Help. I'm coming over a bit strange

dis'peptic's picture Submitted by dis'peptic on

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im addicted to Green Man, or have been since I first found it in 2010. (I know, relative newcomer....)

I've been to EOTR as well, in 2013 and 14. 'Very nice, but not GM' I've always felt.

and I came to GM this year with two old friends - first time without mrs peptic - and we had a scream together.

but..........it felt a bit diffferent to me. And I've been thinking about this for a couple of weeks. I'm a misanthropic bastard all the time but what wound me up a bit too much was that the crowd was somehow less enjoyable to be part of. Everything felt a bit safer. Is the best way I can describe it. And by safe I mean a bit anodyne. Middle class. Perhaps. More posh teenagers. More middle class families. Must be the way festivals are going, I guess? Buggies, chairs, talking during sets, umbrellas, new outdoor gear etc etC (I also got lectured by a 14 year old member of the bar staff on the difference between ale and beer (which nearly ruined my entire 4 days) 

So, I'm just someone who gets too wound up by other people, I guess.

But then I saw the final lineup for EOTR. http://endoftheroadfestival.com/artist/past-line-ups/

Now in my humble, that is very much superior to GM this year. Michael kiwanuka? Future islands? Ride?....

so, it's a couple of weeks to early bird, my preferred purchasing mode. Although the cheapest tier of EOTR tickets have already gone.

and I'm wondering.....which I have never wondered before. Should I?.....Or should I wait and see lineups before choosing?

i get that the festival-going clientele at the two are in many respects interchangeable, so I'm no more likely to love my neighbours at either. (Although I'd rather spend a long weekend with someone who is going to get excited by foxygen, parquet courts and JaMC than aforementioned GM headliners)

So, what's my point? I think it's that the music this year disappointed me. As well as the punters. And that the two are, of course, linked. Mr Ray actually dared to sugggest a couple of months ago on the forum that he wasn't of the opinion that the lineup was particularly strong. Having wandered about, I have to agree.

maybe I should just fuck off to dorset next year and see if I feel any happier afterwards. Certainly everyone else on here in the week or two after the festival was in paroxysms Of joy about the lineup.

So.... I don't spose anyone else is feeling a bit underwhelmed and confused too?

peridot's picture peridot replied on

I'm also someone who gets too wound up by other people so festivals are always going to have their challenges.

Having been to Dorset twice my experience is that it gets a higher proportion of 'serious' music fans but also a higher (though still very small) proportion of real dickheads. Mind you that may be related to the fact that Mac Demarco has been on the bill both years I've been.

Overall I think a lot comes down to luck ... you can be camped beside wonderful neighbours or complete pillocks, you can be plagued with chatterers at every act or avoid them all together. You can pick the fastest moving bar queue most times or get stuck in the one where the barperson has a five minute chat with every customer.

Your favourite artist can play a stinker of a set or you can be blown away by somone you've just happened upon.

All you can do is go with the line-up that's closest to your personal preferences and hope for the minimum number of other piss-off factors.

If you can afford it ... buy tickets for both when they're at the cheaper prices. They'll both sell out so you can move the tickets on via Twickets for whichever you drop.

 

blackcatista's picture blackcatista replied on

Yeah, what Peridot said about it coming down to luck. There was one GM around 2011ish where I felt like the whole atmosphere was going downhill, but I've never felt that since.

Only been to EOTR once, but from many conversations with people who've done both (please tell me I'm wrong if I am!), there's truth in the generalisation that people tend to go to EOTR for the lineup and tend to go to GM for the wider experience (though lineup is a major part of that). I think not everybody being there as a result of a lineup assessment is a big positive for me. I tend to see "serious music events" as pretty joyless and full of closed cliques and Green Man has done well down the years to steer away from that. I like the fact that there are hundreds of young people in from Cardiff and Bristol celebrating their A Level results. I like the fact that there are a few hundred locals in with a picnic, a blanket and a box of wine (as long as they don't put their blanket somewhere stupid or talk through the bands). I like the fact that there are a few thousand people there having a great experience in the parts of the festival (Chai Wallahs, All night disco, kids zone) that I'd never dream of casting eyes on.

dis'peptic's picture dis'peptic replied on

...but not sure that it could be inferred from what I said.

Which was more that the music was a bit disappointing this year and that my misanthropometer was unnaturally set off a twitching by what, I felt, was an increasing arsehole quotient. I guess you don't agree?

Nathan replied on

I don't agree, no. I guess I had a lucky weekend as people say. And I don't doubt the quote is inaccurate, it was just your post struck me as amusingly interpretable in that way! 

Krasnyi's picture Krasnyi replied on

There have been years when for me, the EoTR line-up was slightly more appealing but have never seriously considering swapping because I love GM too much and the timimg of EoTR, just ahead of the school term starting, isn't ideal. This year though, for me, the GM line-up was damn near unbeatable, the best (i.e. lots of my favourite bands) in the eleven years I've been going

Elizabeth McEvoy's picture Elizabeth McEvoy replied on

Went to both festivals this year, with young teenagers at GM for the settlement week and just my partner and I at EotR for the weekend with some really good mates, to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary.

A noticeable lack of school age kids in Dorset, it coinciding with back to school, but still plenty of the dreaded toddler carriages festooned with fairy lights and Orla Keily cushions transporting middle class pre schoolers with fanciful names.

Plenty of dickheads and gig talkers too 

Musically there was plenty to keep me happy at both festivals, GM just edging it despite the lovely BC headlining the other place.

I would prefer less mainstream headliners at GM, I'm sure it would still sell out, even though it does have a larger capacity.

I enjoyed both festivals but my heart belongs to the big Green Fella, it now holds a special significance to our family.

GM just gets so many things right,  the little details that make all the difference are always considered.

And the landscape........

blackpumpkinhead replied on

I think Peridot is right,choose which line up is best for you--both usually very good but to my tastes EOTR is less mainstream and have more interesting new bands.I think dickhead quota has increased at both,on the Thursday night at Green Man i was passed by  a group chanting lets all get mullered--thought i was back in Blackpool for a moment.But like Peridot said it only takes being camped next to an idiot or having one near you at your favourite artist that can taint you view.For me this years Green Man had its worst line up for years and i would not have gone on the Thursday if it were not for the forum meet.After saying that i saw some of my favourite ever Green Man performances and had a really good weekend.

     Green Man is much much more middle class festival and EOTR a bit more hipster and many more children at Green Man,which i'm not saying is a problem,it helps keep the dickhead quota down.I have been to all the Green Man Festivals and most EOTR and will book early GM tickets this year and have not booked early EOTR,mainly because we love the area,enjoy meeting th eforum group and we can stay off site-------its very hard to stay off site near to EOTR,freezing at night and we had a couple of bad camping experiences which put us off for a couple of years.

                       Being a long time ATP festival goer i do not agree serious music festivals are joyless--we had some of our best ever  festival experiences there and met people from all round the world,

    I don't know why this thread appears every year and it ends up a contest between the two,they are both excellently organized festivals,both have audiences,with odd idiots,that are a pleasure to mingle with and both have the two best line ups of the year.I'm just glad we have these two festivals every year as well as Bluedot.Though Peridot has come close to convincing us to try a european one as well.