The Festival Chaos Thread

[chymaera]

What is happening to festivals and events in general is that local authorities now have total responsibility for all aspects of licensing. (This also means councillors are PERSONALLY and UNLIMITEDLY liable if they do not cover all aspects of the "duty of care" they have of attendees at festival and events when they grants licences.)
Hence tablets of stone rules and regulations festival and event organisors have to put in place and enforce.
This means there are some pretty hefty expenses organisors now have to fork out for. (In some cases a £500 course for stewards and marshalls.)

 

[J77]

Yeah -- fuck Ashton Court now, with its 20-30 quid ticket -- like Glastonbury, it'll be full of wrong 'uns now, anyway.

 

[Isambard]

Well we'll see if they get a licence on 28th June innit.
Seeing as mushy Fest didn't happen this year. perhaps we should start out own festival.

 

[Geri]

Well, the cunts have banned you from bringing your own booze in now, so I definitely won't be going.

I didn't often take my own booze anyway, as I prefer it cold, but because other people did there was rarely much of a queue at the beer tent. It's also nice to have the choice, because even at the Workers Beer tent it's £2.50 or more for a pint of weakish beer or lager.

Of course, this isn't about bringing back the 'family atmosphere' as they claim, but will enable them to make more money by running the bars on site.

 

[xenon]

You're fucking joking? You can't take your own booze to AC.

I know you're not allowed glass. But banning drink being taken in. WTF.


Although it mentions nothing to that effect on the website.

 

[Geri]

It's in today's Evening Post.

Link here:

http://tinyurl.com/2c4jar

BTW, can anyone read the comments on that article? I can't get them to work.

 

[xenon]

What a crock of shite. No doubt blamed on a few individuals who can't handle their drink and for what ever reason, are unejectable. Nothing what so ever with stalls not selling enough beer and therefore dare I say contesting how much they have to pay to pitch up their.


I aint going to queue up in the sun, missing the music with hundreds of peple to buy rip off largar, only to spill most of it making way back to the stages.

 

[Geri]

I really can't see it working - what are they going to do when they find it, confiscate it? People will go mental!

 

[Sunspots]

Of course, this isn't about bringing back the 'family atmosphere' as they claim, but will enable them to make more money by running the bars on site.

Spot on.

They've had the begging bowl out all year, and everybody knows about the festival's financial woes. -So why can't the organisers just admit that they're desperate to make as much money as possible, and stop using the 'family friendly' excuse for everything?

On top of everything else that's been already changed/charged, all this latest nail in the coffin will do is piss more and more people off and make them decide not to bother going.

RIP Bristol's community festival.

 

[Sunspots]

I really can't see it working - what are they going to do when they find it, confiscate it? People will go mental!

Well, thank fuck they've spent all that money on paramilitary security, then eh!...

 

[xenon]

I really can't see it working - what are they going to do when they find it, confiscate it? People will go mental!

Sadly I think they will. If you go through the gates, they could search everyone if they chose to.

I would have been prepared to pay a tenner for a day but in the light of this I wont be going, and the few I spoke about it to earlier in pub, aren't either. either.

 

[Geri]

A tenner plus booking fee before 25th June. When the licence hearing isn't until 28th! Not sure I'd risk that myself.

But I'm not going, I took the decision to boycott it last year, after going every year for 20 years, even when it moved to Hengrove due to the foot & mouth outbreak, and hardly anyone turned up.

 

[Sunspots]

This ban on BYO isn't going down too well at all:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bristol/content/articles/2007/06/19/ashtoncourt_drinkban_feature.shtml

People aren't fooled, they can see it's more about money rather than safety. As one of the comments mentions, it's damned cheeky of the organisers to keep quiet about this decision until after everybody had filled the begging bowl!

 

[fractionMan]

Family friendly means that I can hide my beer in little fractions pushchair. yay for kids!

Seriously though, it's always been "family friendly" if you ask me. I've never ha a problem going there with littleuns. What a load of bullshit.

 

[Sunspots]

If there's still going to be plenty of alcohol on sale onsite, then the excuse for banning BYO on the grounds of 'safety' is patently bollocks. Right now, part of this heavy-handed attitude ("...dealt with appropriately..." ) is probably as much to do with actually securing the festival's licence on the 28th.

The organisers are presumably walking such a financial tightrope that at this stage they literally can't afford for it not to go ahead, and so have to submit to whatever restrictions the police want to impose.

All that's going to happen as a result of this ban is that, 5 minutes before going through the gates, lots of people are going to try to down as much booze as they possibly can. Cue massive late-afternoon hangovers, moodiness, and the potential for less 'safety'. -Well done, organisers!!

The local goodwill's seeping away. The only thing that'll overshadow this mess is if Massive Attack <meh> finally relent and agree to do the mythical headline slot that's always rumoured each and every year...

 

[Sunspots]

Family friendly means that I can hide my beer in little fractions pushchair. yay for kids!

If I was going, I'd take my inspiration from the old urban myth about Keef and go for a complete 8 pint blood transfusion for the day, except in reverse (ie: I'd replace all the blood in my veins with booze 'n' drugs).

-Or is that just a bit too drastic?...

 

[Isambard]

Load of shite innit.

I'd already long decided not to go this year
but this is just taking the piss. I really think it is about getting the licence from North Somerset Council on the 28th and I bet the police have made this a condition of their withdrawing objection.

 

[Gerry1time]

Since i've volunteered to do some online work with the festival this year, helping the organisers explain to people what's going on and why, thought i'd better say hello on this thread!

One thing i can clear up straight away is that the no alcohol decision is 100% not about them making more money. They're well aware that any increase in the minimal percentage they get from the bars will be offset by the risk of lower attendance.

It's a combination of the license requiring it and genuine feedback from attendees and artists about people getting absolutely wrecked and anti-social. Of course this affects everyone who drinks without causing problems as well, but ultimately it was felt to help with moving the festival back to a family one, as well as it being a condition of the license.

If anyone wants to ask anything else about the festival, give me a shout and i'll try to find out for you...

 

[free spirit]

Since i've volunteered to do some online work with the festival this year, helping the organisers explain to people what's going on and why, thought i'd better say hello on this thread!

One thing i can clear up straight away is that the no alcohol decision is 100% not about them making more money. They're well aware that any increase in the minimal percentage they get from the bars will be offset by the risk of lower attendance.

It's a combination of the license requiring it and genuine feedback from attendees and artists about people getting absolutely wrecked and anti-social. Of course this affects everyone who drinks without causing problems as well, but ultimately it was felt to help with moving the festival back to a family one, as well as it being a condition of the license.

If anyone wants to ask anything else about the festival, give me a shout and i'll try to find out for you...

good luck with that...

Not sure how you'l be implementing the no byo policy, but just thought it'd be worth making the point that this policy could be planned to be a discretionary policy, ie. technically nobodies allowed to bring their own alcohol on site, but in reality it's not enforced apart from people who're stumbling around pissed swigging from vodka bottles. Basically it could be that they've just decided they need the additional power to remove excessive amounts of alcohol from people / take alcohol off people who're causing problems, but in order to do this they need it to apply to everyone then they can just use their discretion.

that'd be how I'd do it anyway, though it might be that they do apply it to everyone, with fulll searches on the gate etc. guess you won't know til it actually happens, just thought it might be worth pointing out it might not be as bad as it seems.

 

[bristol_citizen]

feedback from attendees and artists

Out of interest, how was this feedback obtained?

moving the festival back to a family one

At what point in the past was it a 'family festival'? Can we have an example of where you're moving it back too? (eg. Are you thinking of the Free Festival of the 70s? The dance field days of the 90s?)

 

[Gerry1time]

Cool, ta for those all, should point out that it's not 'me' doing any of this stuff, i've just volunteered relatively late in the day to help be a kinda bridge between the stupidly busy festival organisers (and they really are, it's hectic in there) and the people online talking about stuff.

So, on the last 3 Q's, I dunno, but i shall endeavour to find out ASAP!

 

[Geri]

I can't believe many people said they didn't want to be able to take their own alcohol.

Who did they ask - teetotallers?

 

[Sunspots]

It's a combination of the license requiring it and genuine feedback from attendees and artists about people getting absolutely wrecked and anti-social.

Well I don't know anybody who was consulted, and tbh, I don't believe it was a decision based on feedback. I wonder if all this feedback will be listened to though? (Scroll down on each page to the comments...)

From the same BBC link:

At the time organisers claimed the move was due to "feedback" and was to "keep the atmosphere over the weekend fun, friendly and family orientated".

But Mr Hunt told BBC Radio Bristol's John Turner the reason was down to the conditions of this year's licence.

Audio clip of the BBC Radio interview here.

When specifically asked about the decision to ban BYO being apparently based on 'feedback', Steve Hunt completely dodges the question and basically admits it's purely about satisfying the licensing conditions.

I actually feel quite sorry for Steve Hunt and his team, 'cos I'm sure they're well-intentioned, working bloody hard, and are under a hell of a lot of pressure from all sides. Listening to that radio interview though, he obviously hasn't been completely straight with the public about what's happening and why.

Gerry1time, good on you for getting involved. I think you're going to have a hard time convincing the majority of festival goers though...

 

[Gerry1time]

Ta dood, probably might be in a way, but i love ashton court, and have offered to do what i can. Having met them, you're description is spot on, they're working their arses off, are totally well intentioned (no-one makes profit off this festival) and have I think been straight with people from what I've seen. Conversations with your audience are always hard when conducted solely through the media though.

Hence me, i guess...

(and yeah, one of the things i hope to do is to pull together all the online feedback and comment for consideration, the more feedback they get the better)

 

[big eejit]

They seem very keen on feedback - are they Jesus and Mary Chain fans?

So, if they gots of feedback saying we do want to bring our own alcohol will they change the rule? Or do they only want feedback that says we don't want to bring our own beer?

 

[Sunspots]

Now that the line up has been announced, I expect some people will now begrudgingly accept the ban on BYO.

It doesn't matter how good or bad the line up is though. The ban is still ridiculous, the PR of it has been a mess, and the points raised in this thread still stand IMO.

 

[JTG]

The licence hearing has been postponed to Monday.

BCC think the festival doesn't have the reserves to pay for any damage that may be caused

A&S plod want the right to search everyone for drink and drugs on the way in

A&S and the Bower Ashton residents Association want a better fence and a 9pm curfew for the festival

BCC want a traffic management plan to be produced for the event two months in advance of it - it's due in two weeks.

To be honest, the festival looks fucked to me

 

[Sunspots]

The licence hearing has been postponed to Monday.

BCC think the festival doesn't have the reserves to pay for any damage that may be caused

A&S plod want the right to search everyone for drink and drugs on the way in

A&S and the Bower Ashton residents Association want a better fence and a 9pm curfew for the festival

BCC want a traffic management plan to be produced for the event two months in advance of it - it's due in two weeks.

To be honest, the festival looks fucked to me

Funny how the Bower Ashton Residents Association are now going crazy about the noise, the traffic, the fencing, and pushing for a 9pm finish for this, but somehow the Balloon Fiesta (-with it's late night 'after glow' celebrations and GWR sonic shitstorm) gets to go ahead at the same place without the same NIMBY outcry.

-I don't remember any fencing, any entrance fee, any draconian security, or any BYO restrictions imposed at the Balloon Fiesta, despite there usually being a bit of crowd aggro each year. (-Didn't somebody get fatally beaten/stabbed up there about 3 years ago?) -Oh, that's it, I forgot: the Balloon Fiesta's got big corporate sponsorship...

Yep, Ashton Court looks fucked to me too. -Even if it does get the go ahead, the spirit is being completely strangled out of it.

 

[bristol_citizen]

Funny how the Bower Ashton Residents Association are now going crazy about the noise, the traffic, the fencing, and pushing for a 9pm finish for this, but somehow the Balloon Fiesta (-with it's late night 'after glow' celebrations and GWR sonic shitstorm) gets to go ahead at the same place without the same NIMBY outcry.

-I don't remember any fencing, any entrance fee, any draconian security, or any BYO restrictions imposed at the Balloon Fiesta, despite there usually being a bit of crowd aggro each year. (-Didn't somebody get fatally beaten/stabbed up there about 3 years ago?) -Oh, that's it, I forgot: the Balloon Fiesta's got big corporate sponsorship...

Yep, Ashton Court looks fucked to me too. -Even if it does get the go ahead, the spirit is being completely strangled out of it.

Yeah corporate sponsorship helps but it also seems to me that it's about building good relationships with the councils, the coppers, the sponsors, the residents, the public etc. The Balloon Fiesta is very good at this.
I'm not convinced the Ashton Court management are. If they treat all these other interests like they've treated the public over the last couple of weeks then you can see the problem.

 

[Isambard]

Not sure how you'l be implementing the no byo policy, but just thought it'd be worth making the point that this policy could be planned to be a discretionary policy, ie. technically nobodies allowed to bring their own alcohol on site, but in reality it's not enforced......

They already had this before. Last year the rules was somthing like no more than 8 containers containing alcahol and no container more than a litre or something. I got searched at the gates by security under the beady eye of A&S's finest, as did another known poster, but we are of course respectable.