Festival of Friends, 2011

[phishtaper]

Festival of Friends , Hamilton, Ancaster, 2011

Friday, August 5

5:00 Petty Victories

7:30 Shad

8:30 The Sheepdogs

9:30 City and Colour

Saturday, August 6

12:00 The Mercy Now

1:30 Cowlick

3:00 Helix

4:30 The Reason

6:00 Saga

7:30 Arkells

9:30 Tea Party

Sunday, August 7

12:00 The Social Workers

1:30 The Acoustics

3:00 Suzie McNeil

4:30 The Nylons

6:00 Lunch at Allen's

7:30 Jon Anderson

9:30 America

some pretty decent bands here, not so sure about the new ancaster fairgrounds venue, though. i would have liked it to still be in gage park, but im just a tired old fuck who never wants anything to change

[Guest Low Roller]

The Sheepdogs were awesome.

[Hartamophone]

Glad to hear The Sheepdogs put on a good show. They've got to be pretty pumped this week.

Heard that getting out of the show (waiting for shuttles) has become a debacle.

[Guest Low Roller]

Getting to the Fairgrounds was an absolute nightmare. They were totally unprepared for such a massive crowd. The cops weren't doing shit other than standing around enjoying the traffic, and the kids the festival hired to direct traffic looked absolutely overwhelmed and lost. It took us over an hour to get to the Fairgrounds from Mountain West!

If you plan on going today, leave early.

http://www.thespec.com/news/local/article/574373--festival-goers-create-traffic-chaos

Edited August 6, 2011 by Low Roller

[phishtaper]

but they sold so much beer they ran out, according to one of the organizers. woohoo.

sigh. i think these idiots may have just killed a really good festival by convincing themselves that it had to be bigger. the next two days will tell but this sure seems not to be a convenient, chill, family and friendly event now.

there were tweets that people sat in traffic for two hours last night only to arrive and be told it was closed due to full capacity. so naturally, they tore down fences and tents. what did you see on your way out, Low Rider?

[jay sanislo]

I went out on book rd and got home with no traffic issues. The way in I tell ya was a joke. Left the house at 730 to pick up friends, hoping to get there for sheepdogs (an hr is plenty of time for me to get there, usually 20min) Went in the back way and still waiting in a pretty decent line. Took us about 45 more min from the line, apparently not bad compared to the others who went the other way so I hear. Got there half way into city and colour set and left during last song. Once in though the vibe was nice but too bad it took us forever to get in............Good luck to whoever tries to go today, unless they sort out this mess....

Edited August 6, 2011 by Guest

[Guest Low Roller]

We parked on Trinity Road towards the 403 exit. DO NOT ATTEMPT TO PARK AT FAIRGROUNDS PARKING. A lot of people were parking at the Walmart plaza and walking it in.

The mood inside was quite good. The beer garden was packed, so the actual stage lawn was pretty spacious. The smell of pot was in the air. My nephew from Vancouver described it as "it smells like Vancouver".

We left immediately after Sheepdogs and did not stick around for City and Colour fearing the traffic after the set. We were right to do so. No traffic at that point as a TON of cars were still lining the 403 to try and get to the festival grounds.

[Guest Low Roller]

[edger]

That's really really too bad about the traffic issues. I have never experienced anything like that whatsoever at any previous Festival of Friends, or for the Ancaster Fair which is held in the same location (obviously a different sort of event entirely)...

Glad to hear it was a good vibe once you got in there.