Abi Silvester is the editor of two of Shiny Media's ethical consumerism blogs (Hippyshopper & Crafty Crafty), and went along to the recent O2 Wireless festival. She took time out of her busy day to answer our questions - and certainly didn't hold back...

1. Kindly tell us your name, age and where you’re from. Now.

Abi Silvester, 29, London.

2. Which festival have you recently attended?

O2 Wireless Festival (Saturday).

3. Have you attended this festival before? If yes, how does this year compare?

I attended last year, and this time was a big disappointment...

4. Which act gave the best performance, and why?

Lucky Jim, because they managed a really rousing performance despite the band almost outnumbering the audience.

5. If you could have promoted one act on the bill to headline status, who would you choose? Why?

The Klaxons. Putting them in the cramped XFM tent was sheer madness, and it was one-in, one-out during the entire set.

6. Did your opinion of any acts change radically as a result of their performance?

Not really – all much as expected.

7. Nicest surprise / biggest disappointment (music-related or otherwise)?

The big disappointment was in terms of O2’s running of the event. Firstly, the programming was bizarre. Why put such popular bands in a cramped tent while others are on a huge open-air stage? It all seemed a bit arbitrary. Plus for the amount they charge in booking fees (as well as the actual tickets), facilities were dreadful. The toilets were worse than any I’d seen in a long time (waited about half an hour at one point) and in very short supply.

I gave up on the cash machines, but clearly a lot of people needed to make regular visits as the drinks were extortionate. Queuing to get in for 20 minutes was also a bit much, and their claim to support green initiatives by having recycle bins was a bit rich when I only found one such bin in the whole park! Everything was geared towards so-called VIPs, and this was far more noticeable this year than in 2006.

Nicest surprise? That it didn’t rain from when I turned up around 4pm until leaving at 11pm.

8. What was the best heckle you heard?

My boyfriend, consoling a girl for being “the wrong kind of VIP” when she was turned away from one of the posher areas.

9. What was the funniest moment (music-related or otherwise)?

Some of the hats worn by Daft Punk fans were pretty amusing. The flower-pot look is definitely in at the moment.

10. Any moments of sheer terror you’d like to share?

The £18 round of drinks for two people.

11. Anything you wish you’d brought with you?

Drinks (although they’d probably have been confiscated).

12. Please mark the following elements out of 10, with any comments:

General facilities: 3

Crowd / audience: 5

Food and drink value for money: 3 for the drinks (although the food selection and price wasn’t too bad).

Thanks for taking part in our humble questionnaire. Your place in heaven is assured (assuming you haven’t previously murdered anyone).

Have you attended a festival? Would you like to undergo some In-Tents Questioning? Get in touch at stuart(at)shinymedia.com! You too could see yourself all up in the internet!

Came straight to this page? Visit www.mychemicaltoilet.com for all the latest news.

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://shinymedia.headshift.com/cgi-bin/mtshiny/mt-tb.fcgi/37945

Listed below are links to weblogs that reference O2 Wireless, London, Saturday: In-Tents Questioning:

Comments

Post a comment

Name:

Email Address:

URL:

Remember personal info?

Verify your comment

please type in the code exactly as provided, if you are unable to see the code properly please reload the page to get a new captcha code.

Comments: