Advantages: Friendly, Good music.
Disadvantages: Drugs, toilets!

...|:| The Festival Leeds Festival is an annual rock music festival that happens every year at the end of August, usually the last full weekend of the month. Leeds Festival and Reading Festival are collectively known as Carling weekend. They have the same bands on over the weekend but on different days. Reading Festival has been going since 1961 where the origin of the festival began as the National Jazz Festival. In later years, with a rise in popularity of rock and metal music in the early seventies the genre of the music at the festival changed gradually. The popularity of the festival increased over time and rock gods such as Ramones, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Guns 'N' Roses and many many more have played there over the time it has been running. More people wanted to go to the festival with such great acts on so in the late 90s the festival... Read review

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Advantages: Great fun and tons of music!
Disadvantages: Can get a bit damp sometimes (but what the hell!)

...Festivals…you’ve got to love ‘em havn’t you! As a really keen festival fan, I’ve decided that it may be helpful to briefly address the relative merits of each of the four main music festivals. I also thought it would be a good idea to point out some of the essential things that you’ll need to take with you. First up…Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts Glasto is almost certainly the ‘best’ festival to go to in terms of size and layout. I love the look of the place – set in a huge area surrounded by hills, each of which is covered in tents and cars, you can really appreciate the scale of the place just by taking in the wonderful panoramic view. As it’s a festival of performing arts, along with all of the bands you’ll find loads of different areas full of jugglers and other mad b***ds. The place is the size... Read review

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Advantages: great atmosphere.
Disadvantages: So many festivals, so little time!

...Almost every weekend between April and October there is a folk festival going on somewhere in the Uk. They aren't always that easy to find out about - most do have websites these days though. Here's some usuful information about folk festials. Normally, folk festivals run from Friday night to Sunday night, weekend tickes include camping, there is almost always access to bed and breadkfast.(There are several week long festivals, Sidmouth and Whitby that I know of.) The campsites tend to be civillised. Most festivals have activities for children. While some festivals will include professional performers, sessions, sing arounds, celidhs, dance displays, mummers and crafts, many specialise - it's worth checking as theres not point going to shanty festival if all you actually want to do is dance! The average festival will cost about £35... Read review

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Advantages: Lots to choose from, some superb theatre and comedy, chance to meet the great and the good!
Disadvantages: Sometimes too much to choose from, can be quite pricey, accommodation is hard to find.

...Festival - and, boy, I liked it! A little back story: I graduated from LIPA (read my op to find out more!) in Liverpool last year with a 2.1 in Acting (applause, applause!). Whilst there, I did the usual uni things - drinking, partying, wild nights out, a little bit of work when neccessary, and the traditional 'meeting friends I'll have for ever, no, I really mean it, I know I said that about people I was at college with, but this time I'm sure'. Well, I'm bound to that, because not only did we share drunken declarations of undying matedom, but six of us actually set up a theatre company together. At first it was just a way of ensuring that we had work after leaving uni, but then our little group decided to go for the big one - the Ed Fringe. So, we created a season in Liverpool, staging four plays in theatres and pubs, and showing a film... Read review

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Advantages: Just beautiful with happy people
Disadvantages: no such thing, I am offended you suggest there might be

...Larmer Tree Festival. Held in the beautiful Larmer Tree gardens between Salisbury and Blandford just off the A354. It is a five day event (if you choose to go the full hog) or you can purchase tickets for each individual day and it is held in early to mid July every year. The festival is always opened on the Wednesday by Jools Holland and his Rhythm and Blues Orchestra and then the next four days a filled with an array of music from folk, to reggae to blues as well as others. It is not like your V or Carling weekend so don’t be mistaken into thinking it is. This is a festival for people young and old to mix together, let there hair down and appreciate music with an open mind. It is definitely one to bring the kids to also but this broad mix of cliental only adds to the beauty of the festival. So to the actual festival and my... Read review

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Advantages: good commentary, nice menus, good gameplay overall
Disadvantages: a 1 second glicth after pressing a button

...fifa 06 is an enjoyable game, which is diffucult to put down once you have started playing with it. Many think that the pro evo series is far better than the fifa one, but i would tend to disagree. Having played both pro evo 5 and fifa 06, fifa is far the better game. Pro evo 5 is almost the same as Pro evo 4 but with a few updated teams like arsenal. Whereas fifa 06 has improved far much compared to fifa 05 which was rather poor. fifa 06 has decent commentary and anaylisis from andy gray which makes the game more life-like. There are many good songs on fifa 06 including 1 from hard-fi, oasis and jarmeriqi. The graphics are decent and there are many well known stadiums in the game. Manager mode is a 15 year in depth game which is much like championship manager but you can play the game yourself. The fifa challenges are enjoyable aswell... Read review

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Advantages: Everything you need is there and you don't have to look far to find it
Disadvantages: Tents a bit too close together

...Ok so I was a little dubious about going to this festival after hearing about the riots that had happened at previous events and basically because it was in the north and I was about as far south as you could get, now I’m not saying that northern people hate southern people but they do right? Anyway I was very pleasantly surprised by the whole thing and will more than proudly stand corrected. Now I have never been to the Reading festival before, despite the fact that it is only an hour and half drive compared to a 5 and half hour drive, but Im glad that I choose Leeds over Reading, I mean you get exactly the same awesome bands but instead of standing in a field in between a train track and an industrial estate right in the centre of a busy city you get to stand in the beautiful Bramham Park, just outside of the hustle and bustle... Read review

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Advantages: It's always a good laugh
Disadvantages: Not everyone is there for a good time, Be careful with your valuables

...It's V festival this weekend and Reading and Leeds the weekend after so I thought I'd bring this to the fore for anyone planning a trip to either. I'll be at Reading as usual so anyone going let me know. ******************** The festival season is coming to an end with only a few weeks remaining, so I have decided to combine my 150th Op on Ciao with a guide to festival survival. I didn’t intend on making this 150 I was just going to pass it by but hey never mind that music op will have to wait till 151. For the purpose of this op, I’m going to draw on my experience from Reading Festival over the last 3 years and my preparations for the next one in 2 weeks time. Tickets ****** The first thing to do of course is decide whether you fancy just 1 day or if your going to be daring and go for the whole weekend. Me I’m a weekend... Read review

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Advantages: Nice, simple, secure, robust
Disadvantages: Does not play Battlefield 2 grrrr

...Ubuntu 6.06, is a variation of Linux made with the idea that all software should be freely available to people in every country in their own language. This is no small undertaking. Now for the history lesson. Long ago, all software was created free, free as in I can take a copy of it, alter it, and give you a copy, you can take your copy, and give a new copy to your friend, and so on and so forth. Then, many years later, some young man called Gates, decided that it would be better for the public if they had someone to send their money to in order to receive free stuff. Hence, proprietary software was born, as was Microsoft. Now, many years later, computer users expect to have to pay to use software, and if they do not want to pay, they use an online program to actually steal the software. Naughty naughty. Now, in the early 1990... Read review

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Advantages: Great music, great atmosphere, basically a three-day party!
Disadvantages: mud, rain, alcohol poisoning, but really, who cares? you can worry about that the week after

...The refined (or sane) person might ask why anyone would want to go to a festival. Two days of living in complete squalor, traipsing through mud up to your armpits surrounded by a sea of hippies/druggies/mini moshers (their labels, not mine) squashing you to bits while they jump around to the latest big thing in indie and/or rock. Why, one might ask, don;t you just see your band of choice at a gig instead, in an indoor, less muddy (albeit just as sweaty and rough) venue? Your average festival goer might reply "Because its fooking brilliant!" and it is. Perils of too much drink or drugs, not being able to find your tent, sunstroke (yeah right), the toilets, food poisoning and hypothermia aside, there is nothing like a festival. So here's my wee survival guide to whichever musical event you may be attending this summer. Don't forget... Read review

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