Download festival - appalling logistics/transport. A rant

[Jam]

Not to mention the amount of guys who just got their nob out and had a slash in full view of everyone. And anyone who throws anything anywhere with piss in it should be set on fire.

We were in the Snake Pit for Metallica and this guy just dropped his trousers and went to have a slash against the walkway that the band were going to be walking on. Security ran over, grabbed him and shouted "FOR GODS SAKE MAN THERE ARE KIDS IN HERE" and pretty much told him to put it away and walk to the toilets.

[TimR]

Festivals have changed. In '88 80,000 people went to Donnington, in '89 107,000. It was a one day event. It took us 2 hours then to get out of the car park. There were hundreds of coaches though they came from all over the UK. I don't remember many kids, I don't remember many people over 30 either. Mainly people between 18 and 30.
The mud both years was bad and most of us will remember the tragedy in '89.
Too big, too expensive, too wide a demographic and too long.

[arthurhenry]

[quote name='TimR' timestamp='1339451215' post='1688823']
Festivals have changed. In '88 80,000 people went to Donnington, in '89 107,000. It was a one day event. It took us 2 hours then to get out of the car park. There were hundreds of coaches though they came from all over the UK. I don't remember many kids, I don't remember many people over 30 either. Mainly people between 18 and 30.
The mud both years was bad and most of us will remember the tragedy in '89.
Too big, too expensive, too wide a demographic and too long.
[/quote]

Good points. The tragedy was in '88. No Donington in '89 as a result and I believe numbers were restricted to 70,000 or fewer in 1990.

[Jam]

I couldn't believe it on the Sunday. The Fri/Sat weren't too bad but the Sunday was unbelievable, there was hardly any room to move, it definitely felt like there were too many people and it was a bit unsafe.

[bluesparky]

I spent all week working at Download and finally arrived home last night - utterly exhausted and wiped out.
As far as the delayed opening on Friday goes, we were on site from last Monday and the grounds were wet but passable and weren't too bad.
The weather was terrible all week and the torrential downpour on Thursday night and early Friday morning was incredible.
The ground on the slope in front of the main stage changed from being wet and a bit muddy to being up to knee deep mud and unwalkable, with the arena being on a slope the conditions obviously got worse as you got closer to the stage.
It was obvious that something had to be done to sort this out and it was a shame that the delayed opening meant that bands had to be cut.
This decision had nothing to do with me, but it did me that myself and my crew had a tiny bit of borrowed time to ensure that we were more than ready for the start of the festival as the weather had us on the backfoot since we started on the Tuesday.
I spend most of my summers either working on festivals or touring open air venues and it'd been a long time since I've had to work in conditions that were that bad.
We were in fact evacuated from the main stage on the Wednesday thanks to the weather being so bad and we had some very clever structural engineers with lots of pens in their top pockets keeping an eye on things to make sure everything and everyone was safe.

I have no idea about how life is on the other side of the stage - i.e. i didn't venture past the barrier once all week and spent all of my time on stage or at FOH so I can't comment on decisions, logistics, parking, vendors, pricing, camping or facilities etc and I'm in no way responsible for any of the above.

We were all genuinely surprised to see how many people still came. I know that tickets are expensive but we had such a tough and miserable time working long days exposed to such extremes of weather we seriously thought that people would say "sod that, I can't be bothered to go stay / camp / stay outside in weather like this" and simply not go.

Having Prodigy was an interesting choice for a headliner on the Friday and Chase and Status confused me more - I do like Prodigy, I'd not really heard of C&S but I wasn't sure if they were quite right for download. Having said that, Pendulum headlined Stage 2 last year and seemed to go down well.

Seeing Tenacious D on the saturday was just the moral booster I needed. I did have tickets to see them on Tuesday at Brixton (about 2 miles from my house) and they certainly got the crowd going too.
I don't care if they're deemed to be a novelty or comedy act - they went down a storm and the arena was packed when they were on,

Biffy seemed to be an odd choice too. I know that Metallica themselves invited them to play so it'd be tough to turn that down. They played a tight set and were very good but the crowd's atmosphere certainly changed from raucous and energy filled to simply head nodding and the occasional bounce when they played some of their heavier stuff.
I wouldn't be surprised to find out that most people who were watching them were simply getting themselves into a decent place ready for Metallica.

The sun eventually coming out was another moral booster - but it did mean we could then crack on with fixing and replacing broken gear which resulted in me spending most of the changeovers in the air, hence me now being bloody knackered!

Also, I've met a LOT of famous people through my work over the years but having my photo taken with 836 was an honour. He had to be given a second hi-viz vest so he could make it out each night without being mobbed for photos and autographs, he's already looking forward to next year and is slightly bemused by it all.

[woodyratm]

The travel was awful. We left after sabbath to head to a hotel in sheffield before before driving back to Aberdeen. (Great idea i might add)

We were in the south car park and just couldnt move. Seriously how hard is it to let one car out, move forward, person behind lets another out - keeps traffic moving.
Not to mention a dick in a green pug 206 and white audi pissed me off. Total douche.

Had a great time though - even with the ding weather. Wednesday was insane to get there, we ended up in White which was a bit of a blessing since we were meant to be in black which got totally waterlogged/mudlogged etc.

Loved The Prodigy, Was suitably impressed with Metallica, Blown away by Refused and fairly amused by Sabbath (and Ozzy's lack of timing with the crowd parts!)
And I will never look at deep heat again.... also casually raving at the dog house when we couldnt get in was so much fun.

I had a great time, Don't think I'll be there next year - said for years that I would stop after it cost £200+. And If I do go, I'm heading to a hotel. Getting too old for this camping stuff

[MacDaddy]

[quote name='WalMan' timestamp='1339403693' post='1687810']
My download experience....I went and saw the Little Angels Download Warmup gig @ The Wedgewood rooms. Top night & I was back to the car and on the road in 5 mins
[/quote]
don't remember seeing you there! Truly awesome gig.

[MacDaddy]

[quote name='amnesia' timestamp='1339399015' post='1687762']
the festival has lost its way somewhat.
[/quote]

i think this happened when they started to include dance music.

[yorks5stringer]

Poor toilets and delays getting in and out at a Festival...NSS?

Edited June 12, 2012 by yorks5stringer

[Maverick]

This makes interesting reading. I go on the Download forums (despite not having been to the festival in 5 years, but it's a decent forum) and most of the reaction over there is pretty positive to how they coped with the conditions. Obviously a lot of people on there are the big fanboy types (although some are quite the opposite also) so I'd wonder how many people who were at the fest overall share the views of this thread or the views coming out over there.

FWIW, I'm off to Graspop in 9 days. Been twice before and love it. Much friendlier and better laid out than Download was IME (as was Sonisphere also, shame they cocked that up this year). Driving via some of the trappist breweries on the way there and back to pick up a few crates to bring home as well. Should be a fun weekend .

[Clarky]

[quote name='yorks5stringer' timestamp='1339511992' post='1689590']
Poor toilets and delays getting in and out at a Festival...NSS?
[/quote]
The point of my OP was that the organisation of Download was (in my eyes) dramatically worse than the Reading and Sonisphere festivals I attended last year. Your 'NSS' comment was uncalled for but, whatever, its the internet

[Gust0o]

Haha, I suspect I'll just be echoing some of the above.

Getting in on Friday was fine. Pretty much just drove up and parked up - some slight worries about how the field was cutting up, but all fine. I know other festivals use chain links or some other form of temporary road surface, and that might be a tip for Download. If the sh*t weather had continued beyond Friday they would have been totally f***ed come the Sunday.

We'd - perhaps wisely - opted for family camping. I'll be doing that again - not that it's an less boozy, but it's a whole lot more friendly; and that campsite was pretty much pristine compared to some of the others. Plenty of banter; plenty of shared beers; and, being on a hill, we kept pretty dry.

Getting into the arena was the first issue we encountered. Just masses of people milling about. I don't blame the decision, it was obviously made in good faith and common sense - but there was a complete lack of communication to the crowd. The first we really knew came from a steward making some jokes as he tried to get past. Later in the day, a few more lagers, they could well have had some issues.

Getting out was sllloooowww... but not as ssslllllllllllooooooooooowwwwwwwww as we'd reckoned on. Thank f*** for the sun drying out the ground some, or Sunday night would have been a disaster. Took us an hour and a half to clear the car park, and thereafter was plain sailing.

Overall, they were pretty lax - sh*t comms; no signage; right hand wondering where the left had gone to. As I said, if you're going to let even more people come in and ply them with booze, get your sh*t together for managing them.

That said, it was a great festival - good atmosphere throughout. I thought Steel Panther were the highlight, for a needed pep on Saturday afternoon; and we had some comedy moments as Dive Bella Dive took too long going through the media hoops with their manager and making sure they'd smeared [i]just enough[/i] mud on to look suitably rock and roll... only to get both barrels and some pint glasses from the crowd, who instantly walked off and left them hanging. Such occasions are what you make of them, and I think we made the best of it

Also, not being funny - but, in my experience, you get a better quality of punter at some of the rock festivals. I've had to put my fist through people at both Leeds and Reading, previously; none of that here. Typified by the moment a dozen of us, total strangers in our little groups, decided to club together to go "pikey fishing" with an empty pint glass and some string... managed to land a few of the collectors

Loved it. Would do it again. But they can't organise for sh*t

[Roland Rock]

What's NSS? I googled it but couldn't find anything relevant

[Len_derby]

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1339513031' post='1689609']
What's NSS? I googled it but couldn't find anything relevant
[/quote]

No S*** Sherlock

[Roland Rock]

I can usually find the meaning of forum acronyms by googling them, so I'm guessing this isn't one of those. Still none the wiser, but thanks for the input Len.

[Len_derby]

[quote name='Roland Rock' timestamp='1339513344' post='1689619']
I can usually find the meaning of forum acronyms by googling them, so I'm guessing this isn't one of those. Still none the wiser, but thanks for the input Len.
[/quote]

It's used as a sarcastic response to what is considered as 'stating the obvious'. I heard it used by Americans when I was working for BASF. Don't know the origin though. Sounds like the sort of thing a character in Catch-22 would say.

[WalMan]

[quote name='MacDaddy' timestamp='1339511529' post='1689579']
don't remember seeing you there! Truly awesome gig.
[/quote]Ah shame. MrsW & I were about 4 back in the middle.

Yes indeedy. Top night, and looking at the above tales of woe just goes to confirm that I'll take a small sweaty club over a p155 filled field or enormodrome any day Roll on The Tubes in July

The only outdoor gig I have ever been to was in Milton Keynes years back for Bon Jovi, Billy Idol, Little Angels & Manic Street Preachers (IIRC) and that only because I got the offer of a cheap ticket on the day when a mate dropped out sick.

[Roland Rock]

Doh! I thought you were being unhelpful and sarcastic because I didn't know the meaning. I stupidly didn't get that you were giving me the answer.
Thanks/sorry

Anyway - back to Download..

Edited June 12, 2012 by Roland Rock

[ashevans09]

[quote name='throwoff' timestamp='1339404199' post='1687819']
More and more people on site every year
[/quote]

And there's the issue.

I've been to the majority of the Downloads (04,05,06,07,08 and 10), and it's increased in size far too quickly and far beyond what the grounds can reasonably hold. The new arena layout isn't congruent to moving people about. In 2010 it took about 20-30 minutes to move from one stage to the other and that was simply due to volumes of people traffic (the weather was really good!). It's expanded too quickly and the whole feel of the festival has really suffered as a result. Furthermore, getting in and out is a nightmare - the route we were sent out of the ground back to the motorway added at least an hour to our journey (I was with friends), and the parking organisation could have been better managed by a 4 year old.

I moved my money over to Sonisphere - granted not as big a line up (though that said the big 4 last year was amazing) - and it was much better organised and much more people friendly. The staff knew what they were doing and seemed better prepared. They also were charging much more reasonable fees for food, services etc.

With Sonisphere gone I'm really losing patience with Download. The lineups are great but there's just too many people, too much queuing, too much hassle to go and have a good time. In fact, I'm losing patience with festivals full stop. All that said though, it will always sell out so the organisers have no reason to stop what they're doing unfortunately

All started going downhill when they took the tarp away from the main stage...