Music festivals in parks - opinions?!

[GonnaGetGoingReturns]

Just a general comment. Festivals in parks for the whole summer.

I don’t mind this happening, great when it happens, don’t even mind the music levels. But what I do object to for the second or third year in a row in my local big park, there’s no signposting saying which part of the park you can use. Security guests and barriers (again don’t mind these but the guards always seem to know little or nothing or won’t tell you where to go).

Which means when I wanted to organise a picnic in an area of the park, no it’s for festival only use the other already overcrowded part of the park which isn’t being used!

It’s a money spinning exercise, the festival, acts and people going and ahem the council seem to be the only ones benefiting. I was at a local bar last night (wine and cheese/bread etc) they said they close after it finishes but also reminded me last year there were riots so a few bars/shops are closed for festival (basically all June and July).

It affects everyone, I do a bootcamp in this park and that’s bern moved. But also rubbish issue and we don’t want rodents around who appeared over lockdown.

Every other park locally seems to sign up to these festivals too!

A mum friend of mine told me this morning she was in the part of this park which wasn’t being used and before the event a huge crowd of people on their way to the festival were smoking weed, already a bit drunk etc and her daughter knew it was Pride but there could’ve been sights she didn’t want her to see (9).

Is it me or am just a fun sponge?

Here in London I tend to think it's because people can't just leave a nice bit of green alone. There has to be something happening on it. Does my head in.

Are you in CP?!

I think a certain amount of the cash made needs to be clearly allocated for the people living around them. It’s only the top end of the park though (which probably means you aren’t in CP.. ) if they aren’t saying which bits are being used then that’s really unhelpful

Godiva?

You are definitely being a fun sponge. Sorry. It's great that people put in these festivals if they weren't well attended they wouldn't run so it's just you being a wet blanket.

Only a couple of years ago fun was banned remember! How lovely it is to see live music and crowds of people having fun again

Our smallish town has been doing concerts in the summer

But the park becomes unusable, parkrun is suspended and you cannot park in town at all for the duration

Do it for one night then move on not 5 weeks continuously

How often are these festival and how long do they run for?

We have a couple around here but they only last a day or possibly a weekend and happen in different parks.

Yes in CP. luckily not in the close area to the festival.

I go out and shop etc in main CP.

I’m not just talking about CP it’s affected Brockwell Park and others.

Also I know from experience how well run festivals have gone in the park but when every other festival is every year, expensive tickets and really no one gives a F about local residents (I know lots of shop owners some like it and some hate it) you do wonder if it could be better organised!

Seems to be every weekend and all summer.

I really am nor!

I’ve been to festivals locally a lot in the past. Why should me and other locals have to worry about riots, don’t want the use local stations as they’re packed!

On the whole the festival goers are polite and respectful but one pub had a fire in it the other weekend (luckily before the main lot of festivals started!) but I’ve heard of full on fights etc with locals.

Let me set up a load of festivals every weekend in your area and see how you like it then!

just the other week me and my friend fancied a walk through our local park after work, to get to a venue outside the park at the other end. Me and lots of others including school kids and younger people couldn’t get through. No signs (why?!) and no one to ask just barriers! I pay my council tax. I support these festivals but if they’re well run, organised and not commandeering a lot of the park most of summer!

I dislike how these festivals are getting bigger and bigger and outgrowing their original locations.

Both Slamdunk (Leeds) and Tramlines (Sheffield) were originally city centre festivals where their was plentiful public transport. Now the organisers have got greedy and have moved Slamdunk to Temple Newsham which is a logistical nightmare to get to, taking several hours of queuing to get out of the car park; and Tramlines is at Hillsborough Park where you have to miss several trams to get back to town because they are all full, and there is no parking.

Yes this exactly! Too big!

in fact I was debating seeing Blondie and Iggy Pop which was yesterday (can’t believe their ages and kudos to them).

Luckily because I’m in south London we do have other parks without festivals all weekend, all summer!

Oh, and Slamdunk oversold tickets this year. The festival goers weren't allowed to take any food or drink in at all (the bags were thoroughly searched), there weren't enough food and drinks outlets, and the water in the free water fountains tasted muddy.

There was so much backlash on social media after this year's festival that the organisers had to issue a huge apology.

I was at CP yesterday. It was fab, sorry!

I grew up where the tennis is and now next to a famous racecourse so you don't need to tell me about your area being taken over but it's life.

Come to cheltenham... festival chuffing Central. (Race festival, not in the parks in town, but takes over the whole town for a week in March) jazz, literature, music, food, science, midsummer fiesta... the parks in the town all have massive brown patches on the grass from the continual marquee use. And when the festivals are being set up, being taken down, or on, no chance of using the park, so spring through summer... tough...

I live in a tourist town. There is literally an event on every week
It's so lovely seeing people enjoying themselves. Yes the traffic is a pain, but it brings a lot of money into my town and we are never stick for something to do.

Contact the council if you want to complain about signage. But you are being a massive killjoy

You should have come OP. I had a great time!

Not unreasonable.

I go to some of these events and enjoy them but there are too many and most of them cram in way too many people. I'm not surprised if you get riots sometimes. Lots of my friends in your part of London feel the same as you btw. Locals really need those open spaces!

Last one I attended was horrendous at the end simply because they shove many thousands of people out through one narrow exit. Luckily no violence that I saw but it felt as if something could have easily gone wrong just because of the way such a huge number of people are herded.

Actual festivals - which involve camping etc- never feel like this because everyone isn't all heading for public transport at 11pm.

@GonnaGetGoingReturns at least there’s no Wireless this year at CP and that means no vibrating buildings.
I assume those fireworks last night were from the end of the show - that was the only noise I heard.
I am torn about these events. They bring in money to the area (good) but also disruptions for locals (bad) and creates noise (bad). Communications about road closures etc is apparently a bit bad. Co-operation between boroughs for information is often not great (ie Bromley tell Bromley residents but not Croydon ones despite the Croydon ones are literally across the road).
Better behaviour than the crowd that comes to the Fun Fair when it’s on to be honest.

A weekend once a year is ok, more than that causes too much nouse and disruption to residents.

Was it Victoria Park or Finsbury Park that was completely trashed by a festival last year. It looked as though the whole area had been trampled by a herd of wildebeest. And I think the LA was responsible, both physically and financially, for restoring it to how it had been

You’re a miserable sod. You’ve got the park for the rest of the year, pick one of the other 40 odd or 50 weekends the festival isn’t happening for your picnic.

This was the same at Pulp at Finsbury Park last night. Utterly disgusting how many people were crammed into too small an area. Of course you can’t being anything in and there’s a bar queue of an hour.

I live on VP (I can see directly into the festival site from my bedroom), it did look awful last year after APE but a) it was also 40 degrees and b) it bounces back really quickly

The noise is a bit annoying and they sometimes close the entrance to the park by us without warning, so if we're walking the dog we have to double back and go the long way round BUT we do also get the luxury of being able to walk home in three minutes if we chose to go, and there's loads of free stuff inside the site during the week between the gig weekends.

I'm in dublin, right next to a park where they have two weeks of concerts and festivals.
I don't mind the music at all. I do mind the litter, lads peeing on walls and drunk teenagers lurching into the roads.
The local residents are pretty well connected and there's some sort of mutual understanding between the residents association and the organisers. we have a huge police presence and security guards at the top of every street. So all in all, its been fine this year. And I got to hear Calvin Harris in my back garden.