Edith Bowman, DJ
I think the best thing to do with festivals is go with an open mind,
especially if it's your first time. Don't worry about the weather, you
shouldn't let rain stop you having a good time. With that in mind you should
be prepared for any type of weather, that's why layers are important.
Wellies are a must as is dry shampoo, every girl should have a little can in
her rucksack. When it comes to the line-up, try to see as much as you can,
and look away from the obvious and the main stages. You can find little
diamonds around the smaller stages, things that are about to be huge. Go and
explore and if you are a regular, step outside your comfort zone. Edith
Bowman presents MTV's Greatest Album Ever: The Results, Saturday, April 11,
9pm, MTV
Pearl Lowe, rock chick
When I joined a band, it was a bit of a dream of mine to play Reading. I
remember watching Radiohead one year, saying to anyone who would listen that
I would be on that very stage one day. Then in 1995 we got a call from our
agent saying that we had been offered a slot on the NME stage with my band
Powder.
I was so excited. I had just met my husband Danny, and we walked around the
festival hand in hand. I played on the Saturday afternoon, which was
everything I thought it would be and more. To finish off the festival we
watched our favourite performer, Neil Young, play as we huddled around a
fire. My tips for a successful festival? Take a warm coat, lots of suncream,
boots, and keep your lipstick in your pocket.
Annie Nightingale, festival veteran
One of my worst festival experiences was definitely Woodstock mark two in
1994. I never went to the original. It was in a lovely area of New York
state, but they just hadn't thought it through. The car park was 40 miles
away from the festival site and our hotel 50 miles from the car park! Lots
of people, including me, got stranded. Then it started raining ...
Always take wellies, something to sit on, a camping chair or even a square of
plastic. It's exhausting standing up for hours. Write down all vital phone
numbers just in case you lose your mobile phone or the battery fails. Wear
layers and definitely take a torch.
Annie Nightingale on BBC Radio 1, Saturdays, 5am-7am
Tom Sykes, writer
I used to be exclusively a Glastonbury man, but this year I'll be going to the
Electric Picnic at Stradbally Hall in Co Laois, in the Irish Republic. The
reason? It's near enough - and small enough - to make cheating by driving
home for a bath a realistic proposition.
Don't force yourself to stay in a big group or you'll spend the whole weekend
waiting for yet another person to come out of the loo. Hiving off into
groups of two or three is better; you'll bump into the rest of your gang
soon enough anyway.
Print out a copy of the running order before you go and hang on to it for dear
life. It's not very rock'n'roll, but festival organisers have little truck
with acts over-running. The music fan with an accurate schedule can make
sure he or she gets to the key shows with 20 minutes to spare - more than
enough time to secure a prime hillock.
Giles Coren, Times columnist
I went to Bestival once. I went because everyone told me it would be OK.
Bestival, they told me, was not as crowded as the others. It was not as
loud, not as pikey, not as dirty, commercial, unhinged, witless, boneheaded,
unoriginal and puerile as the others - these being the qualities inherent
(indeed celebrated) in festivals that had always put me off. And so I went.
And it was not only every bit as crowded, pikey, commercial, dirty,
unhinged, witless, boneheaded, unoriginal and puerile as I had feared it
would be, but everyone had come dressed up as a circus act (except not
clowns; clowns were banned because of coulrophobia - nobody reckoned with
festivophobia). As evening closed in I did a couple of pills to try and
cheer me up, but only developed a passion to re-read Samson Agonistes. So I
climbed back up the hill to the car park, got in a taxi and went back to the
house I was staying in to do exactly that.
Tom and Andy from Groove Armada, co-founders of Lovebox
Lovebox is the one weekend in July that we both truly look forward to. There's
something magical about this event, which we started as a small club night
seven years ago. Our Lovebox festival tips would include: get there early
(you won't want to leave so maximise time), line your stomach at the sourced
market and always buy more beer than you need at the bars - Lovebox punters
are thirsty.
One of the best memories we have was from 1997 when Tom “lost himself” at the
down-low horsemeat disco party on the day we weren't playing; he ended up
becoming fiercely protective of the moustache you have to wear to enter and
wouldn't take it off. There was more than a passing resemblance to Freddie
Mercury and more than one rousing rendition of We are the Champions from
fellow Loveboxers. Tom now has a phobia about 'taches!
Alexei Sayle, comedian
I MC'd the main stage at Glastonbury several times during the 1980s . One year
it rained continually and the festival was a muddy swamp. I got the idea
that it would be funny to harangue the audience between acts because they,
unlike me, weren't wearing a nice clean suit and tie. Right away I learnt
two things: first, that mud really hurts when it's flung at you with venom;
and, second, that there's no way you can control 40,000 people. In the end I
gave up and introduced Madness, the headline act. They bounced on stage and
all fell over on the slippery floor.
Marcus Brigstocke, TV satirist
I went to one or two festivals as a teenager and since 1996 I've been pretty
much every year. My favourite is Latitude. It is beautifully run, there's
loads of interesting stuff and bands you haven't heard before. Sigur Rós
last year was incredible.
I've taken my kids with me for the past two years; they're 6 and 3. It can be
scary taking children to a festival, but my advice is just to relax.
Remember they are not there to hang on to your coat tails; they are there to
explore it too and meet new people.
Don't cut your festival experience short and stay only a couple of nights
because of the kids. I'd recommend going early, before the festival starts,
and find a good, safe spot on high ground to set up camp, somewhere safe for
them to be.
My festival essential is my motorhome; it has changed festivals for me for
ever. We've got our own loo, our own shower and it's eco-friendly. If the
weather turns bad, that's where we'll be.
Marcus Brigstocke is appearing in Argumental, every Monday, the Dave
channel, 9.40pm
