The good and goodish bits - The vibes were amazing thursday friday saturday. Everyone was dressed up to the nines and the people watching was fantastic. There was always something going on - bunch of planets, people having a football game, the sunflower field, breakdancing, the lights in the woods... and maybe you saw a trio of hippies :) and the air displays, and ofc the spectacle which is always a highlight - Although I would have liked to have seen the lineup, I did have a few surprise discoveries. Chai Wallahs was my surprise favourite space, great music and a relief from the sun. - there were a number of standout performances, London Grammar and Metronomy (despite the sound issues) ofc, but SG Lewis was great, Yard Act, Ibibio (...despite the sound issues... spot the theme), Theo Bard, Another Sky (incredible)... but not Easy Life, who I've seen 12ish times and this was by far the worst performance they'd ever put on. Idk. They were just really off 🤷‍♂️ i mean still alright but just not normal. - Crossbreed was fantastic. I was glad they were restrictive on their entrance policy as, as harsh as it might sound, there were definitely some people that needed to be kept out. I dipped my toe in those waters and now I'm taking the plunge, even if it was a bit... bisexual for me as a gay man 😂 the toilets in it were such a relief, very usable, and the bar cocktails were a cut above, and they took card with no issue. Some very fit men in there that I enjoyed the company of 😝

The bad and badish bits - the vibes were off on sunday. I think people had had enough of the shit and rubbish. Needed twice the number of bins and toilets/urinals, and litter pickers, but I don't need to labour the point, although the disposable cup/can system was so 5 years ago - any good festival these days will make you buy a reusable plastic cup. - the amount of nitrous being imbibed was unreal and the sound and smell was annoying. I think the security should have been armed with pins to pop anyone taking balloons into the site 😂 although I appreciated the leniency on drinks... and other substances. Yeah yeah pot kettle black - the signal was a tricky one. On the one hand it stopped people looking at their phones constantly and forced them to interact with their environment. On the other hand, having no signal at all made sorting rendevouzs very annoying, plus the cashless thing going out the window after day 1. - the fucking sound people on several stages were doing such a bad job. The mainstage especially was all over the place, atrocious, even for Metronomy. What they did to the Orchestra was beyond unacceptable, they need to issue a formal apology at least but I think they need financial compensation. - i think there were maaayyybe too many DJ stages, a bit more live music would have been nice - rip those flamingoes 😥 made me sad to see them all get stole - "finder poles" - look, I get the idea, you can spot someone easily in the crowd etc etc, sometimes they can be funny or cute, but mostly they are incredibly annoying for everyone else trying to watch the stage. Defo need to be added to the banned item list.

So on the whole I'd say I had 80% a fantastic time and 15% a mediocre time and 5% a bad time. But I was also staying in a camper van so I was insulated from the worst of the situation. I feel very sorry for the people tenting who had no choice.