Longitude 2014

TheGoldenAges

I guess it was to be expected with the acts announced this year compared to last year. I would have loved to have gone last year but was out of the country on holidays. This year the acts announced were geared to chart music which is fine in itself but it leaves the festival with a bit of an identity crisis. Sure I'd have loved to have seen Massive Attack, Ben Howard and Haim but it wasn't worth the price of admission to see other acts in my opinion.

I hope in the coming years the organisers go to lengths to define what music festival it's going to be, an Oxegen without the camping or something else.

8-10

verdygood wrote: »

Big disappointment for me too. It was way too young, and I mean, from 16 to 24. They actually were not there for the music, just to hang around drunk. It was like Phoenix Park and Swedish House Mafia but in the South of Dublin. That was my second year going, and it was just to messy. And just for the record, I'm only 33 yo!

I'm glad everybody else had the same experience! Thought myself and the wife were being overly lame by leaving at 8.30pm but in reality we'd already seen who we wanted to and could no longer stand the crowd by that stage.

My first time at Longitude but I've been to Latitude before and they're completely the opposite (hence the names?), Latitude is the most chilled and boutique festival I've been too. I presumed since it's marketed the same way and it's the same weekend that they'd be bringing the Latitude vibe to Longitude but man was I wrong!

AoifeBurke

I just have to add my two cents and say that while I was really dissapointed with the crowd at Arctic Monkeys last week, Longitude in comparison was much calmer and more easy going, and I encountered no problems at all the Saturday I was there.
I think people need to stop blaming teenagers, the venue, the security, the setup or whatever else and just accept that there is always going to be a certain element of rowdiness to the crowds at Festivals and outdoor events. As long as they err on the side of Longitude and not Arctic Monkeys then I'll have absolutely no problem with it myself.

BadTurtle

I was only at Sunday but the crowd was fine. That was Massive Attack and James V McMorrows effect I imagine, nothing for scumbags to enjoy there thank god.
Marlay Park is a horrible location though, always attract trouble.
Massive Attack were excellent. Setlist was marginally shorter than elsewhere but really they only cut Splitting the Atom from their encore, and perhaps Everywhen. The two weakest songs in the set, easily. But it was a shame that they were two of Horace Andys, because he was absolutely superb last night. Angel was incredible, and Girl I Love You was excellent too. Apart from that, Inertia Creeps at the end was also immense, with fantastic use of the days headlines for lights at the end, got a great reaction from the crowd.
Wasn't impressed with the overall lineup this year, apart from Massive Attack,
CHRVCHES and one or two others, hopefully they'll scale it up to last years standards next year, and avoid booking too many questionably supported bands.

Ferris_Bueller

I'm surprised at how many people seemed to not enjoy it and were unhappy with the crowd, there was definitely a younger crowd at it than most other festivals but I don't think I would have called it an "Oxegen crowd", they all seemed to just be having a good time and I certainly didn't see any hassle when I was there on the Sunday. It's easy to see a younger crowd and think "uh, this is not my scene" but realistically they were all just there to have fun as well, I personally don't think it was half as bad as most on here are making it out, although I was only there for the Sunday, I'd imagine the Saturday was a bit messier.

It's terrible if people were getting their drinks kicked over etc., I can understand how this would have effected your enjoyment of the festival but I would have thought that people who experienced this were in the minority rather than this being common throughout the day. I'd say anyone who went last year was a bit disappointed at the change in crowd by the sounds of things, but if someone was looking to go next year and read over this thread I honestly think it would scare them off more than it should. Was there a young crowd? Yes, but I would not have labeled it a rowdy crowd whatsoever.

Can anyone shed any light as to what happened at A) Bondax and the RBMA when the sound seemed to cut when Handsome Paddy was playing? No word of it on any of their facebook/twitters.

Mince Pie

Had an alright time but just felt a little "meh" compared to last year. On the Sunday we were enjoying the sweet sweet tunes of First Aid Kit when towards the end we had the skangerfest come along. Thankfully they are easy to spot so can avoid if necessary. Was awful though they came charging into the front arms waving in the air giving it the funny swagger walk that seems to be endemic in their kind. One of them tapped or smacked some girl on the head then grabbed her in an embrace from behind. Suffice it to say she made a quick exit to a different position.
Then they started roaring and boo'ing. Like WTF?
So off they went again in their little gaggle of funny walking friends. A few minutes later they were back with the girls (short shorts, streaky tan and arses hanging out) Screaming at the camera man, yeah, get us on the telly mister. Whooooooo.
Next thing you know, I suddenly have a welly in the head cos short short girls were now on the shoulders of the shirtless swagger walkers. They basically plunged themselves forward into the front row and took no prisoners with the girls screaming and the lads pushing. This was at around 4pm and still fairly quiet on the Sunday.

Anyway, we left early and missed Massive Attack. Just had had enough.

JohnGreenFan

Just to throw in my bit here - I was working as a steward for the weekend alongside security, and I personally didn't encounter any hassle. I agree that the crowd was very young - but I wouldn't have expected anything different, especially for Saturday night when Disclosure were the main act. Saturday was always going to be the most mental of the three days because of that - and because all of the acts on the main stage from around 3pm onwards were fairly well-known. All the security guards were commenting on the general lack of hassle around the site.

Only problems I came across were the extreme security checks when you were coming into the park and the girls toilets. The toilet queues were insane, and I thought the security checks were inconsistent at best. On Saturday, the security felt around my bag and told me to go on through, but on Sunday, the security removed every single item from my bag and patted me down in a way that bordered on very uncomfortable. Flew through it in 2 minutes on Saturday and it took me 20 minutes on Sunday. Both times I was going through at around 5:10pm.

Overall I think the festival went very well without any major hassle. Didn't get to actually see many of the acts myself (although I did get to see Bombay Bicycle Club and Bastille, who absolutely killed it on Friday).

Mince Pie

^^^^ On the Saturday there probably wasn't as much hassle at Disclosure cos there were so many off their faces on Ketamine.
We went to leave about 4 times cos verywhere we moved to watch we ended up with someone flailing around with the eyes rolling in the back of their heads, no trouble but not something I feel comfortable being around.

bodhrandude

Just some questions about Massive Attack's performance, was Tricky there he apparently is touring with them again. I also heard that they used current footage of the trouble in Palestine, what was it like?

BadTurtle

bodhrandude wrote: »

Just some questions about Massive Attack's performance, was Tricky there he apparently is touring with them again. I also heard that they used current footage of the trouble in Palestine, what was it like?

Tricky wasn't with them, it was just 3D and Grant on most of the time, with Martina Topley Bird doing about 6 or 7 tracks and Horace Andy doing 2. Didn't really notice much of the Palestine footage, but Unfinished Sympathy had a lot of facts about death tolls and how long the occupation has been of Gaza. Got an interesting reaction from the crowd.

DrumSteve

Can't understand people giving out about there drinks getting knocked over... you leave them on the ground drunk people are going to fall over them. There were a lot of drunk kids, but the amount of times I was drunk at their age, I'm not going to give out about them.

Did feel like a bit of an Aul Fella there though, but to be honest I had a good time and I only went the saturday. Caught all the main stage acts and they were top notch. Parked in there, got in and out easy as pie, though there were some skangers hanging round the car park looking for tickets. Haim were a highlight.

BTW, I'd imagine whoever was selling flower crowns and 22 jump street knock off clobber made a killing though.

Rough Sleeper

DrumSteve wrote: »

BTW, I'd imagine whoever was selling flower crowns and 22 jump street knock off clobber made a killing though.

Ugh, flower crowns.

What you think you look like: 1960s free spirit; bohemian fashion queen.

What you actually look like: Drunk, annoying aunty in hippie outfit at fancy-dress party who keeps slurring "Groovy baby!"

PrettyBoy

Had a great weekend, weather was lovely and warm for the three days, really enjoyed the acts, no complaints from me I'd be more than happy to go again.

awec

Don't mind people having a drink and enjoying themselves, I had 5 or 6 pints over the day myself. But I draw a line when you can no longer walk in a straight line and are no longer in control of your limbs. When you are knocking over people's drinks, bumping in to people and just laughing about it that's when you stop being just someone enjoying themselves and start being an ass.

As said already, whoever sold the the flower crowns and the straw fedora hats will have made a fortune.

A V A

Rough Sleeper

The dog actually manages to pull off a kind of cool alternative vibe. The PWC interns and morketing students who wear them at festivals are about as left-of-field as a Michael Búble Christmas album.