Festivals

[tiberius]

Hello there,

I was wondering what festivals you guys have been to and what they are
like. I'm based in the UK and I've only been to UK festivals.

I've been to 3 festival destinations.

Glastonbury is a massive and diverse festival and its my favourite by a mile.
I went this year and last year. There are atleast 12 stages in various sizes from stadium to bar sized and very diverse styles of music. There is tons
of stuff to do besides the music and its impossible to get bored. There are
people of all ages at this festival even babies in prams.

Leeds/Reading is my second favourite. Its a lot more focussed on rock music
but is not so much fun as Glasto. There age group is predominantly 17-25
and there are sometimes problems with the security people causing tension.
There was a riot last time I wa there.

The V Festival. This is plain dreadful. The most commercial money grabbing
endeavour I've been to. Great lineup but squashed into only 2 days leaves
little chance to see all the acts you'd like to. I wouldn't go to this one if I
had a free ticket.

I'm thinking of going to some smaller festivals like the Green Man.

[mindundermatter]

Well over here stateside, I've been to two. The first was Bonnaroo a few years ago in Manchester, TN. It's essentially a four day hippie gathering, but it has diversified from folk and psychedelic rock-based to include hip-hop, metal, and comedy acts as well. It's fun, but I don't know if I'd do it again. After the second day, I was exhausted and as a result didn't end up seeing half the bands I wanted to.

The other one is Norman Music Festival in Norman, OK. This year was it's second year, and it's completely free. They had over 90 bands play in one day, and it is primarily indie rock.

I've never been, but I hear Lollapalooza is a good one too.

[cakewalkgg]

Ive played a couple.. Powermad fest in Baltimore in 99, was pretty cool. Was an invite only type of gig that was supposed to be exclusive to industry folks I recall. Lots of booths.. many bands over 3 days, but it seemed like there was only about 5 slots that were worth it on friday and saturday nights. We had one of them thankfully.
We played another in california called november to dismember in 2001.. 2 aircraft hangers.. one was split in half with a curtain and had 2 stages.. the other was huge and empty. It sucked.. the soundguy was passed out and the stagehand that was awake couldnt figure out how to mike all the instuments and get the keyboards into the mix.. was a disaster.. 32 hrs on the road, for 30 minutes of misery onstage

The first festival went so well that it effectively got the gears turning for us to land a record deal with metalblade records.. the 2nd one was so bad (and metalblade reps were present) that it effectively ended the the band.. and the deal.

So I'd say they are officially "hit and miss"

I know your talking about which one are best to attend, but since I have a couple smaller "festival" experiences I thought I'd share them

[brandondrury]

The only festival I've ever done was Woodstock 1999 back when I was 19. It was a lot of fun. Pretty much everything you saw on TV was how it was, I guess.

Brandon