Square Festival Borth

[Clint Iguana]

Looks like the Square Festival is on again this year.

i did not think it would happen again, the heavy handed security pissed just about everybody off, but it looks like they have taken that on board and things will be a little more laid back this year.

Line up is not that great but the vibe is pretty laid back in a way that only west wales can do and the location is pretty damn hot. It is right next to the beach, there is a failry small village with some nice pubs literally two minutes walk away and there is a proper caravan site so you get electrical hook up showers etc. There is also an 'animalarium' next to the site, which is basically a small zoo. First time i have been to a festival and slept less than 50m from a leopard!

For the price (£45) you cannot go wrong, there were a few teething problems last year but it has the potential to turn into something special. Last year we stayed on for a few days looking around west wales then went down for the Celtic Blue Rock the following weekend

any one else go last year???

 

[Shirl]

Ooh, a festival in Borth I might just see if we're free that weekend and if I can muster up some friends to head down there. I only discovered Borth in January when I went to a weekend birthday party in the Youth Hostel, what a lovely place and some interesting people around there too.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Guess who the cunt is that's got the job of telling people that their rig is too loud and they have to turn it down?

 

[Callie]

.....animalarium.......

I got butted by some stupid goat thing in there it hurted my hand. i only wanted to stroke it

 

[wiskey]

I was having a convo about this only the other day.

we aren't going but it looks like a lovely location

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

i did not think it would happen again, the heavy handed security pissed just about everybody off, but it looks like they have taken that on board and things will be a little more laid back this year.

FreeSpirit will have more info, but I was on site last week taking background noise measurements, and from what I heard a lot will be changed this year, from the layout of the site through to the way security is handled. Everyone involved seems to think it's going to be a lot better than last year

it looks like a lovely location

It's gorgeous

 

[aqua]

that was a lot of fun free spirit I salute you

 

[aqua]

next time I'll come properly prepared

 

[moose]

You'd better have brought me a leopard back with you

 

[aqua]

I tried but it wouldn't fit in my pocket

 

[Callie]

Geoffrey's cat is smaller, should have gone for him

 

[aqua]

he didn't want to play either

there was a cotton eared marmoset that wanted to come to chez aqua though

 

[Callie]

You didn't try and stroke any goats did you? VICIOUS bastards they are.

Maybe next year I will go and play in Borth

 

[aqua]

nope no goats, they're not approved of with their weird little eyes

 

[moose]

Goats are great!

 

[aqua]

no they're not they're freaky

 

[Build_A_Fire]

little fuckers tried eating my tent when i was packing it up yesterday lol

 

[William of Walworth]

Were the security more laid back this time? I'd heard they were sorting this out after last year's heavyhandedness, and that's good news if so. If we're still counting the pennies next summer we might go for this instead of a more expensive one .... we like Welsh festivals

 

[Build_A_Fire]

Well, not really. They searched everyone on the way in which meant some people were queueing for 4 hours. Also I thought they were a bit heavy handed with crowd surfers when they went over the barrier - nothing major, but it winds me up when they shove them all the way back to the side of the stagefront. No need!

 

[William of Walworth]

Ahh shame to hear that

Would be interested to read free spirit's report ....

 

[aqua]

little fuckers tried eating my tent when i was packing it up yesterday lol

see! goats = wrong

Well, not really. They searched everyone on the way in which meant some people were queueing for 4 hours. Also I thought they were a bit heavy handed with crowd surfers when they went over the barrier - nothing major, but it winds me up when they shove them all the way back to the side of the stagefront. No need!

the ones I spoke to/spent time with extra were lovely guys and I saw some really sound security searching people on site (in the face of gobby argumentative twats) but there are always a few......

Ahh shame to hear that

Would be interested to read free spirit's report ....

when he comes off his coffee rush I'm sure he will

 

[Build_A_Fire]

OK, benefit of the doubt - I guess the searching thing was at the organisers/polices behest, and there did seem to be a lot of confusion about how much beer you could take in in. I was stewarding and didnt find security too difficult to talk to, but then I'll talk to anyone lol.

You might be right about it just being a few, but they're always the most noticeable. They were rough with people crowd surfing though I thought.

As for the goats, nothing positive to say about them at all!

 

[aqua]

you were stewarding? incoming pm

 

[llion]

Here's my impressions of the festival:
Only cost £45, and there was a wide variety of music across five stages as well as a cinema and comedy acts. The site itself is about two minutes walk away from the train station, which is on the main line to Wales from Shrewsbury and London.

The atmosphere throughout, despite heavy rain for most of Sunday, was really relaxed and friendly and there was a really high percentage of children and teenagers. I'm pretty sure that the Festival itself is organized and run by a group of really young people from the area, so it would be great if they've done well enough this year for it be held again next year.

They had some great bands playing, including a French ska band called the Beer, Beer Company who were great fun. There was a really interesting live dubstep act called Jazzsteppa. Skin Dred (formerly Dub War) got the mosh pit moshing to a frenzy! The Beat played a really great, uplifting set on the soggiest of the three days. And there was a drum n bass tent which cranked the beats out through a really impressive sound system for the whole three days! Beer at the bars seemed to be cheaper than it is at most festivals and there was a reasonable choice of food on offer.

All in all, a really great festival and a brilliant addition to the musical scene in Ceredigion/Mid Wales. Didn't have any problems with the security, though this may well have been down to luck and turning up very late on the Friday night!

 

[aqua]

Yay I loved it too (apart from the rain, man I had a fucking HUGE strop when I got back about how wet I was I believe I may have sat in the office and refused to move until my trousers had dried out

 

[free spirit]

Would be interested to read free spirit's report ....

hmm...

plus points, loads of positive feedback from people who went as festival goers, with a few justified gripes about the queues

negative points... 'organisers' accidentally dropping my carefully thought out plans for the festival and picking up the book labelled 'when festival's go bad... a diy guide to fucking up a festival and making free spirits life really really hard' instead
inability plan and implement the build of the festival in any sort of organised fashion resulted in us only just managing to pull it off by the skin of our teeth due to some seriously long hours from my crew and other crews on site.

Probably didn't help that most people on site were under the impression that I was designated site manager despite me having told the organisers specifically that I couldn't do it due to being at glade the weekend before, and therefore unable to also be onsite at square for the initial phase of the build...

I've just landed now after managing the get out despite only having planned to be there til monday, and fuck knows how much I'm now down after having to pay crew wages out of my own pocket to get the kit off the field because the festival's around fuckloads of money down... they're selling off cows to the local butchers to cover some of it, but that's not really going to cut it... plus point being that there seems to be some serious interest locally in investing in next year but under new (fs)management, so it may well rise from the ashes (sorry, mud) and turn into a proper annual festival on the circuit fingers crossed.


btw - the entry queue was entirely due to the festival only having 3 people staffing the wristband exchange from one portacabin against my advice to have at least 6 on from a much bigger exchange tent, and not the searching. That's why there was generally a gap between the search queue and the main queue which ran from the wristband exchange.

more later...

 

[William of Walworth]

Interesting stuff fs, always good to hear from the insiders ....

If it improves next year under your influence, we may well make it .... we'll see!