Reading Festival tips - straight from the mouths of teenagers.

Rachel Richards: 0:25

Rachel, hello and welcome to teenagers. Untangled the audio hug for parents going through the teenagers. I'm Rachel Richards, parenting coach, journalist, mother of two teenagers and two bonus daughters. It's the end of summer in the UK, and my two teenagers are getting ready to go back to school, but fresh in their minds is the reading music festival. It's become the big get together in the UK for kids who finished their GCSEs. So we're talking about 16 year olds Eve. You were to read about these festivals in the tabloid newspapers, you'd believe it's basically a field full of kids taking drugs, drinking all weekend and burning down tents. But is that true? And what advice can we give to parents whose kids are begging to go? Luckily enough, my girls have agreed to talk through what to expect, how to make the most of the festival, and what parents should consider before sending their teens. My girls are just giggling in the background. So so Phoebe, hello, hi, that's Phoebe's voice. Mia, hi, that's Phoebe and me. Thank you for coming in. Let's hope we can make this a useful episode. Right before you go, let's have a think about what we talked about before you girls go, I said no drugs, a lot, didn't I? Yeah, yeah. Listen, it's an obvious,

Amelia: 1:43

implied, um, what else?

Rachel Richards: 1:48

What like reading the info on the website. How did you prepare?

Phoebe: 1:51

Um, I mean, like, I obviously went a couple of years ago, yeah, for the full weekend, and then this year, and you went for one day. Why? Well, because, like, I feel like the camping is an experience you have to you have, yeah, I agree. It's kind of a rite of passage, and the nights are the best, but it's a, it's more of a one time thing. So this year round, there's more for just the music and the vibes.

Rachel Richards: 2:15

Oh, nice. Yeah. Why that? Why

Amelia: 2:16

the nights the best? They're the most fun. You kind of just sit around in the day and then music normally starts at 12. But if you don't know the people who start the 12, which is like, normally, that's what normally happens,

Rachel Richards: 2:28

yeah, because there's the small acts, are they? Yeah, but it's fun, because

Phoebe: 2:30

you can still discover people, yeah, that's true before,

Rachel Richards: 2:33

yeah. I mean, I looked at it and I one of the parents. I both my girls, went in groups. They went in groups. They tend to be sort of encampments of kids from the same school, so there's sort of safety in numbers. And one of the mums of the group that went said, why on earth did they go on a Wednesday when the music doesn't start? Until

Amelia: 2:58

I went, I booked early bird. We went on the Wednesday, and it is so worth it. Why? I think because the first day on the Wednesday, also the gates at reading, they say that they open at six. They don't they open so much earlier. Yeah, you were in. I was, I was surprised. Yeah, don't get there at six. If you get there at six, then you can have as much camping spaces as you will the next day. So there's no point. Okay, so, yeah, you get to, like, kind of get to know the area. You get to, like, look around and the night that is the best night. Why? Because you have, you have nothing to do the next day. Uh

Rachel Richards: 3:34

huh, right, so

Amelia: 3:36

you can sleep today. No one, no

Phoebe: 3:43

one behaved, thinking, Oh, I have to get up the next day throughout the entire experience.

Amelia: 3:48

And yeah, and everyone's kind of just walking around in the night. So you that's the night where you can meet people. That's the night. Yeah, it's most fun that night, in my opinion. So

Rachel Richards: 3:57

for parents who are anxious, because there are a lot of parents who are scared about allowing their kids to go to festivals, go out, or whatever. What I think is really interesting about it. So the thing I said to the mother was, look, how many times do our kids get to be in a massive field with a load of people their age unsupervised so they can just go and meet freely? Yeah, I'm sure there are ups and downs of that. Did you? Did you feel like most people your age, or they similar? Actually,

Amelia: 4:27

I had, we had a couple of 19 year olds next to us,

Rachel Richards: 4:31

19

Amelia: 4:33

year olds, but, um, they were complaining so much about the fact that, literally, everyone had just come out of GCSE.

Phoebe: 4:40

That's the thing. Yeah. Everyone's Yes, yes, probably about, like, Yeah, from 16 to 20 most people, I would say, yeah. I mean, it's nice, because you do get mixtures of people. So obviously, like, there are older people coming, but I would say, like, the vibe is very young. Like, you've got a lot of

Rachel Richards: 4:57

interesting and it's interesting because I saw people coming to the festival who looked older, but I think they their sort of day day trip is coming in and out. But, yeah, that's

Phoebe: 5:06

the thing, exactly. Most people go for day trips, if they're like the campers, usually. And

Rachel Richards: 5:12

I think the festival split up. So I think reading is quite a young festival. There's board masters in the UK, which is a bit older,

Phoebe: 5:20

running in Leeds. It's already, yes. The

Amelia: 5:22

joint. Like, there were a group of people from, I went to board masters, and they loved, they loved some of it, right? The thing

Phoebe: 5:29

about board Masters is that it depends on it depends on the year group. It depends on who you're with, yeah. But also, like, circumstances, so because you're by the beach, like,

Rachel Richards: 5:38

it's a different vibe.

Amelia: 5:39

Also, I think there's everybody thinks the board Masters is a lot safer than reading. When I want to disagree with that, because I know a lot of people have born masters ended up getting spiked

Phoebe: 5:53

really, yeah, that was a crush this year. Yes.

Amelia: 5:56

And in reading, they are so safe. I mean, we had, I had, there were a couple of people who collapsed during one of like, Ray, she's this singer, one of her music performances, yeah. And everyone in the crowd was so lovely. Everyone was, like, shouting, and they're like, oh, yeah, help, help. And yeah, there were stuff all over the place trying, like, accent, trying to access people. And there's nothing to worry

Rachel Richards: 6:19

about. I think that's a really good point to raise. And actually, a friend of mine's son collapsed, and we instantly said, Oh, my goodness, was Did he take drugs? And she said, No, he's never had a fit. They he went, and she said, it was incredible, because his twin brother was there, and they surrounded him to protect him. Yeah, they formed a funnel out, straight away, he was taken to a medical tent, where by the time she got there, he was with a GP and couldn't be released because they were doing all the tests. They said there were no drugs in his system. So she said it would have been better, in a way, because at least they would have been able to identify why. But she thought maybe he just hadn't been sleeping. He hadn't been drinking enough water, yeah, but, but the response was amazing, yeah, it's

Amelia: 7:00

really safe. I mean, I don't, I can't speak football masters because I haven't been but for reading, it's like, what from what I've seen? It's so safe. Yeah. And I had a couple of friends who who, you know, like claps and who, like, did not feel well at all, and they went to the medical center and they got treated instantly. Yes, there's

Phoebe: 7:17

a there's a calm meditation tent.

Rachel Richards: 7:21

Is there anyone in it? Funny enough. No. That's good to hear that they have a space. They've thought everything through, and you don't hear this stuff. No, yeah, exactly. So let's talk about cost, because the actual tickets are not cheap. Just before we go on the getting in there early was also good because you got those silent disco headphones. Yeah? Then

Phoebe: 7:48

that's very true. Yes, I didn't have, yeah, yeah. I didn't have the early bird tickets, and so I couldn't buy them on site, and by the time I got there, they were all completely sold out, even online. Yeah,

Rachel Richards: 8:03

so and your dad laughed and said, Why on earth would you want to go to sign at disco? But apparently, so much fun. In

Amelia: 8:10

my opinion, it's, I went pretty much every single night. It's most fun on the first night. Is that right? Yeah, because there hasn't. Everybody's been like, waiting on the first night. Isn't on the Wednesday night. Oh, wait no. As in, the slight disc goes open, because it's like one of the first acts. So everyone's really excited for it. Everybody's been like, building it up in their heads, and it's a lot of fun. But the first DJ this year was absolutely awful. Look

Phoebe: 8:38

after your headphones as well. People, I ended up with two pairs somehow, and neither of them are mine, because I believe you

Rachel Richards: 8:46

house, what did you do with them?

Phoebe: 8:48

I went, sorry to interrupt, but you, you hand them back in, but the

Rachel Richards: 9:00

oh, they traceable to the person. Okay, okay, because I was worried that that person, yeah, there were some people going

Phoebe: 9:05

around like they thought that they could just collect other people's deposits, so they picked up like, four different headphones. But you can do you can't. No, you don't. You

Amelia: 9:11

can do that with um, chargers. So no, also, oh, my God, it is such a scam for anybody going to reading in the next few years. Do not, no repeat. Do not buy a charger that is 25 quid from one of the charging places. If you go to the Android store, it's really good advertising for them. But you go to the Android store, where's the Android store, and you walk around the festival, it's got a massive Android figure on the top of it. You can't miss it. Anyways, they charge your phones for free. No, they charge them for free.

Rachel Richards: 9:40

So 25 pounds versus going to the Android store, that's amazing, having

Phoebe: 9:45

your phone run out at a festival, yes? Like, obviously running I felt so safe the entire time, and I only survived on one power pack, and that fast to me, it just depends on, you know, it's about being efficient, yeah? But, like, running out of charge the festival is really,

Amelia: 9:59

really ideal. Yeah,

Rachel Richards: 10:01

you were running out, yeah,

Phoebe: 10:02

I ran out. Like, you have to coordinate so much. Really good point. And also, like paying for things as well. I think everything's, you know, there's no cash. Oh, so

Rachel Richards: 10:13

you really need your phone, you need, you

Phoebe: 10:15

need at least a

Rachel Richards: 10:16

credit card. And I had said before you go, it's really important to always be with somebody, because you don't, you don't. You're vulnerable otherwise. And we bought bum bags, yeah, for you girls, what did you think of that? Oh, that's

Amelia: 10:29

so good. How

Phoebe: 10:30

to keep Yeah, don't need any valuables. Don't bring any valuables. For

Rachel Richards: 10:33

Americans, that's a fanny pack, by the way. Don't

Amelia: 10:35

wear them as a bum bag, though. That just looks really bad. So how do you wear them? Because that looks so bad having them around your box. Yeah, of course.

Rachel Richards: 10:45

So you keep in that, you keep your phone, you

Phoebe: 10:48

know, any cash, like, credit, yeah, any charger, charger, yeah, exactly, because

Rachel Richards: 10:54

we found that there was theft. There's so much stuff. Yes, people don't take anything you care about. Like,

Phoebe: 11:01

some people will just see your any tent is fair game, yeah? And they'll just, like people, just wander into other people's tents.

Amelia: 11:07

Also, I really think it depends on where you're camping, yeah. So where I was camping, I was camping at the back of purple, which is this massive field, and everybody was avoiding that campsite because everybody thought it was the rowdy one. So everybody ended up avoiding it. Was it the rowdy? Well, no, because everyone avoided it. Okay, interesting, yeah, so, um, so

Rachel Richards: 11:30

you were pretty sick, but I think somebody in your group had their chair stone in the first day.

Amelia: 11:36

No, take chairs. Take chairs. They are so useful just in the nighttime. Put them in your tents. But yeah, because she left, she left her chair out, outside in the night time. But, um, Shane,

Phoebe: 11:47

but, yeah, I feel like, I mean, you touched upon something, an important point, which is, like campsite, like area, because obviously you want to make sure that you're with, obviously your group that you're going with, yeah, for sure, like, it can make or break the whole, the entire experience interesting way. Or

Rachel Richards: 12:04

what are the no go, like, Don't camp here. The

Phoebe: 12:08

problem is, is that no, no. But the problem is that the colors change every year.

Rachel Richards: 12:13

But, I mean, are they? Are they? Should you be as far away from the main stages

Phoebe: 12:17

or as possible, especially like late at night, like you don't want to be tracked?

Rachel Richards: 12:21

No, of course. So, because it's quite the distances are large. When my campsite

Amelia: 12:24

was, I thought the distance was actually perfect, because everyone can play. Yeah, we were at the back. It was, it was this massive field. It went. It stretched from, like the campsite to the back. But yeah, we were on the back, like on a path. So it was so easy to get from where we were to the actual festival. But nobody went back there in well, there were a few people, but it was like the perfect amount, because it's so easy to get to the actual festival because there's a lot of walking. Yeah,

Phoebe: 12:51

yeah. I

Rachel Richards: 12:51

mean, I backed up 2030, 40,000 staff. We looked at your steps and you girls had really been I mean,

Phoebe: 12:57

I only went for one day, so I hadn't even been there the entire time, but I did at least, like, 25,000

Amelia: 13:03

2000 in one day.

Rachel Richards: 13:04

Well, get fit costs. So, you know, planning, planning ahead for cost. What are we okay, so

Phoebe: 13:11

firstly, I have something to say. So I bought my ticket, I think at full price, I don't know. And mine was in your day ticket. So obviously, like early bird and weekend tickets gonna be a lot, a lot more, but wait as long as you can. Oh, I would say not for if you're, if you're buying weekend ticket, obviously, like you want to buy in the TV, you're gonna want to jump on that. But if you're, if you're going for a day, it depends on the day as well. But you can end up with packages like, like, my girlfriend and I, we, like, bought our tickets relatively early, and then if we had waited, we could have got two for like, 80 quid. Really, wow, yeah. I mean, it's dependent on the day to go, but yeah, it's really, you know you need to be huh? Yeah, good strategic,

Rachel Richards: 13:58

good tip. So if it's a one day thing, it can be really worthwhile. Waiting the

Amelia: 14:02

ticket doesn't even begin to cover the cost. When you actually get to the festival, it is extortionate, the amount of money you're gonna be

Rachel Richards: 14:10

spending, yes, but you were great because you both took food. Yeah, that's because you've done Duke of Edinburgh genuinely. Yeah, any top tips in terms of the types of food to take or dry,

Phoebe: 14:24

yeah. Well, put New York, I mean, they, I did, like my friends, and I didn't do this, but they brought one of these little like stove things.

Amelia: 14:32

I recommend that. But also something I did not figure out until the last day was that they have these little stations where you can actually get hot water from really drinking water at every in every campsite, they have a station where you can get blue roll. They were giving out free waterproof phone cases. That's you can get hot water. You can it's actually, yeah,

Phoebe: 14:56

it's magical. Top tip out so many

Amelia: 15:00

free things. Yeah, I

Phoebe: 15:02

would say dry. Definitely dry foods. Nothing like chocolate will melt if it's warm weather. Like, that's, I mean, obviously, like, you can, you can bring it like, but I would say kind of stock up on, like, you know, bars, things like that, nuts, whatever

Rachel Richards: 15:19

you can walk into town as well. Yeah, it's, but it's just. Tiring because you're tired, and then you've got quite a lot of walking to do to get back and forth. About

Amelia: 15:27

drinks, yes, it's so much easier. I would recommend buying them before you actually go into the festival. Like, don't buy little cans of stuff. Buy bottles, because you're going to get through them really quickly. Yeah. And when you get into the actual festival, they only sell, like, beer, right? And that's not going to that's not gonna, no, yeah, the co op only soldier,

Phoebe: 15:47

yeah? Well, the co op only sells. Yeah, like,

Amelia: 15:50

yeah, no, but at the stands, it was like,

Phoebe: 15:53

like, crazy, yeah, it's

Amelia: 15:55

very, insanely expensive. Everything's expensive. That's why you need to bring lots over and at the Co Op, I really recommend going also sign up to become a co op member, because you get a pound off your first, your first. Also, we bought this giant bottomless sprite for 299 when one of those, like tiny, tiny ones, costs three pounds at the smart the co

Phoebe: 16:18

op is generally a highlight. Like, yes, we went for the co op this year.

Rachel Richards: 16:22

The Co Op do that really well, because they've had that at the Isle of www amindful life, co uk,

Phoebe: 16:32

Co Op, they

Rachel Richards: 16:35

do a really good job. Saxophonist, they really good. They entertain chocolate melting. It can go either way, right? We're in England, yeah. I mean, I'm sure in other countries it's going to differ. But you were Emilia, you were here Maya,

Amelia: 16:53

reading it on a pretty shocking storm. Actually, 10 leaks,

Rachel Richards: 16:58

yes, and it was brand new, yeah. And

Amelia: 17:01

so much my stuff got wet. Okay, one thing I would say, which literally saved the trip, because without it, I would have wanted to go home, is so my mum got a hotel right next to the festival, which was so good, because we went and had I brought all my friends me and had a shower back at her hotel. And that saved it, because we felt so grimy after all that rain. Yeah,

Rachel Richards: 17:25

it was only just, it was a couple of nights, and it was towards the end of the festival. Yeah, it's very it's expensive, I was gonna say, and I did that for all the Yes, so you can actually group together. So if you all pay, and if all the parents chip in, and you have one parent staying there, it means someone, and I did that this time. I've told you you're on your own in future, but it was just so that you had, because I did the same for you someone's

Amelia: 17:47

first festival. It's better to have somebody, just in case something goes wrong.

Phoebe: 17:51

Exactly. Do you have any like, because obviously, like a lot of people, won't be able to do that.

Amelia: 17:55

Do you have any advice for people? Um, well, who are brainstorms? You can shower there for 55 quid.

Rachel Richards: 18:02

Actually, actually my friend's son, so he walked into town and there was a gym then, yeah, I think we're still seven pounds. It's a lot of money, seven pounds. Seven pounds, yeah. But my point is cheaper than a drink. It's cheaper than, right, exactly. So there is that, there are wet wipes. But also, I think when it comes to the you know, it was particularly bad. I mean, we saw some pictures, some video of the leads, which is the sister festival people's tents.

Phoebe: 18:29

You have to consider all scenarios. And yes,

Amelia: 18:34

that happened in our campsite, and we were sitting down because my friend was really smart, and she brought a bunch of chairs, which everyone sat down. She also brought a table, which was a camping table, and that was so, like, smart, great. And we made like a little circle so that we could be sitting, yeah, and just suddenly, intently passed off people still pegs there, yeah, like my friend, her tents, pegs got

Rachel Richards: 19:08

stolen. What? Oh, goodness me, yes. And also, you know, this is sunscreen, but also a big bin bag that you can line your stuff so you can put all your stuff in if it does

Unknown: 19:24

start wearing.

Rachel Richards: 19:25

I did that. But you did it. You took a bin bag the first year you went in order to also a spare one to clear up. Yeah, tell me about it

Phoebe: 19:33

was an absolute state even by the second day, because also the group, I was in quite a big group. So obviously I had my friends in the tent, but I went with basically everyone from my school, and we were all in the same area. And not everyone has the same values about, you know, cleanliness and the environment, yeah? So by the second like, I would watch people literally, like, eat out of, you know, a carton of grapes, for example, just like, drop them on the drop it on the floor when they were done, and they would treat it like their bin bag. So literally, by the second day, like it was an utter pigsty pillow fluff everywhere. Like, yeah, people don't really have any respect, so it's nice to just bring at least, like, keep your area clean, yeah, actually

Amelia: 20:15

something which they were doing, which I thought was really smart. I don't know they did this last year, but. So they were handing round bin bags. Oh, really came over to us, like, smarting bags, because

Rachel Richards: 20:28

they were lazy. Everyone's lazy, right? And they just need to give them a way to clear up. And

Amelia: 20:32

then they had them, like, the full ones on this wall for recycling bags, and you could tie it to, like, the great, yeah. And were people using them? Um, no,

Phoebe: 20:42

but I would say, I would say, like, mess is expected. Like, every single festival you go to, there's going to be, I think so, a huge amount of rubbish. Yeah, I say on the whole writing itself was actually really clean, yeah. Like, from what I can remember, the it depends on what camp you're in, again, obviously. But like, the camp that I was in, the toilets were so clean. I genuinely, like, even by the last night, when usually I've heard from other festivals, sometimes they're like, overflowing with just, like, disgusting things. But when I went, like, they were absolutely fine.

Rachel Richards: 21:12

Yeah, yeah. And actually, when we've been to the Isle of www, amindful life, co UK's been doing that, but I think it's generally people. It depends on the group. I think it really does depend. And I think so. One of the things about the tents is I would never allow my kids to come home without their tents, so I picked up the tents on the last day, didn't I earlier in the day, so that you then didn't have to worry about it later in the

Amelia: 21:39

day. The end of Lim Gallagher, which was at 1130 we saw people walking to try and find their parents in, like, the places where they were parked, and they had all their stuff with them, and they looked dead.

Phoebe: 21:51

I had a bit of a nightmare, though, because I didn't give you all my stuff. So we gave you the tent and, like my main bag, but there was still stuff that was like, I don't know why, I think. And so, yeah, that was a bit of a nightmare trying to but

Rachel Richards: 22:08

Amelia had a better deal this year because I found a wheelie bag. It's just an old one that was in a shed, and I gave her the tent in that, and it meant that she could put a lot of stuff in that, so she wasn't carrying things. It ripped. Yeah, it was old. I mean, it wasn't a new thing. So on

Phoebe: 22:23

the whole, like, I mean, I got this from other people and did it as well, but you don't really want to spare it depends on who you are, but you the like, Jen, like, the normal advice is not to spend the night on Sunday night or the last night. That's when it all kicks off. Yeah, people have nothing left to really stay for, so they're all just, yeah. Like, there was, I remember when I left, there was a shopping trolley. There was a shopping trolley in one of the bushes, on one of the bushes, and people like hurling bottles around and pissing in cans and throwing them, right? And that's that's even like that was as we were leaving. It got worse and worse throughout the night, right? So you want to get your stuff out and then enjoy the evening so that you can just go home. Like, I

Rachel Richards: 23:05

mean, that's ideal, but, yeah, I mean, I'm sure lots of people don't, but I think that's, that was ideal. That's,

Amelia: 23:09

you know, I know so many people who left halfway through the festival. I know quite a few people who left before the music even started, wow. Like, really? The thing is, festivals, you either really like them or you really don't like they're either your thing or they're not. Yes,

Rachel Richards: 23:23

you had a friend who had just had enough wanted to go home. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And actually talking about taking you home the year. So last year, when I collected you, Phoebe, that was really tough, because stupidly, I I parked in the car park that they told me to park in, and then it got late and I started driving towards the site, and they end up in this one way system, and you can't stop around driving. I was screaming. And this year, I did it so much better. I didn't go to the car park that they indicated. What I did was I went across the river to an area where nobody really goes, and parked in a filling station. Just let everybody know where we were. It that was so much better. We got home way quicker than other people who were fighting their way through traffic. We just went back routes. So that was really smart.

Phoebe: 24:12

Yeah, that's definitely like,

Amelia: 24:14

if you're going with the go, if you can

Phoebe: 24:15

coordinate with other people,

Rachel Richards: 24:17

yeah, yeah. I mean, that was the thing, No, exactly, our cars were stuffed or there were trains

Phoebe: 24:23

the trainers London. So that's useful, true. And

Rachel Richards: 24:27

actually, you get really tired though,

Phoebe: 24:29

don't you? Yeah,

Rachel Richards: 24:31

what do you? What do you? I mean, how do you pace yourself? Because you said that the fun stuff happens at night, but that means you're not getting

Amelia: 24:38

enough sleep. So, yeah, no, sleep through the day. What when the music is on? No, the music starts at 12, and you normally didn't know the person playing at 12. Okay, so, yeah,

Rachel Richards: 24:47

so an eye mask or something, because obviously, when you're

Amelia: 24:50

in a test and because you, like everyone around you, is gonna be screeching and all that stuff. But um, one thing I would say is, oh, I brought noise canceling headphones. They were so good, but, yeah, they didn't get started you sound

Rachel Richards: 25:05

like such a prince,

Amelia: 25:11

but one thing I would say so we know a couple of people who went and decided to camp on the other end of the festival, and they were completely out. They had a couple of people in that campsite. Was so angry because. Had no atmosphere. It was a half an hour walk to the other

Phoebe: 25:25

thing you want to be

Rachel Richards: 25:27

so as a trade off, right

Phoebe: 25:29

next to me, there were

Amelia: 25:31

really happy, yeah, that they were that they were that far away, because they really hated it. They really, actually wanted a good night's sleep. But yeah, I would say just go for, like, in the middle, if you're gonna go into a campsite that's, like, close to the festival, go to the back of that campsite.

Rachel Richards: 25:51

What about things like drugs and alcohol? What I mean? So I'm gonna put it into context. I was talking to another mother, and she said to me that her son's tent was raided, yeah? And I said, Gosh, that must have been a shock. And she said, Well, yes, because they were drug dealers in the tent next to his, and they wanted to check his tent. And of course, he came up clean, yeah, but would, did you see much evidence of drugs? Well,

Phoebe: 26:17

so here's the thing, yeah. So I showed up late because I didn't have the early bird tickets, but the rest of my friends did. So they were all in, you know, and I turned up alone, and there's they do drug check. Well, no, they don't do drug checks. They do, like, bag checks and everything they have sniffer dogs. And here's a piece of advice, don't pet the sniffers, because I was quite a fan of dogs, and the dog took a liking to me. I ended up in the drunk queue, and I

Rachel Richards: 26:50

was there surrounded by really long queue, yeah,

Phoebe: 26:53

oh my god, I was there for three hours. I mean, it basically took up my entire first day. I was in such a bad mood, but, but the thing is, the bag checks are so unthaar It's not funny, like they, they didn't even go through my bag. They, they didn't find my alcohol, and it was a drug.

Rachel Richards: 27:09

So you had, you had a small bottle, a miniature. So Phoebe's really, really honest, you had a miniature in your sock, and you were really panicking. And then you had a whole bottle.

Phoebe: 27:20

I had, I had, I know, I had a whole bottle of vodka. I had two bottles, and a whole bottle, and I had another bottle in a water bottle, yeah, and they were both at the bottom of a bag, yeah. And so I thought the odds were they wouldn't actually check down there, which I was right. They didn't check. But when they asked me for alcohol, I thought I would give them something to kind of throw them off and make it seem like I was really honest. So I just gave them the miniature, okay, but, yeah, but that literally, within about five minutes, that's not even an exaggeration of walking to try to get to my tent. And I literally had just shown up, I was approached by two different people just asking whether I want to ketamine, like there are drugs everywhere. That's just going to be that's like a fact of festivals you're gonna it's not just running like it's an airy festival you just got, you know, keep your wits about you not accept anything from anyone. Because, yeah, that's like,

Amelia: 28:10

if you are going to accept something, accept it from like, a trusted source.

Rachel Richards: 28:14

Like, who can you trust the festival?

Phoebe: 28:16

I mean, don't festivals? No,

Rachel Richards: 28:19

don't even your friends. Where would your friends? Your 16 year old friends? No,

Amelia: 28:24

I'm not talking for me. I'm talking just in general. If you are, no,

Rachel Richards: 28:28

I don't think you can trust any Don't, don't, don't think you can.

Phoebe: 28:32

Don't do drugs in general. But even then, don't do them at festivals like that is the worst, worst place because of all the things that could go wrong. Like, you don't want someone to go wrong festivals and and people get spiked. Like, spiking is such, such a problem. And so same with alcohol, like, you want to make sure that you're getting alcohol from yourself your friends. You want to bring it with you, yeah, and then if you ever do get drinks, I mean, it's the usual. You just need to, like, make sure that you know and that your friends know that you need to keep your cups covered, you know, nothing or not even in cups. You want to keep them in cows, yeah, yeah. And then, you know. But people you know, can get spiked from injections. Yeah,

Amelia: 29:14

in the crowd there's, um, there are some really useful, like, cup covers you can get off Amazon to come Yeah. But, um, yeah, I would say it like you're, like some you're you're going to a festival, you're probably going to be drinking, definitely going to be drinking. And it's better for your parent or someone you know, or yourself to buy the alcohol, because then you're a lot less likely, because, I mean, your child is going to be going somewhere to get it anyway, so it's better for them to get it from someone they know, or from like you, or whatever other than so

Rachel Richards: 29:51

for all the parents at home listening to this who are horrified that my children drink alcohol, we're not, we're not really a drinking family in that way. But my attitude is, pick your fights, and I think when you're going to a festival, they're going to drink. It's better to Yes, absolutely. And did you see people? Well, you've just done a job last night where there were young people staggering around, blind drunk. It's not attractive at all, is it? And you know, so what did you see? Much of that at the festival. People. Pull that drunk, yeah? Because I just don't think you're safe, yeah, if you get one like that, you have to be. You want to make

Amelia: 30:32

sure it depends. We did it in night. So we had, we have two bottles, and so we would, we did it one between six of us, yeah, and so there would be three people drinking the first night, and then three people didn't drink as well, so that they could look after the three people if something had gone wrong. See,

Rachel Richards: 30:51

this is smart. This is this is the answer. It's the way that you do it. It's not what you know. Yeah,

Phoebe: 30:56

you just want to make sure that you're like, it's essential to stay with your people the entire time. Yeah, and just make sure that you're with a safe, trusted group of friends.

Rachel Richards: 31:05

How easy was it to get water? Because that was one of the things we talked about before, was making sure you always drink water. Yeah.

Amelia: 31:12

The thing is, it depends on where you're situated, because it's it can be a trek to get to the water stations, because they're like, in between the camps and the festival, um, but yeah, it's really easy to get it once you're there. You just have to walk to it. Have to walk to it. And

Rachel Richards: 31:26

do you have to have your own bottle

Phoebe: 31:28

to have reef, like, they have, like, refill stations, great. But, but also, I remember, like we last year, Billy Eilish was the last act. And obviously there was a massive crowd, like, there was such a dense crowd there, and it got really hot, and obviously it was also the end of the night, so if you hadn't been drinking water, then, like, you're gonna get so dusty and dehydrated. And my girlfriend, like, was in quite a VAT state because you hadn't been drinking water. And it was at the very front of the like, stage. There was a guy behind the barrier. He was literally just, like, giving out free cups. Yeah? So we went and found him, and then he was just fantastic.

Amelia: 32:07

Yeah, they did that. They did that this year as well. So we were standing we were standing up for like four hours. My friend, my other friends, were standing up for longer than that because they wanted to see people before. But everyone we wanted to see was on the main stage. So we got a really good position and just stayed there, yes, but yeah, the people at the front, you just need to put your hand up and then, yeah, everyone would be passing everyone there. So lovely. You get taken care of.

Rachel Richards: 32:31

Yeah? Really good. I really like that. Yeah. Why did you only go for one day this year?

Phoebe: 32:37

Well, in truth, there was only one like, well, actually, no, that's not true. There was so many acts I would have loved to see, but I, I was kind of done with the camping. Yeah, it's not really my age what? Yeah, they're not really my age group anymore. I mean, some people my age were camping, some people I know from school, but, but, yeah, it was

Unknown: 32:58

only great

Phoebe: 32:59

to just go through one day because you have no, like, luggage, you have no bad story about you not having to worry about your tent. That's what

Rachel Richards: 33:07

we've always done, because we have done a few music festivals already. But each time we've gone for one day, you get dressed. You can be more fun. Yeah, fun with dressing up because you're not worried about I mean, Amelia took her and Amelia didn't take her best clothes. You took sort of old hoodies and things, didn't you just so that

Amelia: 33:25

you didn't. I actually, I actually took my school hoodie because it has my initials on it. Who's gonna want to steal somebody's

Rachel Richards: 33:32

school hoodie? Yeah, just, just because you don't want your favorite

Amelia: 33:40

personally, I think it's really down to the person. I absolutely loved camping next year,

Phoebe: 33:45

I'm gonna get I loved it too.

Amelia: 33:48

I'm gonna continue doing that. No, not I'm writing. I'm gonna go to board

Phoebe: 33:55

Masters. I'm running set. It's traditional,

Amelia: 34:00

but, um,

Rachel Richards: 34:01

what was I gonna say? Need to get yourself a job so you can pay for the ticket.

Amelia: 34:06

So much debt.

Rachel Richards: 34:10

Well, you are and you aren't, because what do we what was our deal?

Amelia: 34:13

Oh, my God, okay, this has been the worst week of my life, but I'm only allowed to use my phone for one hour a day, and it's 26 pounds per day.

Rachel Richards: 34:25

So why? Why? Why are you not in debt? No,

Amelia: 34:29

I actually still am. I went over one hour and now I have to pay for the full day, which I think, I think if I go over an hour and I end up having to pay for the full day, I should be allowed my phone for the entire day. No, I

Rachel Richards: 34:42

think it's zero sum. Yeah, so, so basically, we did a deal where I said she can pay off her debt by staying off her devices, not just your phone, off her devices, for the entire week leading up to school, so that she's only allowed an hour a day, just so she can stay in contact with people, just because it's good to decompress.

Amelia: 35:01

If you can't, if you, if I, if my phone was taken away completely, that would be, yeah, awful, because you can't continue talking. But

Rachel Richards: 35:09

it's been, it's painful, but actually it's, it's good. It's been nice getting to know you. Anything else you think we might have missed any other time? On tips,

Phoebe: 35:23

yeah, stay away from it. Okay. It's dependent on the act that you're seeing. And I would say this year, the writing acts were really good. So they, like, they weren't really kind of, like, high testosterone, you know, like,

Unknown: 35:39

21 seven, yeah. Oh, Prodigy. Okay, fine. But, like, okay, but

Phoebe: 35:44

when I went, there was John Wayne, and I didn't even know who he was, but my group wanted to go, and literally, the entire thing was just mosh pit. Yeah, and so you want

Rachel Richards: 35:56

a mosh pit for parents who are not sure. I'm sure you all know what it is, but it's basically where clearing happens. And then everybody thought it was quite fun throwing themselves around in

Amelia: 36:05

the beginning, but then I ended up getting pressed up between two people that generally felt like but this

Phoebe: 36:10

is where, like, it starts getting a bit dangerous, because it's so easy for things to go wrong, and especially with, like, crowd crushes and things like that, people get trampled, if you fall

Amelia: 36:19

over, if, if someone had had an accident or something like that. During the Prodigy, they would not have got out. It was insane as the amount of Yeah, because we were at the chevron stage, which is so pretty, because they've got all these lovely, like, cool lights and stuff, but it's packed because everyone's trying to get under the lights, and there's no space at all, and Mosh Pits are opening up everywhere.

Phoebe: 36:42

Yeah, but don't, don't be put off of going to festivals, obviously. But like, the trick is just to avoid. I mean, you can't really avoid, but like, make sure that you're,

Amelia: 36:52

I mean, yeah, depending on where you are in the mosh, like, if you're, even if you're at the front, front, it depends on who's behind you, because you don't have to go in while everyone else is says, you know, you don't have to be trampled.

Phoebe: 37:02

You just want to create space. You want to create space around you, and you want to know that you're with people who can help protect you. Because some of my friends fell over what I fell over as well, like, real top of, like, door nose. We got someone stood on her head, yeah, but we were with people who literally just, like, like, cleared a space around us and picked us back up. That's good. My

Amelia: 37:26

friend, actually, she fell over during the mosh pit. She got a bit trampled as well. You kind of literally holding on to her, like holding her up.

Rachel Richards: 37:33

And if you find this horrifying, obviously parents are going to have very different levels of acceptance. So personally, I think you had a great time. If you want to really be scared, what's the, what's the what's the documentary we watch now, that is probably as bad as it gets. So if you want, people said it looked like Sarajevo the end of so if you want to be truly scared, watch that documentary. We watched it before you started games fest, but it hasn't been actually, generally, I think it was amazing. You loved it. Yes, actually,

Amelia: 38:10

have another point go ahead. So the last out, depending on how badly you want to see them, the last out is always, always really tough, because we went into the front area of the stage in the beginning. So I'd gone off with Phoebe and her girlfriend for the start. And so I had to fight to find my friends. I had to fight through, like, crowds and crowds of people. And it was genuinely terrifying. I found them, and then I was like, I do not want to be here, because the amount of people who were, like, cramped into that one tiny space. It was genuinely it was because it was Pauline Gallagher and I

Rachel Richards: 38:43

has just announced the Oasis, yeah, and

Amelia: 38:46

it was, it was terrifying. I'm like, I was like, I'm not staying here. So I left, and we watched back, which was so much more, yeah,

Rachel Richards: 38:54

yeah, if I'd stayed, and if you and it actually is really useful, at least, to have one kid in a group. That's so all you girls were coming home. We had two cars waiting with a massive group of girls, and so we had at least one or two people who had phones that were charged. We had life. You know, you can use life 360 you can use Apple device finder. Yes, exactly. So we knew where we were. We knew where you were, and people were staying together. So it just, it worked. It was fine. Sorry,

Phoebe: 39:23

if you're continuing this, because I'm going to change the subject. Well, I was just going to say that I would highly recommend downloading the writing and needs app. Yeah, if you're going to get obviously, if you're going to different, see what you're missing.

Rachel Richards: 39:41

Stay at home. Just download the app. Yeah, the app.

Phoebe: 39:45

It's so good because there's a map of everything so you can see how it's laid out. They have all the acts on that you can plan the day. You can plan the day so you can like the acts that you want to go and see, and then it creates a calendar for you. Fantastic. It's so easy to keep track of everything, yeah, so yeah, because otherwise you end up, I mean, you you're bound to miss some acts for some children or another. But yeah,

Amelia: 40:06

also, yeah, I'm going off that. Make sure you listen to the first like, the most famous song of the people, because there are so many people who I would have loved to see, who I missed because I didn't know that they were there. Interesting, like so you mean, go through the inter all the. Normal neighborhood, yeah, I know. Go through all

Rachel Richards: 40:26

the acts yeah and and listen to the top yeah

Phoebe: 40:29

playlist. That's really several yeah songs from Yeah,

Rachel Richards: 40:35

easily done. Yeah, brilliant. I like that. Thank you girls. I think, I think that's brilliant. You girls, wow. Thank you so much for all that great advice. I loved it. Hopefully you found it really useful at home, if you have maybe you can pass it on to someone you know. If you didn't like it, then just delete obviously, this is just one festival. They're all going to differ, but I wanted to give you a taste of what's happening to you know, whether, and I just think we've got this whole generation of kids who have been brought up in a very defensive way, yeah, and I like the idea that they get the chance to go out and let us. I love

Amelia: 41:18

about reading is you get a taste of what it's like without parents or without anyone so nice also, especially

Phoebe: 41:25

like after covid. Yes,

Rachel Richards: 41:27

it's so nice. It's so important having, you know,

Phoebe: 41:29

just being in those situations where you can just literally socialize with anyone. And

Rachel Richards: 41:33

you did you talk to people you'd never normally, yeah, even from your school, who you hadn't really talked to before. And yes, and in fact, you this year, you you just into so many people take

Amelia: 41:44

one step, and there would be someone I know, yeah,

Rachel Richards: 41:48

it's amazing. What if you like the podcast. You can leave a review on the Apple player, or you can text me by the Spotify player. They've got a new, you know, quick text. You can, I know it's great, isn't it? And you can go to my website, which is www teenagersuntangled com, or email me on teenagers untangled@gmail.com great feedback is always very much appreciated. My vulnerable girls, have a great week. Bye, Bye, for now, Bye.

Phoebe: 42:22

Have fun running you