Solfest tickets have ever so quietly gone on sale. £85 per adult, no charge for vehicles & no booking fee.

There are 1000 less of them this year. More info and ticket purchase details here.

I'd really like to try this but it's the same weekend as Shambala and I already have my ticket for that.

Still fucked off about last years ticket fiasco, so as much as I love this festival, I will again be cutting my nose off to spite my face.

Read their website!

They have:

Abandoned charging for vehicles, cut down numbers by a 1000, reverted to gthe good old fashioned ticket in the post system, and much much more. They've as good as said "last year we fucked up, so we're going back to how it was"

Huzzah!!!

Still a little sad that Simon & Sarah have completely given over the organisational reins but we'll be sorting out our tickets soon. Tis still a cracking little festival.

I am hugely amused & excited by this band being on

Needed to be done I think. The committee as it stood was a nightmare, and the festival needs to move forward. I will be there again

We've got tickets already. Arrived through the post a couple of days after ordering them. Plus, we have a van this year. See you all there.

I gather the 'arena' at Solfest is separated from the camping area. What time does it open/close? What is in there that you can't get to but would conceivably need if you were taking young kids?

Entrance into the arena at Solfest never involves anything more than a cursory wave of the wristband & in all of the (4) years that I’ve been going there’s never been an occassion that I’ve wanted to get in or out of the arena and been turned back. The Dance Tent runs til at least 2am and places like the Disco Fromage carry on considerably later. I’ve also often used the arena toilets for an early morning ablution so I would guess that they effectively don’t actually close the arena at all. There are however a few cafes and shops in the main camping fields to save you a walk for an early morning cup of cha.

That's more or less waht I was hoping for, thank you. We are considering going. Or I am, anyway. Mrs P still needs some persuading.

Buy the tickets and just tell her.

If it's anything like Shambala, which I've been led to believe it is, it'll be just the sort of thing that'll be perfect for you and your family.

Our tickets have gone.

I repeat: gone.

They've been on the mantlepiece since February with a miscellany of other stuff of inportance, like Glasto tickets, car tax documents, holiday to Lanzarote stuff.

Now they are not.

We have turned the place inside out & upside down. They are gone. Presumably in a landfill somewhere.

Solfest have basically said 'tough'. We either don't go or we have to spend another £170

Cunting fucktwat cocking bollocks.

I am so fucked off.

That's shit. Surely they must be somewhere in the house? I'm always losing stuff like this and then finding it again. Have you tried all the really retarded places like in the freezer and behind the bed?

Yep.

Twice.

I've even had the mantlepiece off in case they could have fallen down the molecular width gap.

~strains credit card~

The only solace is that we found out noiw rather than on the day we set off to the festival.

Content insurance, they fell in the fire

No no no no no MU, they have to be somewhere in the house. One of you has moved them for some ludicrous reason you'll remember tomorrow to a place you'd never ever move them to and they're safe and sound. Please?

We have just done the only thing that is absolutely and utterly guaranteed to make the tickets turn up: bought some new ones.

~winces~

If you find the originals you can always sell them on again.

In our house, stuff hides behind the telly. I can anly assume that things think this is safe place to avoid being chewed / decorated by the J's. I'll look behind our telly later and see if your tickets are there.

Ouch. But nevertheless yay!

I got a message from this lot on facebook saying there were only a 1,000 tickets left.

Now as there were only 7,500 in the first place I'a say that was a lot.

The Charlatans and Kula Shaker, am i tempted mmmmm but the weather is shite at the minute and I did turn my hog out about the ticket thing last year.

Only time will tell but I can't see myself weakening even though this was my most favouritest festival.

Fucking hell, they're still going? Hahahahaha!


So this swine flu is your fault!

But seriously, where does that phrase come from? I'm guessing it means you overreacted in a rather cross fashion, or similar?

Alright Emily Bronte, calm down.

and rather great they are too!

I'm fairly sure it was sold out by this time last year with more tickets on sale then as well.

Yep - they cut the allocation this year because people felt it was getting too large & they needn't have bothered. Still, at least in downsizing they didn't plan & pay for infrrastructure that wasn't ever going to be used.

I hope they can keep going - it's a great little festival. £85000 is a hefty hit to take!

They aren't the only ones either - Moor Music is next weekend and hasn't sold out yet, and the weather forecast probably won't help them!

I received a letter through the post from Solfest today showing all the bands and stuff, you can't fault the effort they are putting in to try and sell those tickets.

Bit of a gamble as well what with the price of printing the flyers and postage, could make the potential losses even greater.

I started to weaken but the shitty weather is strengthening my resolve. I remeber camping there and the wind was soooo strong it flattened the bendy arched poles in my tent till they snapped!

Good luck and have an ace one to all those who brave it as it is a good un.

Happy happy joy joy news - they're opening the site up on Thursday again from 2-9pm!!!! Hurrah and a thing

Sod's law strikes: Mrs MU can't get off work early

Aww that's a shame. But looking forward to saying hello to you and Mrs MU again - watch out for a ridiculously unsuitable outfit under the Poundshop poncho ....
And that's just Darth

We laugh at Sod's law.

We have both managed to get Thursday - woohoo!!

Keep an eye out for our lovely van

Mu - did you ever find the lost tickets?

Nope, 99.9% certain they were accidently 'tidied' in the bin

Which makes Solfest more expensive than Glasto this year - it'd better be good!

I also decided that half a bottle of vodka wasn't enough, so I bought another half bottle & more sherbet lemons. More sherbet lemons are needed to take away the taste of rather rough own brand vodka!

Nightmare, sure it will be ace though. Would like to try and get there one year, damn all the good ones being on the same weekend.

Back from possibly the worst ever festival weather ever!

Horrendous rain & howling gales & much towing off site by tractors.

Tremendous fun, photos later, but in the meantime Tort on the BBC website

Slide 37. I look as though I'm proposing to Soj!!!

My photos are nearly ready to show to the World. I'll put a link up tonight.

Photos now online. Usual place

http://www.pbase.com/tort/festivals

Your enthusiasm for Solfest seems to waning Tort, was the weather that bad!

2004 was a windy one too, and wet and cold but still freindly and enjoyable.

I hope this festival rediscovers itself.

Yeah it is a little I guess. It’s always windy up there but I think it’s the first time since 2005 that I’ve seen tents smashed up & demolished. But it's not the weather that bothers me. What has really bugged me the last couple of years is the number of kids who turn up, sit in their cars all weekend & just tip all of their shit out the windows & onto the grass. If I was running the place I’d get the security to go round giving them bin bags & telling them that if the place isn’t spotless within the hour they could fuck off home.

It’s also a bloody long drive home on a Bank Holiday Monday & Shambala is much closer to home so I think I might just give that a go next year instead.

Yes - the number of kids spending the whole time getting totally mashed & not moving further than their campsite was annoying - why go? That said, there were plenty of adults behaving no better! We drove off leaving our camping area shiny clean, which is more than can be said for 90% of our neighbours. Bad weather is no excuse for untidyness!

Fabulous pics Tort, as usual - it pisses me off no end that I would have to spend £3000 to get the zoom on my Canon that you do