Festival’s on Pinterest

Are you on Pinterest? If so then first go and Follow Us, we are just getting the hang of pinning and have found a fantastic community of festival lovers with some really great festival imagery. Once you have followed us on Pinterest, check out our Festival-themed boards below. Pinterest lets us share visually in a great way – we can see lots of great festival pictures finding their way there and we hope to bring them all together. Do you know a festival that’s on Pinterest? Tell us about it in the comments below, we have seen a few festivals are adopting Pinterest, it’s clearly a great way to share their unique experiences with people. Anyhow back to the good stuff, here’s our most popular 4 boards on Pinterest:

Festival Photo’s

You will also see for some of our 2012 Festivals we have started adding photos (like this lovely photograph below of Gentse Feesten – Gent Festival 2012) – we plan on letting you add your own festival photo’s, perhaps we might even have the odd festival photo competition. For now though you may spot the odd festival photo around, these will be taken by ChooseFest or submitted by festival goers (you can submit your own photos by emailing submitphotos@choosefest.com.)

Festival Ticket’s

This year ChooseFest has dealt with festival tickets as best as we can, as ChooseFest.com is only a young prototype it hasn’t got all the frill of some festival websites, but that’s changing. For festivals in the last half of this year (and beyond) we will increasingly be showing you a better selection of tickets on the festival page. This is because we are building the mechanics behind ChooseFest, slowly but surely. For example if you head over to our Bestival 2012 page you will see that we now show multiple ticket types (Adult weekend, Adult single day, Car parking tickets, etc.) This is a step forward towards a totally transparent way for you the festival goer to see your options for buying festival tickets; we will be working hard over the winter to make this even better for 2013, so watch this space!

So again, thanks to all of our early festival reviewers and pinterest followers, and please do keep sharing our Win Festival Tickets competition, we want to keep publishing your festival reviews! Oh yeah and Follow us on pinterest!

Fancy winning a pair of tickets to your favourite festival next year? Well who wouldn’t? Luckily for you we have just opened our Festival Ticket Competition where you and a friend could be grabbing free tickets to a top European music festival next year!

With the festival season in full swing you have probably either just got back from some fantastic summer festival or your just getting ready to go, either way spend a few minutes and enter our festival tickets competition by sharing your opinion on a festival!

In just a few steps you can enter to win tickets!:

• Go to our 2012 Festival List
• Find the festival you want to review
• Submit your review

You can read the full competition information here and the Terms and Conditions here, don’t forget to share the Competition page with your friends!

… So hopefully this hasn’t happened to you, but it does happen. More often than not we forget at least one essential item when we pack for a festival, whether it’s the anticipation, the last minute rush or the free nature of festivals we don’t know; what we do know though is if you forget just a few festival items it can make the festival less enjoyable. While there may be shops at the festivals they aren’t cheap and often you can’t get exactly what you want.

So where’s this festival packing list? It’s just below – before you go ahead and print out your check list though remember – you’re going to have to carry all this stuff, maybe miles, so think about what YOU can’t live without for a few days before you pack 2kg of pepperoni.

Here’s our list of essentials for a festival, the ultimate packing list:
(Pssst – there’s a printable version at the bottom of the page!)

• Festival ticket (Car Park Ticket?)
• Tent
• Sleeping Bag or Duvet
• Pillow
• Inflatable Mattress / Sleeping Mat
• Headlamp or Torch (+ extra batteries/bulbs)
• Wellies / Boots / Flip Flops / Sandals
• Sunglasses
• Hats / Gloves
• Spare Clothing / Socks
• Anorak or Rain Poncho’s
• Sun Tan Lotion
• Tooth Brush & Tooth Paste
• Glasses / Contacts & Solution
• Soap, shower gel
• Condoms
• Toilet Roll / Wipes
• Medicines (Paracetamol, Asthma inhalers, Creams, Hay fever pills)
• Hand Sanitation Gel
• Ear plugs
• Towel
• Cigarette Lighter or Matches
• Alcohol - Beer/Rum/Vodka/Wine/Cider
• Radio / Boombox or Instrument – Drumbox / Guitar / maraca’s?
• Easy Foods – Sandwich material / Pot Noodles / Salami
• Small Gas Cooker
• Reusable Water Container
• Blanket to Sit on
• A bag for your rubbish
• Money, back up money
• Home keys
• Mobile Phone
• Camera
• Plasters / First Aid Stuff
• Contact details noted separate to mobile/wallet in case of emergency
• Medical Info / Next of Kin info on your person
• Driving licence
• Cigarettes / Tobacco if you smoke, Rizla?
• Pen Knife
• Mark your valuables with your address
• Fold Up Chairs
• Cooler
• Smaller backpack/knapsack/round-the-neck bag for hands free dancing

Festival Essentials? What’s your 3?
(pic by Ian Wilson)

Extra Points for: 

• Ridiculous party outfits
• UV Body Paint
• Duck Tape
• Flags

Obviously you don’t need to bring the whole lot, it’s the Ultimate list – perhaps cross off a few which don’t apply, or split the list between a few of you. Do you think there’s anything we’ve missed?
Looking for the printable festival essentials list?
Download the Ultimate Festival Packing List – (Right click the download link and then click “save as” to save your own copy of the festival essentials list)

Tell us what you think or Share The Ultimate Festival Packing List:

Pick a festival with Great Music
(pic by Christian Holmér)

The key factors to choosing a music fest:

• Music you like
• Great Location
• Festival Community
• Organisers Ethics
• Budget

Some of the best advice we heard when chatting to a few friends before starting ChooseFest was “Be open for new experiences, but prepared”. Solid festival advice in every word. Below we go through a hit-list of what to think about when choosing which music festival to attend but we don’t talk much about what to do when you get there – watch this space for more info on that, for now – how do you find a music festival with music that’ll make you smile ear to ear?

Whether you’re a heavy metal guy or a folk pop girl you probably know a few bands you want to see at a festival. If your bands are major (or young) then you will probably find their website quite easily, most of them will put up tour dates on which you can find the festivals they are performing at this year. This is how we started, but there’s quite a major problem with it. Try doing this for 10 bands, it would take you hours, collating all that info is not fun and festivals should be all about the fun. This is why we made ChooseFest, to make it FUN to find the best fest You can hop straight over to the ChooseFest Festival Search, add your bands and get automatically matched to a festival, hours turns magically into seconds or minutes, you can even jump straight to the festival ticket buying pages after you have found a festival.

So if you know which bands you want to see that’s you covered. What about a group of you with lots of music tastes? Well roll right up! ChooseFest still works here, just get your group together (we recommend a group dinner somewhere nice, where there’s wifi.) Each add 4 or 5 of your “must see” bands & artists, from the mixed selection you will be presented with a “best match” as well as a list of other near hits that will give you some options to discuss.

Notes on Music @ Festivals:

• The bigger the names on the bill (head-liners) the pricier/busier the festival
• Do you want to discover new music or see your favourites?
• Watch out for set clashes – do any of your favourites play at the same time?

The amazing location of Sasquatch festival – The Gorge Amphitheatre (pic by Wil Kristin)

Festivals come in all shapes and sizes, this is part of the appeal of finding new festivals to go to. But how far are you willing to go? 30 minutes in the car? 4 hours on the bus? A few hours on a cheap flight? Depending on which of these applies you can find some great festivals in great locations. Looking locally you might be lucky enough to catch a major festival but for most people keeping it local restricts you to city/county festivals and smaller events (some of these are still amazing!) We recommend you ask yourself the following before you start looking for a festival:

• For how long would I travel for the most amazing festival?
• How much money do I have for travelling?
  (remember food and fuel – service stations are expensive!)
• Will I be able to get a seat on the (bus/train/plane)?
  (popular festivals cause all sorts of transport sell-outs)
• Am I looking for a special environment or a focus on the festival?

Remember – always allow an extra few hours in your plans for traffic – especially if it’s a huge festival. Organisers are pretty good at managing traffic and parking but you never know what can happen. Try to rest up the night before so you can hit the festival fresh, ready to find a spot for your tent and enjoy the location!

Which music festival has a community that suits you? (pic by Michael Dolan, Coachella 2010)

A major selling point for music festivals is the strong sense of community you get from pitching your tent within meters of other music lovers’ tents; you’re all there with a shared intention of enjoyment and experience, it’s a fantastic aspect of festivals. Every festival we have ever been to has had a strong community feel, but the communities are different from festival to festival. You will probably find as friendly people at a metal festival as you will at a mainstream music festival or a small folk gathering, but the way everyone interacts will differ. While it’s likely that if you share music tastes with the other festival goers you will share other values, it might help you to choose between a few festivals if you go to their websites, read comments and try to absorb their attitudes – the one which stands out most will probably be the one which best fits your outlook. Also: watch for festival goers’ reviews for next year’s festivals on ChooseFest.

A growing trend amongst festival goers is to discern their festival of choice by the nature of its organisers. The rise of the green festival has become a strong movement and one for the better of everyone. If you are concerned with the environmental effects of your musical tourism then reading up on the festivals core values will often help you decide if it’s a good choice. Many UK festivals this year are doing their bit to help reduce the impact our festivals have on the environment, for example Croissant Neuf Summer Party is the first Solar Powered Festival!

Do your bit:

• Read about the festival you want to attend, do they have an “Ethics” or “Eco” page?
• If they don’t, ask them about their policy on recycling/environmental protection
• Keep your tent! Buy a quality tent in the first place
  (don’t subscribe to the “throwaway tent” movement)
• Car Share – Sites like goCarShare are great for polluting less on the way to your festival

Experiences trump possessions any day, you can’t put a value on experiences – you can however budget your spending for festivals to stop it getting blown out of proportion.

Tip: Festival food is expensive on site, budget accordingly (or bring sandwhichs)
(pic by Rich Jones)

With festival ticket prices growing on average faster than inflation it’s easy to buy a ticket early on in the year and forget to save for the travel, food and other expenses of the festival. Depending on the size of the festival and when you buy tickets (if you have a festival you really want to go to then early-bird tickets are the way forward!) you can spend anywhere between £5 and £500 on a festival ticket, with some festivals offering VIP tickets and Glamping additionally which can put the price up into the thousands (£,$ or €.) Once you have secured your ticket remember to save/allow money for the essentials.

We recommend you put aside some money for the following:

• Travel – Bus/plane/train Ticket/Fuel/Human Fuel
• Food – On-site food can be pricey, so allow for that – bring your own?
• Toiletries – Soap, Toothpaste, Condoms, Aftershave, Make-up etc.
• Beverages – essential for many festival goers, budget accordingly
• Backup fund – What if you want to buy a hat with tassels on?

Like all types of tourism it’s good to bear in mind things like security and backup cash, watch this space for a much fuller guide on “what to take to festivals” where we will go more in depth into that.

So there we have it – this has been our guide on how to best choose which music festival suits you or your group, we hope you all HAVE AN AMAZING festival, if you have found this useful please do let us know in the comments, oh and yeah: share it with your friends!