AllTogetherNow Festival 2018

citycentre

Nils Frahm was absolutely brilliant... Him and Roisin Murphy the highlights of the weekend by a long way. Quite a bit of "nice" unexciting stuff padding out the lineup. Hopefully next year will have the quality acts to match the amazing venue and setup!

Toast

Pretty sure John Reynolds just gave us directions out of the car park. Leaving now no traffic. Hopefully stays that way. The drive through the estate path is a bit Dodge. Needs a real road for next time.

grudgehugger

tiredcity wrote: »

Great festival. Definitely felt like the early days of Electric Picnic.

(I was one of the bad parents - brought ear defenders but my toddler was having none of it. Will work on him for next year.)

Just keep on trying different tactics - you'll find something that (sometimes!) works eventually...

We found that it got easier to get them on as ours got a little older

sleepysniper

Wanderer78 wrote:

What's the transport situation like out of Portlaw afterwards?

Disastrous. Shuttle bus dropped people into the village with not a taxi to be had unless it was booked in advance. Other than that, great festival.

fits

Le Bruise wrote: »

I know this festival is in part marketed at families, but I think a ruling on the times kids are allowed inside the main arena would be prudent. Kids and drunken/mad out of it adults is a mix that should never happen!

Maybe it’s not the families who are in the wrong here. Crazy idea, I know.

Wanderer78

sleepysniper wrote:

Disastrous. Shuttle bus dropped people into the village with not a taxi to be had unless it was booked in advance. Other than that, great festival.

Had a funny feeling that was gonna happen, they ll have to address that, Portlaw is an isolated enough place late at night

Boooourns

sleepysniper wrote: »

Disastrous. Shuttle bus dropped people into the village with not a taxi to be had unless it was booked in advance. Other than that, great festival.

With the Spraoi weekend happening you were always getting that, taxis make their money doing the shorter runs over this weekend.

SteelyDanJalapeno

Fantastic weekend, kids were annoying, hopefully less next year

Captain Red Beard

Jimmy Cliff last night had the whole tent eating out of his hands, amazing end to the festival.

eplady2017

Great weekend. First Aid Kit and NPG highlights for me. Amazing venue and saw no trouble all weekend. Felt very safe throughout all the site (essential for a group of girls).
Only fault was number and maintenence of toilets. Not enough inside and outside main arena. Also could do with about twice the number of showers in the main campsite. Issues that are easily rectified.
EP bound in 4 weeks but have already decided it will be my last EP.
ATN next year for my gang.

Captain Red Beard

eplady2017 wrote: »

EP bound in 4 weeks but have already decided it will be my last EP.
ATN next year for my gang.

Our crew are saying the same thing.

SoundOfSilence

Had a certain level of expectation going into the weekend and ATN lived up to it. Lovely site, chilled out vibe and top notch festival all round.

Not sure why people found the kids annoying. I'd rather that than some of the knackers you find normally at most festivals.

Hats off to John Reynolds... It's refreshing to see a festival catered towards creating a lovely environment for the punters.

One final thing..... THE F**KIN NEW POWER GENERATION

alastair

Just back home.

Great weekend. Killer site/setting. Is it catering for the older/middle-aged festival goer? Without a doubt. Is it a better experience as a consequence? Yes it was. Saw no aggro and little messiness over the weekend. Not sure how it will cope with bigger numbers though. The stage sizes are limited by the layout, and were just okay (or not, in the case of the comedy spiegletent) with the current numbers. Parking and camping areas need to be extended. The luxury of the short walk from general camping to the arena was great, as was the removal of security hassles on account of the freeflow policy. Lots of booze being bought too - which should underscore that it’s a sensible policy.

Spotted Karl Hynde and Kevin Roland out and about - actually noticed Kevin Roland’s serious northern soul clobber before copping it was him. Great gigs from both. Ran out of steam after Jimmy Cliff (despite the awfulness of ’Reggae Nights’ and still not knowing his band’s names, he has the pipes and the tunes to pull off a great performance). The kids were grand by me - and provided great entertainment at the Arcadia kids party, with the flossing etc. Loved the bandstand - Bring your own Brass, New York Brass Band. Saul Williams, and Singalong Social. The Waterford choir were pretty bad (sorry), and Roisin Murphy didn’t do it for me on the night - Maribou State worked as a great substitute for Roisin’s slot. Definitely going next year.

Weepsie

eplady2017 wrote: »

Only fault was number and maintenence of toilets. Not enough inside and outside main arena. Also could do with about twice the number of showers in the main campsite. Issues that are easily rectified.

Problem isn't not enough showers. Problem is everyone going to them at 9-10.30 even though they're open til 2 and again from 4-7.

Queues for the toilets were never bad I though either, and only a handful were bad.

Jimmy cliff was the highlight for me. His delayed flight was the best thing to happen as it wouldn't have been a different show on the main stage.

Booka Shade, David August and Nils Frahm all excellent

West Cork Ukulele Orchestra were bloody fantastic too.

Stumbled upon some group called Tongue Fu who were great on Saturday and Will Self was very, very funny.

New Jackson was great as I wasn't feeling the Hot Chip thing or Arcadia (which I thought was meh all weekend)

I'll be back. Keep it same size. Keep it family friendly and it'll be good.


I'd be worried it'll quickly turn into some awful thing though when word spreads how relaxed security and searching etc was

Chelon

Did Tommy Tiernan play last night at 9.00? We tried to see the Bingo later and were met with an empty tent. Steward said all comedy for rest of night was cancelled and Tiernan did not play. He didn’t know reason for any of it....

Arne_Saknussem

EP 2005 probably beats it on lineup alone but in every other aspect that's the best festival i've been to in Ireland.

The setting & grounds are spectacular, lovely chilled vibe about the place. Incredible weekend.

Agree with Jimmy Cliff moving to last on the bill in Something Kind of Wonderful was brilliant, he blew the roof off.

phatkev

Just back in the door, fantastic weekend all round. I'd happily make it an annual thing if it kept to the same vein

Captain Red Beard wrote: »

Jimmy Cliff last night had the whole tent eating out of his hands, amazing end to the festival.

I second this! I wasnt sure what to expect, but ended up having some good time

dlnv27

Just back from this. It was my first festival and have to say we were spoiled with the location and the weather. Will definitely be back next. General camping was packed in like sardines. Thinking about boutique camping next year. Anyone able to tell me what were prices like for the boutique camping sites. Cheers

Stillill42

Great weekend. Can't vouch for the camping as I stayed off site but everything ran very smoothly from what I saw. I'd say the shuttles were a pain when there were big numbers looking to leave at the same time but we never waited more than 10 minutes either in or out. Our taxi guy looked after us all weekend which was a Godsend. I can imagine the problems if you had nothing booked.


Friendliest festival I've been at, security, vendors etc. all dead on. Unbelievable site, really beautiful. Lots of chill out areas, down around the bandstand was great, lovely little stage. Nice to see All curious minds in the middle of the action and not pushed into it's own little area.
I also caught those Tongue Fu guys, brilliant stuff.
I have to say, I missed the musical choice I get at EP. Saw Mogwai, Oscar Jerome, Ghostpoet, Roisín, AE Mak, David Keenan, Isaac Gracie, Fufanu, Saul Williams, the Lost Brothers and NPG. All great but I'm not used to having 2 hour stretches where there's nothing I'm really arsed with. Minor quibble.
More jacks for the ladies, my missus spent a lot of time queuing, cameras for the big screens at the main stage.
Site felt full. They'll need to expand it if they're increasing numbers.
All in all, 5 stars for all concerned.

Toast

dlnv27 wrote: »

General camping was packed in like sardines. Thinking about boutique camping next year. Anyone able to tell me what were prices like for the boutique camping sites. Cheers

Any of the larger tipi like tents won't be less than twice the price of the ticket and goes up from there. Did they have pink moon/tangerine fields at this? Usually they are about half that price.

General camping was very messy where we were. People pissing outside tents, mushed food into the ground, rubbish everywhere.. someone pumping out Ibiza classics '96 till 7am in the morning. Had nothing taken from the tent or anything but was in fear of it. Fancy Camping is now being discussed.. I'd rather we didn't have to as I like having a camp with mates rather than being all separated up. Dunno how you stop people being messy feckers. Perhaps have a team of grannys go around and give out to them about the state of the camps.

Anyway keep the capacity as is and ensure it never rains and I reckon we will keep coming back.

alastair

Toast wrote: »

General camping was very messy where we were. People pissing outside tents, mushed food into the ground, rubbish everywhere.. someone pumping out Ibiza classics '96 till 7am in the morning. Had nothing taken from the tent or anything but was in fear of it. Fancy Camping is now being discussed.. I'd rather we didn't have to as I like having a camp with mates rather than being all separated up. Dunno how you stop people being messy feckers. Perhaps have a team of grannys go around and give out to them about the state of the camps.

Irish people don’t do well in festival camping. There’s far too many dirty pigs who presumably are used to someone else clearing up after them. I was back to camping after a few years of fancy camping, and the intended camper option fell though. Was unlucky in that my neighbors were a pretty big group with a penchant for litter, cocaine, and post-Arcadia ghetto blaster sessions until dawn. But to be fair, there was little pissing, guy rope tripping, or falling onto your tent, that seems to come with EP camping.

sally cinnamon89

Just Home and Showered had a great weekend.

The set up was brilliant but I noticed there was some nosebleed during David Keenan's set which is something that could be addressed for next year. The weather made it a brilliant experience. Loved the bandstand stage with Sing Along Social and Bring Your Own Brass being highlights. Thought the main stage was a good size with the location excellent for the general camping. Some of the food was brilliant but maybe some more options for next year. Loved exploring around the forest and finding some great locations to chill out. The location of the hand craft village was very fitting. Spent Friday night at Arcadia as the tent was too packed for HMD. Also spent time in the comedy tent (Get a bigger venue for next year) and the Hot Press tent (great idea and very chill). Music highlights would be Fleet Foxes, Maribou State, Biig Piig, Fufanu and Villagers. Great festival and glad we chose it over EP this year. Looking forward to seeing what the organisers come up with for next year as this was one of the best festivals experiences i've had.

Bravo POD
*****

MadYaker

Good to hear ye all had a good weekend, seems like they pulled it off. Is it over 20s? If not it should be. I think that would go along way to keeping it geared twoards an older crowd.

Stillill42

Over 21s. You'd feel it.

blaa85

dlnv27 wrote: »

Just back from this. It was my first festival and have to say we were spoiled with the location and the weather. Will definitely be back next. General camping was packed in like sardines. Thinking about boutique camping next year. Anyone able to tell me what were prices like for the boutique camping sites. Cheers

I paid about 650 for the luxury bellepad in Podpads for two. It was gigantic, could have fit 10 people in there easily. It had a double bed, electricity and lights, carpet and rugs, bed clothes, pillows, towels, chairs and table. We were delighted with it.

I would have expected better toilets and showers in the boutique area for the money paid though. It was nothing like the ones in the pink moon area in EP. Would have been nice if it had its own bar as well.

While 650 was expensive, they had an installment plan. There was a good few cheaper options but having electricity to charge everything was nice. After going to pink moon for the last 2 years at EP, I could never to back to general camping.

Stillill42

blaa85 wrote: »

dlnv27 wrote: »

Just back from this. It was my first festival and have to say we were spoiled with the location and the weather. Will definitely be back next. General camping was packed in like sardines. Thinking about boutique camping next year. Anyone able to tell me what were prices like for the boutique camping sites. Cheers

I paid about 650 for the luxury bellepad in Podpads for two. It was gigantic, could have fit 10 people in there easily. It had a double bed, electricity and lights, carpet and rugs, bed clothes, pillows, towels, chairs and table. We were delighted with it.

I would have expected better toilets and showers in the boutique area for the money paid though. It was nothing like the ones in the pink moon area in EP. Would have been nice if it had its own bar as well.

While 650 was expensive, they had an installment plan. There was a good few cheaper options but having electricity to charge everything was nice. After going to pink moon for the last 2 years at EP, I could never to back to general camping.

650 is some whack though. I had a house in Piltown for 300 for the 3 nights. 10 minute taxi then the shuttles.

Wanderer78

Stillill42 wrote: »

650 is some whack though. I had a house in Piltown for 300 for the 3 nights. 10 minute taxi then the shuttles.

did you have the taxis pre-booked?

Stillill42

Wanderer78 wrote: »

Stillill42 wrote: »

650 is some whack though. I had a house in Piltown for 300 for the 3 nights. 10 minute taxi then the shuttles.

did you have the taxis pre-booked?

I did.

Blu2015

Well hats off to John Reynolds. Super festival. Super fun. Very well put together. My picnic days are definitely over now. Roll on next year. Hope they don't increase the capacity. Only one gripe and that would be lack of signage on way in

Michellenman

dlnv27 wrote: »

Just back from this. It was my first festival and have to say we were spoiled with the location and the weather. Will definitely be back next. General camping was packed in like sardines. Thinking about boutique camping next year. Anyone able to tell me what were prices like for the boutique camping sites. Cheers

We did tangerine fields which is literally just rent-a-tent but it’s in the boutique area so slightly quieter and has its own toilets and showers and it was €100 between us for 2man tent. You can pay extra again to get an air mattress and sleeping bags if you really want but we didn’t bother. Next year I think we might Pay the extra and get the yurts or pod things. My back is broken and a tent just doesn’t regulate temperature well at all so we would wake up with the cold at night and then sweltering in the morning so I was miserable until about 2 when the painkillers/cans kicked in.

I had visions of general camping to be like the jimmy Hendrix campsite at EP and that’s my idea of hell so wanted to avoid it at all costs but had friends who stayed in general camping at ATN with zero issues.