ska invita
back on the other side
#BurnTheTents
Festivals now feel like a cross between a spa and a gastropub...
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Dr. Furface
One small step for me
They're now a big revenue source for cash-strapped local councils innit
ska invita
back on the other side
A silver lining imo
Elpenor
a clown’s heart and a mandolin
Blimey - despite living their 20 years I only went once in 2009 but it’s changed a lot since thenTrue, but then there's also the evolution of some of the already established festivals has IMO turned them into these super sanitized, TV friendly, safe play areas which was everything I stood against when I went to festivals back in the 90s.
E.g. look at Reading now, with all those bits of crowd segregated into sheep pens with video screens larger than the actual stage. Talk about irony.
PR1Berske
Alligator in chains by the park gates.
What fascinates me about discussions of events and institutions which have "passed their zenith" is why so many examples can be traced to around the mid-2000s. I remember hearing a statement of something like 'the Internet killed fashions" and you could extend that to political statesmen, decent pubs, festivals etc. It's very lazy and broad brush, I concede. Though if you look back at the height of analogue festivals in the 90s, whether that's measured by bands or drugs or the general atmosphere, and then look at the digital/multi-media versions today, there has to be some truth in it.
Monkeygrinder's Organ
Dodgy geezer swilling vapid lager
PR1Berske
Alligator in chains by the park gates.
That'll always be a factor, undeniably. But only a factor, I'd argue. We're the first 40-somethings who are deep within a digital society who lived through analogue experiences too, and that must be significant in why we see things the way we do.Mmm, isn't that just 'people in 40s think things were better when they were 20'?
I've no doubt that 60-somethings who went to gigs before us 40-somethings were born have some views of 'the way things used to be: that fit into the same Venn diagram. However, the sheer rate of change and gulf of change between analogue and digital youth culture is really unlike anything previous generations have experienced.
hiccup
King of the Vagabonds
Are you going to Junction 2 this year? I'm going on the Saturday, much looking forward to it. Don't even care that I'll be one of the oldest people there.
Crispy
The following psytrance is baṉned: All
yep, got a Saturday ticket
HoratioCuthbert
Deep seated inconsequence
Orcadian youths "hold my beer". Literally.
HoratioCuthbert
Deep seated inconsequence
I can believe it! The youth at our local folk festival were all on uppers.
seeformiles
Lost in the wood
As soon as festivals introduced “glamping” and money buying front row seats, it died for me. I liked the egalitarian spirit of earlier events where money couldn’t buy a more privileged experience but, as they all seem to be at it now, balls to the lot of them (although a few still have a good spirit). I’ll enjoy my memories of what I think was a better time 
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
The Reading Festival is now like Magaluf by the M4
The posturing of Brandon Flowers from The Killers was wasted on the festival's young crowd
www.telegraph.co.uk
A fairly unsurprising review of reading in the Telegraph. Paints pretty much the picture I imagined. It's a far cry from the golden era of the early to mid-90s.
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
I was also at All Points East on Friday - another thing that is indisputable these days is the amount of corporate takeover of everything. It's like some sort of freshers fair with the amount of freebies you could get. American Express, Coke Zero, Veuling, L'Oreal, Jinro... all giving away various tat in exchange for your attention. And of course the whole event is card only (discount for Amex), and VIP 'experiences' a plenty for a hefty price. There's literally nothing of interest to browse or buy, it's just food, drink, and corporate 'areas' to lounge about and play a game to win a bum bag or something.
beesonthewhatnow
going deaf for a living
A lot of this is driven by skyrocketing production costs. Punters expectations in terms of sound, video, lighting etc are way higher nowadays, as well as overall site facilities. It all needs to be paid for and corporates are more than happy to step up in exchange for the access they get.
editor
hiraethified
Mmm, isn't that just 'people in 40s think things were better when they were 20'?
Almost every element of the Glastonbury experience in the 80s/90s was totally different to the globalised, livestreamed, brand endorsed, mainstream festival of today. I preferred it, but others may not, but I don't think age is the reason. I liked it when it was more chaotic and rougher at the edges and more populated by people on the fringes of society.
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krtek a houby
Merry Xmas!
This.Mmm, isn't that just 'people in 40s think things were better when they were 20'?
Nostalgia seems to be part of the culture wars in some corners. Miss the good old days when people could be sentimental without getting all boomer/Gen X/Millennial about it.
Gromit
International Man of Misery
Remember when we were just starting out, had little money so made do with just a tiny thin mattress on the floor and no heating?Mmm, isn't that just 'people in 40s think things were better when they were 20'?
Yh things were better back then.
Shall we ditch our king's sized bed with Tempur mattress and buy an old thin mattress and turn off the heating for the weekend. Relive old times.
Fuck off, are you mad.
editor
hiraethified
I don't think it's all about 'nostalgia' to prefer festivals like the Deptford Free Festival to the security patrolled, bag-searching, corporate-branded, VIP-area stuffed events of today.
I don't know anyone who thinks the Lambeth Country Show - now with booze bans, friskdowns and a fuck off wall cutting off the park - is better now.
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
It's ironic really because loads of people were leaving early because The Strokes had awful sound.
TBH I don't bemoan the improvements in some areas e.g. toilets, but also I don't really care for a lot of stuff like graphics heavy, video tastic shows which look more like they're for a TV audience than anything else. Personally I don't really want want massive LED screens behind every band displaying kaleidoscopic nonsense and cartoon shite all the time (guns n roses have gone in for this big time and its terrible). I just want to watch the band, LIVE.
It seems with some artists the production and staging is more important than the content. Even on the video screens a lot of the production crew can't help but fuck around with the video feed and make it look all grainy and edgy like that makes it so much more enjoyable.
editor
hiraethified
Thing is, you can still have decent festivals with good bands, great sound and clean loos but without the corporate takeover.
PR1Berske
Alligator in chains by the park gates.
Nostalgia does have a place in this, anyone who is 40+ will know that feeling of looking back with remorse and regret at time spent, time lost.
But editor is right to point out that some things really are worse now that a Festival is no longer a gathering of souls and more a conference of a specifically targeted audience. Edinburgh Fringe feedback is clearly in the same area, with the constant professional-ism and the connected rise in costs.
I heard a few years ago that the Internet era "killed fashion" because there was no longer defined eras, and though that might not be strictly true, it's certainly done serious damage to youth culture.
But editor is right to point out that some things really are worse now that a Festival is no longer a gathering of souls and more a conference of a specifically targeted audience. Edinburgh Fringe feedback is clearly in the same area, with the constant professional-ism and the connected rise in costs.
I heard a few years ago that the Internet era "killed fashion" because there was no longer defined eras, and though that might not be strictly true, it's certainly done serious damage to youth culture.
I do still go to and enjoy festivals, but they're a long, long way away from my first experiences at the Albion Fayres between 1978-82, Rougham and similar.
For us, it was really nothing, whatsoever, to do with who was playing - no one of any note, open mic maybe, can't recall. And I'm not even sure if there actually were any loos, must have been, but meh. All about meeting people who travelled from festival to festival, never met these kind of people before, talking bollox, dodgy hot knives in old hippies tents, dealers scales hanging outside where you could buy your Red Leb, great teen fun, counter culture stuff
Years pass, so I do like a clean loo and a decent sound system now, but, yes, festivals, then and now, two very different experiences.
skyscraper101
0891 50 50 50
Can't even have a campfire at Reading these days. That was also half the fun, swigging a few cans and having a smoke round the fire at the end of the day. Load of bollocks.
but who pays for it? no corporate = much more expensive tickets, presumably, to pay for the bands.
glastonbury gets away with paying much lower fees, the others can't.
editor
hiraethified
Have you ever been to Beautiful Days festival? Or Endorse It (when it was going)?
'when it was going' might be pertinent!
but no, don't know those. looking at Beautiful Days line-up, there are perhaps fewer big names overall so maybe lower costs overall?
I am very much in favour of old style, rough round the edges proper festivals by the way, just playing devils advocate for why so many have gone the way they have
but no, don't know those. looking at Beautiful Days line-up, there are perhaps fewer big names overall so maybe lower costs overall?
I am very much in favour of old style, rough round the edges proper festivals by the way, just playing devils advocate for why so many have gone the way they have
beesonthewhatnow
going deaf for a living
It's possible, but nowhere near as easy as it once was, especially if you want to keep ticket prices at a reasonable level.
