Forest Fest - Emo, Co. Laois - July 21-23 2023

traco

Site 7 made sense for parking for campers.

Its not as if the camping is a free for all and they know the numbers of camping tickets. Should have been a very basic thing to organise. Even people using the glamping will be under pressure if bringing beer and food. Its not like we are going camping in the hills all lean and mean, its a weekend music festival where have the craic is hanging out at the tent chilling, having a few beers and eating before you head in or between sets that interest you.

Thundercats Ho

Just to follow up on the parking again. I emailed FF on their contact page, and the organiser (Philip Meagher) responded pretty quickly.

traco

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120836919#Comment_120836919

Fair play! That's something at least even if it will still be a pain.

Jizique

Wonder if the ground is a bit soft? Probably not a great day to be lugging equipment 2-3km and pitching a tent

MattD

Yes, does anyone have any thoughts or experience as to how this place will stand up to this rain?

I'd worry the place will be a marsh, even if the weather's clear by next weekend!

WindmillWarrior

Unfortunately the long term weather forecasts don't look good

scruff monkey

It’s pretty grim

Thundercats Ho

Saw someone on FB say the ground is holding up fine. it's a series of GAA pitches so will be well drained. campsite could be a different story.

Weather not looking great but it's to ease off by next weekend do here's hoping

traco

I was looking at the campsite and it's basically flat, maybe a 20m call over 0.5km as far as I can make out. Seems to be a lot of trees close to the campsite area so it may be wettish ground.

Long range forecast isn't very inspiring either on the weather forum with more rain and unsettled conditions hopefully a few dry days towards end of the week and if lucky they will be Saturday and Sunday but there is mention of a low moving down over us. I really hope MT has it wrong.

A said I'd expect the GAA grounds to be fine it's just the campsite, campervan and parking where things could get messy. I'm going to get screw in tent pegs as I saw a post on the forever young thread where the ground was so soft regular pegs weren't holding.

Fingers crossed things improve but prepare well for rain and hope that all the sacrifices to the rain gods will be worth it.

rockterrain

Looks like the end of the week is showing some break in the bad weather although take met.ie long range forecasts at your own risk. Forever Young in dire straits with day trippers being turned away. Hope this doesn't follow suit but I'd have more confidence in the planning and preparation. I remember some years of Oxegen with similar levels of rain but they managed to keep the show on the road.

scruff monkey

If the weather stays like this during the week, I can see myself driving down and back each day.

4Ad

Hi all, what is the crowd capacity ?

Just think this time next week we will hopefully be having a drink and getting ready for great music and a bit of craic..

The Carlow weather lad on the radio said next Friday should be good, he couldn't say after that..fingers crossed

scruff monkey

It’s 10,000

https://laois.ie/forest-fest-2023/

traco

I might take a spin by early in the week as I may be down Limerick so not a major detour on the way home to have a nose.

traco

My situation has changed and now won't be able to make it. Gutted but what can you do. In A&E since 8pm last night and not looking like I'm going home any time soon. I'll live so it will be grand just a bit of a mess.

Two weekend camping tickets available if anyone is interested. I'll check out toutless and see how that works.

Thundercats Ho

That's a bollix altogether

sydthebeat

sorry to hear that @traco hope its not too serious

hopefully you can offload those tix without hassle.

sydthebeat

having a quick look at the weather for the weekend and its still unsure

YR is giving 6mm of rain for friday, to be wettest in the evening / night.

Accuweather says 2.8mm and dryer evening than afternoon.

MET has friday dry up to about 7pm

YR has saturday similar (6.8mm), with wettest afternoon and evening

Accu has saturday at 9mm rain throughout

MET has to wetter in the morning and evening and dry in the afternoon.

YR has sunday just a wetter version of saturday at 10mm rain, Accu has less rain for less time. MET has more rain than Saturday

as for ground conditions, wednesday and thursday is to be dry so that should make the camp sites decent to set up. there will be no problem at all with the festival grounds. Its on a height so water shouldn't gather, and the ground is very well drained.

the last time i saw James outdoors was at groove back in 2014, and it pissed rain then as well... but it didnt matter one jot to the crowd. i expect the very same on Friday :D

Thundercats Ho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120863022#Comment_120863022

Explain it to me like i'm an idiot (I am a little bit).

How much is 2.8mm, is it light rain?

Is 6mm spilling and 10mm absolutely pissing it down?

scruff monkey

Wikipedia to the rescue

• Light rain — when the precipitation rate is < 2.5 mm (0.098 in) per hour
• Moderate rain — when the precipitation rate is between 2.5 mm (0.098 in) – 7.6 mm (0.30 in) or 10 mm (0.39 in) per hour[108][109]
• Heavy rain — when the precipitation rate is > 7.6 mm (0.30 in) per hour,[108] or between 10 mm (0.39 in) and 50 mm (2.0 in) per hour[109]
• Violent rain — when the precipitation rate is > 50 mm (2.0 in) per hour[109]

Violent rain is a new one to me.

both rain coat and big poncho to be packed

sydthebeat

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120863104#Comment_120863104

the figures i gave are "whole day" figures, rather than per hour. It wont be a wash out, but they wont be sun showers either.

essentially, as scruff says, pack a decent raincoat / poncho.

hopefully saturday during the day we might get some sunshine

rockterrain

Good view of the rain belts here: https://www.met.ie/forecasts/atlantic-charts/precipitation-pressure

It's the one coming in Friday afternoon/evening that looks potentially most crippling. The rest should be manageable. Still a good degree of variance could be expected when more than three days out. Tomorrow's view should be fairly accurate.

Sorry to hear of your difficulties traco. There's more important things to life and no doubt Forest Fest will be back again next year (with hopefully better weather :)).

traco

Thanks guys. Just disappointed as I was looking forward to seeing so many of those guys in one hit.

bodhrandude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120863214#Comment_120863214

Body & Soul this year definitely came under 'Violent Rain' at times, the way it scattered Kneecap's audience in a matter of seconds during their encore was nuts.

thebusher

I see a couple of familiar names here from the old picnic threads :)

Roll on the weekend in Emo

Stillill42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120864614#Comment_120864614

Busher!! Long time no see! Hope you're keeping well.

bodhrandude

Would love to do this but with the no electronica thing, I like a bit of both, some raucous rock and roll and then some fudged out electronica for the later hours, but enjoy people.

thebusher

All good here. Looking forward to the weekend. Ran into Seatherun at Glasto last summer by chance :) Ended up on z stag pub crawl with Mucker in Waterford earlier in the year and also ran in to him in St Annes park at Paul Heaton!

Forest Fest has some line up. I knew there would be Teenager kickers about.

How you doing?

rubick

'Violent Rain' is also a song by James that was demo-ed on tour in 1989/90 for Gold Mother but never actually released.

Hope you're all well, I have just taken a look at the line-up and most of the acts we'd like to see are clashing in some manner. And there aren't many.

There's a fierce amount of filler on there to be quite honest. I'm sure we'll get our days in alright but I swear I will never complain about the EP line-up again. All about bringing our headphones and dancing round at the tent after 1am by the look of it.

Stillill42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120865510#Comment_120865510

Flying it Busher. No Irish festival for me this year, just trying to ward off the fomo. Great line up in Emo alright. If the weather makes a miraculous u turn, I might try to make it down for Suede. Enjoy it.

Thundercats Ho

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120865637#Comment_120865637

You'll be more than covered at ATN in a couple of weeks though Rubik!

Yea there is a good bit of filler there but more than enough to keep me going tbh.

I'm really looking forward to the weekend. Hopefully the rain pisses off..

rossie1977

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120865016#Comment_120865016

They tried it last year but obviously nobody was interested so they didn't bring it back

The age of the crowd this type of festival (forever young/night and day) attracts skews much much older than something like EP so there is no demand for dance music at 3am. I was at night and day festival last year and there was like 20 people in the dance music tent after the headliners finished at 1am

scruff monkey

For anyone planning on camping, check yer e-mails. Comms from the organisers

"The weekend is almost upon us and we are really looking forward to welcoming you to this years event. We have a stellar lineup as you know and with our two new additional stages, the Forest Fleadh stage and the Perfect Day stage we are going to have a blast.

The weather hasn't been the best, especially last weekend but we are glad to to say the ground for Forest Fest is in good nic with still further drying over the next few days.

Can you let us know the estimated day and time you are coming to the festival so we can be properly resourced for efficient transfers for you to the camping area?

Please fill in the form on this page <snip>

The campsites will have food vendors available throughout the weekend but you can also book your breakfast in Batoni's restaurant in Emo village which will be served from 8am -11am on Friday and 9am -11.30am on Saturday. Booking also available outside of those times for the set menu".

rubick

Reckon this is to gage numbers for the shuttle coach? Can't see us being there before 3pm on Friday.

scruff monkey

Would make sense, trying to get an idea as to when peak traffic will be.

I'm undecided, have tent and gear ready to rock but have the offer of a couch nearby with a family member who is also heading so might leave it till tomorrow night/thursday before making a decision on to camp or not.

rockterrain

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120736898#Comment_120736898

Looks like 8 euro a pop each way. Not cheap compared to other festivals but cest la vie.

mp3ireland2

53.081411, -7.197992 as the car park

https://goo.gl/maps/uJ85ARE6z7aGgiEq7

That's what we were given as the location of the car park

scruff monkey

New missive from the organisers just dropped, with my suspicious hat on, the ground is not as ok as they're saying it is.

”Dear Forest Fest Fans

 Preparations are almost complete, and we are looking forward to welcoming you all this weekend for Forest Fest 2. Ground conditions are good with the site coming together nicely and still some drying to take place over the next couple of days. 

In the interest of delivering the best possible experience for all our Campers and Glampers we have decided not to open our Tent Campsite and Glampsite until Friday morning 9am. 

Campervans and Caravans can proceed on Thursday as normal with those sites opening at 4pm. 

Please take note again that Tent Campers and Glampers are not to come on Thursday as previously indicated but can arrive Friday 9am. This is simply an extra measure to ensure you have the best possible weekend and we do apologise for the late notice.”

rossie1977

If anyone staying in Portlaoise, Portarlington or Mountmellick

https://martleys.com/wp-content/uploads/Forest-Fest-2023-Final-Website-1024x1024.png

funnyname

Heading on Friday afternoon with the campervan but have to leave on Sunday evening, do you think they'll have tractors in place to help if conditions deteriorate as the forecast isn't looking great atm?

rockterrain

Shocking how many festivals are a wash out in mid so called summer. Forever Young, Body and Soul, now this. Hope some of the tent acts are good and it's possible to get in lol.

Penfailed

I'll be arriving in the campervan on Friday evening. The latest forecast I've seen has Friday good...but Saturday and Sunday...not so much.

covey09

We're heading down tomorrow in the Camper, will let ye know how we get on.

KanyeSouthEast

Overview: Rather unsettled with showers or longer spells of rain at times.

rubick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120870035#Comment_120870035

I 100% read this as the ground is fucked.

bodhrandude

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120871341#Comment_120871341

Giving Body & Soul their dues the weather leading up to the build was gorgeous its just unfortunate that it coincided with a sprinkling of thunder storms, when the sun shone it was hot and there was decent enough dry spells in-between even BTP had a wet Friday too.

scruff monkey

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120872734#Comment_120872734

Yeah, pretty certain that I’m gonna take that couch bed offfer from the cousin.

sydthebeat

Yeah the particular field given over to tents is just behind a previously wooded area, which is a sure sign of wet land.

I might take a trip along the road tomorrow to suss it out

scruff monkey

There’s a copy of Monacos second album on flea bay for about 40 yo-yos, seriously tempted.

I plan on being up close and centre for hooky on Friday.

rubick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120873112#Comment_120873112

I cannot believe they've scheduled an overlap with James there.