My husband and I have been scrolling through the posts here and I gotta say we had a totally different experience than what we’ve read here. We are both seasoned festival/show goers. Here is what I thought was amazing: When we walked in we were given several free cans of Liquid Death Water. The water refills stations were always accessible with less than a 5 minute wait. The med tent came in clutch with ibuprofen after I got a small concussion during Knocked Loose (or at least felt like it). I honestly didn’t notice the crowd too much, and everyone was nice. Except at the Spiral stage for Sleep Token…. but thats for later.

I’ve been going into scary pits since i was just a smoll 14 year old. I didn’t experience a lick of anyone being rude or actually violent in the pit. It’s sad to read all the horror stories of people getting real deal sucker punched when we got to be goofy goobers all day. I got punched in the face 3 times in the Kublai khan pit and left absolutely beaming. I felt like a kid again (until my poor back reminded me that I was in fact, old). We had an all women pit for knocked loose that was so fun and everyone around was so courteous.

My top two complaints are obviously: The merch lines?? What the fuck was that. On the other hand, reading that people waited up to 4/5 hours sounds ridiculous to me…Why pay $400 for a festival to stand in a line? Was the t-shirt really worth missing the actual bands? so weird IMO.

My second complaint being the fucking crowd at Sleep Token. Yall were some hardcore BITCHES and wouldn’t let me get BACK through to my husband after standing there for hours. The people that were being super rude about it legit stood still and didn’t sing a single fucking word the whole set. So, I am pretty peeved that my husband and I got bitched at the whole time we were trying to get back to each other. We just wanted to enjoy the song we did our first dance to/played at our wedding together… just for you fucks to stand there and stare at the stage like you’ve never heard sleep token in your life. Sorry for sounding bitter, but that was the lamest crowd of the day. I don’t wanna hear the “im tired” excuse because I wasn’t expecting a pit, but I was at least expecting some very enthused singing and didn’t even experience that. I think my husband and I, and the drunk girl next to us were the only ones that looked like we were having a halfway decent time in our area.

Like i said, my husband and I have been waiting for this set for almost a year, and Sleep Token is the most special to us so it sucks that I was so taken aback by the lack of crowd participation after yall were so passionate about being at the front of the stage. Which I understand people “enjoy concerts differently” but why the fuck are you at the front standing here like this 🧍‍♂️& not singing a fucking word. Shoutout to the man behind me that sang every. single. word. and sounded good while doing it. You made my experience with the crowd here less bitter. All that being said, I still loved every second of Sleep Token even though it totally felt like we got stiffed on time lol.

My favorite sets of the day were 100% Knocked Loose and Kublai Khan. The crowd/pit at the diablo stage was so fire always. I got to go so hard at Kublai Khan and anytime I fell down I was up in a second with your guys help. I was pretty close to the front and to the right during Knocked Loose. ALSO I absolutely lost my marbles when they brought Poppy out. I called it a few days before the festival when Knocked Loose released their new song with Poppy. I looked at my husband and said “oh! Bad Omens and Knocked Loose are gonna bring out Poppy!!” Sure as shit. She came out at both and I’ve never screamed louder. We saw her open for Avenged on their tour and her show was everything. Been obsessed with her since.

Overall, I rate this festival a solid 8/10. Would I return? Probably not. I honestly don’t think the value of the ticket is all there. I live anywhere from 15 minutes-4 hours away from any big venue that most of these bands have played or will play again lol. I could enjoy them in a more intimate setting and for longer than 30 mins to an hour.