As a bit of an oldie, it’s been a while since we’ve been to a proper gig. When we used to go to see the Who and Hawkwind in the 70s there was no point getting there till about 11pm.

But on Thursday we’ve got tickets to The Maccabees at Birmingham Institute and the tickets say 7pm doors. Curfew 11pm. We don’t want to be hanging around for hours so when to get there?

Also we’re off to Beautiful Days festival in August. Going to camp. Which tent should we take? We’ve got a big 5-man Outwell that we usually find is just right for 2 of us for a few days. And it’s Thursday till Monday so we don’t want to be too cramped. We’ve got a tiny thing, about room for the mattress and nothing else and another tent in-between size.
What’s the right one to take?

At a festival you will need to carry your stuff miles from the car park… Even with a barrow of some kind I wouldn’t fancy shifting the same camping gear that I may take for family camping

Gigs generally don’t freestyle it too much with times anymore and they do have to stick to curfews pretty rigidly. If you’re not bothered with support, I’d be turning up there about 8.30 to grab a beer or two beforehand.

Festivals generally stick to band times bang-on as it’s impossible to plan for punters if they don’t.

I’d also take the big tent. Have done a Glastonbury in a small one (i.e. No headroom type) and it was a pain.

You lost me at ‘As a bit of an oldie, it’s been a while…‘ 😕

You will be fine with a big tent at Beautiful Days it’s a pretty chilled out festival compared to something like Glastonbury. The walk from the car park isn’t too bad even if you are right on the other side of the site – less than a mile I’d say – we normally do a trip with tent and rucksacks then head back for the other festival essentials (cider) later. We also leave our fancy dress for the Sunday in the van and pick it up Sunday morning when we drop off some things we don’t need any more to make Monday morning easier.

**EDIT** Also, thefts from tents only tend to happen on the Thursday night when at Beautiful Days and curiously they happen mostly in the Family Camping area.

Many gigs nowadays publish onstage times on their social media in the run up to the event.

usually they’re a bit on the early side if anything – last one I went to was onstage at 2100 but then they actually played at 2115, I can see the venue possibly loses out on drink sales by allowing you to stay in the pub until just before but at £5 for a plastic glass of pump bitter* they have themselves to blame

*yes, i know Red Stripe is compulsory for gigs.

This pisses me off in Edinburgh, if the ticket says 7pm the band will be on at 7pm, means they can kick you out quicker at the end to make space for the club night that starts immediately after your gig (looking at you, Cabaret Voltaire…).

Kinda ruins the vibe a little when the bouncers are on stage to stop the artist playing any encores… 🙁

We missed the first couple of songs at a Love gig in the Liquid Rooms because we thought there’d be a warm-up etc.

If the doors are at 7, the support act will probably start about 8, do a half hour set then a half hour break, then the headliner will be around 9.

Most festivals I’ve been to, you’ll want a small tent for regular camping or the bigger one if you’ve booked any sort of VIP / family / disabled camping. Never been to that one though so it could be different. Regular camping tends to have quite a walk between parking / camping / the stage areas.

Excellent info. Sounds like I need to get a trolley then!

And there’s a bar next to the stage at the Institute, so that’s all right.

For festival tent I would look at decathlon- they have a range of white on outside, blackout inside that look good.
I’d also take a means of making coffee, and buy food.

Edit https://www.decathlon.co.uk/2-seconds-easy-ii-freshblack-pop-up-tent-2-man-id_8357352.html

For the festival I would say take the big tent. We go to quite a few festivals and always take our 5 man tent. We usually arrive as early as possible on the first day and find a good pitch spot, generally a distance away from the stages/tents. We always find it useful to talk to people when looking for a good pitch area and if you find decent folk, suggest squaring tents together so you have a communal area in the middle of your pitch.
As someone said above, be aware your carrying all your stuff in and out. We have sack trolly and bungy cords to help us, that way Mrs L doesn’t have to carry everything whilst I supervise.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/standard-duty-hand-truck-150kg/6374P?kpid=KINASEKPID&cm_mmc=GoogleLocal-_-Datafeed-_-Storage%2520and%2520Ladders&gclid=CjwKEAjw7J3KBRCxv93Q3KSukXQSJADzFzVSfgWPHJmpcmUYpuRAC9ZjA2rJ-LC6lizrxVNWXct7dBoCXwnw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CNjkpLn_ydQCFWioUQodcqQPUQ

BigJohn – Member

Excellent info. Sounds like I need to get a trolley then!

Festivals are always full of broken-souled teenagers dragging broken-wheeled trolleys that make it harder than just carrying. Don’t get a crap one! Only time we ever drove to a festival, we took a wheelbarrow, perfect.

Beautiful Days has a rep as a “nice” festival, for Reading and T in the Park and the likes my rule was always, take nothing you’ll object to having set on fire, possibly by a security guard.

I’d echo wheelbarrow. Unless you’re going to spend a lot on a good trolley with wheels that roll over stuff that isn’t tarmac, then a barrow is perfect.

I have a three-person tent, with a 10cm S/A mattress and a decently thick bag, it’s best to get a quality trolley, some heavy duty straps and some heavy duty clingfilm.
Arrange everything lengthwise up the trolley to stop it wobbling from side to side, then wrap well with the clingfilm to hold all the stuff in place: small items like travel pillows, bag liners etc can be stuffed inside the larger items.
As far as gigs are concerned, if you want to be near the front, turn up at least thirty minutes preferably more, before the doors open time.
If, on the other hand, you’re happy to stand near the back along with the music writers who are yakking, drinking and paying little attention to what’s going on on stage, and don’t care about the shitty support band*, then go to the pub next door and wander in about an hour later.
*Having seen Blondie, Dire Straits, QOTSA, Delgados and many other excellent artists who’ve gone on to significant success, then I’d suggest getting there in time for doors open.
Also, having got to the front, it’s generally not considered cool to then piss off to the bar for an hour then expect people to let you shove your way back to where you were standing for ten minutes or so.
I’m speaking from 45 years gig-going experience here, though…

45 years? Nothing. We saw Keith Moon!

And we’ve seen (Count Arthur Strong) purple sprouting broccoli Pet Shop Boys Public Service Broadcasting (/Count Arthur Strong) and Teenage Fanclub in the past 13 months but we’ve always been dragged along with others.

And yes, some support bands are better than the headliners. But the sound is always shit. We saw Mumford and sons supporting the Maccabees a while ago before anybody had heard that one song they did.

But good advice on the portage. I’ve been wanting a trolley to take my windsurfing kit down to a hard to access beach for a while. (20 mins walk) so this is an? excuse.

The only gigs I go to these days start at 7:30 and finish early enough for the last train home.

At Bearded this year (the spiritual offspring that’s just overtaken Beautiful Days). There were loads of people using their wheelie bins as transport.

As above though, BD is a chilled out festival. Went to the first 6, but the line ups not done it since for me. Take the big tent, there is plenty of space. Great tip above about getting to know your neighbours….

Thinking of buying a Juggernaut for Y-Not – might get some mates to chip in. There’s a load of us going with a gazebo and a big circle of tents…

Like it. Could we hitch a wee motor up to it? 🙂

BDs is very chilled – your more likely to get kissed by a cider fueled crusty than anything else.

I’d take the big tent, and the suggestion of a wheel barrow is good, though I use our double bike trailer with the handle and front wheel, means the toddler can ride around like a queen all weekend too.

This year will be the first BDs I’ve missed in 12 years. I’ve worked on the bars for a couple and then played with my band at 9 or 10. But we’ve got another sprog due mid-august, so no festivals for me this summer 🙁 had to cancel loads of gigs too. Oh well…..