Fun police @ Music Festival. Full of rules!

[Exhippy]

Me and my family (UK) have been going to a few weekend music festivals for years now and I’m starting to feel a bit irked by all of their rules.

This year we’ve received endless updates prior to arriving at the festivals about new rules concerning a full glitter ban, all the food vendors will be plant based food only (massive bummer), keep cups only or if you forget these and want to buy a drink on site you must buy one of their £10 keep cups £30 for whole family!

And so on.

Last year, DH finally found a stand that was selling canned drinks and bought one as he was really thirsty, only to be told that they had just noticed the drink was made by the Coca Cola company and that he would not be allowed to sell it. They said they’d take it back and destroy it! 🙄

What happened to the sensibilities of old school hippies- just go with the flow, let your hair down and try your best but mainly have fun- chill out?

Everyone seems so militant now.

This new breed of hippy may as well be evangelical Christians!

Re plant based food, it would depend what it was. Beanburgers - great. Fake meat and Quorn and pretend cheese = fuck off to the far side of fuck.

I've been vegan for several decades and I can tell you I never want to see another fucking beanburger in my life 😂 Bring on the vegan meaty burgers and vegan cheese, I'm in heaven with those!

Those all sounds normal to me? And you know in advance. Bring your own pint cup, I’d always do that.

No glitter, reusable cups and removing meat seems reasonable.

Glitter ban, only pity is it is only at the festival.

If you have read about people dumping tents and other things done at festivals, you'd be supportive of many of the sensible rules.

So you want to cut business/sales taxes and instead impose greater vehicle tax?

Both very Tory policies. Are you sure you're really calling for a change in government?

Some of these rules should be applied universally. Crap like glitter and disposable cups are why there’s micro plastics everywhere and the ocean’s full of rubbish. Must be jarring to those conditioned by selfish consumerism. Boo hoo, no coke and veggie food for a weekend. How can anyone cope under these circumstances!

The loosely hidden agenda is really quite hilarious. Along with the ‘I get high looking at nature but don’t you dare make it a rule to use a disposable cup at an event’.

No I don't, but we are specifically talking about festivals. Buying a single use tent and using single use plastic is a travesty and massively hypocritical when you consider the ethos of most festivals.

Maybe try the Reading Festival @Exhippy ?You'll get the chance to generate and leave a whole pile of waste and can even set some of it alight.

Indeed.

DP works on festivals and has said that the latest thing is that the tents are often left in such a poor condition (literally full of filth) that they cannot be reused, so it's all massively wasteful. Plus it takes far more than a day to clear up.

Of course it's not everyone, but a large proportion of festival goers are massive hypocrites who claim to be 'eco' because they live on UPF factory vegan meat alternatives and criticise their 40 and 50 something parents for killing the planet, yet constantly exhibit behaviours that older people rarely do because no-one could afford to be that indulgently wasteful.

So you've created this thread as a backdoor way to have a go at 'wokes' then?

Quite frankly I think your story is exaggerated bullshit as not one other person, including me, has ever encountered a festival like this.

I understand with most festivals, people buy a tent and leave it there to be disposed of. But if the paid for accommodation, which is far more elaborate is all trashed, this is all so very wasteful. I hate throwing stuff away.

All festivals will have free water available it will be a condition of the license.

Most are cash free these days because the logistics of cash at festivals are a PITA.

Pretty much every outdoor event I have been to for about the last 7 years or more has used refusable cups that you pay for and then ge tthe mlney back if you retirn it (we often forgot and have a kitchen drawer full of various branded cups 😄) - if you have missed that you can't have gone out that much recently.

Plastic glitter is shit and needa to be banned.

Veggie food only is the perogative of the festival, plenty of other festivals do not have that rule.

*reusable cups not refusable cups! You can't refuse them! 😄

But tents are not single use items, that's the point. None of them. Even if it's a £20 pop up, people shouldn't be buying new every year, because they can't be arsed packing it up, taking it home and giving/selling it to someone else or storing it until next time.

But on the bright side, we've amassed quite a decent collection of camping and picnic accessories while DP has been working at festivals (he doesn't clear up the rubbish, more lights and sound equipment). I don't think we'll ever have to buy another folding chair or tin mug as long as we live.

I reckon it's this one:

https://www.shambalafestival.org/essential-info/sustainability/plastic-free-re-use-initiatives/

To be fair I don't think any of those rules would actually bother me!

I agree. The debris left after these festivals is shocking.

I think 'the staff clear up' is the epitome of the younger generation. What a slogan!

I feel like shouting, NO- don’t YOU try and solve the rapid decline of our planet by buying your little keep cups, abstaining from glitter and not buying fizzy drinks from evil corporations. George Monbiot has written clearly about how it’s only governments who can make any meaningful improvements.!

The reality is that governments will only do something about this if they perceive there is a political will amongst the electorate in favour of it. Therefore the more habitual it becomes to use the sort of measures you are talking about, the better.

@Exhippy I like the sound of it. I’ve not found any like it. As a veggie I always struggle to eat at festivals so just take my own. Could you take meat?

We often go as sellers and sell/use the eco friendly glitter. It’s beautiful.

Cups- I can’t imagine not taking my own! Why wouldn’t you. You know it’s clean.

Cola- again, take your own if you really need it. You can put it in your own reusable mug and no one will know what you are drinking anyway.

Go prepared and have fun.

@queenMab99 lucky you! Sounds perfect.

Reading is well known as a horrible festival full of feral teens post GCSE. It’s not a good representation of festival culture although the music is excellent.

Most of the ones I’ve been to - and they are numerous - are friendly, have eco matters and inclusivity at their heart and genuinely do try to change the world in the limited way they can by initiatives such as being plant based - to show people there is plenty of delicious, nutritious vegetarian food out there - and banning single use plastic including glitter. Charities like Greenoeace, Water Aid, women’s groups etc have strong presences so attendees can explore the challenges facing the world.

A lot of the UK ones like Shambala and SGP are inspired by Burning Man, a truly incredible mini city that pops up for a week in the US desert - one of their main tenets is ‘leave no trace’ and anything that can create litter - including feathers and glitter - is banned.

OP, it’s not fun police, it’s trying to minimise the harm from what is a very intensive consumerist few days. I think it’s admirable the organisers want to prevent the mass sale of cheap, low welfare meat - and mandating the stalls be meat free is better than insisting & policing higher welfare products.

The coke thing is crazy, though - nothing gets you through the next day better than a coke.

Just to say I'm pretty ancient.

I haven't been to a festival for many years, and I didn't leave a mess.

Overall however my feeling is this response to the rubbish is just a moral panic. All festivals are set up to deal with this issue, the photos are taken because they make people get all aerated.

My cousin used to clear up at festivals 25 years ago. It's not a new issue.

There is some amazing normal food too. Presumably you'd think it unreasonable if a festival banned vegan options so why would it be OK the other way around?

Maybe I didn’t express myself well. I agree. I was meaning the hired ones due to size are an even larger issue.