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Post by jimbo02816 on Jul 2, 2010 12:58:47 GMT -5
Arrived Thursday at 1:00 pm. figured they would let people in early to effase the congestion...wrong....staff guarding gates off pottle road told me that I needed a wristband to enter. I showed him my tickets and he said I had to go back on 'Rt.26 7 miles go get a wristband. When I got there, staff told me gates open at 4 pm and that I could enter thru Maine St. entrance..went back to Maine St. entrance, guard said we could come in at 4...some festival goers said no, got to go to main entrance farther up Rt. 26 to holding area...went there, staff had no clue as to what was going on....noticed cars going in so decided after one hour to take my chances....got in line and into festival at 4:40 pm. Had great nite, woke up took walk with my son at 8:00 am...walked out on Pottle Rd and staff would not let me in until 9:00am. Since it was only 6 minutes I didn't complain..but wtf? Camped ieromsatn Moose field 100 yds from stage...have to walk to only entrance, a 400 yd. walk...need more entrances and exits...on the Good side, friendly staff, music on time, cleaning crew great, cleas iolet;ned and pumped toilets this am......having great time.......
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Post by jimbo02816 on Jul 2, 2010 13:03:37 GMT -5
sorry for so many typos....wireless signal very weak....also charging stations only for VIP....didn't say that on website...couldn't recharge cell phone or computer....these complaints are meant positively so next year it will be smoother...more to come....peace
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Post by jimbo02816 on Jul 3, 2010 17:38:56 GMT -5
2nd day much more organized, running smooth....hope minor issues will be addressed next year
1. More informed gate people...they are the ones meeting people for first time, giving directions, answering questions...so many gate people were clueless.
2. Tell us showers are only 9am to 2pm....
3. Maine Street needs an entrance next to VIP....too hot to walk 400 yds. to get 100 yds.
4. Misting tents or fountains...way too hot in stage area and no shade...some folks just couldn't handle strong sun and fled to their camps.
Now for the good stuff....
1. Music always on time...schedule strictly followed.
2. Staff very friendly and helpful once inside camp area.
3. No disorderly conduct, Clean Vibes doing excellent job keeping place clean, along with Blow Bros. for the porta potties.
5. Crowd keeping place clean also..kudos to the peaceful people attending.
Keep up the good work all.
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Post by maineskier69 on Jul 5, 2010 14:18:10 GMT -5
We had an interesting situation with one of the vehicles in our party. Friday night my buddy had realized he had packed everything but his bag of clothes (wicked funny). Fortunately they only live about 25 minutes from the venue. Saturday AM we were up early and his wife volunteered to drive back to their house to grab his stuff (and take showers/pick up ice). So we spoke to security at the gate and explained the situation and they told us they could go and come back to the campsite. Cool we said and the girls took off. Well, security had a shift change while they were gone. The girls get back, go through the truck search (again) and when she drives up she is told that there is no re-entry and that she will have to park at the speedway and shuttle back. We were like "WHAT???", we were told earlier that it would not be a problem. The woman (who was a complete grouse BTW) calls her supervisor on the radio so he can tell us directly about the no re-rentry policy. She was then told to make a U turn and head out (our campsite was in that direction anyways). Our friend has trouble manuvering her husbands truck so asks me to turn it around for her which I gladly did. I told the security wench that I was going to just stop briefly to unload our ice and clothes bag. I then pretend I am invisible and just blow right past them and head right to our site. I thought for sure they would be over in their golf carts to give me hell, but it never happened. I was a hero that day,
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Post by steveb3210 on Jul 5, 2010 14:24:41 GMT -5
All and all they did a pretty good job for a first year fest, first years are always rough. Incidentally, i didn't get charged anything for driving up alone...
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Post by itrainmonkeys on Jul 5, 2010 15:54:37 GMT -5
Arrived Thursday at 1:00 pm. figured they would let people in early to effase the congestion...wrong....staff guarding gates off pottle road told me that I needed a wristband to enter. I showed him my tickets and he said I had to go back on 'Rt.26 7 miles go get a wristband. When I got there, staff told me gates open at 4 pm and that I could enter thru Maine St. entrance.. Pottle Road was never meant for people to be driving in. This is on the Nateva official site and has been there since before the festival: Note: The only access to the venue will be off of RT 26 in Oxford. There will be no venue access for the general public from Pottle Road, Webber Brook Rd or Cold Water Brook Rd or other points Southwest of the Venue. Please follow all of the signage onsite and see the directions below.So it's not really Nateva's fault that you tried to get in on Pottle Road. Pottle Road had the production/vendors/delivery entrance there....so it seems like the staff that was there was confused and thought you needed to pick up your wristband at the staff/press/band/vendor check-in (which was 7 miles up the road on Rt. 26). Sorry you had to deal with that problem. I assume The staff there must not have understood what you meant. Same here....there did seem to be some misinformed staff members....but that's the fault of the company that was handling the parking for not letting all their volunteers and workers know the stuff they needed to. I got in the holding pen for a while and then was let in a little while after 4 as well. I was in Moose camping as well....right next to the fence and the pedestrian gate entrance. I really didn't think it was that bad of a walk. They did have two entrances (though I think one was over near family camping or some other campgrounds). Still....Bonnaroo only has two entrances and it's like 5 times the size. Walking for 5 to 10 minutes along the fence wasn't really that bad in the grand scheme of things IMO  2nd day much more organized, running smooth....hope minor issues will be addressed next year 1. More informed gate people...they are the ones meeting people for first time, giving directions, answering questions...so many gate people were clueless. 2. Tell us showers are only 9am to 2pm.... 3. Maine Street needs an entrance next to VIP....too hot to walk 400 yds. to get 100 yds. 4. Misting tents or fountains...way too hot in stage area and no shade...some folks just couldn't handle strong sun and fled to their camps. Agree with most of this. 1.) This could be due to many things....maybe the fault of the parking company, maybe volunteers who don't give a crap or pay attention....who knows. For me, it was hit or miss....some were extremely helpful but there were some who didn't know what to tell us and seemed to be there just to make sure people weren't entering where they shouldn't be. One of the annoying instances with staff I had was asking a woman at the info booth if they were still having late night movies...because I didn't see it in the schedule or anything. She looked at me confused and said "Oh I have no idea about that". The next day she had more info but I was confused and wondering if they cancelled the movies the first day. 2.) Agreed. They need more showers also. Some people told me that they were very helpful tho and extended the hours a little to make up for the long wait. They said something like they plan on fixing this issue next year. 3.) Don't really feel like that's necessary. Of course, it would be nice.....but it would increase the amount of security needed (to guard 3 entrances instead of 2). Again, I'd like it but I don't think it's really needed. 4.) Totally agree. Way back in the main field by the posts that lit up at night they could have had some kind of shade things set up or even some misting tents on the sides by the vendors or near the beer tent. 1.) The beauty of dual stages. No wait time for technical difficulties or tuning or setting up the next act. Really love this set up. Even the port city music hall had little wait time. 2.) Agreed. All staff I dealt with were helpful and kind. 3.) Porta potties were always being cleaned, the ground was never gross or littered with trash, definitely didn't see any big problems. 4.) Totally agree. We had an interesting situation with one of the vehicles in our party. Friday night my buddy had realized he had packed everything but his bag of clothes (wicked funny). Fortunately they only live about 25 minutes from the venue. Saturday AM we were up early and his wife volunteered to drive back to their house to grab his stuff (and take showers/pick up ice). So we spoke to security at the gate and explained the situation and they told us they could go and come back to the campsite. I'm totally glad everything worked out and you got back to the campsite. That being said....it was known that on-site campers would not be able to leave with their car and pull back into their camping spot. They made that clear ahead of time. It seems like the staff you talked to was misinformed or confused and should not have told you what he did. It's clearly not your fault for what happened as you asked and were told it would be okay. It just sucks that the guy you asked gave you crappy info lol. Glad it worked out though. Good job on being the hero of the weekend ;D |
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Post by drumlaxer on Jul 5, 2010 17:15:36 GMT -5
MY good, bad, etc
Goods-
1. ease of entrance and exit
2. crowd vibe was the most relaxed and friendly i've ever experience at a festival
3. music always on time
4. staff, though uninformed at times, were friendly and sincere
Bads-
1. Further- great show, but whats the deal with 15 mins late, 45 min set break, and off at 1145? Thats not the 4 hour set that was advertised
2. Some sound issues on bands, especially low bass if you were up close
3. Lighting at night in Paris camping was tough
4. Need mist tents or something
5. More activities, with the heat, only thing else we could do was go back to our tent. I know its a music and camping festival, not music and arts, but that would be a good way to grow. and those movies?? never found them, where were they??
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Post by itrainmonkeys on Jul 5, 2010 17:26:04 GMT -5
5. More activities, with the heat, only thing else we could do was go back to our tent. I know its a music and camping festival, not music and arts, but that would be a good way to grow. and those movies?? never found them, where were they? It was a problem that people didn't really know where the movies were playing. I found them by accident when stumbling around after the Flaming Lips. My brain was pretty fried and I found the movies over near the silent disco. There was an inflatable screen that was pretty large and it was set up right in front of a big row of red bleachers. It was next to the VIP hangout thing. Anyway, the screen was big and the bleachers had plenty of space. There was a small but decent crowd there. I gotta say...there was something pretty cool about finding the movie tent.....sort of looking around and being like...."holy shiznit! is that cheech and chong?" and then going to take a seat. The only movies I saw on it were the end of Cheech and Chong's Nice Dreams and most of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Someone told me they were playing This is Spinal Tap the night before too. They definitely should promote the movie area more next year. |
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Post by jimbo02816 on Jul 5, 2010 18:46:00 GMT -5
My mistake not noticing only entrance off Rt. 26 BUT informed gatekeepers on Pottle Rd. would have corrected my mistake. All in all a GREAT festival, especially considering it was the first. Made lots of friends and was a great experience.
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Post by itrainmonkeys on Jul 5, 2010 18:55:38 GMT -5
My mistake not noticing only entrance off Rt. 26 BUT informed gatekeepers on Pottle Rd. would have corrected my mistake. All in all a GREAT festival, especially considering it was the first. Made lots of friends and was a great experience. Totally true. Just gotta keep in mind that sometimes the people in staff shirts are just volunteers and may not be given any info other then "hey...if anyone tries to go in this way just tell them they can't yet" or something along those lines. I agree that they would have helped had they been more informed. Personally, we had two or three people telling us completely different answers for the same question lol. Literally pointing in different directions. We even had one guy give us two different answers (we asked him once....then like 20 mins later same guy we asked). It sucks but it happens. |
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Post by djinnandjuice on Jul 5, 2010 20:49:28 GMT -5
the only issue I had was that it seemed in my area the spots for parking/camping were way small...after parking I had about 2 ft behind my van as camping area, then got griped at for spilling over into the fire lane, which was completely blocked by everyone else in the row, who were apparently sharing my experience, by the time I had my tent up...other than that, it was an awesome experience, well worth the travel time, line-up was excellent, got introduced to new bands that I think are awesome, not a balloon in sight from Thursday through Sunday, that was nice...can't wait for next year
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Post by moondancer on Jul 5, 2010 21:31:52 GMT -5
Ok here goes.
The bad:
1. A lot of the volunteers either had no clue as to what was going on, or just didn't care. I went to the camping info hq near us to ask what the best way to get out was when were ready to leave. They just kind of looked at me blankly and said 'um. the way you got in?'. The way we came in was completely blocked with cars and campers. We did find our way out without their help. And the people at the gate when we left were very helpful.
2. Showers could have been opened earlier and kept open later. I can't complain about the state of them though - they were clean and cold and refreshing. They did keep them open longer on Sunday though.
3. Camping parking was bit chaotic when we got in. There wasn't anywhere left to park and camp when we got to Paris field where we were directed to go, so we asked if we could just pull in next to the building and set up, which they let us do. There were no set camping sites left, so it kind of ended up being a free for all.
4. No wifi. We brought our laptop and could not connect to the internet at all. My husband asked at the info booth and two different people could not tell him anything. He even took it next to Port City Music Hall and couldn't connect there. Luckily someone in media was nice enough to trade a cigarette and beer for the info so he could get online. If you walked past the side of Port City Music and saw the guy on the couch - I think he has forever been dubbed "Couch Dude" - that was my hubby. lol
As for the good, I really can't say enough about the good. I was very impressed with everything. It was very family friendly. No sketch factor that we saw. As djinn said, I didn't see a single balloon anywhere. The few deals I saw going down were so discreet that had I not been looking in that direction, I probably wouldn't have noticed. We were fortunate in the fact that we had water, showers, food and entrance within a few hundred feet. I loved that everything was right there within walking distance and the music could be heard wherever you were camped, including family camping. We took a walk to family camping and checked it out. It was very nice and spacious there. We really had a great experience. My daughter had a blast at her first festival and I felt very comfortable with her there. She can't wait to go to another one now. I really hope this was a success for Frank and he is able to bring it back next year.
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Post by glittergirl on Jul 6, 2010 9:34:34 GMT -5
The Bad: - One gate to get in… it was rough being in the "holding pen" for FOUR hours while missing most of the music that we were paying extra to see. Fortunatley we got a FANTASTIC spot (worth the wait, really) in the horse stalls and were able to catch Lotus' set in the beautiful PCMH barn. -Making us dump out our water… I understand- staff & security didn't want people bringing in mixed drinks (I assume that's why anyway), and I do LOVE that there was good water available at the main stage but REALLY- it was like 90 degrees with blazing sun and we have to dump out water… seems strange. Especially since NO ONE at the gate was telling people where the water was to be found once you got in. We asked like 6 people with staff/security shirts at the gate and inside, no one knew. Once we finally found the spickets, we went back to the gate and told the staff where the spickets were and asked if they would please tell people when they made them dump their water bottles because it was really hot and dangerous not to have water. That was the first morning… not a single time did I ever hear a gate staff member say anything about the spicket location the remaining weeekend. We were very dissapointed in this. -Need shade!!!! I had to miss a lot of music because I just couldn't stand the sun and heat at the Maine Stage. -More late night?? I'm assuming there was a town ordinance about noise that needed to be followed… If not, then for next year- more late night!!! bands like Roots of Creation, STS9, Lotus, Lettuce, etc. are amazing to see late night and when it is nice and cool it is much easier to dance dance dance! It also would have freed up time for bands like Pfunk, Umphrees, Keller, etc. to have more time on the main stage. -No campfire!!! Next year, please consider having a place for a nice big campfire where people can congregate, drum circle, fire dance, etc. It can be suprivised and contained easily- another fest I go to has a great fire all night long every night and it is LOVELY. The GOOD: -Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful- Nateva, you made Maine proud! From the NATEVA sign (love the paint job on sunday!), to the lounge @ PCMH barn, the art, sculptures and performance artists were amazing. -The Lineup was RIDICULOUS!!!! -It was the CLEANEST fest I've ever been to. The ground was clean, the main stage was clean, the PORTOS were clean! Yay to having the Blow Bros on site- That was great, although I noticed they didn't clean them Sun. night to Monday morning, probably more incentive for us to leave (along with no food vendors monday morning)- which I understand, although it sucked at the time- us hippies will stay at a fest as long as we can  Also, the flush toilets were constantly being clean and although there was a big line at times, it was always worth the wait- THANK YOU TO THE BATHROOM STAFF! -NO N2O, great job keeping the tanks out!! This was a big reason other than the line up and the location that I was interested in this fest. My crew and I decided to "boycott" the Gathering of the Vibes until they did something about the N2O. Last year was dispicable, disgusting, and totally ruined the Vibes that we loved so much. -The WATER… one of the best things was that there was good, clean, Maine water available all around the venue. I couldn't believe that they were charging for showers and that people were paying for them AND waiting hours in line (one of my friends did that and then was turned away because they closed) especially when there was a line of spickets near us that were high up and served the shower purpose just fine for us. But next year probably don't let anyone park next to it because the poor people had to move- their camp got flooded (sorry guys!!). Overall, great job! This was my 10th festival and it was amazing. Everyone was raving about it the whole time. The gate confusion- friends of mine had to go back and forth between the main gate and the offsite to get braclets even with onsite camping tickets more than once before someone actually knew what was going on- will I'm sure all be worked out next year. I've always want to go to a fest the first year and I'm so glad I did. THANK YOU NATEVA!!!! |
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joker
Ferris Wheel Rider
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Post by joker on Jul 6, 2010 12:09:40 GMT -5
-NO N2O, great job keeping the tanks out!! This was a big reason other than the line up and the location that I was interested in this fest. My crew and I decided to "boycott" the Gathering of the Vibes until they did something about the N2O. Last year was dispicable, disgusting, and totally ruined the Vibes that we loved so much. They seem to think there's N20 at every fest and nothing can be done to stop it. Maybe this will be a wake-up call to them and they'll realize that it IS possible to keep it out if the promoter really wants to do so. It just seems the GotV would rather cut corners and shorten the wait to get in rather than make a real effort to keep it out. Of course, I'm sure they have "a plan in place" to prevent it again this year (as they seem to say they do every year) With all the positive reviews coming in from this first time fest I'd imagine if they don't get their act together this year, there will be a lot more of the vibetribe choosing Nateva next year. |
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Post by velvetc on Jul 6, 2010 12:39:40 GMT -5
Ok, here's mine:
THE BAD:
- Waiting until 4pm to let cars in when the first act (that we're paying extra for) goes on around 6:30. By the time we got through the search, to our camp, and set up it was already past 6:30. And we were the 13th car in line away from the gates. Next year open up early.
- Also along with the car searches, we were in a caravan of five cars. Four of us got through with no problems, but the last of us had every single thing he had packed taken out and searched through, including his bags, coolers, rolled up blankets, etc. That made the four of us wait inside the gate for approx. 30-40 minutes for that one last car.
- The alloted amount of space in the Moose Field Camping was way too small. Luckily we had a large group and were able to squeeze out more room by rearranging cars, but if you were there with just one car you would not have had space for your car, a tent, and a canopy.
- More shade needed on concert field.
- Indoor venues too small for late nights. Giant Panda and EOTO drew nice sized crowds so it was kind of hard to move around and get down.
THE GOOD:
- Onsite camping was fantastic. It was less than a 10 minute walk to the concert field, and music could be heard the whole walk. That made it easy to walk back and forth and not have to sacrifice missing a set. Also the music was so clear that bands that we were only marginally interested in could still be heard while we relaxed around camp.
- I've read other people saying they had trouble with security but I had no trouble at all. I always had a bowl, lighter, and bag in my pocket and every time they patted me down and told me to go in.
- I loved being able to carry beer or water into the latenight shows. Usually you're stuck dropping $5/beer, but with camp being so close and being able to carry your own drinks I saved mucho dinero this weekend.
- It was never a problem getting close to the stage. I was up front for a handful of shows even when walking in close to their scheduled start time.
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Post by steveb3210 on Jul 6, 2010 12:46:08 GMT -5
"Yay to having the Blow Bros on site"
I loved the slogan on their truck, "#1 in the #2 business"
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Post by tommacco on Jul 6, 2010 13:21:53 GMT -5
mountain jam also did a great job at keeping the nitrous out. in '09 there would be dozens of tanks set up on the main trails after main stage music ended, but this year i didn't see any at all, just 1 guy going by selling whippets. -NO N2O, great job keeping the tanks out!! This was a big reason other than the line up and the location that I was interested in this fest. My crew and I decided to "boycott" the Gathering of the Vibes until they did something about the N2O. Last year was dispicable, disgusting, and totally ruined the Vibes that we loved so much. They seem to think there's N20 at every fest and nothing can be done to stop it. Maybe this will be a wake-up call to them and they'll realize that it IS possible to keep it out if the promoter really wants to do so. It just seems the GotV would rather cut corners and shorten the wait to get in rather than make a real effort to keep it out. Of course, I'm sure they have "a plan in place" to prevent it again this year (as they seem to say they do every year) With all the positive reviews coming in from this first time fest I'd imagine if they don't get their act together this year, there will be a lot more of the vibetribe choosing Nateva next year. |
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Post by tommacco on Jul 6, 2010 13:23:12 GMT -5
"Yay to having the Blow Bros on site" I loved the slogan on their truck, "#1 in the #2 business" saw a tow truck with the slogan "the best hookers in town" |
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Post by quomaya2 on Jul 6, 2010 13:24:27 GMT -5
Good:
1. The crowd was really friendly and well behaved. I've been to a few Furthur and Phish shows where the crowd was sketching me out a little bit. Good job on keeping out the nitrous; that really just ruins the family environment.
2. The onsight camping was killer. The walk to any of the stages was only a couple minutes and we could hear the main stages pretty well from our tent.
3. The water was done really well. We had spigots right by our tent and there were some by the main stages.
4. The bands were really just great. I only knew a few going in, but I was enjoying the tunes the entire time.
Bad:
There's not much that didn't go well at this festival. We were a little delayed coming in, but not by much. I think that they should have taken advantage of the festival being in such a nice setting though and arranged some way to swim or hike, but other than that Nateva was great.
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Post by itrainmonkeys on Jul 6, 2010 13:30:33 GMT -5
It also would have freed up time for bands like Pfunk, Umphrees, Keller, etc. to have more time on the main stage. Agreed.....but I woulda rather P-Funk had less time One of the cool things is.....if you check the schedule......Umphrey's got an hour and 20 minutes while almost every other afternoon/daytime act before and after them got an hour long set. Nateva knew people wanted to see this band so they gave them a bit more of a time limit which I thought was great. Totally agree! They could have a big campfire somewhere (in the back of the venue or even somewhere in the campgrounds) that could be supervised and even have that section roped off (so no straggler child can get too close without supervision). That'd be cool. |
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Post by itrainmonkeys on Jul 6, 2010 14:11:17 GMT -5
also charging stations only for VIP....didn't say that on website...couldn't recharge cell phone or computer.... Oh I forgot to post about this one too. This is false. I know for a fact that they had working outlets across the whole campgrounds because I used them and charged my camera a few times. A friend charged his phone. It wasn't made totally clear....but MANY of the wooden light/electrical posts had a small box on them that had 2-4 electrical outlets that you could plug something into. Yea, it sucked that I had to walk to a pole and plug it in and hang out while it charges (for fear of it being stolen) but I was able to just sit down and chill with some people who were camped right next to it and get to chat about stuff for a while. They were there......you must just not have found them. If you go next year....i'll show you where the heady outlet spot is......with 4 working outlets ;D It's near the walk to the main venue, by an info booth. |
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idio
Ferris Wheel Rider
rawk!
Posts: 72
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Post by idio on Jul 6, 2010 14:41:21 GMT -5
The Good:
Basically everything.
The Bad:
It's how hot? In Maine? WTF?
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Post by djinnandjuice on Jul 6, 2010 14:48:25 GMT -5
-NO N2O, great job keeping the tanks out!! This was a big reason other than the line up and the location that I was interested in this fest. My crew and I decided to "boycott" the Gathering of the Vibes until they did something about the N2O. Last year was dispicable, disgusting, and totally ruined the Vibes that we loved so much. a big reason I won't be at Vibes this year, it was so refreshing to be at a festival without it around everywhere |
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idio
Ferris Wheel Rider
rawk!
Posts: 72
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Post by idio on Jul 6, 2010 14:54:53 GMT -5
ill be at vibes on the lookout.
if its around me, i will be using the hotline to see what that results in...
i probably will not go to vibes if nateva is always an option.
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Post by moondancer on Jul 7, 2010 7:26:36 GMT -5
The Bad: It's how hot? In Maine? WTF? Lmao!!!!! They just happened to have Nateva the one weekend out of the year that we get a heat wave! Although I have to tell you, it's been even HOTTER yesterday and today than it was all weekend!!! One suggestion for next year would be mist tents and more shaded areas in the concert grounds for sure! Of course, next year it'll probably rain! |
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Also, the flush toilets were constantly being clean and although there was a big line at times, it was always worth the wait- THANK YOU TO THE BATHROOM STAFF!
