Reading Festival.

[The Don]

Anyone here going/been. What's it like? will my stuff get stolen from my tent? and why are there different camp zones and what's the difference and how will i smuggle alcohol in?

[Jordy]

It's an ENORMOUS event that's why there's numerous camp zones spread out over many fields. Each of them also has their own atmosphere and pros/cons.

You don't need to smuggle alcohol in, it's a music festival and everyone drinks.

Things do get stolen from tents but if you don't bring valuables it shouldn't be a problem, if you're vigilant and make friends with people camping around you then you also minimise the risk.

You might wanna try a smaller festival if you're inexperienced before jumping in at the deep end.

[samsaBEAR]

Lol smuggle alcohol in? Are you 12? The usual alcohol per person limit is one slab of beer or one big bottle of spirits.

[Jin]

Anyone here going/been. What's it like? will my stuff get stolen from my tent? and why are there different camp zones and what's the difference and how will i smuggle alcohol in?

It's quite hard to give an accurate statement for Reading 2011 as to what it will be like, 2010 brought around a lot of changes to combat the general anti-social behaviour that has been common in the previous years. The significant changes in 2010 appeared to have a great effect however we also did have very bad weather which could also explain why generally nothing happened.

In 2010 we also had an increase in tent thefts in the first couple of days of the event, yet again there is no explanation as to why this occurred especially with the increase of security. It is possible it is one gang that were responsible for the majority of thefts.

The difference in camp zones is purely because of the attendance numbers which stand at 87,000 weekend campers, certain campzones are specially designated such as White which is regarded as quiet camping as it is away from the main entertainment. The "vibe" is generally the same across all campsites up until sunday night which is the night notorious for ASB. Some campsites have extra entertainment on during the night such as red and orange which have the silent disco's, with red also holding the funfair but you aren't restricted to campsites in the site and can walk wherever you want.

In terms of safety best places to camp are red and white as they are the areas that the least incidents occur.

These are the rules on Alcohol:

• Allowed in the campsite, but not allowed in the arena (may be purchased from the arena bars)
• Only can bring in quantities for personal consumption.
• No glass permitted anywhere on site.
• Must be of age to drink otherwise it may be confiscated.
• No alcohol allowed to be brought onto site after 6pm Sunday.

My first event as a punter was Reading festival, however it wasn't so bad for behaviour back then. Nowadays I wouldn't recommend going to Reading as a first time attender, if I could say with confidence that the 2010 changes made a significant impact and it wasn't the crap weather then I would've said different but at the moment it's too soon to tell.

I would suggest trying a different music festival first such as V fest or T in the Park. I do not recommend Glastonbury until you have done 1 music festival before hand, glasto is just too special.

That being said I wonder if because I am always having to deal with the negatives of Reading festival that's why it seems so much worse than what it used to be when I was a punter. :S

[Plebings]

I had a blast at 2010, but I don't think I'd be going again.

Going to Glasto this year anyway ;D

[The Don]

Lol smuggle alcohol in? Are you 12? The usual alcohol per person limit is one slab of beer or one big bottle of spirits.

No, i'm not 12, I'll be 17 in january, so that's what the problem with alcohol is.

It's an ENORMOUS event that's why there's numerous camp zones spread out over many fields. Each of them also has their own atmosphere and pros/cons.

You don't need to smuggle alcohol in, it's a music festival and everyone drinks.

Things do get stolen from tents but if you don't bring valuables it shouldn't be a problem, if you're vigilant and make friends with people camping around you then you also minimise the risk.

You might wanna try a smaller festival if you're inexperienced before jumping in at the deep end.

I might attend another festival before then if that's the case.

It's quite hard to give an accurate statement for Reading 2011 as to what it will be like, 2010 brought around a lot of changes to combat the general anti-social behaviour that has been common in the previous years. The significant changes in 2010 appeared to have a great effect however we also did have very bad weather which could also explain why generally nothing happened.

In 2010 we also had an increase in tent thefts in the first couple of days of the event, yet again there is no explanation as to why this occurred especially with the increase of security. It is possible it is one gang that were responsible for the majority of thefts.

The difference in camp zones is purely because of the attendance numbers which stand at 87,000 weekend campers, certain campzones are specially designated such as White which is regarded as quiet camping as it is away from the main entertainment. The "vibe" is generally the same across all campsites up until sunday night which is the night notorious for ASB. Some campsites have extra entertainment on during the night such as red and orange which have the silent disco's, with red also holding the funfair but you aren't restricted to campsites in the site and can walk wherever you want.

In terms of safety best places to camp are red and white as they are the areas that the least incidents occur.

These are the rules on Alcohol:

• Allowed in the campsite, but not allowed in the arena (may be purchased from the arena bars)
• Only can bring in quantities for personal consumption.
• No glass permitted anywhere on site.
• Must be of age to drink otherwise it may be confiscated.
• No alcohol allowed to be brought onto site after 6pm Sunday.

My first event as a punter was Reading festival, however it wasn't so bad for behaviour back then. Nowadays I wouldn't recommend going to Reading as a first time attender, if I could say with confidence that the 2010 changes made a significant impact and it wasn't the crap weather then I would've said different but at the moment it's too soon to tell.

I would suggest trying a different music festival first such as V fest or T in the Park. I do not recommend Glastonbury until you have done 1 music festival before hand, glasto is just too special.

That being said I wonder if because I am always having to deal with the negatives of Reading festival that's why it seems so much worse than what it used to be when I was a punter. :S

Oh right, I've heard bad things about orange. What's wrong with that area? I'm going to go to reading with a few friends so it should be alright. what's so special with glastonbury lol? And how do I get a job or volunteer for reading? Thanks + rep all

[Rozi]

I went last year as my first experience of a festival. I had such a good time and nothing bad happened (apart from getting ridiculously drunk and therefore getting a nickname around my camp lol ). Some of my friends did get their stuff stolen when they were sleeping though, so best keep your valuables on you at all times, and when you're sleeping keep them on you.

We had no trouble buying alcohol from the people selling big crates for quite cheap outside the campsite, but did have a crate confiscated because we had no id Also in the arena you wont get served without ID, but just ask an adult to buy it for you and it's easy.

Also, where you camp is very important. We were lucky in that we found a nice quiet-ish corner of purple, but make sure that you find a good spot.


I'm gonna go again this year

[Andeeh]

If you wanna try a little festival before hand then try GuilFest, however looking your from Bristol it may be a bit of a mission perhaps the Big Chill?. This year was my first festival at Guilfest and it was sick. Only trouble was it was family friendly so the main arena closed by 1am, but back on the campsite it went on throughout the night, my mates went up on the thursday and got all their alcohol taken off them apart from 1 who cleverly hid a crate right at the bottom of the bag. Also dont bring anything to valuable, luckily me nor my mates got anything nicked so it was all good, if you have a £300+ phone the perhaps leave it at home and buy a £10 one if your worried. Also make sure you don't sleep in a massive tent with all your mates, if their like mine then everything gets ****** and it was proper cramped but still one of my highlights of this year

[Jin]

Oh right, I've heard bad things about orange. What's wrong with that area? I'm going to go to reading with a few friends so it should be alright. what's so special with glastonbury lol? And how do I get a job or volunteer for reading? Thanks + rep all

Nothing wrong with the area its just the people that choose to attend the festival, generally speaking Reading festival is full of drunk 16 year old post-GCSE ***** that mummy and daddy have allowed to go to a music festival where they get drunk and become pathetic little anarchists rioting in campsites on sunday night after they have become hammered from trying to finish the 3 crates of fosters they bought at the start of the week.

Red and White because they are at the edge of the camping fields in general they don't bother going in there, green, yellow, purple, orange, brown all link to each other so they can move around those zones easily.

Glastonbury is hard to describe, it is basically like no-other music festival which is what makes it so special. If you go Glastonbury first then every music festival afterwards will seem crap in comparison. But if you do it the other way round then you realise that Glastonbury is just special for what it is.

Just the sheer size, amount of entertainment and attendance figures.

Jobs aren't easy to come by as a lot of it is skilled or experience work, you can find jobs working for the traders who employ people to serve burgers and crap or volunteer with charities like salvation army and Oxfam. Most volunteer positions require a deposit of about £200 to protect them in case you decide to run off after getting your wristband.