Reading Chronicle | News | Festival an "amazing event" despite problems

Tuesday, 6th January, 2009

Published: Thursday, 28th August, 2008 07:00

Festival an "amazing event" despite problems

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DESPITE some ticket and access problems, the festival organisation has been praised by a fan site.

Janusz Jasinski, 26, a contract web developer from Birmingham who runs www.strictlyreading.co.uk, said that despite difficulties, the festival keep improving and remains safer than many others.

Mr Jasinski said: “Festivalgoers only seem to see the minor bad points but they miss the really bad stuff that could have happened that was prevented by the hard work behind the scenes. These people need to be thanked more than anyone else.

“I personally don’t think Festival Republic could have done much more to put on an amazing festival. Bands pulling out is beyond their control, weather is beyond their control, some aspects of the license are beyond the control.

“The only areas of improvement would be lowering drink and food prices and improving all aspects of security to do with the festival, with an emphasis on Sunday night.”

Mr Jasinski suggested that underage drinking could be prevented by introducing different coloured wrist bands for under 18s and said: “This would mean anyone caught drinking who was 17 and under could be escorted offsite or at least have alcohol taken off them.”

Groups of fans hope to meet organisers Festival Republic to discuss ideas for improvements, including improving signs around the site.

See also:

» Leader: Festival brings town alive

Published 28th Aug 2008 in Opinion » Comment | View Story | View Comments

Simon

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Aug 28 08 11:53

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Spot on I think.rnrnIt's a shame the festival experience was tarnished by a minority of idiots but hopefully with the focus groups and the majority of people wanting a safer festival, we can come close to elimiating most of the trouble.rnrnFR did an amazing job this year given the limitation put on them by the council, weather and location

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Thom

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Aug 28 08 11:54

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Spot on there. The different coloured wristbands for under 18s is an idea that i think is excellent. rnThere is no doubt sunday night security needs to be improved.rnHowever as JJ said, there is not much else FR can do about making the festival better, as this year was fantastic.

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Kim

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Aug 28 08 12:06

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Although it may seem safer than many others, I still think it has a long way to go with regards to being up there with Glastonbury.rnrnThere are a plethora of issues to attack and I hope the FG and FR take this on board and try to push for a safer festival.rnrnUnderage drinking and a seemingly younger demographic aren't helping much.

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Politico

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Aug 28 08 14:07

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Well I feel for those caught up in the crush or the ticket scamming going on, but personally I had a fantastic festival. Biffy Clyro, Rage, Flogging Molly were great, so were Gaslight Anthem and Dizzee Rascal. I stood near the speakers so the main stage sound was fine, I didn't camp so nobody tried to burn me down, and my biggest complaint was a bad back after hours of standing. If I sound like I'm gloating, I probably am!

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Nick

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Aug 30 08 13:57

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Ive been going to the festival since 1995 and this was the best year yet without a doubt, organisation, layout and lineup absolutely phenominal.

I have to say though about this ticket rush crush issue that anyone who cant handle a crush of a few people scrabbling for tickets probably shouldnt be going into a music festival with surging crowds of 80,000 people anyway! Theyre just being bitter about not getting tickets. Dont mean to be harsh but its the truth.

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Craig Brooks

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Sep 1 08 11:43

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I have no sympathy for people being ripped off - the official site and forums state that you SHOULD NOT buy from dodgy sites and actually list official sites that you SHOULD buy from.

As for the festival, it was top dollar and the site mentioned in your piece helped me so much.

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Irish

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Sep 3 08 14:53

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I think RG brings up a good point. The festival was great and volunteers worked really hard. However, the amount of drunk kids causing trouble was absurd.

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