AllTogetherNow Festival 2018

MJohnston

Had a superb weekend, but I'm not sure how much of that was to do with the festival itself as much as the fact that I was with a great group of mates and the weather was excellent.

The Great Stuff:

• The Setting. Really lovely, probably the most naturally stunning space I've been to at an Irish festival (though I've never been to Knockanstockan which seems like it would rival it).
• The Food. Excellent food selection
• The Crowd. Mostly friendly and sound, didn't see a hint of trouble and not too many wipeouts either. I think discouraging under 21s really helps here and I hope they stick to it, and enforce it more in future. Glad there were lots of families too, a big fúck you to anyone saying otherwise. I left my wife and toddler at home this weekend, but I can see how the place would have been really great for young ones.

The Meh Stuff:

• The Lineup. It looked good on paper, but I wasn't really blown away by anything other than a couple of early-day bands on the main stage (This is The Kit and First Aid Kit). Underworld were excellent, but nothing new. Fleet Foxes were lovely, but more on that later. There was just a certain lack of depth to the line-up, it was all a bit doof-doof (and I love the oul doof doof mind you, but it was too much) and somewhat backward looking.
• The Site. Something about the way things were organised was really unbalanced. You either spent the whole day up at the top of the hill (and more on *that* later) or where they had crammed in 4 or 5 (if you count Samsung Home) really loud and banging stages. Then down around The House was basically just the one bandstand (and the quiet acoustic tent), and that felt like a different festival entirely, almost just like an open day at a stately home? Then the One Love and All My Friends stages were left out of the natural flow of the crowds completely, and quite hard to find. Why was there no passage from the field with the Something Kind of Wonderful stage to the All My Friends one, for example?
• The Night Time. We spent all 3 post-midnight times back at the campsite. Maybe it was just us, but the main arena felt a little dead after about 2am? The Body and Soul area at EP brings so much night-time spirit to that place, and I missed little bits and pieces from there like the Hurly Burly/Tea Tent cafés, or the weird tiny stages that you stumble across.
• The Teething Problems. Running out of water in most stalls was a bit of a disaster, because it can only be the fault of the festival organisers themselves. At most other festivals the stalls are just bringing their own bottled water, selling it as needed, and I'm sure when supplies are running low they can ship more in quickly enough. But with the cardboard cartons, they were clearly distributed centrally by the organisers, and they obviously underplanned that whole thing. Poor enough signage was a problem too.

The Negatives:

• The Setting. Yeah, I know I'm contradicting myself here, but **** me, I was absolutely ruined by Sunday morning due to all the walking up and down hills, and dancing at stages with weirdly angled ground. The young ones among you will complain about this less, but I can normally get around B&S fine, EP a little less so, but still manage both of them until late Sunday, with the ruination arriving on Monday. I don't really know what they could do about this, certainly having to trek from the campervan site to the general campsite was not fun at all, but they've got to split things up somehow, I guess.
• The "Eco" Attitude. Or really, it wasn't at all. A shameful lack of bins meant you were sitting in a sea of cans and plastic glasses for most of the weekend when you plonked down outside an arena. In the campsites, I was really disappointed by the lack of attention to this by some punters, after seeing the Body and Soul crowd which is always much more likely to clean up after themselves.
• The Chatting. Not everywhere, of course, but at gigs. I was about 3 or 4 rows back from the front at Fleet Foxes and all around were a tonne of people having their own conversations throughout the entire thing. Seriously annoying. If you've no interest in hearing the music, are you just there to snap a few Instagram shots and then feck off again? Well do me a favour and feck off in the first place. Should be a capital punishment to chat during gigs.
• The Arcadia Stage. Looks amazing, good DJs, but don't put it in the middle of every other stage and then give it carte-blanche to have a louder soundsystem than any other area. Won't miss it if it doesn't come back.
• The Noise Bleed. Related to the above, and hardly unique to this festival, but sort it out already. I was at Fleet Foxes and could hear other stages banging it out (over the sound of people chatting that is), and my mates said Nils Frahm was ruined by some other stages noise too.
• The Ambition. Feck me, you could smell them chasing down EP in the air from minute one. Very, very obvious that they were testing the waters of the scale of the place this year for next, as there was a tonne more space than there were crowds. Have it on very good authority that it'll be 30k capacity next year, and it was very clear that this was always a plan. I think it can probably survive the expansion but it all feels a little bit too calculated and clinical to me. There's a genuineness to Body and Soul that you can sense, like the organisers really put their heart and (pun) into it, and I didn't feel that at all here. Don't get me wrong, I think the people decorating the site and the various stages were really working their hardest and their best, but just not the people up above them, you know? It's not that I think the festival will go the way of EP quickly, I would just feel more confident about it with different people at the helm. I do think EP is going to be massively challenged by this festival, anyone saying that they're competing with Body and Soul or whoever is way off - they're gunning for their old festival big time, and with the way EP has gone, I wouldn't be surprised if they succeed.

erica74

boomshakalaka wrote: »

Lastly, the water. I hate to bring it up because I really applaud the idea of plastic free and a festival that tried to be eco friendly. I don't know about you guys, but I had an awful time finding water. The bars never had any to sell when I asked, the Londis and food places kept running out and the taps were few and far between (That s if you managed to hold on to something to actually drink the water out of. I resorted to buying a bottle of yazoo just to be able to get a drink of water).

boomshakalaka wrote: »

Sure, we each have our opinions.

But to be quite honest, no. Organisers have a responsibility to provide punters with ample access to water. In my experience that wasn't the case. I brought several bottles to the festival and they got lost / squashed / picked up by a litter person / missing it's cap. I'm not saying they should sell plastoc bottles instead, but if I ask the bar person to give me a cup they shouldn't refuse me. Access to water should be easier, especially with the heat we had.

I completely agree about the water. I managed to get one bottle of water from a food stall because I was absolutely parched and you'd swear we were doing a heroin deal "don't tell anyone, keep this to yourself":pac:
I found 2 stalls selling the tetra pack reusable cartons but the amount of water they hold was barely enough for a few mouthfuls so then it was over and back and over and back to wherever the nearest taps were.
When I read about all of the no plastic stuff on their website, I fully expected to be able to find taps at every turn, every stall to be selling the reusable cartons and the cartons to be bigger.
I also expected that I'd still be able to get water in a cup at every bar.

Hopefully next year they'll make some tweaks.

I agree with others about the curfew for children. I don't understand at all why anyone would even bring a child to a festival. I find it bizarre that any parent would think it's appropriate for their young children to be at Underworld on Saturday night There's drunk adults, adults on drugs, adults doing adult things. If your child had picked up some drugs someone dropped on the ground during Underworld at midnight that would be your fault, it's irrelevant whether the adult should or shouldn't have been taking drugs.
A curfew would be a reasonable compromise, although I would prefer no children at all:D

Toast

MJohnston wrote: »

The Ambition. Feck me, you could smell them chasing down EP in the air from minute one. Very, very obvious that they were testing the waters of the scale of the place this year for next, as there was a tonne more space than there were crowds. Have it on very good authority that it'll be 30k capacity next year, and it was very clear that this was always a plan. I think it can probably survive the expansion but it all feels a little bit too calculated and clinical to me. There's a genuineness to Body and Soul that you can sense, like the organisers really put their heart and (pun) into it, and I didn't feel that at all here. Don't get me wrong, I think the people decorating the site and the various stages were really working their hardest and their best, but just not the people up above them, you know? It's not that I think the festival will go the way of EP quickly, I would just feel more confident about it with different people at the helm. I do think EP is going to be massively challenged by this festival, anyone saying that they're competing with Body and Soul or whoever is way off - they're gunning for their old festival big time, and with the way EP has gone, I wouldn't be surprised if they succeed.

I really hope you are wrong but it sounds plausible. I basically want an End of the Road for Ireland. ATN had a lot of the bits to do that in place. Kid friendly, scenic estate, good food and drink. The lineup and Arcadia made it something slightly different.

I don't know if these two worlds can live together without upsetting each other. Eventually either the session heads get annoyed by too many kids or the families get annoyed by the sessioners. You can see it happen in the thread already. ATN need to pick a side and rip the band aid off and go full in on one.

My hope was they'd copped that the sessioners were well catered for and any elements here to appeal to them were a crutch for year one but if they want to be everything to everyone and basically go down your predicted route they'll have lost their chance to be something different. They'll get a bit of momentum off this one having excellent weather but the first grim one and that'll be the start of the end.

For anyone who did enjoy the calmer vibe and the setup I can't recommend End of the Road in the UK enough. It is expensive and a pain to get to (you get to see sunny Salisbury.. noted for the Magna Carta and Novichok) but the scales are tipped much more towards the twilight years crowd than ATN without becoming completely Wimbledon.

MJohnston

Toast wrote: »

I really hope you are wrong but it sounds plausible. I basically want an End of the Road for Ireland. ATN had a lot of the bits to do that in place. Kid friendly, scenic estate, good food and drink. The lineup and Arcadia made it something slightly different.

I don't know if these two worlds can live together without upsetting each other. Eventually either the session heads get annoyed by too many kids or the families get annoyed by the sessioners. You can see it happen in the thread already. ATN need to pick a side and rip the band aid off and go full in on one.

I don't actually think that's true at all from my own perspective. I reckon most families who go to these things know what they're in for and are happy to operate in those conditions. It's when the crowd turns mostly unpleasant and selfish (ala EP in recent years) that families get turned off. Nothing to do with alcohol or drug use, in my experience (those just tend to bring out people's natural characteristics).

Session heads definitely get far too easily annoyed by kids being around though, that much is true.

Toast

MJohnston wrote: »

Nothing to do with alcohol or drug use, in my experience (those just tend to bring out people's natural characteristics).

I don't think I was pointing the finger at booze and drugs.. or at least I hope I wasn't... I love those guys!

It is about who the festival wants to be for. I've said the two groups are session heads and families but those are just the extremes with a sliding scale in the middle. Seams right now ATN is trying to appeal to the whole spectrum but it is an incredibly difficult balancing act and I feel it can throw weight in to the more chilled side and create a niche but it is possible it'll try have it all to its detriment.

MJohnston

Toast wrote: »

I don't think I was pointing the finger at booze and drugs.. or at least I hope I wasn't... I love those guys!

It is about who the festival wants to be for. I've said the two groups are session heads and families but those are just the extremes with a sliding scale in the middle. Seams right now ATN is trying to appeal to the whole spectrum but it is an incredibly difficult balancing act and I feel it can throw weight in to the more chilled side and create a niche but it is possible it'll try have it all to its detriment.

It's easier, I think when there's a genuine love for the running of the festival among the organisers. Like Body and Soul has been going for nearly 8 years now and hasn't lost that balance, but it's also content being a mid-sized festival that doesn't want to consume everything.

I just got some inklings that ATN had a slight bit more love for money than festival spirit at it's heart. Nothing tangible, just hairs on the back of yer neck stuff. It might take years though, I mean EP lasted at least 10 before starting to crack at the seams.

run_Forrest_run

MJohnston wrote: »

I mean EP lasted at least 10 before starting to crack at the seams make money.

fixed that for ya
But seriously, there is a connection.

maximoose

What a weekend. Highlights:

Underworld - never seen them before, great show
Maribou State
Fufanu - absolute legends. Never seen a key-tar look so cool, also bonus points for the frontman jumping down and giving me a pint at the barrier

Reading the EP announcement while waiting in the wristband queue felt like a very ceremonial passing of the guard.

greenspurs

STOP SAYING HOW BLOODY BRILLIANT IT WAS !!!!
You will ruin it for next year ....... No newbies allowed next year !! Its ours, just for us !!

BananaR

Very impressed with overall festival atmosphere. Only just decided to go last minute and really glad I did. Campervan site was nice and quiet for the most part. Very relaxed vibe entering the festival. The setting was beautiful as many people mentioned already. My main criticism is same as others touched on - the music/line-up needs much improvement. Just too much downtime between acts, rescheduling of acts and not really enough of substance going on. A lot of general wandering was done which is great fun and all, but needed way more must see acts to bulk up the lineup.
I hope they decide to keep the capacity at lower level but if they've signed a 10 year deal ambitions may be stronger. Maybe it has be the trade-off for a better lineup. Wouldnt like to see them compromise too much and most criticisms I have could be easily addressed for next year. It sounds like there was some difference between the general camping area and the campervan/boutique side of festival. Wouldn't have thought there was any campsite messiness going on from where we were situated.
I loved the animal themed sculptures!
Will look forward to next year - fingers crossed they don't ruin it!

Laneyh

Toast wrote: »

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.

It probably wouldn't be possible but I think if your tent was linked to your ticket i.e. you had a tag or barcode that could identify it as your tent it might cut down on some messing.

Ricosruffneck

I have to say I changed my mind about Villagers.

Having listened to him before the fest for research and at the fest; he is amazing.

hrcbob

Great weekend.
Where we stayed in the general campsite was pretty quiet once the Arcadia finished up.
Toilets were reasonably maintained but there was need for a few more dotted around especially down at all the food stands in front of the house.
It very much felt like a festival of two halves though with two very different line ups on the main stage from sat and Sunday. (We didnt make it Friday)
A bit of a mess made of the parking for the general campsite too and having to lug beer for 2 and camping gear from the top of the boutique camping carpark took its toll.

I heard the expansion plans too bit I think it could ruin the event. The increase in crowds due to Sunday day tickets really put pressure on food stalls and toilet facilities.
I will defiantly be watching with interest for next year thou.

homerun_homer

Loved this festival. The weather certainly helped but the setting was beautiful and it had a great atmosphere all weekend.

I have my gripes like the line up being a bit light of heavy hitters overall, toilet being good distances between once batch and the next, and the long walks to get around the site (thank you lake), but they do not outweigh the pros. It is the festivals first year and the organisers did a great job for the most part.

True, it was hard to get water from vendors over the weekend, but at least there were water stations. For all the talk of no plastic I was surprised to see plastic being used at the bars. I thought it would have been the cups like the originals EPs where you pay a bit extra and get 50c when returned. Never understood why they stopped that, and fully expected it here.

This brings me to the recycle bins situation. Punters really don't give a crap do they? It's just like in my workplace, you can put all the signage right there to put recyclables in this bin, and rubbish in that, and they just won't pay attention. In this day and age it really annoys me. In my workplace there is no excuse whereas at a festival people are drinking and don't care so I guess it's natural.

We stayed in Tangerine Fields which was handy but someone slashed our tent on Sunday night as we slept. I didn't see or hear of any hassle all weekend but creepy to think we were not far from having someone poke about in our tent as we slept and rob us.

Music highlights from the weekend were First Aid Kit, Whenyoung, The Bootleg Beatles and Reggie Watts. Fleet Foxes bored the arse off me, not that I've anything against their music. I hoped for a few more Prince hits from The New Power Generation, but they were good. The bandstand by the house was a cool wee stage, loved going to Sing Along Social and Kevin Rowlands DJ set at that and bopping away.

Food was great, particularly waking up to Waterford Blaa brekkies. Roll on next year. I just hope they don't increase the capacity.

Oh, the final gripe was the camping shop by Tangerine Fields. We rented chairs and would get money back to return them on Monday. They weren't open yesterday and had a cardboard sign saying to go to shop in main campsite. That was a con. They cost the same to rent as to buy, so I'd rather have just bought new ones instead of having to go home with ones that have been rented out loads.

BananaR

BananaR wrote: »

Very impressed with overall festival atmosphere. Only just decided to go last minute and really glad I did. Campervan site was nice and quiet for the most part. Very relaxed vibe entering the festival. The setting was beautiful as many people mentioned already. My main criticism is same as others touched on - the music/line-up needs much improvement. Just too much downtime between acts, rescheduling of acts and not really enough of substance going on. A lot of general wandering was done which is great fun and all, but needed way more must see acts to bulk up the lineup.
I hope they decide to keep the capacity at lower level but if they've signed a 10 year deal ambitions may be stronger. Maybe it has be the trade-off for a better lineup. Wouldnt like to see them compromise too much and most criticisms I have could be easily addressed for next year. It sounds like there was some difference between the general camping area and the campervan/boutique side of festival. Wouldn't have thought there was any campsite messiness going on from where we were situated.
I loved the animal themed sculptures!
Will look forward to next year - fingers crossed they don't ruin it!

I also forgot to say food options for vegetarian were very limited - Body & Soul wins hands down on the veggie food front - no comparison. I found it really difficult to get food come sun evening - pieman sold out, vegan sushi rolls sold out, another vegan place closed up and vegan Queen had a ridiculously slow queue. I ended up paying 15 euro for a piss poor veggie pizza.

maximoose

On the food front - after popping my cherry I am now a massive fan of Corn Dogs.

Ricosruffneck wrote: »

I have to say I changed my mind about Villagers.

Having listened to him before the fest for research and at the fest; he is amazing.

Yeah I was very impressed. Had heard great things about their live performance and they lived up to it. Christ he can hold a note.

greenspurs

A massive success I think.
Could find very little fault - line up was a wee bit ..... iffy ? ... but found some great music by wandering around.

Top band - New Power Generation. Amazing performance.
Mura Musa were excellent + Fleet Foxes.
Bootleg Beatles + Cork Ukelele were excellent.

'Worst' - London Gospel choir singing Graceland - Didn't even know the lyrics for "Boy in the Bubble" (first song!!) and sounded like they were pulled out of the crowd to sing along with a great band playing the songs... Really disappointing !

greenspurs

Camping set up was very poorly organised - Family camping was a hotch potch of 4 - 6 - 8 man tents on top of each other, very cramped . But having said that , it was fairly quiet.
The 'security' there was 5/6 20year olds from Manchester and were about as much use as a Dry wet wipe ! Just stood at the barrier entrance talking to each other !! Not any checking of wristbands, or trying to organise the placements of tents.

Us and the 2 kids really had a ball - Really great vibe throughout the weekend, and any 'tipsy' people we met were really nice and did a bit of 'flossing' with the 2 kids.

I really really really hope that the organisers listen to the punters, and try to keep the same feeling that this weekend had. Shur twas nearly perfect !
The bar has been set very high - I hope greed wont kill/destroy what could become the biggest/best festival in Ireland!

Ferris_Bueller

Brilliant weekend down at All Together Now, very impressed for the first year of a festival and over the weekend myself or any of our group didn't have any faults with the festival or it's organisation.

Left Kildare around 1.30pm on Friday and had the tent set up in the campsite by about 3.30pm, no traffic on the way in and no queues for the wristbands, this might seem like a minor thing to get right but at Body & Soul any year I've gone I have queued for at least 45 mins and EP can have bad queues too so it was nice to fly straight in. Staff were very helpful and friendly too as were the volunteers in the carpark. Campsite was only half full at this point but it was pretty packed by Saturday morning. General camping was only a short walk into the main arena and there was no delay due to the free flow policy, you could easily go back and forth to the campsite multiple times a day if you wanted to as it was not a long walk.

Found the crowd that were at it a lovely bunch and definitely the nicest crowd I have experienced at a festival, older crowd much noticeable due to being 21s+ and as a result it seemed pretty chilled out at all times, lots of kids at the festival which I personally didn't have a problem with, didn't notice as many around at night time as maybe others did. Didn't see any trouble or even any scumbags floating around which was a first!

Festival site was beautiful, even the drive in and from the campsite you had a nice view of the surrounding hills and countryside. Loved the greencrafts area even though I didn't spend much time around there, went there after the music finished for about an hour on Sunday night where a big group had gathered for a bit of a session around one of the swings. The garden area in front of the house was great too in the sun, didn't spend too much time down there at night apart from Sing Along Social. The walk from the house up towards Arcadia at night was special looking too. Loved some of the old TVs dotted around in the woods!

It was an amazing weekend and a festival I will definitely be back to but I didn't wake up on the Monday morning with the special feeling I have felt after many Electric Picnics or Body & Souls. Not sure why that was but I would agree that maybe the lineup let it down slightly, on paper it was good but the only gig I was really blown away by was Underworld, I found a lot of the acts and DJs I saw a bit underwhelming and not too much depth in the lineup. The stages in general were a bit plain jane compared to say some whacky areas such as Trenchtown, Salty Dog, Trailer Park, B&S at EP. Also was not a huge fan of Arcadia, it was amazing looking and a good spot to go late at night but it reminded me a bit of the rave in the woods at EP in that there were tons of people there but it felt like most were there for the sake of it and spent the night chatting/standing rather than dancing.

Overall smashing weekend, would give it a solid 8.5/10 and will definitely be going again in future. Has it replaced EP for me yet? No. Does it have the potential to? Absolutely. It is a festival I would like to see grow a bit more and maybe add another small stage or two.

gaffolino

Had a savage weekend at ATN. Didn't head down until sat morn as was at Jacksons in Beatyard ( who were brutal but that's for another thread) Got down around 12 and blue carpark and campsite so was directed to the red. Sent towards the overflow campsite which was grand as there was only about 20 tents there at the time so we were al able to camp beside each other. Campsite situated perfectly near the entrance in and not an ounce of hassle or drama all weekend . Loved the crowd at it, everyone really happy and chilled out. Can't speak for the main campsite but ours was kept relatively clean and tidy and everyone taking tents etc home. Also, New Power Generation were unreal

Few things I would look at for next year would be my campsite. We were told it was meant to be the VIP one. Not sure how, it had one tap to do the whole campsite and about 12 portaloos, three of which were just for kids. Seemed to be an issue with families that were out in it. Friend went past one guy giving out loads that he had paid extra for this si they grouped all the families together and fenced them in. However, majority were moved out of campsite next day. One coffee van that just did bars or pastries. Didn't open late and only had water half the time.

Would have liked more food options in the main arena and everywhere had ran out of food by the last night. And more toilets were needed in the arena . That's it. That's all I can think of. Was so impressed by this festival , really reminded me of when I first started at the picnic. Will defo be back next year but don't know I've ill be rushing to get a picnic ticket again

lbj666

Ferris_Bueller wrote: »

Brilliant weekend down at All Together Now, very impressed for the first year of a festival and over the weekend myself or any of our group didn't have any faults with the festival or it's organisation.

Left Kildare around 1.30pm on Friday and had the tent set up in the campsite by about 3.30pm, no traffic on the way in and no queues for the wristbands, this might seem like a minor thing to get right but at Body & Soul any year I've gone I have queued for at least 45 mins and EP can have bad queues too so it was nice to fly straight in. Staff were very helpful and friendly too as were the volunteers in the carpark. Campsite was only half full at this point but it was pretty packed by Saturday morning. General camping was only a short walk into the main arena and there was no delay due to the free flow policy, you could easily go back and forth to the campsite multiple times a day if you wanted to as it was not a long walk.

Found the crowd that were at it a lovely bunch and definitely the nicest crowd I have experienced at a festival, older crowd much noticeable due to being 21s+ and as a result it seemed pretty chilled out at all times, lots of kids at the festival which I personally didn't have a problem with, didn't notice as many around at night time as maybe others did. Didn't see any trouble or even any scumbags floating around which was a first!

Festival site was beautiful, even the drive in and from the campsite you had a nice view of the surrounding hills and countryside. Loved the greencrafts area even though I didn't spend much time around there, went there after the music finished for about an hour on Sunday night where a big group had gathered for a bit of a session around one of the swings. The garden area in front of the house was great too in the sun, didn't spend too much time down there at night apart from Sing Along Social. The walk from the house up towards Arcadia at night was special looking too. Loved some of the old TVs dotted around in the woods!

It was an amazing weekend and a festival I will definitely be back to but I didn't wake up on the Monday morning with the special feeling I have felt after many Electric Picnics or Body & Souls. Not sure why that was but I would agree that maybe the lineup let it down slightly, on paper it was good but the only gig I was really blown away by was Underworld, I found a lot of the acts and DJs I saw a bit underwhelming and not too much depth in the lineup. The stages in general were a bit plain jane compared to say some whacky areas such as Trenchtown, Salty Dog, Trailer Park, B&S at EP. Also was not a huge fan of Arcadia, it was amazing looking and a good spot to go late at night but it reminded me a bit of the rave in the woods at EP in that there were tons of people there but it felt like most were there for the sake of it and spent the night chatting/standing rather than dancing.

Overall smashing weekend, would give it a solid 8.5/10 and will definitely be going again in future. Has it replaced EP for me yet? No. Does it have the potential to? Absolutely. It is a festival I would like to see grow a bit more and maybe add another small stage or two.

It takes a few years for festivals to grow like that and it will, like other than AVA(whos setup wasnt up to much) there were no smaller promoters given an area to design and currate for themselves like those EP areas, its hard to get them on board when they already have a working relationship with other festivals. But they will no doubt find them and win some of them over.

BurtMacklin

I thought it was a huge success. Arrived in Friday at half 5. No queues, got a spot beside my friends. Free flow policy was great. Will def be buying a ticket next year.

jarvisob

Great festival. Echo a lot of the positives that people have mentioned previously.
My only complaint of sorts, which has also been mentioned plenty, was that the line up or atmosphere for the gigs could be improved a lot. Most gigs just lacked that connection between band and crowd.

Nils Framh and Jimmy Cliff late on Sunday night were the two exceptions and completely blew the roof of the tent and I was delighted to finally end the weekend with some great gigs.

If Jimmy Cliff had been on main stage at 3pm I'm sure that would of felt a bit flat too. The atmosphere at main stage all weekend just seemed more people just sitting around chatting with the music being on in background.

That aside a fantastic festival and will certainly go back.

evani1976

Belter of a weekend. As a local, I know the estate well and it is mindblowing (the English know how to landgrab!). The Organisers really went all out on arena area, really was a sensory overload. Layout was really good , lots of areas that will become future festival mainstays (one love, bandstand, wooded areas). Felt outside the arena things were haphazard, get a pass because of first year (say there was some rush to get it event ready). Lots of other things going on around country at same time may have affected amount of services available. They should be in a much stronger position next year.

Lineup I thought was really good, Roisin Murphy, Wow what a show woman ( David Bowie, Grace jones and James Brown combined). Underworld mindblowing and lovely sets on Sunday (Villagers simply nailed the days mood). Kevin Rowland djing on the bandstand was great fun, he belted out the chorus to love I lost at one stage, hair stood up on back of my neck.

Just my tuppence worth on kids. I brought my two and even though before hand i did have my concerns as any parent would. We bought the tickets based on this festival been marketed as children frendly on a weekend the weather is usually good, so parents with kids are fully entitled to be there.

We based the weekend around them not the other way around. We did stay out late Friday and Sunday, but children were warm, happy and safe. We got a positive reaction from loads of people of all ages, fair dues to ye all.

There are a multitude of festivals aimed at younger crowd, Can we have one ourselves?! I hope POD hold the line and keep it as is. I think they did aim this one at 2 different age groups and if it gets any bigger, I'd def think hard about going with kids.

But as it says on the tin lets keep it All Together Now.

Homesick Alien

I don’t think anything will top the first 3 years of Body and Soul but this made a pretty good fist of it. This was also my first time bringing kids camping at a festival (have done some day trips in the past) so that was a new adventure and obviously my views are based on that perspective.


The good:

Access: Got the bus from Waterford – zero hassle. Shortest security queue I’ve ever experienced.

The setting: Loads said on this already.

The stages: The three main stages all were either a natural amphitheatre or the reverse (elevated stage). This meant everyone had a good view from everywhere and was smart planning.

Food options: in the main areas were great but in general camping were crap.

Kids area: had loads going on and our little ones were delighted and even had a coffee stall for the adults, although no toilets.

The installations: in the woods, the animal carvings etc. Our kids loved them and so did we.



The needs improvement:

Family camping: probably needs a restriction on the size of tents permitted as some were ridiculous. My missus arrived with the kids on Saturday and we were told the family camping was full and we’d have to go to the overflow camping on the other side of the lake and much nearer all the action. I said no chance were we dragging our kids and all our stuff around there and we’d squeeze in with our tiny tent. The family camping is also the closest to the arenas of the boutique and campervans. Surely it would make more sense to put them furthest away so less noise pollution from music and everyone walking back to their tents at 4am.

Food: Also been said but some food options on the family/boutique/campervan side of the lake would have been appreciated rather than having to schlep around the lake for a bacon blaa in the morning.

Steps: Only one set of steps had a ramp built around but the others all required asking someone to give a hand with the buggy. Not sure what people in wheelchairs or mobility scooters did.

The hills: holy jeebus the hills

The whole “eco” plastic thing: what was the point in the whole “no plastic container” thing when all the bars sold drinks exclusively in plastic glasses? There was plastic everywhere and it made a mockery of it. Either make it a rule or don’t but don’t half-arse it.

There’s been a bit of debate here on the kids-at-a-festival thing. I’ve done many years of festivals without kids and have to say I don’t understand people who said kids are annoying. I mean what are they doing to annoy you? I’m pretty sure they have zero interest in you. If just the idea of children being nearby freaks you out then you may have some issues. Now that I’ve done with kids I’ll definitely do it again. Our curfew was 9:30-10pm. They were getting tired and things were getting a little messy then so we took a night each to back early with them and it worked out perfectly. I did see people draggin trailers with sleeping kids in them out of the family camping as we were arriving back 10ish and I did think that was pushing it but each to their own. If your kid is an antichrist the next day you only have yourself to blame.

I really hope they don’t immediately expand the size of this festival as I think they’re on to something good here. There’s no doubt Body and Soul lost its magic about 3/4 years ago with the continuous expansion

maximoose

Homesick Alien wrote: »

The whole “eco” plastic thing: what was the point in the whole “no plastic container” thing when all the bars sold drinks exclusively in plastic glasses? There was plastic everywhere and it made a mockery of it. Either make it a rule or don’t but don’t half-arse it.

I think all the plastic sold by the main bars was 100% degradable, at least it said so on it anyway!

Not sure about the Jameson/smaller bars

roll

9 and a half out of ten. Opinions are weird and funny. I found the line up so eclectic and varied but with quality running through all of it..... if i had a gripe it would be having a 'dance' day saturday and 'chill out' on sunday isn't required-just mix up everyday!

The only real issue they have to prove now is how the site deals with rain... Sin é

minibear

Regarding the "plastic" glasses we were selling drinks (non alcoholic) using these and we had to buy plant based everything..cups, lids, straws. It was one of the main conditions of trading, so I'm sure all the traders were under the same instruction. Same with all of the single use food packaging onsite. But if the customer didn't know this they would probably put them in the recycling bins instead of into the compost bins.

maximoose

Yeah there seemed to be a good bit of confusion over the bins, none of the 3 labels mentioned the bar glasses.

BananaR

maximoose wrote: »

Yeah there seemed to be a good bit of confusion over the bins, none of the 3 labels mentioned the bar glasses.

Or cans!