Reading Festival 2023 ... hints and tips.

Oh actually I have found the prices x

@BelovedLucy how much is it? Fortunately DD hasn’t had to pay as one of her mates Dad sorts it for free. It is worth it purely for the piece of mind knowing that your stuff is safe and won’t get stolen. Also decent showers and hairdryers etc. Last year they spent lots of time at their mates tents in Orange campsite as it was a good laugh but just went back to their tents to sleep.

Place marking... anxiety is through the roof! Mine - not DC's 😬🤦🏼‍♀️

In theory DD is there now but I don't know because I've haven't heard from her since she set off with her friends at 6.45 am....

My DD16 is off to the festival tomorrow. I had a little cry at her earlier - because I'm worried. She's well versed in latitude etiquette- we went a lot when she was smaller but I'm so nervous for her.
She's going to get her gcse results on the way there, which I wish wasn't the case. Oh well.

Mine are there now. Sounds like security was non existent and they got booze and vapes in.
Said it's not too full right now and everyone very friendly.

I worked at Reading as part of the campsite team for three years in a row and also have been numerous times not working.

There's plenty of people there that can help if needed, make sure they know where their nearest campsite team and medical tent are based.

The festival is fine and I wouldn't be worried about my son going when he's older, although I would say that I'd like him to come home on Sunday night after the last act as I've seen some pretty shocking things happen that night in the campsites every year I've been.

Following. My son is going for the first time & I'm slightly anxious I'll admit! He's travelling down on the bus tomorrow with mates and camping until Monday when he gets the bus home. I'm concerned about what I've read about the Sunday night. For anyone who has been/worked on Sundays at the festival is it really bad and will all the campsites be crazy? My son is thinking they'll be camping at brown or white as heard they are quieter and would maybe avoid any chaos on the Sunday but I'm tempted to drive down and collect him when it's finished Sunday night 🤔(nearly a 4 hour drive!) so need to make a plan I think!

@RocketQueen21 DD was there last year and saw the fires in Orange campsite. She says security got involved pretty quick. She didn’t feel unsafe. I would say probs best to steer clear of Orange camping and pitch your tent elsewhere. White is much further away then all the rest but brown, blue, yellow and Green are all fine.

I mean, I would make that journey to collect if they are very young and not particularly street savvy.

I was late 20s when I worked there and I didn't feel safe on the Sunday nights at all. I don't think any areas were quieter than others as everyone there is pretty young and enthusiastic to be away without their parents and that leads to stupidity in some cases.

We dealt with a lot of idiotic things like people putting cable ties on fingers tightly and walking off so we had to cut a lot of these off panicking kids. Lots of worried crying girls. Lots of tent fires and people chucking canisters on fires and covering them with tarpaulin so they made a loud explosion, people getting bottled/punched/slapped, also they tend to close some of the medical areas down that night so if we had someone to get to a medical tent they had quite the trek ahead of them. On a few shifts we were told to take our campsite vests off on case we were targeted.
It was always mayhem.

I don't want to scare people, but that's mostly what we dealt with. This was a good few years ago now but I can't see it's changed that much unless they've massively tightened security. The rest of the festival is fine, it's just the Sunday night that is crazy. And I genuinely don't know how they keep their license because 'the Sunday night riots' are pretty well-known.

Thank you for your reply. I'm excited for him and know he's going to have the time of his life and he's a sensible lad with good mates but worried about him getting caught up in something unintentionally if thinks go sour!Hopefully security will be better prepared for these things this year ! He's going to let us know where he camps up tomorrow and we'll go from there ... I secretly might still travel down though and stop in a nearby hotel (or lay-by!)🤣incase he wants out !

@Habbyhadno
Thanks so much for replying... it's good to have a first hand account! That does sound pretty grim what you had to endure on Sunday nights and a parents worst nightmare ... blimey I hope it will be better this year ! He's done local gigs and concerts but this is his first big festival and he's really looking forward to it and pumped to see Sam Fender play! I think I'm feeling anxious just because of what I've heard about the Sunday night and Reading is a long drive from us...not just up the road if he needs us!
Will wait to hear where they set up camp tomorrow and go form there I think😉
hope everyone going has an amazing time!

Good luck to all of you collecting GCSE results today. I remember from last year that it’s like all of the intensity and worry is unleashed on one day!! I don’t know what I was more worried for!

@RocketQueen21 i think if your DS has the mindset of actively steering clear of trouble on the Sunday night he should be fine. As I say DD saw some tents on fire last year but she and her mates kept away from it and they were fine. I had wanted to collect them on the Sunday night too but they were adamant that they wanted to stay the last night. In the end I collected them at 8am on the Monday. This was good as I missed the heavy traffic and they missed the queues to leave the site.

@Rollergirl11 well I'm not long back from dropping him at the bus! All happy and everyone in good spirits. Tbh I'll be glad when it's all over and he's safely home 🙈😂
thanks for your replies though as they've been really helpful and you've helped settle my mind about the dreaded 'Sunday Night!'
their bus collects them at 1pm on the Monday... hopefully I can report back on here that all went well and I didn't end up collecting on the Sunday!

Heard from DD! It's raining...

DD has arrived so that's all I know so far

Hopefully the rain has stopped, they find their friends and get to camp together

Her friends moved their tents to a different field last night because they'd camped next to some nasty people who kept threatening to steal their stuff Charming

I went every year for 20 years from 1994 (we were 17 then- no phones etc,made our own way down on the coach) We all survived. it's a lot more safe now as uts a lot more corporate, they do check for booze- back in the day, we were allowed bonfires everywhere etc wth no pat downs on the in and no welfare tents etc Your son will have a great time. It isn't cheap- budget for at least £50 per day for food and a couple of drinks.

Hope people aren’t feeling too stressed out with their D ‘s away this weekend. I remember by the 2nd night I’d relaxed in to it a little. DD called this morning and has texted sporadically throughout the day. She’s getting perved on quite a bit by older guys apparently which is pretty grim. Thankfully some of her boy mates are stepping in. She had one guy grinding on her last night. Ewww ewww ewww!

Other than that she’s having a great time.

Really sorry to hear that your DD is having that experience @Rollergirl11. good to hear others stepping in.
My DD met up with her mates yesterday (my big concern because coming at different times) and so far seems to be having great time. They had two chairs stolen after putting tent up but spoke to others nearby and tracked them down and got them back within 15mins. 16yr old boys apparently just wanting more chairs! I did suggest they should treat as lesson that anything outside of tent would be taken…But messages today v positive and she’s just said they watched Sam Fender and now off to Silent Disco. Fingers crossed they all have an amazing time.

I'm going on a day ticket .. tips.. take wet wipes , and the station is closed sat from 7 pm cos of train strikes!
No phone signal in that area....
Remember tents aren't safe...

Enjoy!!

Also.. there's limited or no phone signal...

Dd's having a great time. Texted me intermittently throughout the day/night, went to a 'party' after Sam Fender then last heard from her at 2am to say she'd just got pizza and collected some bits from her locker and had got back to the tent. I'm less nervous than I was though still bracing myself for a dash there at midnight tomorrow.
(Her reception has been fine and texts have not been a problem..)

Dd said Sam Fender was amazing last night. It was absolutely rammed but OK and she had paid 8 pounds for cheesy chips, which I assured her was normal.
She was only there for the day but sounds like she had an amazing time.
She's only 16 and I was really worried but it was OK.

It seems as though it is slightly chaotic but great fun. The silent disco definitely seems to be a hit as an after party. The phone charger packs are apparently quite poor. DD had to take today's charger yesterday and it was half full and she only had 1% on her phone. I thought we paid for unlimited charge but obviously not...