With headliners like Kings of Leon and Kasabian, you would think that this festival couldn't get much better... well it doesn't stop there.
Acts like Calvin Harris, Plan B, Florence and the Machine, Scouting for Girls and the Prodigy just add to the awesomeness that is V Festival!
If you're going then you have much to look forward to, if you've been you know how great it is, the atmosphere created by thousands of music and dance hungry fans alone can tell you, this is an amazing place to be!
I will be at V Festival Hylands Park this year, and I will be taking photos and maybe the odd video here and there, when I get back from it, expect a nice long rant about how exciting it was.
Want a chance to win some tickets to V Festival?
Just head over to this address and try your luck.
Tickets should be arriving in the next few days for those going, and I can tell that this year is going to one to remember.
If anyone else going would like to write about it and have it posted on this blog, write it out and send it to my email, in my contacts page. Be sure to tell me your name and where you're from.
See you all there!
Wednesday, 11 August 2010
Tuesday, 10 August 2010
Well the thought was nice
Reading Festival, one of the best festivals around, especially one of the best in the UK.
All those who have bought tickets before know about the mad rush online to order them, so getting them is an issue of its own.
So imagine how happy i was when my girlfriend had told me about getting tickets in the pre-sale last year a little after the festival.
I was a very happy man when i found out about the acts playing this year, then it hit me... 'i still need to pay for the ticket'
What we had decided on was that my girlfriend's mum would buy them and i would pay her back, of course i pushed this back as far as possible, without even noticing, the deadline was closing in on me, 'i need £185 in a few weeks time AHHHHH!!!!' the pressure to pay for something that previously i have had for free was stressful, i don't take the free festivals for granted, i truly appreciate the kindness and generosity in being asked to go to these events.
Even though i was stressed and panicking about raising the money needed, i was still happy with paying for it, its an amazing experience and i would love to see the bands.
I had been saving money since around June, £70 done, however, it came to the point where i was fully aware that i could not afford this, even if i could raise the £185 for the ticket, i would still need money for food and drink while we were there.
The day came that my girlfriend and i had agreed to sell them, £200 each, a nice profit for us, and not to steep for people to want to ignore our offer.
Just yesterday we did manage to sell the tickets, now we just need to wait for them to arrive to hand them over, this we be massively upsetting moment i can tell.
I felt the need to share this with you not only because its been a while since i last updated, (which i apologize for) but also because there is a good festival tip in the story... HAVE MONEY!
Now I'm not saying if you have little money don't go, by all means do, but watch how much you have.
And I'm also hoping somebody would be nice and say "aww i feel bad for this person, here you go, have some tickets"
That'll be the day huh.
All those who have bought tickets before know about the mad rush online to order them, so getting them is an issue of its own.
So imagine how happy i was when my girlfriend had told me about getting tickets in the pre-sale last year a little after the festival.
I was a very happy man when i found out about the acts playing this year, then it hit me... 'i still need to pay for the ticket'
What we had decided on was that my girlfriend's mum would buy them and i would pay her back, of course i pushed this back as far as possible, without even noticing, the deadline was closing in on me, 'i need £185 in a few weeks time AHHHHH!!!!' the pressure to pay for something that previously i have had for free was stressful, i don't take the free festivals for granted, i truly appreciate the kindness and generosity in being asked to go to these events.
Even though i was stressed and panicking about raising the money needed, i was still happy with paying for it, its an amazing experience and i would love to see the bands.
I had been saving money since around June, £70 done, however, it came to the point where i was fully aware that i could not afford this, even if i could raise the £185 for the ticket, i would still need money for food and drink while we were there.
The day came that my girlfriend and i had agreed to sell them, £200 each, a nice profit for us, and not to steep for people to want to ignore our offer.
Just yesterday we did manage to sell the tickets, now we just need to wait for them to arrive to hand them over, this we be massively upsetting moment i can tell.
I felt the need to share this with you not only because its been a while since i last updated, (which i apologize for) but also because there is a good festival tip in the story... HAVE MONEY!
Now I'm not saying if you have little money don't go, by all means do, but watch how much you have.
And I'm also hoping somebody would be nice and say "aww i feel bad for this person, here you go, have some tickets"
That'll be the day huh.
Thursday, 8 July 2010
Hell at the festival
I think all festival goers would agree with me when I say, THE PORTALOOS ARE DISGUSTING!
Portable toilets, or a portaloo, are the cheapest way to handle the toilet situation at a festival, but of course, there is a reason they are so cheap...
To avoid running into a box full of, well, shit, if you can wait till the arena is open and don't mind passing the first toilets you see, you'll be happy to find a clean... clean enough bunch of toilets.
There are cleaners and they clean the loos everyday, however the only toilets you can almost guarantee to be clean and unused (that day) would be the ones furthest from the entrance.
This is about as clean as they get, which granted, is pretty clean, but give it an hour...
Portable toilets, or a portaloo, are the cheapest way to handle the toilet situation at a festival, but of course, there is a reason they are so cheap...
To avoid running into a box full of, well, shit, if you can wait till the arena is open and don't mind passing the first toilets you see, you'll be happy to find a clean... clean enough bunch of toilets.
There are cleaners and they clean the loos everyday, however the only toilets you can almost guarantee to be clean and unused (that day) would be the ones furthest from the entrance.
This is about as clean as they get, which granted, is pretty clean, but give it an hour...
However, if all else fails, do your business in a cup...
not that sort of cup, this sort:
Wednesday, 16 June 2010
From A to B... to C to D.
Traveling to and from festivals can vary massively, throughout this post I'll talk you through my experience of traveling between the Isle of Wight Festival and then attempt to tell you the pros and cons of festival travel.
Starting off with how i got there.
On the Thursday before the festival my girlfriend and I were driven from Brighton to Portsmouth by my mum to begin the adventure towards The Isle of Wight Festival. This journey took around an hour and a half to reach the ferry port (for those who may go to this festival, or just a trip to the island, be sure to follow the correct ferry signs, they can be difficult to see some times), and this was the easy part.
We then had to walk to the ferry, which sounds fine, but while carrying all the camping equipment, cloths and food, a 5 minute walk felt like an hour, after a surprisingly short ferry trip we arrived at the Isle of Wight Ryde port, which is located at the end of a pier, the walk along the pier to make it to land was such a horrible experience, being weighed down with everything and being pounded with rain.
Finally we reached the end after around 15 minutes of dragging our possessions, gladly though, the local bus company had set up a rout directly to the festival, although costing £5 for a service that would normally cost around £1.50, it was a delight to take off our belongings and sit down for a bit.
The bus journey took 45 minutes, however this could vary depending on traffic towards the festival.
Once we arrived, rain still pouring, we made our way to the camp sites. Not ever coming to this festival before we didn't know where the best place was to camp or where there might be spaces. So after questioning a steward we heard there were a few spaces left in a site called Purple Haze, this was a LONG way away, but not realizing it we made our way towards the big purple signs. Because of the rain there were large amounts of mud to sludge through, this slowed everyone down, making my already depressed mood worsen. We finally got to a small opening within other tents and set ours up, still raining, still muddy, still depressed, however we had made it, hours later, now it was time to just enjoy the festival.
On the way back, we had less to carry due to consuming a lot of the food and drink and thankfully it wasn't raining and the sun was shining, we headed towards the bus station that had been set up for all the festival goers, getting close we noticed a queue, but this wasn't any ordinary 5 person queue, this was the entire festival all trying to pack themselves onto very few buses, we joined the back of the queue and had to wait around 45 minutes before even getting close to the buses, finally though we did get to the station and managed to get on a nice comfy coach while everyone else had to settle with old uncomfortable buses. An hour later we arrived back at the pier, walking back along the pier towards the ferry port my girlfriend and I were stunned at how quick it seemed, however this then turned to disappointment as we once again joined the back of a long queue, this time to get a ferry, this queue felt fast to me as it was such a nice day and there was less to carry, I was in good enough a mood not to mind. We boarded the ferry after around 50 minutes of cuing and were now heading back to Portsmouth, this trip once again seemed surprisingly short and arrived back on mainland UK on Monday. We had planed to be picked up later that day by my girlfriends parents, so we roamed around Portsmouth for a while until we were collected.
The upsides and downsides to this travel experience were strangely similar for me, the walking through the mud to find a camping spot not only was an experience to avoid but for me, I found it exciting, and the idea that all these people would go through this to see some of there favorite bands is a testament to how great they really are.
If you are going to a festival be sure to plan you journey carefully, your first day could easily become a terror if you have to queue for hours or if you have to pay out more then you thought.
In an ideal world, what you want to do is drive to the festival and park there, this saves a lot of changes of buses or trains and while you're parked up you can leave your heavier item in your car while you hunt around for a camping spot.
If you need any more information about traveling to and from festivals don't hesitate to contact me.
Starting off with how i got there.
On the Thursday before the festival my girlfriend and I were driven from Brighton to Portsmouth by my mum to begin the adventure towards The Isle of Wight Festival. This journey took around an hour and a half to reach the ferry port (for those who may go to this festival, or just a trip to the island, be sure to follow the correct ferry signs, they can be difficult to see some times), and this was the easy part.
We then had to walk to the ferry, which sounds fine, but while carrying all the camping equipment, cloths and food, a 5 minute walk felt like an hour, after a surprisingly short ferry trip we arrived at the Isle of Wight Ryde port, which is located at the end of a pier, the walk along the pier to make it to land was such a horrible experience, being weighed down with everything and being pounded with rain.
Finally we reached the end after around 15 minutes of dragging our possessions, gladly though, the local bus company had set up a rout directly to the festival, although costing £5 for a service that would normally cost around £1.50, it was a delight to take off our belongings and sit down for a bit.
The bus journey took 45 minutes, however this could vary depending on traffic towards the festival.
Once we arrived, rain still pouring, we made our way to the camp sites. Not ever coming to this festival before we didn't know where the best place was to camp or where there might be spaces. So after questioning a steward we heard there were a few spaces left in a site called Purple Haze, this was a LONG way away, but not realizing it we made our way towards the big purple signs. Because of the rain there were large amounts of mud to sludge through, this slowed everyone down, making my already depressed mood worsen. We finally got to a small opening within other tents and set ours up, still raining, still muddy, still depressed, however we had made it, hours later, now it was time to just enjoy the festival.
On the way back, we had less to carry due to consuming a lot of the food and drink and thankfully it wasn't raining and the sun was shining, we headed towards the bus station that had been set up for all the festival goers, getting close we noticed a queue, but this wasn't any ordinary 5 person queue, this was the entire festival all trying to pack themselves onto very few buses, we joined the back of the queue and had to wait around 45 minutes before even getting close to the buses, finally though we did get to the station and managed to get on a nice comfy coach while everyone else had to settle with old uncomfortable buses. An hour later we arrived back at the pier, walking back along the pier towards the ferry port my girlfriend and I were stunned at how quick it seemed, however this then turned to disappointment as we once again joined the back of a long queue, this time to get a ferry, this queue felt fast to me as it was such a nice day and there was less to carry, I was in good enough a mood not to mind. We boarded the ferry after around 50 minutes of cuing and were now heading back to Portsmouth, this trip once again seemed surprisingly short and arrived back on mainland UK on Monday. We had planed to be picked up later that day by my girlfriends parents, so we roamed around Portsmouth for a while until we were collected.
The upsides and downsides to this travel experience were strangely similar for me, the walking through the mud to find a camping spot not only was an experience to avoid but for me, I found it exciting, and the idea that all these people would go through this to see some of there favorite bands is a testament to how great they really are.
If you are going to a festival be sure to plan you journey carefully, your first day could easily become a terror if you have to queue for hours or if you have to pay out more then you thought.
In an ideal world, what you want to do is drive to the festival and park there, this saves a lot of changes of buses or trains and while you're parked up you can leave your heavier item in your car while you hunt around for a camping spot.
If you need any more information about traveling to and from festivals don't hesitate to contact me.
The begining of it all
Hello, my name is Joe, and I'll be your guide to the festival world.
After going to my first music festival last year (2009) I couldn't get enough of it, and went to a few more. It wasn't long after I realized there weren't many, if not any, websites and blogs to do with all aspects of festivals.
So i have taken it upon myself to bring as much information as possible such as traveling, camping, music, food and experiences, to the internet world, to give you an insight into it all.
To begin with, soon, I will be talking about Traveling to and from festivals.
This is me and my girlfriend Kat at the Isle of Wight Festival 2010.
Apologies in advance for incorrect grammar, I do try my best but I'm sure some grammar issues could pop through... in fact, you could bet on it.
Also sorry if there is a lack of blogs for a while.
After going to my first music festival last year (2009) I couldn't get enough of it, and went to a few more. It wasn't long after I realized there weren't many, if not any, websites and blogs to do with all aspects of festivals.
So i have taken it upon myself to bring as much information as possible such as traveling, camping, music, food and experiences, to the internet world, to give you an insight into it all.
To begin with, soon, I will be talking about Traveling to and from festivals.
This is me and my girlfriend Kat at the Isle of Wight Festival 2010.
Apologies in advance for incorrect grammar, I do try my best but I'm sure some grammar issues could pop through... in fact, you could bet on it.
Also sorry if there is a lack of blogs for a while.
