What is actually good about festivals?

[longhaulstress]

Is watching the live music worth:

Mega amounts of money
Camping in rubbish conditions
Bad Weather conditions
Horrible toilets
Queuing for everything
Limited ways to cook or expensive food outlets

I was watching Facebook updates from the download festival last weekend and it looked awful.
What are the good bits of festivals, I toy with the idea of trying one one day but the thought of the above puts me off. I don't even mind camping and not too bothered about limited showering but I can't help thinking to enjoy it you must have to be drunk (or under the influence of other stuff!) and a hangover at a festival sounds even worse.

Really interested to see what people like about them/the good bits are?! (I promise this isn't a snooty Aibu I am genuinely intrigued!)

Folk festivals are much more civilised and the music is quite varied.

You might as well ask what's good about Disney, or Premiership football, or opera.

We do the same one every year, with our kids. We’re usually lucky with the weather although we have had some humdingers of storms.

We pay for the posh loos and we take shedloads of booze.
Quite often we miss the main acts because we’ve been sidelined by some random small scale act in a side tent that has caught our imagination. We call it a night and hear back to the tent, only to then end up in the silent disco field for another two hours.

It’s good times, with good music, good fun and good friends.
The rest of the year, I like my comforts.

I cheated and went to Download for the day. I saw a band I love and would have been happy to pay the same to see at an ordinary gig, plus other bands I liked but wouldn't necessarily fork out the money for, plus bands I'd never heard before and now like. I drank beer in the sunshine with a friend. I ate delicious food. I saw thousands of people pottering around enjoying themselves, but didn't feel the need to get too close to them until my favourite band came on. I got a bit muddy, but nothing I couldn't handle.

I wouldn't have been so keen on living in a muddy puddle for 3 days, I'm a bit old for that now.

The toilets in the arena were surprisingly fine. Plenty of loo roll and hand sanitiser.

It’s brilliant unless you have that severe rain! It’s not expensive as you pay say 150 for 3 nights and all those bands, some of them have really nice food and it’s not that hideously priced, we took loads of booze and just sneaked it in so that saved loads, no hangovers as you just get up and carry on! Drinking all day, music and not a care in the world! Just brilliant!

I was at Download last weekend. I'm boring, middle-aged, tee-total, definitely don't do drugs...but I love live music.
Over the years I've been to a dozen festivals, last weekend was the wettest and muddiest, it was fab

Because when it goes well its like being at a great party or having lots of adventures. Time becomes different, routine disappears and you can just be. You go out and experience things unexpectedly. Sense of freedom

I hate crowds and don’t drink much but whenever good music is playing I forget everyone around me. I love being able to listen so so much music my brain melts. Seeing the skill. Finding new bands. Seeing one you have looked forward to all year. AnD we have a loo in the van!

Disney, or Premiership football, or opera

I am not sure they are comparable. I have been to Disneyland but it was nothing like a festival. The last two you actually get a seat, and Opera is indoors.

Did a fairly new festival two years ago. (80s/90s in Leicestershire) camped and it was bloody amazing. Small enough with lots of facilities and great weather but so much atmosphere.
Unfortunately went again last year and they Had doubled the size of it. Meant camping was a nightmare and not enough facilities, everything had been moved further away and unfortunately the weather was a nightmare. Ended up leaving early ☹️

I went to Download last year, and ds and dh went without me this year (I had to go to a conference). It was fantastic - loads of different bands you'd not heard before and lots you had, space to chill out, and the food is good (though ds went to the crumble stand 4 times this year).
We stay in a hotel so proper bed, hot shower, full breakfast and then rock out. Ds's only complaint about last weekend was that it was too wet for him to wear his tactical kilt

At download a few years ago i saw people throwing pint glasses of piss over the people in front of them closer to the stage

I’ve been to Glastonbury a few times but this was years ago - so can’t say what it’s like now. Back in the late 1980s/early 1990s, it was utterly amazing.

Crap toilets, yes, but the whole vibe was so wonderful. It wasn’t just about seeing bands back then, it was hanging out with fantastic people, dancing, sitting in tents. I didn’t take drugs or drink much either so it wasn’t that.

It was like shangri la for a few days. Some of my best memories tbf.

Oh, my lost youth....

The best festival I went to was the Heineken festival in Roundahy park in Leeds in 1995 ,lots of Britpop bands played it was on from Thursday to Sunday night and Pulp headlined on the Saturday night best of all it was Free!!!

DD15 & I have been going to Reading for the 4 years (for 1 day only) and the one thing I was worried about was the toilets but they are great actually. DP has always cried off going thinking it was all a bit grim and dirty but we made him come last year and he was very pleasantly surprised. This year we are all going Saturday + Sunday as he loved his first experience so much. As we're in our early 50's we are cheating by staying in a Premier Inn a few miles away and bought day parking for the 2 days. We'll have nice soft beds, hot showers and lovely cooked breakfasts. We'll only have to drive 15 minutes to get to the venue be as fresh as daisies for a 11 hour music marathon!!!
The best bits about a festival like Reading is the large variety of music and apart from the main stage, all the stages are undercover so you can get dry if it rains.

I'd enjoy it if I could retreat to some hotel / upmarket caravan or similar at the end of each day, otherwise I think I'd find it all really overwhelming even if I loved the bands. Not for me.

You don't get hangovers because you just start again as soon as you get up. The music, the dancing, being outside, meeting people, feeling wild and silly. THE DRUGS.

Download Paris last year...
Marilyn Manson, Ozzy Osbourne, Foo Fighters, Guns n Roses.
Oodles of other excellent bands
Fabulous food
Hired a decent ready-pitched tent
Brilliant weather

Loved it!

I went to Download last weekend, not for the drugs but for the atmosphere and music. Being 40-something, watching Def Leppard and Whitesnake was absolutely fab! Yes it was muddy and wet but absolutely loads of fun and friendly with an almost community spirit. I wonder if next year I might stay in a nearby hotel at East Midlands Airport as the camping was a bit grim with the appalling weather .....

I was at download with my DCs. There are very very few drugs.
It was bloody wet and muddy though.

For me it's finding the right festival. The ones I prefer aren't extortionate to get in and the organisers insist caterers charge high street prices. Because they are smaller festies you can pitch alongside friends with campers/caravans/etc, and it's never a huge walk to where you want to go. They are a great opportunity to dance around in the great outdoors to great music (if you choose your festival well!), as well as catch up with friends we only tend to see at festies and gigs now.
Obviously good weather makes the world of difference. In the past we would have just drank a lot more if it was wet and muddy, but that's tricky with small kids in tow! Generally as long as you stay dry and warm it's fine though.
The loos are often grim, but I'm sure there has been an improvement in the last few years generally on this front. Also, we've discovered how much cleaner the toilets are in the family areas! We bring a portable potty for the kids (they were 4yo and 2yo for this year's).

Another perspective here. Our local council has hired our very suburban smallish local park to big festivals during the summer. Huge areas of the park are fenced off for weeks and enormous trucks trundle in and out setting up the complex infrastructure. Many people live only yards from the park and the noise is loud. After the takedown the park is very damaged where metal sheeting has killed the grass and the the paths which are not designed for such traffic are smashed. We’re all quite upset about it. Festivals are fun but not in parks which is the only countryside some people have access to. They should be for everyone! Sorry for the rant 🙁

Sex on tap?

I like the dance event rave type festivals where you don't camp because you are actually dancing all night.

If I had to go to a proper live band camping type festival I would hopefully be able to pay for posh loos & posh camping accommodation eg a camper van.
My stuff getting nicked & my tent getting jumped on does not appeal to me.

What's actually good about Festivals? The teenage Dcs went to our local one last weekend and I had a very relaxed and quiet Saturday and Sunday.