something.

TopBombing

Seamonster wrote: »

For me it has to be this one;

http://fiberfib.com/en/line-up/benicassim-festival-2010/

Thats on my agenda for next year.

No more Oxegen for me, purely because of the weather though!!

ElaElaElano

OP, I went to a festival last year called 'Kendal Calling', which is in the lake district in the Northwest of England...musically, it's mainly indie/folk/dance, but its selling point is just how incredibly scenic it is...camping by a lake and huge, ancient trees, it's an absolutely huge place yet the capacity is around 5,000 so you have acres of space...no huge queues for anything, massive selection of foods, all kinds of foreign beers and drinks and delicacies, and loads of different things to do...art classes, a big inflatable church where you can pretend to get married (bit odd that!), a library with bean bags, free massages, a tent for speakers (Howard Marks was there last year, fascinating), loads of different bars scattered around the place...

Musically you might not know a lot of the bands (noah and the whale were one of the headliners ffs!) or DJs (seemed to be a lot of dubstep if you're into that) but for the whole package I'd definitely recommend it. Last year our tickets were £70 for the four nights, and in terms of getting to it- ryanair flight to manchester, train to a place called penrith, and you're there.

Toast

In no particular order:

Reading/Leeds (based on 1998/2001/02,04/2003):
Pros: Usually excellent lineup. Reading is really easy to get to... Leeds is not that much harder. Good sound on stages.
Cons: Kinda messy crowd. Site goes to hell if it rains. Limited drink options.

Roskilde (based on 2006/2007):
Pros: Really well run festival. Food/drink is as expensive as Ireland but of a higher standard. Huge lineup. Excellent sound/long sets for bands. Crowd is immensely fun/friendly (good "single" festival).
Cons: Utterly filthy.. men/women piss everywhere, near a quary so very dusty, turns to mush if it rains, Sun rises at 4 so if it is hot you are out of the tent at 7.

Glastonbury (based on 2000/05,07,08,09):
Pros: Really well run festival. No arena so can bring drink/food to any stage. Best food/drink selection of any festival. Huge Lineup. Excellent sound. Crowd is amazing.
Cons: If it rains it can be miserable. So massive you can't stage hop at all. There will be clashes! Hard to get tickets.

Rock Werchter (based on 2008):
Pros: Excellent organisation. Free transport from all airports in Belgium. Great sound. Few clashes. Lineup is usually amazing for the price. Very cheap.
Cons: 2 stages, crowd are boring, food/drink selection is awful. Sells out quickly these days.

Primavera Sound (based on 2007,08,09,10):
Pros: Best venue ever! Excellent Sound, very compact, rain proof. Ticket is cheap if bought early. Lineup is "diverse".
Cons: Lineup is "diverse". No camping. Crowd can be poser-ish. Can be expensive with accomodation added.

Sziget (based on 2009):
Pros: Great crowd (good "single" festival). Cheap drink. Excellent organisation
Cons: As of recently lineup has been poor, no drink allowed to be brought in campsite. Food is a lot more expensive than it should be.


For comparison

Oxegen (based on 1999,2002,04,05,06,07):
Pros: It is in ireland, The lineup looks good on paper.
Cons: everything else Campsite crowded, Camping crowd have little respect for others (YMMV), expensive and limited food/drink, goes to **** if it rains, poor sound in tents/main stage(if poor weather), many clashes/short sets for many bands.


Electric Picnic (based on 2005,06,07,08,09):
Pros: Good alternative lineup, Good selection of food and drink. Many diversions. Crowd is generally good fun.
Cons: Expensive, Kicked out alternative drink providers in 2009, campsite is overcrowded, poor toilets, sound in tents is poor.





Things that are universal:
No bringing drink into arenas (with the exception of Glastonbury(which has no arena)). Pretty much across the board this is the case. People get upset with EP and Oxegen over it but it is the case anywhere I've been. Of course the actual strictness varies.

Food/Beer is always more expensive in the festival. Based on local prices. Of course this can mean it is cheaper than Ireland... actually this always means it is cheaper than Ireland with the exception of Roskilde which was pretty similar when I went.. at least the quality was good.

There will be clashes. Standard operating procedure for festivals is to split the crowd to avoid overcrowding issues. This means pitting big names against each other. They are on the bill to get you in but if the entire attendance went to them there would be health and safety issues.

Festivals are what you make of them. Things will not be perfect and in some cases they will be downright miserable, be that the fault of the organisers or the attendees. What ever the reason if you are in a bad mood you will not have a good time. Bad things can happen and, with the exception of serious injury, rallying is always possible and the worst disasters can sometimes be overcome with the help of friends and strangers.