accies1874 Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 The Facebook page is bombarded with stories of horror and T are deleting comments willy nilly and replying to the very rare positive ones! One guy said that he left the car park no bother and was home within 1.5 hours and they replied to it but are just ignoring and deleting the rest whilst posting about being taken back already to see the Libertines!! Completely trying to paper of the cracks with the back lash of so many unhappy campers Was the travel time the only complaint or was there more? Other than this morning I thought it was pretty well run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paris Hilltoon Posted July 13, 2015 Share Posted July 13, 2015 Myself and others on here with local knowledge predicted these problems when the site was first announced. So it's no great surprise that it's been chaos. They'll sort it out for next year tho. I remember one year at Balado (04 or 05 I think) where traffic was queued back to Perth as the entrance was a total swamp. So it was taking folk upwards of 6 hours to simply get in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pencils Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 Left Alloa at 1am sat night/sun morning to pick up friends cos their tent flooded got about 3 miles from the site at about 1.45am and never got to the pick up point till 5.30. Friends were at the west pick up and got directed through the the east car park which was an absolute mud bath and ended up having to get shoved out by security! Some of the videos kicking about Facebook are fucking hilariously brilliant though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throbber Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 Was the travel time the only complaint or was there more? Other than this morning I thought it was pretty well run. The complaints are 90% negative for sure - mostly about travel time in car park and pick up points but the camp site is being said to have been a total disaster, layout a mess inside arena as it's far to small and there were bottle necks and a fear of crushing. Rides etc too close to the stage so the music wasn't heard right coz of the tacky theme music from the rides. Bottled water confiscated from people and no good water points inside. Not enough toilets. All that topped off with a plethora of off their chops neds and junkies, a lot of aggression and unhelpful authorities. To top it all off among all these countless messages of people saying they won't be back and had a miserable time titp officials kept posting new threads about how great it all was, deleting the worst comments and replying only to the positive ones of which there are about 1 in every 10 as I said ( probably less and they all still have a but included ) I did 10 of them and left 9 absolutely buzzing and crying for more pretty much , one was ruined by the rain and my gf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamamafegan Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 I didn't have much trouble getting home, got straight on a bus after Noels set and was in Perth for 2am. Getting in was a bit of a nightmare though, left Perth at 11:45am and didn't get into the arena until about 2pm. Other than that, all good. Can't relate to these horror stories I've heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranaldo Bairn Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 Throbber: The water stations were fine, I used them plenty times. Not enough of them I grant you. Music from rides interfering with music from the stage: absolute poppycock. There were millions of toilets and they were still in decent nick on Saturday evening (can't vouch for Sunday) You had to empty your bottles of water yes, but kept the bottles and could refill them as many times as you needed. Exiting late at night does sound rough, and there were still some poor souls hanging round Auchterarder at 4 pm at least. DFC really do need to look at that. I really can't see any alternative from chopping the capacity. Take a third off it, lose a stage and reintroduce the Citizen T area which by all accounts worked well, and there's a start. There's a decent article in the Courier today reminding people not to get too misty eyed over Balado which had plenty disasters in its time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeAreElgin Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 The layout wasn't great and the amount of space taken up by the rides was a bit of a pain - but to say that they were louder than any of the stages is madness. The water stations inside the area and on the campsites were clearly marked and easy to find so unless they went out with their eyes closed I can't see how anyone can complain about that. The security/staff situation was a bit of a headfuck on the Friday/Saturday - they searched my (clearly labelled) sleeping bag yet left my rucksack and my suitcase alone. I spotted one sniffer dog the whole weekend. It was also seemingly impossible to get caught smuggling drink in to the arena, either the boy thought I had a stauner or he just didn't give a f**k. All in all it wasn't an awful weekend like some are suggesting, the neds weren't helpful but T is always going to have neds. There was a bit of a bottleneck at the radio 1 stage a few times that could be avoided by simply walking around it. I think most of the people complaining are just pissed off because someone shat in their tent or something. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dazzle Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 The actual festival was very good once you were in. It was just the layout of the site and getting home that was the problem. The walk from the drop of point to the camping was a nightmare, felt like forever(I know it's never been a short walk but it must've been over a mile, brutal with all your bags/tent in tow) granted I was in red which was furthest away but still. It also didn't matter what campsite you were in you were miles from the arena, before you could walk in see a band for half an hour then head back to the tent no bother, it really wasn't worth your while doing that this year as it would've taken too long so I ended up just staying in the campsite until 5ish then heading down for the night meaning I missed a good couple of acts I would liked to have seen. The pick ups were horrendous, worst part of the weekend. We left the tent at 12 on Sunday and didn't get home until 5, there was hundreds of people sitting outside freezing and no one seemed to be moving, our taxi driver left Fife at 11pm and we didn't get picked up until 3.50am. Was so badly run. I'm sure they can fix a lot of these things though and as I said the actual festival was good, well laid out, plenty of places to eat/drink without too much of a cue and tbh cocktail cocktail was that good I'd pay 200 just to party there all weekend again. I may go back next year depends on what improvements they make. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throbber Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 I'm just going by the comment on the fb page and feeling pretty outraged in their behalf ! I have never had any problems at t and balado , the walking was always a pain but that was necessary as it was so huge but the festival itself has always been a roaring success . This still sounds like a disaster due to the location and access routes to the site. Saying not to get too misty eyed about balado is fair enough but it is the place that will always be on my heart for wonderful weekends and I could never look on strathallan or any other site in the same way. If it's just a normal pretty narrow country road leading to the place then what do you expect will happen when that volume of traffic hits it there? Was always likely to be a disaster , balado was so accessible from every angle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accies1874 Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 Anyone know where if they'll release the entire Courteeners set to watch online? They've put out a 25 minute video but I'd like to watch the whole thing again as it misses a couple of great songs out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Gaines Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 It won't come out. Console yourself with Paul Heaton and Jacqui Abbott. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accies1874 Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 It won't come out.That's a bit gutting. I thought they were absolutely incredible and the best I saw all weekend. I haven't seen any of the Libertines' set on the BBC either and only Same Jeans and Superstar Tradesman from The View. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Gaines Posted July 14, 2015 Share Posted July 14, 2015 My contingency is still good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BroadwoodBoy Posted July 15, 2015 Share Posted July 15, 2015 We were supposed to have been picked up at 11am on Monday by our minibus but were still sitting in an empty field until 5pm when it finally managed to get to us. Heard many horror stories in terms of traffic etc but won't let that ruin our weekend. We had a great time & got to meet a lot of new people in the campsite. There are some amount of neds & drugs kicking about but neither caused us any problems tbh. What I don't understand though are the ones that sit in their tents for the full weekend absolutely plastered without even making it to arena! Not the biggest fan of the layout but not sure whether or not it was due to genuine faults or just being such a big fan of Balado? Overall though it was a top weekend & we will all be back next year, as we always are! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrahamJags Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I've been reliably informed by a relative working in the oil industry who has regular direct involvement with the Forties Pipeline, that the concerns which led to T being moved from Balado are totally unfounded. The pipeline is apparently far enough underground that it would take deep excavation or an earthquake to cause any damage. Also, a 'pig' is frequently sent down the pipeline to carry out internal safety inspections and all is well. I've also heard this. DF have been looking for a cheaper, smaller site to host it to make more £££ and they seem to have found it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paisleysaints Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 I had to pick folk up there on monday morning left paisley at 9:30 got home about around half two. Drive up was ok but as others have said once you got about 3mile away from the place traffic came to a stand still. Arrived at the pick up drop off point seen few cars struggling so feared the worst. Traffic planning needs badly looked at farm roads with constant traffic systems didnt work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DA Baracus Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Why didn't folk just walk a few miles then get picked up instead of waiting around for hours? If you walked about 3/4 miles it would only take an hour and you'd be clear of the worst of the traffic surely? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
accies1874 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 The traffic complaints are completely understandable however some of the others are pretty stupid. Some moaning that it was too muddy and others saying that the toilets weren't very nice. What do you expect of a festival in Scotland? The drugged up neds argument is a tough one. I don't think the fact that they're there can be prevented but the sniffer dogs could've been better however I did see two people being taken away. I thought the walk was pretty bad from my campsite (Blue 3) to the arena but I presumed that was always the case? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ross. Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 The traffic complaints are completely understandable however some of the others are pretty stupid. Some moaning that it was too muddy and others saying that the toilets weren't very nice. What do you expect of a festival in Scotland? The drugged up neds argument is a tough one. I don't think the fact that they're there can be prevented but the sniffer dogs could've been better however I did see two people being taken away. I thought the walk was pretty bad from my campsite (Blue 3) to the arena but I presumed that was always the case? I was discussing this on facebook earlier with someone. I don't think there has been an increase in drugged up neds at T as such, I think there are more drugged up neds in society which is why there has been a proportional increase at T. When I first went in 99 there were people smoking dope, people doing speed, and people taking tenner ecto's. The last time I went in 2011 there was a shit load of coke going about. The same can be said for pubs and clubs in most city centres over the same period though. That is the biggest contributor if you ask me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamieT1314 Posted July 16, 2015 Share Posted July 16, 2015 Why didn't folk just walk a few miles then get picked up instead of waiting around for hours? If you walked about 3/4 miles it would only take an hour and you'd be clear of the worst of the traffic surely? I thought the exact same. The first Rockness was a shambles to get out of, one country road in and out of the site,so we just walked it into Inverness centre. 9 miles i think it was, took about 3 hours walking along a grass verge in the dark. Was great watching bodies just disappear down a drainage ditch every now and again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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