the difference with THIS over £3 can was that it was handed to you in the middle of one of the worse floods in this area's history!

We all want better than we get and yes we are not in holland were you can smoke your head off without getting busted and the horses roam free, however - we (the people) made the best out of potential nightmare and KICKED FECKKIN ASS

Pass your gripes onto the managment and hope that they'll listen & change things for the next year... We live in a rip-off throwaway society & must ALL take some blame, how many of you left crap not only where you camped but in also in laybye's around the local area, LOADS of you thats how many - I have to live here so if you care so much, grab a bin bag next time and take your shite with you...

PEace & Love to you all (apart from litter louts)

mr.digs wrote:Basically, english festivals are expensive. If you want to rant at somebody, rant at the authorities, not somebody managing to put on, against all odds, what many (more than you spoke to) people who go consider to be the best festival in the country.

Not sure if that qualifies as a rant

Everybody's being a tad defensive today

Maybe the truth stings a bit, I don't know

I was just wondering if we could come up with some ideas as to why it's so expensive/how it could be better/etc, but maybe not...

Ya_Concha wrote:the difference with THIS over £3 can was that it was handed to you in the middle of one of the worse floods in this area's history!

We all want better than we get and yes we are not in holland were you can smoke your head off without getting busted and the horses roam free, however - we (the people) made the best out of potential nightmare and KICKED FECKKIN ASS

Pass your gripes onto the managment and hope that they'll listen & change things for the next year... We live in a rip-off throwaway society & must ALL take some blame, how many of you left crap not only where you camped but in also in laybye's around the local area, LOADS of you thats how many - I have to live here so if you care so much, grab a bin bag next time and take your shite with you...

PEace & Love to you all (apart from litter louts)

Well said

I think if you had worded the first post differently, my response would have been less agressive, no offence intended, but I just don't get it - you compare it to any other festival of a similar size in the country, and, apart from the odd issue like the ongoing water taps thing, it compares very, very favourably. Sunrise festival earlier in the year was about as reasonably priced as you could possibly manage, it was small enough to have fairly basic/minimal facilities, it had just one stage with a handful of small venues, good lineup if your a bit of a hippy anyway, and the drinks there were £3+ pint. In fact very similar to the first Glade but that's getting big and popular with lots of media attention for you.

transmit101 wrote:

admin wrote:Hearing is a very subjective thing - but everyone who knows what they are talking about knows the Funktion 1 rigs are the best there is and the consensus is that the Glade sound systems were amazing. So either you're being a contrarian for the sake of it or your hearing is fucked. Go for the test, so you can at least eliminate the latter.

Well I can only go on what I heard

In which case, you really ought to go for a hearing test to check everything is working OK. The musicians and qualified sound engineers who I've spoken to all thought the sound was excellent. If you're right and they're all wrong, what is your reference system? What system sets the benchmark in reproduced sound as far as you are concerned?

Hearing is a very subjective thing and is strongly linked to the emotions, so it could be that you were having a shit time and so your perception of the sound also seemed shit to you. But if that wasn't it, there may well be something physically wrong as those rigs are state of the art.

Paul Z wrote:Possibly a fair comment on the Belgian festival, but I'd be interested to know how much it costs to get a licence over here and to cover the other overheads of running a festival compared to other countries. I dunno, I've been to three of these now and had a blinding weekend at all of them - I feel they're worth the money.

Dour gets help from the local council and is actually offered a license rather than needing to struggle to get it. The overheads would be a lot less as well, I think they use local unemployed people to do security, stewarding etc.. so that would cut down on costs alot. I think (I'm not 100% about this) that it's held on public land too, so they don't need to pay huge rental fees.

Dour is also end to end sponsorship. One of the more refreshing things about Glade is their refusal to bow down to any form of sponsorship.

Dour is now also owned by Clear Channel, I'm fairly sure they use their big muscles to keep the costs down.

One more thing is the cost of living in Belgium is substanstially lower than that of England, so it kind of follows that any festival held there will be cheaper.

Sperge wrote:

transmit101 wrote:

admin wrote:Hearing is a very subjective thing - but everyone who knows what they are talking about knows the Funktion 1 rigs are the best there is and the consensus is that the Glade sound systems were amazing. So either you're being a contrarian for the sake of it or your hearing is fucked. Go for the test, so you can at least eliminate the latter.

Well I can only go on what I heard

In which case, you really ought to go for a hearing test to check everything is working OK. The musicians and qualified sound engineers who I've spoken to all thought the sound was excellent. If you're right and they're all wrong, what is your reference system? What system sets the benchmark in reproduced sound as far as you are concerned?

Hearing is a very subjective thing and is strongly linked to the emotions, so it could be that you were having a shit time and so your perception of the sound also seemed shit to you. But if that wasn't it, there may well be something physically wrong as those rigs are state of the art.

Dude,

a) As I've said twice already, I had a bloody great time.

b) Recommending I take a hearing test is patronizing and very weak. If you think those sound systems are the best there are you need to get out and about a bit more. They weren't awful - don't get me wrong - and I take the sound level restrictions into account but I've heard better rigs at London squat parties many times. Funktion 1 may have a great reputation, doesnt mean they sounded great at Glade does it?

Dour's rigs (sorry I don't know who supplied them) were all bloody amazing, twice as loud, crystal clear. Maybe I was just a bit spoilt from that. (And remember, less than half the price)

Oh well. Look, Glade is great, I know we all love it and everything. Can also see getting a balanced discussion going on here is going to be a bit tricky.

transmit101 wrote:
The food there was on a par with glade too both in quality and diversity. Just cheaper.

Sorry, but this is a lie. I've been to Dour twice and Glade once and Glade has far better food than Dour (including the nicest bangers'n'mash ever). It's cheaper at Dour for sure, but the quality is nowhere near as good.

penexpers wrote:

Paul Z wrote:Possibly a fair comment on the Belgian festival, but I'd be interested to know how much it costs to get a licence over here and to cover the other overheads of running a festival compared to other countries. I dunno, I've been to three of these now and had a blinding weekend at all of them - I feel they're worth the money.

Dour gets help from the local council and is actually offered a license rather than needing to struggle to get it. The overheads would be a lot less as well, I think they use local unemployed people to do security, stewarding etc.. so that would cut down on costs alot. I think (I'm not 100% about this) that it's held on public land too, so they don't need to pay huge rental fees.

Dour is also end to end sponsorship. One of the more refreshing things about Glade is their refusal to bow down to any form of sponsorship.

Dour is now also owned by Clear Channel, I'm fairly sure they use their big muscles to keep the costs down.

One more thing is the cost of living in Belgium is substanstially lower than that of England, so it kind of follows that any festival held there will be cheaper.

All fair points, would certainly be nice if Glade got some support from the council wouldnt it

Ok, wild horses couldnt drag me to Dour if its owned by Clear Channel, keep it mate, have fun and good luck, I'll stick with Glade thanks

penexpers wrote:

transmit101 wrote:
The food there was on a par with glade too both in quality and diversity. Just cheaper.

Sorry, but this is a lie. I've been to Dour twice and Glade once and Glade has far better food than Dour (including the nicest bangers'n'mash ever). It's cheaper at Dour for sure, but the quality is nowhere near as good.

A lie? Choose your words more carefully sunshine, why on earth would I lie about it?

The food was comparable at both, in range and quality (there were a lot of crap burger vans at dour which thankfully dont appear at glade, but also tonnes of other options from around the world . )

It's all subjective, isn't it?

mr.digs wrote:Ok, wild horses couldnt drag me to Dour if its owned by Clear Channel, keep it mate, have fun and good luck, I'll stick with Glade thanks

LOL objective discussion disappears down the drain

None of this thread has been objective has it?

transmit101 wrote:b) Recommending I take a hearing test is patronizing and very weak.

Why be so defensive if you're so sure nothing is wrong? I'm very sceptical of anyone who listens to the system rather than the music, they often have very strange ideas of how music should sound. So it may well be that the squat party and Dour rigs that you prefer conform more to your preconceived idea of how reproduced music should sound, as opposed to how it really sounds.

They weren't awful - don't get me wrong -

But you did say they were "poor to mediocre". Yet the musicians and sound engineers I spoke to thought they were superb. Everyone's entitled to an opinion but I'll stick with the ones who know what they are talking about.

NHS hearing tests are free.

Sperge wrote:

transmit101 wrote:b) Recommending I take a hearing test is patronizing and very weak.

Why be so defensive if you're so sure nothing is wrong? I'm very sceptical of anyone who listens to the system rather than the music, they often have very strange ideas of how music should sound. So it may well be that the squat party and Dour rigs that you prefer conform more to your preconceived idea of how reproduced music should sound, as opposed to how it really sounds.

They weren't awful - don't get me wrong -

But you did say they were "poor to mediocre". Yet the musicians and sound engineers I spoke to thought they were superb. Everyone's entitled to an opinion but I'll stick with the ones who know what they are talking about.

NHS hearing tests are free.

Fair enough, your head is up Glade's arse, can't do anything about that

Think I'll trust my own experience and ears before yours

Fine, don't bother coming to Glade again then. I'm sure thousands will mourn the loss.

Sperge wrote:Fine, don't bother coming to Glade again then. I'm sure thousands will mourn the loss.

Thankfully most of the punters aren't as illogical and rude as you. Otherwise I certainly wouldn't return...

all these moaning tossers are so boring, can they just fuck off! to belgium.

willow wrote:all these moaning tossers are so boring, can they just fuck off! to belgium.

Ha ha my sentiments exactly.


I was at the Origin stage for most of the festival and apart from a couple of times when the sound went off (very briefly) I didn't have a problem with the quality at all. Considering the conditions we all had to face I think it was amazing that we got any sound at all!