Ashton Court - Sunday cancelled!
- Thread starter JTG
- Start date
Gerry1time
Did a wee in Dirac's toilet
It's a combination of the rain meaning emergency vehicles can't easily get on site, putting the festival in breach of it's bloody license.
I hope someday people will start looking at the impact of the license, rather than just blaming the organisers all the time.
I hope someday people will start looking at the impact of the license, rather than just blaming the organisers all the time.
strung out
💩 🤣 🍆 💦 🧐 👻 🐝 🐈⬛
Is it only me that thinks considering that this has been one of the wettest summers in ages, it's hardly rocket science to have predicted weather like this at some point over the weekend. Bearing that in mind, would it really have been that hard to have implemented a few measures to ensure that adverse weather conditions would not prove an obstacle to compliance with the license conditions. I mean, I know Ashton Court festival isn't quite on the same scale as glastonbury or other major festivals, but considering how close the site is to the city and the far from apocalyptic rain conditions, i find it hard to believe that something like this couldnt have been avoided somehow.
The cynic inside me says that they knew attendance figures would have been awful today due to a bit of rain and they decided to cut their losses and play it safe. That's only the cynic inside me though
The cynic inside me says that they knew attendance figures would have been awful today due to a bit of rain and they decided to cut their losses and play it safe. That's only the cynic inside me though
(-I was at another festival instead, but...) by many accounts, yesterday was a good 'un. -What a difference a day makes though, eh? -What a disappointment this cancellation must be for the organisers, acts, punters and everybody else involved... 
(-Was the change of location to relatively lower ground? If so, could that be a contributory factor?...)
Whatever's happened, presumably this now creates a rather big hole in AC's finances? Let's just hope one of the licensing regulations was that the festival must be adequately insured. Otherwise, it's future would appear fairly close to fucked at the mo'...
(-Was the change of location to relatively lower ground? If so, could that be a contributory factor?...)
Whatever's happened, presumably this now creates a rather big hole in AC's finances? Let's just hope one of the licensing regulations was that the festival must be adequately insured. Otherwise, it's future would appear fairly close to fucked at the mo'...
JTG said:A lot of the acts scheduled to play are now playing at various venues around Bristol this evening. The Cube, The Croft, Louisiana, Thekla and Academy all involved I think.
Five quid in, don't think a Sunday ticket gets you in though
Was just about to post the same. (-Think yer correct about Sunday tickets.)
Shameless cut 'n' paste from (Bristol site) Hijack:
Nothing mentioned in that about the out of town acts, but on the same thread there was some (-unconfirmed!) suggestions that (1) Damon Albarn etc might play The Academy, and (2) that Horace Andy's had to jet off to a gig in Italy so won't be able to play any of these impromptu gigs.
Gerry1time
Did a wee in Dirac's toilet
I've been involved in this a bit today, still not sure of the main reason for cancellation, hoping to catch up more fully on that tomorrow. It was the rain though, but not sure who's decision it was.
There's been a mass text campaign going on today to let people know about the gigs tonight, all proceeds are going to ashton court as far as i've been told, and horace andy isn't playing.
There's been a mass text campaign going on today to let people know about the gigs tonight, all proceeds are going to ashton court as far as i've been told, and horace andy isn't playing.
2nd Day of Ashtopn Court cancelled
This I find worrying.
The 2nd day of Ashton Court was cancelled because of bad weather. Emergency services told the organisers that, because of conditions underfoot, it was impossible to guarantee an emergency service response, and the advice was to cancel the gig.
Now, either the site was 3 feet underwater & this was an inevitable & sensible decision, or (as seems more likely) some health & safety jobsworth decided that getting an ambulance wheel dirty was more important than allowing grown adults to make a sensible decision about whether they could stomach a couple of days of soggy conditions.
Anyone here there? What was it like?
What implications could this decision have on future outdoor events in a country famed for it's unpredictable wet weather?
This I find worrying.
The 2nd day of Ashton Court was cancelled because of bad weather. Emergency services told the organisers that, because of conditions underfoot, it was impossible to guarantee an emergency service response, and the advice was to cancel the gig.
Now, either the site was 3 feet underwater & this was an inevitable & sensible decision, or (as seems more likely) some health & safety jobsworth decided that getting an ambulance wheel dirty was more important than allowing grown adults to make a sensible decision about whether they could stomach a couple of days of soggy conditions.
Anyone here there? What was it like?
What implications could this decision have on future outdoor events in a country famed for it's unpredictable wet weather?
Geri
wasn't born to follow
There's a thread about this here:
http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=214859
As I said, I don't really buy it. We did have an awful lot of rain in the morning, but I can't believe it was so bad that emergency vehicles wouldn't have been able to access the site. The festival was moved from it's original site which is uphill to the bottom of the estate though so it's possible that rather than running away from the festival, the water was running into it.
Either way it's not good news for the future of the festival.
http://www.urban75.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=214859
As I said, I don't really buy it. We did have an awful lot of rain in the morning, but I can't believe it was so bad that emergency vehicles wouldn't have been able to access the site. The festival was moved from it's original site which is uphill to the bottom of the estate though so it's possible that rather than running away from the festival, the water was running into it.
Either way it's not good news for the future of the festival.
Geri
wasn't born to follow
Oh, and another thing - the first time I ever went to Ashton Court festival was 1985 and it was very wet that year, and no problems.
The problem with charging £15 to get in is that if it's wet, people are not going to want to waste their money. When it was free, it didn't matter if you went home after an hour because you hadn't lost anything. I don't go to Ashton Court to see the bands, I go to meet up with friends, look at the stalls and just enjoy the general feel of the place. I'm not paying £15 to do that, so to me I don't care if it's "value for money" in terms of the number of bands playing.
The problem with charging £15 to get in is that if it's wet, people are not going to want to waste their money. When it was free, it didn't matter if you went home after an hour because you hadn't lost anything. I don't go to Ashton Court to see the bands, I go to meet up with friends, look at the stalls and just enjoy the general feel of the place. I'm not paying £15 to do that, so to me I don't care if it's "value for money" in terms of the number of bands playing.
Geri
wasn't born to follow
Well, I just saw footage from yesterday on the local news and I didn't think it looked that bad - a bit muddy yes, but not flooded or anything, certainly I wouldn't have thought it was bad enough that emergency vehicles couldn't gain access.
Could it be that the police put pressure on the emergency services to withdraw cover?
Could it be that the police put pressure on the emergency services to withdraw cover?
Callie
Pivoting
Surely your view as an onlooker is not going to be the same as whoever's job it was to make the decision?!
I myself am not convinced this was a legitimate reason for cancelling it but I can kind of see where theyre coming from.
Weird how glastonbury manages to do it though - that place seems to turn into a mire and theyre still allowed to go ahead....but then it is a little bit more expensive
Itd be interesting to know the numbers of attendance on the Saturday, I bet loads of people didnt bother and i wonder how much of a factor decreased taking would be in such a decision
I myself am not convinced this was a legitimate reason for cancelling it but I can kind of see where theyre coming from.
Weird how glastonbury manages to do it though - that place seems to turn into a mire and theyre still allowed to go ahead....but then it is a little bit more expensive
Itd be interesting to know the numbers of attendance on the Saturday, I bet loads of people didnt bother and i wonder how much of a factor decreased taking would be in such a decision
Gerry1time said:
We've been talking about the licence issue for months and months but at the same time that shouldn't stop rightful criticism of the organisers.
I can't say whether the rain really made emergency access too difficult.
But personally, I think it was a bit of a made up excuse.
The authorities had already decided to fuck the festival over and made all sorts of hoops for it to jump through. The commitee showed that they weren't able to stand up to the demands of the police, the residents and North Somerset Council so it was easy to fuck em up one more time, by getting them to cancel Sunday.
I wonder how many people are going to be ready to pay a helluva lot of money for advance tickets for next year?
Ashton Court is dead, long live Normanbury Festival!
These mushies are really shit........
Debts may cause death of festival
They should have knocked it on the head after last year tbh. This year was never ever going to be the same. Pale shadow of its former self so they may as well have given up.
They should have knocked it on the head after last year tbh. This year was never ever going to be the same. Pale shadow of its former self so they may as well have given up.
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
JTG said:
That would make the Fall the last ever band to play at Ahston Court. Well done Mark!
I think the thing needs killing for a few years then returned somehow to its community basis. That means local bands, not massive money-sucking headliners, no VIP bollocks, none of the innovations that have strangled the thing over the last 7 or so years. No proffesionnal event organisers either.
There's an interesting thread here discussing what was good/bad. Also has some pics of the state of the site yesterday afternoon.
Agree with some on there that they'd have been better off abandoning it this year, regrouping and planning for next year. As it was the whole thing was rushed and now very probably fucked forever.
Agree with some on there that they'd have been better off abandoning it this year, regrouping and planning for next year. As it was the whole thing was rushed and now very probably fucked forever.
Gerry1time
Did a wee in Dirac's toilet
Isambard said:
As i mentioned in another thread, I've been helping out alongside the organisers for the last few weeks, and whilst it's not been the easiest job i've ever done, i do know that;
A lot of the criticisms of them online have been completely baseless (banning booze was about them making more money, etc)
They did take account of a lot of feedback, read the stuff online, and were frustrated by some of it (especially the inaccurate stuff). Some of it was pretty horrible and needlessly personal too.
They completely 100% worked their arses off to get the festival going this year, and stopped taking a salary to ensure it could go ahead.
Essentially, they're sound people working hard for something they believe in. Not saying that things couldn't have been done differently, but i guess the one thing that may come out of this is that if people in Bristol want a festival, they'll have to do something to make it happen. Everyone seems to have an opinion on what the organisers did wrong, and that's fine. The thing that bugs me is the amount of people thinking that things could be better but doing nothing to make them so, especially when calling for it to be a 'community' festival again. A community festival needs a community helping to make it happen!
Not having a go at anyone here, but I dunno, it's just been a bit odd to see keyboard heroes all over the web attacking these people, when so much of what has been said isn't true, and the opportunities to get involved and help make things better are plentiful!
butchersapron
Bring back hanging
Gerry1time said:
From a very healthy frestival to being dead in the short period in which the pros were brought in. People have every right to wonder why and if the two are connected. Why did everyone i know boycott it for the last two years despite it being a highlight of their simmer for the last 20 years? The people who could, and did help in the past were systematically alienated for opposing the mid-long plans to fully commercialise the event. That's one reason why they ended up on their own.
Gerry1time said:
Regarding the booze thing I'm sorry I cannot see any other reason than commerical interest. Glass bottles were already banned and the number of containers of alcohol one could bring in was limited to IIRC 8 containers (cans). So any comment that it was to make the festival more "family friendly" and cut down on anti social behaviurr due to drunkenness is patently bullshit. If mum and dad want to have a couple of drinks during the afternoon they'd have to shell out a tenner for 4 pints rather than a couple of quid for supermarket cans.
It is easy to criticise people who organise such stuff, yes.
Strangely enough though there's a string of posters on this forum who are involved one way or another in organising community events, including festivals.
I'm off to a meeting tonight that's partly about 2 festivals we've got coming up locally. We have a MUCH better relationship with the council but frankly speaking the idea of the police demanding the right to search all participants or that people couldn't bring their own drink is simply laughable.
Sunspots said:I was just reading that very same thread, then I see you've posted a link to it.
(-No names necessary, but are you a regular poster or a lurker on there?)
I've lurked for a couple of years - had the temerity to post the other day and got accused of being a noob
I doubt it's because of the pros going in that caused the problems - they almost certainly existed before. It's more that it's virtually impossible to throw a festival these days without incuring some hefty costs - whereas before they were comparatively rare and given some leeway by local authorities, nor they're far more strictly regulated and often seen a way of generating income. Doing an old style Ashton Court simply ain't possible any more.
Let's put it this way - I helped with a local free festival for charity put on in Brockwell Park a few years ago. Everyone contributed their time for free, with the exception of some compulsory 'pro' stewards, from DJs through to bands and organisers. By the time the council had insisted on x number of toilets, a contribution of H&E inspections, x type of electrical euqipment and a 'park use' licence and a sodding fence, then the organisers were in serious trouble ... and they received charity 'discounts' The event failed to make any money for charity, the key organisers losing thousands each for their effort. And these were free party veterans, Squall, RDK and Exodus veterans, who had got every local resource and freebie working for them. Most of us ended up financially drained for months, spending the best part of a week putting up and taking down a fence that nobody wanted in the first place
I doubt the climate with Ashton Court and Bristol Council is any better. It's going to be very hard to succeed without a hefty dose of 'commercialism' with the present regulations.
Let's put it this way - I helped with a local free festival for charity put on in Brockwell Park a few years ago. Everyone contributed their time for free, with the exception of some compulsory 'pro' stewards, from DJs through to bands and organisers. By the time the council had insisted on x number of toilets, a contribution of H&E inspections, x type of electrical euqipment and a 'park use' licence and a sodding fence, then the organisers were in serious trouble ... and they received charity 'discounts' The event failed to make any money for charity, the key organisers losing thousands each for their effort. And these were free party veterans, Squall, RDK and Exodus veterans, who had got every local resource and freebie working for them. Most of us ended up financially drained for months, spending the best part of a week putting up and taking down a fence that nobody wanted in the first place
I doubt the climate with Ashton Court and Bristol Council is any better. It's going to be very hard to succeed without a hefty dose of 'commercialism' with the present regulations.
JTG said:I've lurked for a couple of years - had the temerity to post the other day and got accused of being a noob
< searches for 'noob!!1!!' posts >
I'm not a poster there, but I have found it an occasionally handy source of local music info over the years.
I fear I'm probably not really sufficiently 'dancey' enough to actually post there though.
tarannau said:
First of all I'm gonna point out again that the licencing authority is North Somerset. Easy to get confused when the land is actually owned by BCC but is outside their jurisdiction, so they have some input but not toal control.
Secondly, good points which I completely understand. But I do feel the festival has been heading in the wrong direction up a blind alley for some time now and losing friends left right and centre due to the way they've acted. That's why I have very little sympathy for them.
