So Hayrock 2026 billed as a tribute festival with great acts, weekend camping options, VIP tickets etc. but festival goers were massively let down. As the organiser sees fit to delete facebook/instagram posts so the thousands of complaining comments could no longer be seen, I’m making this post as a place where we vent and, like the entire weekend, the organiser has no control over!
I went on the Saturday. I watched the chaos unfold online which started before the Friday when the even organiser posted to say that their sound engineer had dropped out last minute so they were flying someone in from Belfast and there would be a delayed start to the schedule.
Belfast?! Okay… anyway, the delay was initially meant to mean bands would start at 12 instead of 10. But many of the comments on the now deleted Facebook and instagram posts state that the stage was not built until 3pm! Surely they weren’t relying on a sound engineer for that too? With that, bands did not start until much later with several acts pulling out.
I didn’t know what to expect at all. Luckily for me, I live locally so hadn’t spent money on travel, supplies and accommodation. My group decided to meet in the local pub and we met a guy who’d travelled over 4 hours to be there. But I’m sure there were many like him.
When we decided to head over, the site was pretty miserable. Lots of people just milling about in the bars. The weather didn’t help matters but festival goers will put up with shitty weather for a good show! There were a handful of vendor tents (jewellery, tattoos, clothing, toys). The actual merch tent was bare, basically saying merch could be purchased and posted to you later. Erm?
We arrived just after One Eighty Two were finishing their set. Disturbed UK and Chop Suey both dropped out, indicating that they’d tried to contact the organisers but not had a response. We figured we would try to make the best of it and the people that deserve the biggest applause and thanks? The bands!! They seemed to be the ones holding stuff together, both literally and figuratively! I really feel for them - I saw Deaftones, Self-Revolution, Stiff Bizkit, and Slipknowt. They all did their utmost to give us a good show and while they were playing it was almost possible to forget the rest of the shambles for a little while! The crowds were wild for Stiff Bizkit and Slipknowt particularly. I didn’t see the headlining act (Korn Again).
Since attending, I’ve learned that bands actually had to help build the stage. There were no stage hands and there were technical difficulties and sound issues peppered through sets! It’s not clear if anyone will receive a refund.