The Wickerman Festival 2009 tickets and listings

This is my own personal account of the Wickerman Festival 2009. I'm welcome to suggestions, replies, arguments, whatever feedback you like :)

Intense. Possibly the most effective way of summarising my weekend at the Wickerman Festival this year. Being a bit of a festival veteran this was my fifth year going my expectations were reasonably high. In the past I have enjoyed great weekends of eclectic music, a buzzing atmosphere and generally a mix of unique exciting experiences. However there were several things this year that hindered my Wickerman experience, but also many things that uplifted it again.

Arriving on Thursday, with that familiar feeling of anxious excitement as our car rattled over the field to the Quiet Campsite, following an assortment of vague directions from the Stewards, we parked up, astounded that it was apparent we were able to temporary park our car in the campsite. Unfortunately, five minutes later, we were greeted by a slightly angry Steward who told us our car must be moved in five minutes it wasnt supposed to be there, despite the directions wed been given. Despite the fuss, and the relentless Scottish wind battering and burning our faces, the tents were put up, chairs laid out and our little area was established. Our entire group arrived and I ate my lunch cowering in the tents porch to hide from the vicious weather.

Thursday drifted by in a bit of a daze I suppose most of it was spent huddled inside tent porches, sipping vodka and discussing how we thought the weekend was going to turn out. By evening (later than the specified 6 oclock entrance time), we were finally allowed access to the Arena. As tradition goes, we went to see the Wickerman, and we browsed the stalls, not particularly feeling a vibe yet. But it was still early days. My mum had promised the weather was to be reasonably sunny tomorrow. At least dry.

I awoke in my cramped fifteen quid Tesco tent to the wind battering the canvas, and shivered, curled up in my two sleeping bags, noting with di smay that my hot water bottle was no longer hot. After pulling on two pairs of woolly tights (I always come prepared to festivals!) and a leather jacket, I felt reasonably ready to face the day ahead. Throughout the day there were a few heavy showers, onslaughts of violent wind and the odd peeking of sun but overall it was still cold. On a positive note, the port-a-loos this year were in a unexpectedly clean condition. Admittedly, I only used the ones by the Quiet Campsite this year, being prepared to walk the extra few metres to avoid the ones in the arena, but they were always well stocked with loo roll and there werent too many with piss and shit and the likes everywhere.

As I wandered the arena on Friday, I began to feel a bit depressed. Already several things had dampened our moods and weekend. My mum had brought a small supply of alcohol with her it made sense, seeing as there were a lot of us, we are a family group and were planning to share our drink and usually could bring in some wine in a plastic bottle, to enjoy whilst watching a band, to you know, chill out. Isnt that the point of the Wickerman? A relaxing, laid back, family friendly experience? Well, as soon as we entered the Arena, our bags were snatched by snarling Stewards: I need to see your bag, they growled, fishing rather pompously through our handbags, leafing through such offending items as mobile phones, lip gloss and, shock horror, a sanitary towel. Well, their attitude didnt exactly set our festival experience off to a good start. I still couldnt feel that distinctive, happy vibrant atmosphere either. There seemed to be less stalls this year. A few stall holders told us they felt the festival had become more commercialised this year. I noted there were less of those lively, hippy types I used to see in previous years. It seemed Wickerman was finally becoming mainstream and it saddened me.

Crying in my tent and concocting a strong vodka and lemonade to get me through the day, I was horrified to see one of my school teachers had camped next to us. Oh dear. As if things could get any worse. Wickerman was the one weekend I looked forward to. Every year, without fail, it was an event that I really connected with; it always felt so special. This year I was beginning to feel really let down, even a bit heartbroken. But, pulling my act together, I decided I would try and get some enjoyment out of it. Whilst watching bands on the Summerisle stage, I noticed VIPs bringing out glass bottles of alcohol from their private bar. I felt a pang of anger. Wasnt glass banned for supposed safety issues? The organisers have split the festival goers into two classes; which I felt was highly unfair. If young children and animals are going to cut themselves if normal people bring glass in, wont they cut themselves too if VIPs bring it in? Why have different rules for those above us? I felt this was not particular festival spirit.

Watching the Magic Numbers didnt particularly excite me, perhaps they had too much hair! But they were a reasonable choice to open the evening. Following them, The Human League were surprisingly enjoyable; their slightly camp, 80s vibe bringing some uplifting spirit to me and the crowd. People were dancing, singing along everyone was having proper fun.

Even my 13 year old brother and his friend, were at the front clapping and punching their fists in the air, singing along to Dont You Want Me like it was the latest rock anthem. Afterwards, I think the whole festival was re-energised. The Feeling a bit more renewed, and still thriving on that fuzzy drunken feeling, I tried out all the different tents. The scooter had some lively punk band playing, not too bad, but a bit crowded and not particularly my musical preference. The dance tents were playing an inviting mix of drumnbass and eclectic house music, drawing my attention, but I entered and they were absolutely packed with drug-maddened ravers and the stench of dope. Not that I minded, it was just a bit claustrophobic in there. As much as these seemed great, I missed the chilled out dance tents of years before, adorned with exotic looking giant mushrooms, surreal ceiling decorations and colourful lighting; playing a relaxed mix of dub, house and reggae from behind the decks of a DJ. And yes, I suppose, it IS a festival and you are going to get the familiar haze of cannabis being smoked wherever you go.

My evening was completed by a chocolate and banana crepe from one of the food stalls. I was impressed by the selection this year vegan and vegetarian options, Thai food, curries, crepes, porridge; and of course the usual mix of fast food vendors. There was an area dotted with giant tyres used as seats, a good idea, which we sat at while I munched through a much needed sugar fix. Afterwards, my cosy sleeping bag and hot water bottle equipped tent seemed very inviting.

Saturday I awoke to much brighter weather, in fact it was a bit of a sauna in my tent. It was possibly to sit outside, in the unprotected open air without being battered by wind and rain, and actually enjoy a bit of sunshine. I spent the morning with some friends, listening to the relaxed tones of Luke Leighfield on the main stage, dozing in the sun, feeling very comfortable and relaxed. As it should be at a festival. The rest of the day I enjoyed some more music, sat about at the tents, chatting about how we could sneak in our alcohol and planning what bands we wanted to see that night. The day passed quickly in comparison to Friday, and I was really finally enjoying myself; the atmosphere was so much brighter in the nicer weather. We caught the end of Sharks set, disappointed Casiokids had to cancel as I wanted to see them, and annoyed Id accidently forgot to go and see the Hostiles earlier. Afterwards, Pearl and the Puppets, Candi Staton, Dreadzone and The Zutons were all impressive acts on the main stage. They all got the crowd going, and created that excited buzzing vibe that managed to linger right over the whole site, with the dance tents pumping their bass away, and the smaller acts quietly uplifting the Acoustic village.

The actual Wickerman burning was an altogether quick experience compared to some past years. There was little waiting around. Probably a good thing, as it meant there were no Ned-types chanting burn it and getting all thuggish over their impatience. As well as the ritualistic lighting of the Wickerman, there were fireworks which added a glamorous edge, and the whole thing was over in a sparkling fifteen minutes. I didnt feel it was quite as magical as it has been before, as there was less of a build up, and no eerie fire dancing, but under the more commercialised circumstances this was to be expected. Utah Saints dominated the main stage minutes later, bringing their amazing non-stop pounding of drumnbass, dub and dance to the arena. Never before have I seen such a crowd gather to see an act straight after the burning. They were perfect to dance to, and played their remixes of more well-known songs by the Killers, Bloc Party, Dizzee Rascal and Friendly Fires, to name a few, which made it a lot more fun and danceable. Completely burned out and exhausted, near the end of their set I returned to my tent, shattered but reasonably pleased that my Saturday had been a fulfilled one.

Sunday was a nightmare-ish experience of flooded tents, packing up, torrential rain and waterproof ponchos blowing everywhere, so I wont go into much detail. I completely avoided the post-Saturday night toilets. Finally, all packed up and ready to go, I looked back on the site with a kind of revered sadness. This might be the last time I set eyes on the field of tents, the port-a-loos, the arena. I probably wont go back next year.

Overall, my Wickerman Festival this year was a pretty extreme one; filled with highs and lows, and the dreary in between. There were some good acts, some good stalls, some good food; but there was also the ridiculous security, the new rules on alcohol, the commercialised and duller atmosphere. It is a balance I cant quite figure out, but I know its result will decide whether I intend again next year. I just feel, for what I pay for a ticket, Wickerman is a festival that needs to be more laid back. If it presented popular, mainstream, big music bands, and sold many more tickets, then I would understand the increased security and stricter rules. But really, can we call bands that were famous in the 80s and modern bands who are really one-song-wonders big acts. Compared to other festivals who flaunt the likes of Dizzee Rascal, Pendulum, the Prodigy Bruce Springsteen Wickerman really needs to buck up its ideas if it wants to be in the big festival league. Which clearly it does, looking back on this year. I hope you find a balance, Wickerman, because it would be nice to go for a sixth year.

LOL sip vodka...yeah...um never mind.

i posted it again because i thought it would be a better idea to give it it's own thread. yeah it's crap but thought i'd share my thoughts with the world :)

xo

I didn't think it was crap evilfairy - i thought it an enjoyable read and fairly even measured too - and people she did qualify it at the off by stating it was her personal opinion, i dont recall seeing that many 16 year olds post much of anything on these forum pages, let alone something that's clearly taken a fair while to compose so credit where due... I wish my 14 year old would post something like this, but considering the lack of postive feedback evilfairy received (and her review is likley to be much less slating than his!), that 's highly unlikely to happen... and as for sipping vodak at 16 at a festival with her mum and family - shock horror!??? Evilfairy, you are 'obviously' on the road to ruin???... please!