All Together Now 2019

johnnyskeleton

Not much to add to the comments above really. There were good and bad things.

I would say that part of last years word of mouth excitement was that it was a new festival for which people had low expectations and were hugely and pleasantly surprised because it had a good line up, but was still spacious and chilled out. This year people were expecting the same atmosphere but with 5-10k extra people thats not going to happen. So this year it was a case of not meeting the high expectations that were set. The weather also probably made a difference but that cant be helped really.

A combination of bad weather, too many people and the hills meant that bouncing from even adjacent stages e.g. main stage to something kind of wonderful became an ordeal. Only partially the organisers fault. Too many tents in too small an area - resulting in a few people pitching their tents right beside the toilets and most people feeling generally cramped and squashed - entirely the organisers fault.

For me, this festival had a better lineup than Body and Soul, but wasnt as well organised or chilled out. Body and Soul is a joy to wander around in or chill out at the tent. ATN was ok gor wandering but the camping areas were not pleasant.

I suspect it may not really be financially viable to have such a good lineup and keep the numbers down. This is the trade off and for me they got it wrong. People were saying its the new electric picnic but for me its like the new oxygen - if you want to see good bands you have to put up with being treated like human cattle. If you want to have more of a chilled out festival experience, maybe try elsewhere.

boomshakalaka

Eod100 wrote: »

Not sure many would have known about BSN. Were there even 2 different campsites last year? I just kept tracking and came across it cause main campsite was absolutely jammed the. Zi landed at about 5.

Yes this
My friends kept referring to it as the "overflow camp site" and didnt believe me when I said there would likely be space there and better carpark etc. Stewards didnt have a clue either when asked
In fact they lied to me and said "his is the closest car park to the entrance" when it was obviously the furthest.

But yea, unless you looked at the map on the app or before going it was impossible to know about the second camp site. Signage and informed stewards would have gone a long way in relieving pressure from this is the place camp site.

Now we had a decent enough spot, not the prime location we had last year but totally doable. We were lucky though.

D.Q

pwisp wrote: »

I'm quite surprised at the negative reaction to Fontaines D.C. to be honest, they seemed great from where we were standing about 10 rows from the front just to the left of the stage. Although the crowd around us were very lively so that might have made it seem better than it was.

That's exactly where we were, doing a bit of moshing haha

Poor_old_gill

Pros:

Some of the band choices and performances were excellent
People were great
There was plenty of open space inside the 'arena'

Cons:

Traffic management
Stewards
Sound in some of the venues
Cramped nature of the campsites meant that there was no option to meet people as tents were on top of tents
Lack of toilets, showers & water facilities
Not enough food stalls
Car park was fairly shambolic
A lot of the tents were too small for the event they were holding - during the day if you werent 15 mins early then you were standing outside and this coupled with the poor sound quality meant you just left.

There might well be more cons that will come back to me over the course of the week.

But in general there was just a drastic lack of facilities - they need to employ a logistics professional to help them as it just seemed like a festival that a few lads who didnt really have a notion of what they were doing.

It still has major potential and I hope it doesnt die out because of this year's organisational fiasco - another nice addition with be a rave in the forest area when everything else is finished - some people dont want to finish at 3.30am

Poor_old_gill

boomshakalaka wrote: »

Yes this
My friends kept referring to it as the "overflow camp site" and didnt believe me when I said there would likely be space there and better carpark etc. Stewards didnt have a clue either when asked
In fact they lied to me and said "his is the closest car park to the entrance" when it was obviously the furthest.

But yea, unless you looked at the map on the app or before going it was impossible to know about the second camp site. Signage and informed stewards would have gone a long way in relieving pressure from this is the place camp site.

Now we had a decent enough spot, not the prime location we had last year but totally doable. We were lucky though.

The signage and stewards were fairly crap to be honest - were of no assistance

Gus Ivey

What were people's thoughts about Podpads?

Last year it was perfect - When entering from the Red carpark it was a 2 minute walk to reception and then a further 2-3 mins to the tent. This year they made us walk the longest route possible , all the way down the bottom and around. From there our tent was located right at the perimeter between Podpads and Family campsites (which we had just walked past) so we had to lug all our stuff past the way we had walked. We heard many others complaining about the same thing. How the reception area wasn't located closer to the Red carpark is mind boggling. Also, nowhere near enough facilities in Podpads. They increased the capacity significantly (at least tripled I'd guess, along with a big increase for Tangerine Fields) yet the services didn't seem to increase. They closed the showers from 12pm-4pm which was strange considering loads of people tend to shower in the early afternoon. From what I heard the general campsite had better facilities which is a bit of a joke to be honest.

Enjoyed the weekend as a whole. Wasn't massively affected by traffic - probably arrived an hour or an hour and a half after we expected.

Highlights were Fontaines, Orbital, Father John, Hot Chip, A Lazarus Soul, The Wailers, The Murder Capital, & The Good the Bad and the Queen. Seen around 20-25 gigs over the weekend which I was happy with. I thought the new layout was pretty good in terms of getting from stage to stage quickly although I did miss the house/garden particularly with the light display they had going on. I'm guessing they purposely did this to try to separate families away a bit.

Some people shouldn't bring their children to this. For the most part kids were looked after but I did see a few adults more interested in their own enjoyment than parenting their kids

Food was disgusting I thought and not enough stalls. Only had one nice meal - a burger from Eddie Rockets.

D.Q

Poor_old_gill wrote: »

The signage and stewards were fairly crap to be honest - were of no assistance

I can't get over the incompetence of the stewards.

After we dropped the drink and tents in, we tried to go back out to the car to get the rest of the gear. I asked three separate stewards if there is a quicker way out, rather than having to go back against the queue down the hill etc all of them looked at me like I was speaking a different language and couldn't give me an answer. The last one I asked was a big fat tramp and aggressive.

Finally I asked another punter who directed me out through the short cut.

Then when we came back, a fourth, somehow even stupider steward wouldn't let us in, and directed us back down the hill to the queue.

Took a bit of arguing and finally a steward with a bit of sense to let us back in.

****ing dopes. Where did they get them from at all.

dartboardio

sally cinnamon89 wrote: »

dartboardio wrote: »

Dunno where they got most of the food vendors out of, 5 out of 7 meals I had was actually cold (whats that about)???

And I had to ask 2 different staff in the food trucks to change their gloves as they were handling money with the same gloves they were using to assemble your meal and sprinkle your cheese on, eugh!

That might sound a bit precious, but money is the filthiest thing in the world!

What vendors were these?

Flaming Cactus up by main arena and the Chips truck that done taco chips curry chips etc near the road to nowhere stage.

The staff were fairly snotty also, maybe just due to the crowds!

Stillill42

Gus Ivey wrote: »

What were people's thoughts about Podpads?

Last year it was perfect - When entering from the Red carpark it was a 2 minute walk to reception and then a further 2-3 mins to the tent. This year they made us walk the longest route possible , all the way down the bottom and around. From there our tent was located right at the perimeter between Podpads and Family campsites (which we had just walked past) so we had to lug all our stuff past the way we had walked. We heard many others complaining about the same thing. How the reception area wasn't located closer to the Red carpark is mind boggling. Also, nowhere near enough facilities in Podpads. They increased the capacity significantly (at least tripled I'd guess, along with a big increase for Tangerine Fields) yet the services didn't seem to increase. They closed the showers from 12pm-4pm which was strange considering loads of people tend to shower in the early afternoon. From what I heard the general campsite had better facilities which is a bit of a joke to be honest.

Enjoyed the weekend as a whole. Wasn't massively affected by traffic - probably arrived an hour or an hour and a half after we expected.

Highlights were Fontaines, Orbital, Father John, Hot Chip, A Lazarus Soul, The Wailers, The Murder Capital, & The Good the Bad and the Queen. Seen around 20-25 gigs over the weekend which I was happy with. I thought the new layout was pretty good in terms of getting from stage to stage quickly although I did miss the house/garden particularly with the light display they had going on. I'm guessing they purposely did this to try to separate families away a bit.

Some people shouldn't bring their children to this. For the most part kids were looked after but I did see a few adults more interested in their own enjoyment than parenting their kids

Food was disgusting I thought and not enough stalls. Only had one nice meal - a burger from Eddie Rockets.

Regarding the Podpads. My first experience of posh camping and I thought it was shocking. My sister splashed out for 6 of us from a work bonus. Crazy money but we were all pretty excited by the prospect. All 3 beds collapsed on the first night, no electricity at first, then only on one side of the tent, desperate toilets, big cues for showers unless you were down at crack of dawn and then, as you say, closed from 12 to 4. Felt like anyone could wander in. They're fecking stealing money. We at least didn't have the 2 hour queues to check in that some of the tangerines had but so lax the whole thing. Just some guy wandering about with a paper list. We could have been anyone and he would have given us as many wristbands as we wanted. Anyway, you live and learn.

Wooderson

sally cinnamon89 wrote: »

dartboardio wrote: »

Dunno where they got most of the food vendors out of, 5 out of 7 meals I had was actually cold (whats that about)???

And I had to ask 2 different staff in the food trucks to change their gloves as they were handling money with the same gloves they were using to assemble your meal and sprinkle your cheese on, eugh!

That might sound a bit precious, but money is the filthiest thing in the world!

What vendors were these?

Burger venue at back of main field was doing this craic.

Wooderson

Do POD have arrangements with UK vendors on top of security? Was rare to see Irish staff.

Easy Rod

Agreed on podpads. My worst experience of boutique camping at a festival.

boomshakalaka

Wooderson wrote: »

Do POD have arrangements with UK vendors on top of security? Was rare to see Irish staff.

I dont know but I did spot the security company post a tweet. They're from the UK alright. I thought it was weird because we have companies a plenty in Ireland I thought? Cant imagine it's cheaper (let alone "sustainable") to fly or drive in an entire team from the uk.

On another note. Totally random question, no one might know the answer but I havent been able to let it go since Saturday.

After the Loyle Carner gig in something kind of wonderful tent, we walked out at the back left exit but guards were blocking paths because someone looked hurt on the ground. At least 6 guards blocking the view and at least 3 ambulance people. My other half said he saw them doing CPR. Did anyone hear about this or know what happened? I heard about a bad batch of pills at indiependence so I've been hoping this was something else and the person is fine..

Weepsie

Security is often UK company. Probably helps cut out the odd person who'll let their mates mates in with all sorts of sh!t.

boomshakalaka

Weepsie wrote: »

Security is often UK company. Probably helps cut out the odd person who'll let their mates mates in with all sorts of sh!t.

Ah I know it was a company from swords last year cause you guessed it. I know someone that works there 😂

Didn't know hiring a UK security company was a common thing!

Edit: I paid for my ticket btw

Maisie123

D.Q wrote: »

I can't get over the incompetence of the stewards.

After we dropped the drink and tents in, we tried to go back out to the car to get the rest of the gear. I asked three separate stewards if there is a quicker way out, rather than having to go back against the queue down the hill etc all of them looked at me like I was speaking a different language and couldn't give me an answer. The last one I asked was a big fat tramp and aggressive.

Finally I asked another punter who directed me out through the short cut.

Then when we came back, a fourth, somehow even stupider steward wouldn't let us in, and directed us back down the hill to the queue.

Took a bit of arguing and finally a steward with a bit of sense to let us back in.

****ing dopes. Where did they get them from at all.

I felt a bit sorry for the stewards - didn’t seem to have any basic information/training themselves. And there wasn’t enough of them on site to make any impact on the shambles that was going on around them

That said we got sent on a 30 minute round trip up a boreen by 3 separate stewards on Sat from the blue gate to what turned to the the staff entrance and then got shouted at for being there, and sent back through Portlaw to Carrick to
the point we were misdirected from in the first place.

dartboardio

boomshakalaka wrote: »

Wooderson wrote: »

Do POD have arrangements with UK vendors on top of security? Was rare to see Irish staff.

I dont know but I did spot the security company post a tweet. They're from the UK alright. I thought it was weird because we have companies a plenty in Ireland I thought? Cant imagine it's cheaper (let alone "sustainable") to fly or drive in an entire team from the uk.

On another note. Totally random question, no one might know the answer but I havent been able to let it go since Saturday.

After the Loyle Carner gig in something kind of wonderful tent, we walked out at the back left exit but guards were blocking paths because someone looked hurt on the ground. At least 6 guards blocking the view and at least 3 ambulance people. My other half said he saw them doing CPR. Did anyone hear about this or know what happened? I heard about a bad batch of pills at indiependence so I've been hoping this was something else and the person is fine..

I am wondering about this. Friday night we seen a trolley/trailer with about 5 paramedics inside and a person was completely covered with a blanket like they were dead, with their feet hanging out. The trailer was rushing past to the exit

Haven't heard anything though. Very worrying.

D.Q

Was anyone in this must be the place , by the external perimeter fence, on Friday afternoon there was what sounded like a small explosion, or like pressure being released, and then some guy was knocked out on the ground with a bloody nose. Wondering what happened

sporina

Rigor Mortis wrote: »

Each to their own my cloven hooved friend. Mind you if you know of any elevators playing Jon Hopkins regularly you might let us know.

funniest post thus far

Basq

With regards food vendors being snotty, the food was superb from Hawaiian Poke Bowls (near Halloumi Fries near Bandstand) and the lads there was absolutely dead on. Laughing and joking and wishing everyone a great festival.

Attitude by staff around place was generally poor enough - chatted to some sound bar staff at Tanqueray Tent and then some bellends who would just grunt to be paid when it wasn't even busy. Maybe they were having a bad festival tbh!

Oh, and it's so regular, but the staff around posh glamping (Tangerine Fields etc) are off their face more often than not.

Orson Swelled

Three cheers for the young steward from Kerry at the Red Gate entrance who managed to put two sentences together despite being burdened with a row of shattered China instead of teeth.

Toast

Some utter idiot let off fireworks INSIDE the tent at Kiasmos. A repeater that was bouncing off the roof and very fortunately burned out before it came back onto the crowd. Did it twice... you'd think after the first time there would have been 20 security in there within seconds to drag him out. Not even going to suggest how this could have been so much worse.

BananaR

For those questioning the use of so much "plastic" - it was all meant to be 100% compostable. All vendors/ bars had to comply with this. Hard to tell the difference though

sporina

Toast wrote: »

Some utter idiot let off fireworks INSIDE the tent at Kiasmos. A repeater that was bouncing off the roof and very fortunately burned out before it came back onto the crowd. Did it twice... you'd think after the first time there would have been 20 security in there within seconds to drag him out. Not even going to suggest how this could have been so much worse.

Olarfur talked about this at his All Curious Minds event.. he couldn't believe it.. but the strange this was that it happened again at his solo gig... I'd love to know what was going thru' his mind at that point...

Speaking of Olarfur, he did something to me this weekend.. Kiasmos was a profoundly transcendental experience for me (not high or drunk btw).. and his talk in All Curious Minds was hilarious and insightful.. the conditions were not conducive to his solo gig but he expected as much..

He is a musical genius - he took me to places I didn't know existed this weekend..

Felt like he was playing us in a way (pardon the pun)... but twas like he knew that he had us hanging off every note.. man.. I am still affected..

briandebum

D.Q wrote: »

Was anyone in this must be the place , by the external perimeter fence, on Friday afternoon there was what sounded like a small explosion, or like pressure being released, and then some guy was knocked out on the ground with a bloody nose. Wondering what happened

Yeah was nearby, the tyre on his trolley exploded in his face. He managed to walk away shakily with medical folk not too long after.

Aceso

Gus Ivey wrote: »

What were people's thoughts about Podpads?

Last year it was perfect - When entering from the Red carpark it was a 2 minute walk to reception and then a further 2-3 mins to the tent. This year they made us walk the longest route possible , all the way down the bottom and around. From there our tent was located right at the perimeter between Podpads and Family campsites (which we had just walked past) so we had to lug all our stuff past the way we had walked. We heard many others complaining about the same thing. How the reception area wasn't located closer to the Red carpark is mind boggling. Also, nowhere near enough facilities in Podpads. They increased the capacity significantly (at least tripled I'd guess, along with a big increase for Tangerine Fields) yet the services didn't seem to increase. They closed the showers from 12pm-4pm which was strange considering loads of people tend to shower in the early afternoon. From what I heard the general campsite had better facilities which is a bit of a joke to be honest.

Enjoyed the weekend as a whole. Wasn't massively affected by traffic - probably arrived an hour or an hour and a half after we expected.

Highlights were Fontaines, Orbital, Father John, Hot Chip, A Lazarus Soul, The Wailers, The Murder Capital, & The Good the Bad and the Queen. Seen around 20-25 gigs over the weekend which I was happy with. I thought the new layout was pretty good in terms of getting from stage to stage quickly although I did miss the house/garden particularly with the light display they had going on. I'm guessing they purposely did this to try to separate families away a bit.

Food was disgusting I thought and not enough stalls. Only had one nice meal - a burger from Eddie Rockets.

For anyone wondering about Podpads, please don't let your experience at ATN put you off them altogether. I've stayed with podpads every year for the past 6 years of EP and stayed with podpads at ATN last year and the family who run it have always been spot on. I have friends who stayed in podpads at ATN this year and they were blown away by how terrible it was. It just seems the problems at ATN this year bled into everything.
The only issue I have with podpads is the ever increasing prices.

Some people shouldn't bring their children to this. For the most part kids were looked after but I did see a few adults more interested in their own enjoyment than parenting their kids

I may be in the minority here but I think music festivals are no place for children but, I would compromise and say, they shouldn't be there after 6pm, which is the law in regular pubs so, it seems reasonable.

At KKC on the Friday night, the tent was full of children, this was around midnight and the tent was absolutely heaving, I had to step outside as I have asthma and was finding it a bit difficult to take full breaths.
KKC are playing tunes about taking drugs etc, it's not a child friendly situation.
Towards the end of the set, a family tried to pass behind us, the father was pulling one of those wagons with a child in it, I got shoved from the front by people dancing and nearly fell in on top of their sleeping toddler. (It was the same last year after Underworld, children running around the main stage area at 1am.)

On Saturday morning around midday I found a near empty bag of coke near the main stage area, just lying on the ground. Most pills are bright colours in designs like hello kitty and ghosts - very attractive to children.
Drugs are illegal but, you can't control what 15000+ people do, you can only control what you expose your children to.
Across the weekend, I saw lots of babies and toddlers. I actually saw a baby, who couldn't have been more than 6 months old, what is the point of bringing a baby to a festival?
It seems incredibly selfish.

Ricosruffneck

Aceso wrote: »

For anyone wondering about Podpads, please don't let your experience at ATN put you off them altogether. I've stayed with podpads every year for the past 6 years of EP and stayed with podpads at ATN last year and the family who run it have always been spot on. I have friends who stayed in podpads at ATN this year and they were blown away by how terrible it was. It just seems the problems at ATN this year bled into everything.
The only issue I have with podpads is the ever increasing prices.



I may be in the minority here but I think music festivals are no place for children but, I would compromise and say, they shouldn't be there after 6pm, which is the law in regular pubs so, it seems reasonable.

At KKC on the Friday night, the tent was full of children, this was around midnight and the tent was absolutely heaving, I had to step outside as I have asthma and was finding it a bit difficult to take full breaths.
KKC are playing tunes about taking drugs etc, it's not a child friendly situation.
Towards the end of the set, a family tried to pass behind us, the father was pulling one of those wagons with a child in it, I got shoved from the front by people dancing and nearly fell in on top of their sleeping toddler. (It was the same last year after Underworld, children running around the main stage area at 1am.)

On Saturday morning around midday I found a near empty bag of coke near the main stage area, just lying on the ground. Most pills are bright colours in designs like hello kitty and ghosts - very attractive to children.
Drugs are illegal but, you can't control what 15000+ people do, you can only control what you expose your children to.
Across the weekend, I saw lots of babies and toddlers. I actually saw a baby, who couldn't have been more than 6 months old, what is the point of bringing a baby to a festival?
It seems incredibly selfish.

My big irk is seeing kids without hearing protection or kids that are visibly tired and being dragged along when they should be in a tent catching some Zzzs

Reggie noble

Aceso wrote: »

For anyone wondering about Podpads, please don't let your experience at ATN put you off them altogether. I've stayed with podpads every year for the past 6 years of EP and stayed with podpads at ATN last year and the family who run it have always been spot on. I have friends who stayed in podpads at ATN this year and they were blown away by how terrible it was. It just seems the problems at ATN this year bled into everything.
The only issue I have with podpads is the ever increasing prices.



I may be in the minority here but I think music festivals are no place for children but, I would compromise and say, they shouldn't be there after 6pm, which is the law in regular pubs so, it seems reasonable.

At KKC on the Friday night, the tent was full of children, this was around midnight and the tent was absolutely heaving, I had to step outside as I have asthma and was finding it a bit difficult to take full breaths.
KKC are playing tunes about taking drugs etc, it's not a child friendly situation.
Towards the end of the set, a family tried to pass behind us, the father was pulling one of those wagons with a child in it, I got shoved from the front by people dancing and nearly fell in on top of their sleeping toddler. (It was the same last year after Underworld, children running around the main stage area at 1am.)

On Saturday morning around midday I found a near empty bag of coke near the main stage area, just lying on the ground. Most pills are bright colours in designs like hello kitty and ghosts - very attractive to children.
Drugs are illegal but, you can't control what 15000+ people do, you can only control what you expose your children to.
Across the weekend, I saw lots of babies and toddlers. I actually saw a baby, who couldn't have been more than 6 months old, what is the point of bringing a baby to a festival?
It seems incredibly selfish.

I couldn’t agree with you more RE kids. Bringing a baby is ridiculous, if u can’t find family to mind them for 3 days then just accept that you shouldn’t go to a festival for a few years.
Like how can it be enjoyable for the parents minding a baby at a festival, changing nappy’s n feeding every hour, painful.

MJohnston

Oh here we go again with the whiny "don't bring kids" judgement brigade.

dk1982

MJohnston wrote: »

Oh here we go again with the whiny "don't bring kids" judgement brigade.

They're right though. You should accept if you have small kids that there's certain things you can't do (or else get a babysitter and you can do it). Not fair on the kids or other people attending. Purely selfish.