It might seem like Glastonbury was the only festival occuring in the universe this past weekend, but Merseyside's Knowsley Hall took place for the first time as well. It was a festival in the non-camping sense, so whether you consider it a festival or not will depend on your hardcore-ness, I imagine.

Sadly one thing it has in common with Glasto is that a member of the audience died. A post-mortem will be carried out to determine the cause of death, but police are not looking for anybody else in connection with the incident.

Uncut kept a blog from the site, with the photos bearing more than a passing resemblance to those coming through from Somerset. But by all accounts The Who put an amazing show, which will compensate the crowd for the less pleasing aspects... of which, according to this article, there were many.

Sounds like many of the usual festival gripes were present - overpriced beer, hellish queues for drinks and toilets, traffic chaos exacerbated by rain... Regarding the queues at the beer tent, a spokeswoman for organisers Cream said they had been "taken by surprise by what a beer-drinking crowd it was."

To which your instinctive response may be: a) It's a festival, b) it's a music festival, c) it's a music festival with 30,000 fans. What were they expecting? Legions of Ribena-drinkers?

Apparently they're looking to introduce camping to next year's event, which they hope will ease the traffic problems for those leaving the event. Organisers assure us that lessons from this year's event will be used to improve festivalgoers' experiences next year.

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Comments

We experianced all the above mentioned,plus having our car broken into.So did a lot of others we met. They can shove it next year!!!
Paul and Mand.

Posted by: Paul and Mand | June 26, 2025 6:26 PM

too much mud

Posted by: | June 28, 2025 10:22 AM

Total chaos engine, we felt like we surprised the (Diss)organisers!
Total rip off, 1.5 hours to reach the car park four hours to get off!
Golden circle was a pile of shit, the bar had two choices, beer for the men and no wine for the ladies!!
Next year I intend to buy mega normous speakers for my I pod and invite 20 pigs into my garden to simulate the conditions at no cost to myself. Hell will freeze over before Knowsley gets my left plimsole again.
I guess there's no chance of a refund?

Posted by: Dennis O'Brien | June 28, 2025 8:11 PM

I have to agree with Dennis, it was bloody AWFUL! The organisers have said they will learn from their mistakes, but they should't even be given the chance.

Posted by: Glen Lewis | July 1, 2025 5:45 PM

booked Gold Circle which was crap. met some great people, all very happy and positive, despite the weather. music and sound systems were great.organisation for crowds was also crap. luckily had a four wheel drive so didnt need towing out. lighting and the state of the paths on the way out were awful. quite dangerous and a bit scary. ok for us but what about the guys who had difficulty walking or used wheelchairs? some things need sorting for next year but still wouldnt have missed it. Organisers ..... do your risk assessments!!!

Posted by: chris morton | July 8, 2025 9:13 PM

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