B-Fest 2013

[Big Gaz]

So, What did anyone else think of this years offering? I was disappointed this year. Certainly not as good a previous efforts.

[sids]

I thought it was better this year.

[Camra]

Brown Bear and the Bandits were brilliant, also McGinty etc and local guys Cactus & Cardigan........ superb.
Had a great day.....well done Ryan!

[Big Gaz]

i must be too old to appreciate the "younger" style of music lol :-)

[sids]

i must be too old to appreciate the "younger" style of music lol :-)

Scooty's repertoire too new for you?

[lhm]

I have to agree with big gaz very poor no decent main stage like other years

[fingalmacool]

It was my first time at Bfest and although I thought it could of been more fluent with the the two stages, there were times when no music being played. I enjoyed it, but really only went to see Cactus and Cardigan, James Mackenzie and the Excerts, certainly wasn't disappointed in any of them. It must be hard to get top of the range bands to come up to Wick, and although Scooty is not my cup of tea they certainly got the crowd going and maybe they should have headlined which might have saved the organiser some dosh. Big up for Cactus not a breath of fresh air more like a storm, along with the vandal probably the best crowd in the tent, weather too must have influenced the crowd as i was expecting more punters. I believe some bands never turned up which must have put a spanner in the works but all in all a good day and a sober one haha

[Big Gaz]

Sober!! and you say you enjoyed yourself?? tut tut shame on you! but yeah, i did like a few of the bands but as you say, too "spread out" and the atmosphere just wasn't the same as previous years. Maybe next year it will be better now that its getting recognised on the festival circuit

[Sgitheanach]

Saw a lot of drunk underage teenagers leaving bfest then hassling people at the bus stop

[fingalmacool]

I read on another post that Bfest is finished, I did hear some of the musicians mentioning this at the festival but you always get this type of rumour, well given the number of people there I'm not totally surprised, the organiser struggled last year but the turnout this year must of been too much to make ends meet, its sad but well done to the organiser for giving it a go.

[hopper.65]

It's on front page of courier today, the organizer claims to have lost £6000 of his own money due to lack of support and won't be doing another, it was a very adventurous project to try and get off the ground in Caithness and there are so many other festivals offering much more appealing line ups.
The commitments as a headliner just doesn't get people excited enough to bother and that is where it failed, the Proclaimers were much more likely to get more attention and festivals generally have to keep high level headliner each year to keep the hype, maybe he just couldn't attract anyone well known but it certainly was a step backwards from the previous year.

[SK015]

The Council bailed him out last year this handout was local Taxpayers money given to a business running an event for profit.Hope they do not bail out this time as there are lots of other things the council could spend money on As this man organized this as a commercial enterprise he should of been aware of the risks .Perhaps a better Headline Act would of helped and a lower gate price some others festivals in the North charge less for double the number of bands

[Droopy]

Bfest was great..every year, but ultimately if the books don't balance you can't carry on. There were obvious flaws in the set up, but it all too easy to be wise now.
Thought the below would be of some interest, just as a comparable. Maybe festivals in Caithness would be better modelled to suit the population, rather than the likes of Rockness and Belladrum etc.

http://www.orcadian.co.uk/2013/08/t-...raises-6500-2/

Like I said, Bfest wasnt a failure , it was something that for 4 years running no one else in Caithness had tried.
Well done!

[BRIE]

Saw a lot of drunk underage teenagers leaving bfest then hassling people at the bus stop

Are you positive they came from B-Fest? all under 18s were given a different colour wristband, & everyone was searched on the way in. There was also security at the barrier to the bar area checking wristbands as well as the bar staff.
Security was excellent this year.

[Alli]

[QUOTE=SK015;1043538]The Council bailed him out last year this handout was local Taxpayers money given to a business running an event for profit.Hope they do not bail out this time as there are lots of other things the council could spend money on As this man organized this as a commercial enterprise he should of been aware of the risks .Perhaps a better Headline Act would of helped and a lower gate price some others festivals in the North charge less for double the number of bands[/QUOTE

The Highland Council Discretionary Fund is there to be used by no less than 23 various categories. This can been seen on The Highland Councils web page and has quite strict guidelines to adhere too. Ryan has always been aware of the financial risks he alone has taken. The family and friends who assist him, do so, as they want Ryan & Bfest to succeed. The facebook slating this man got on the Friday prior to Bfest was tantamount to social network bullying. I was utterly disgusted by certain Wickers and non Wickers comments and a few who slated Ryan even had the audacity to turn up at the gate! It's easy to say this should be done or that should be done, but to actually get of your backside and do something of this scale for a small community, (who I made add the majority supported), is another. Trying to get bands to come to Wick is no mean feat. They escalate there prices time and time again.
As I have said in a previous Bfest post on the org, It's very easy to critise a person on a faceless forum. If you had read the Caithness Courier yesterday you would have known that Bfest in its infancy years took in an estimated half a million pounds to the local community, this broken down means the campsite was busy, hotels were booked and various food/drink establishments in Wick had patrons. Ryan Cook didn't just take a "handout of local taxpapers money" he helped put more money into the local community than most of us have in the previous four years. The shortfall in last years Bfest was covered by the discretionary fund to pay various suppliers/acts/staff and not line Ryans pockets.
Complaining about £32 gate price for an adult ticket for a complete days entertainment on your on doorstep is laughable. Early bird tickets were £25.00 for an adult. We have all travelled south for festivals and gigs and are prepared to spend 10 times that for the ticket, travel, accommodation, food and drink. The attitude of folks in this small town seems to be that they want individuals to fail even before things are established. As for the beer token prices, £3.00! Every other event I have been at it's £4.00 UPWARDS!
So SKO15 instead of being a keyboard warrior, tell us all exactly how you would put on a music festival any better than Ryan and I'm positive he & we who worked at Bfest will come and meet with you so you can share your worldly knowledge of running a music festival.

[Kevin Milkins]

[QUOTE=Alli;1043679]

The Council bailed him out last year this handout was local Taxpayers money given to a business running an event for profit.Hope they do not bail out this time as there are lots of other things the council could spend money on As this man organized this as a commercial enterprise he should of been aware of the risks .Perhaps a better Headline Act would of helped and a lower gate price some others festivals in the North charge less for double the number of bands[/QUOTE

The Highland Council Discretionary Fund is there to be used by no less than 23 various categories. This can been seen on The Highland Councils web page and has quite strict guidelines to adhere too. Ryan has always been aware of the financial risks he alone has taken. The family and friends who assist him, do so, as they want Ryan & Bfest to succeed. The facebook slating this man got on the Friday prior to Bfest was tantamount to social network bullying. I was utterly disgusted by certain Wickers and non Wickers comments and a few who slated Ryan even had the audacity to turn up at the gate! It's easy to say this should be done or that should be done, but to actually get of your backside and do something of this scale for a small community, (who I made add the majority supported), is another. Trying to get bands to come to Wick is no mean feat. They escalate there prices time and time again.
As I have said in a previous Bfest post on the org, It's very easy to critise a person on a faceless forum. If you had read the Caithness Courier yesterday you would have known that Bfest in its infancy years took in an estimated half a million pounds to the local community, this broken down means the campsite was busy, hotels were booked and various food/drink establishments in Wick had patrons. Ryan Cook didn't just take a "handout of local taxpapers money" he helped put more money into the local community than most of us have in the previous four years. The shortfall in last years Bfest was covered by the discretionary fund to pay various suppliers/acts/staff and not line Ryans pockets.
Complaining about £32 gate price for an adult ticket for a complete days entertainment on your on doorstep is laughable. Early bird tickets were £25.00 for an adult. We have all travelled south for festivals and gigs and are prepared to spend 10 times that for the ticket, travel, accommodation, food and drink. The attitude of folks in this small town seems to be that they want individuals to fail even before things are established. As for the beer token prices, £3.00! Every other event I have been at it's £4.00 UPWARDS!
So SKO15 instead of being a keyboard warrior, tell us all exactly how you would put on a music festival any better than Ryan and I'm positive he & we who worked at Bfest will come and meet with you so you can share your worldly knowledge of running a music festival.

I have never been to Bfest and I don't know who Ryan is, but I will agree with that statement.

[BRIE]

[QUOTE=Alli;1043679]

The Council bailed him out last year this handout was local Taxpayers money given to a business running an event for profit.Hope they do not bail out this time as there are lots of other things the council could spend money on As this man organized this as a commercial enterprise he should of been aware of the risks .Perhaps a better Headline Act would of helped and a lower gate price some others festivals in the North charge less for double the number of bands[/QUOTE

The Highland Council Discretionary Fund is there to be used by no less than 23 various categories. This can been seen on The Highland Councils web page and has quite strict guidelines to adhere too. Ryan has always been aware of the financial risks he alone has taken. The family and friends who assist him, do so, as they want Ryan & Bfest to succeed. The facebook slating this man got on the Friday prior to Bfest was tantamount to social network bullying. I was utterly disgusted by certain Wickers and non Wickers comments and a few who slated Ryan even had the audacity to turn up at the gate! It's easy to say this should be done or that should be done, but to actually get of your backside and do something of this scale for a small community, (who I made add the majority supported), is another. Trying to get bands to come to Wick is no mean feat. They escalate there prices time and time again.
As I have said in a previous Bfest post on the org, It's very easy to critise a person on a faceless forum. If you had read the Caithness Courier yesterday you would have known that Bfest in its infancy years took in an estimated half a million pounds to the local community, this broken down means the campsite was busy, hotels were booked and various food/drink establishments in Wick had patrons. Ryan Cook didn't just take a "handout of local taxpapers money" he helped put more money into the local community than most of us have in the previous four years. The shortfall in last years Bfest was covered by the discretionary fund to pay various suppliers/acts/staff and not line Ryans pockets.
Complaining about £32 gate price for an adult ticket for a complete days entertainment on your on doorstep is laughable. Early bird tickets were £25.00 for an adult. We have all travelled south for festivals and gigs and are prepared to spend 10 times that for the ticket, travel, accommodation, food and drink. The attitude of folks in this small town seems to be that they want individuals to fail even before things are established. As for the beer token prices, £3.00! Every other event I have been at it's £4.00 UPWARDS!
So SKO15 instead of being a keyboard warrior, tell us all exactly how you would put on a music festival any better than Ryan and I'm positive he & we who worked at Bfest will come and meet with you so you can share your worldly knowledge of running a music festival.

Well said!! & if more people had bothered to support BFest not only would all the local businesses of profited but the local charities would of too as Ryan was planning on donating any profits to them!! So thanks to all the scare mongers & keyboard gangsters the whole community has now lost out

[Big Gaz]

Instead of flaming everybody for not supporting the event, has it crossed your mind that many people just didn't have any spare cash and couldn't afford to go? I went myself and i didn't complain about the ticket price but i had to save up for a few weeks for it. It's just that in my case, the bands didn't really catch my interest and besides, i had also never heard of most of them so maybe thats another reason why people stayed away? I went for the day and the experience, not just the music. As for the scare mongers and keyboard gangsters, they are in a small minority and certainly didn't influence my decision whether or not to go and if anyone was influenced by their comments, then they are the losers to have such a weak mind and will.

[BRIE]

I'm not blaming everybody for not financially supporting the Event obviously there are people out there who just can't afford the price of a ticket or it just isn't their cup of tea, I'm meaning general support. There was alot of people this year who have bad mouthed Ryan for several elements of BFest, from the Arena being smaller even though it had everything there that it had last year, the tickets going up a whole £2!, speculating that bar tokens had risen in price which wasn't true, that if you paid at the gate the tickets would be £40 which again wasn't true, & of course people commenting on the help he got from the Highland Council last year. This sort of backlash does effect on ticket sales because there are people who are influenced by these sort of comments.

[Tubthumper]

The ones who screech loudest about something that happens not being good enough are invariably the same ones that complain there's nothing to do...
...and yet they're nowhere to be seen when there's something to do?