Festival Season!

[Storm]

The sun is out more, the flowers are blooming, the birds are making all kinds of crazy noises and animals everywhere are doing the naughty stuff! It's that time of year again!

Yes soon it will be Festival season! An excuse to take a break from work/college/school, live in a tent with the hygeine of primitive man, live on instant noodles and fast food, get intoxicated and enjoy some great, rockin' live music! Has everyone ordered their tickets yet?

I've just booked my tickets for this year's Download festival. I'm looking forward to seeing Prodigy, Pendulum (who I saw at last year's festival), Faith No More, Dragonforce, Lacuna Coil, Def Leppard, Whitesnake, ZZ Top, Motley Crue, Korn, Black Stone Cherry, Opeth, Dir En Grey, Static-X, Killswitch Engage, and Devil Driver. This year's lineup is immense, and i'm especially looking forward to Sunday's classic cheesy rock headliners! As usual there are a few bands who I have no idea why they're there (i.e. Fightstar), however this year looks like it will be so much better than last year. There's also a band called Lawnmower Death... who i've never heard of but have a very amusing name!

So are you going to a festival this year?
If so, who are you looking forward to seeing?
If not, is there a festival you would like to go to?

[Furore]

The Royal Easter Show for me.
But unfortunately the music isn't why I'm going as I expect it'll be mostly country and the types of rock that would send me to sleep.

No, instead I go for the rides, the showbags, the diving pig, the freestyle MotoX, psycho sideshow and to see all the cute animals. Never a dull moment.
EDIT: Also they tend to have some nice bars, sometimes with drinks I can't get here. Epic win.

[Walter Sobchak]

One day, I am going to have to go to Coachella. Acts this year that I am interested in include Conor Oberst, Morrissey, M. Ward, Franz Ferdinand, Atmosphere, Band of Horses, the Chemical Brothers, Jenny Lewis, the Killers, Liars, TV on the Radio, X, the Kills, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Cure, and My Bloody Valentine.

Bonnaroo, Austin City Limits, and Pitchfork interest me, but not as much.

[Halie]

I'd love to go to Download one year. Doubt I'd be able to round up the dosh to go this year, though. Maybe next year or the year after, me and a bunch of mates will camp for the whole weekend. I've only ever gone for one day, which was still a blast, mind you. But a whole weekend? Oh yes. Sign me up .

Reading was a good one, too. Wouldn't mind going there again. Wouldn't really wanna go to Glastbury, I don't fancy the rain too much .

[Chez Daja]

Gigs and festivals aren't really my thing, and I don't much enjoy getting squidged up to fat topless blokes with platted chest hair.

I prefer to buy the CD most times. I'm pretty lame like that.

My oldest friend loves all those kinds of things, though. He goes to gigs constantly -- I really don't know how he finds such energy for it, but he adores that lifestyle.

[Govinda]

Really want to hit up the Heineken festival in Gdyna, Poland. £70 for a four-day ticket. We're talking Prodigy, Kings of Leon, and some other excellent names. If I can get the time off, I am so there. Emiliana Torrini too, apparently.

There are a few bands I would drop all to see this summer. The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, because It's Blitz! is by far their best yet and live it would be ace, and Muse, because everyone keeps ranting about them live and I want to see what the fuss is about. And Hyper Music live. Oaaft aye!

Chez, give live music another chance. There's nothing better to dance to, as long as you like the band.

[ChaosXxXWeapon]

I live in the States so Festivals are rather limited and no where near as cool-looking as the ones I've seen across sees in Dvd's
I'd rather like to go to Wacken Festival, Full Force, Download festival...all of them...ahaha
too bad the economy over here ain't so great and everything is so darn expensive

[Storm]

Music festivals are really expensive here too... for a full weekend ticket +camping for Download it came to about £175 (they add a booking fee and postage and packaging on top of the original £160 (US$235.50) Other festivals cost a similar amount, Glastonbury I believe is even more, and Isle of Wight is one of the cheapest main festivals at £140. I don't know much about US festivals, but I have heard people commenting on how European festivals are better.

I've just taken a look at the Reading lineup and they've got some good stuff this year too. Radiohead, Placebo, Prodigy, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Ian Brown, Bloc Party, Eagles of Death Metal sofar lined up, and thats about a 3rd of what will be there. If I wasn't a skint student i'd go to more than one festival, since I listen to such a wide variety of music, it would be nice to get more of a variation.

Chez, I can understand what you mean about prefering the comfort of your own home to festivals. I love live music, but the 3 days are enough for me! It doesn't really help that at 5'1" short my head height is about armpit height to said sweaty topless blokes! I'm also claustrophobic when it comes to crowded areas (there is actually a word for this but I can never remember it), however somehow i'm fine in gigs, even when I was nearly flattened between a mass of bodies during Disturbed's set last year! The big festival issue for me I discovered on the last day of Download last year when idiots were going around burning their tents and rubbish, making loads of noise. When your biggest fear is uncontrolled fire the consequesnces are messy. I was hysterical, trying to relax but kept running out of the tent screaming and crying to make sure no explosions were to nearby. Thankfully the fire patrol squads kept well ontop of things, but needless to say I will be in the quiet camping site this year!

[ChaosXxXWeapon]

I mean we have a few festivals here in the States but not many good ones, I love looking at the line-ups Europe gets in their festivals, it's practically unheard of to have that many good bands in one 3-Day sitting. The ones we get are Ozzfest, Warped Tour, Taste Of Chaos...and that's really the only ones worth mentioning
The rest of them aren't fun.

I choose to stay away from said sweaty blokes, I remove myself from the action cuz some people just get way too outta hand listening to music, i think.