POD are a pack of cunts. They've consistently showed this time after time this year. Pack an extra 10,000+ people in from last year into the same small space, and have less jacs for them. There were no toilets between the crawdaddy and electric arena like last year. We were in the Chaplin campsite and there was less than half the toilets they had last year. Some of us had the luxury of heading offsite for reasons of hygiene and whatnot - more just chose to head out into the car park at night and shit between 2 cars rather than face the portajacks, which were pretty vile. Shit thing to do I know, but sure, desperate times etc....
The festival itself felt very samey as last year to me. Not a whole lot extra going on that I didn't see before. I did still enjoy it though, mostly for the bands I got to see. Highlights are among those already mentioned. I thought Large Mound were fantastic - the total surprise package of the weekend for me. Windings down on the Body and Soul stage were deadly too - the first time I've seen them with a full-band.
Grinderman were the outstanding act of the whole weekend for me. MBV blew my fucking head off. Whoever said they weren't loud - fuck that. I couldn't hear right again til lunchtime yesterday. I was pretty close to a lot of the thumped cool kids for that, including 2 cephalopods (I think I was seeing double, but I could swear there was 2 of him - one a little more out of it than the other!).
POD do need to get their shit together as regards facilities for people though. As promoters, they've seriously gone down in my estimation this year. They still have the best festival in the country - it'd be real nice if they could keep it that way.
