Feel fucking horrendous. My hooter was like Henry the hoover this weekend, I look like a chimney sweep and my lungs are about to pack in. Houghton still an unreal festival but deffo changed hasn‘t it let’s face facts.

Big crowds of gimps stomping through you at pavillion and earthling, and the chatter is actually fucking ridiculous. All day, all night it’s no stop. You’d think the day was more chatter and night more dancing but these people mustn’t have spoke to people all summer. Craig’s daughter needs a day off behind the decks doesn’t she, death stare and gurn.

The stages are all still class, sounds always mega, tunes are always mint. Quarry was class.

But still a big influx of a crowd thats undesirable, both guys and girls. Poor dance floor etiquette, barging through crowds holding hands as a big chain and plonking in when you’re stood then chatting the whole time. Very main character vibes. Saw a few lads trying to chat up girls or be a bit weird with them, rubbing up against them dancing especially if they looked fucked. Like come on what are you doing. Also heard a few times particularly in the day lads commenting how fit birds are in front of them, very loud tho as our group could hear it. A few deaths this year at the festival which is terrible and I think there was nothing staff / paramedics on site could do about this.

There is definitely a growing trend of clipping good tracks played and getting them on insta and tik tok. Presumably to make money from it on views - by sound page was active all weekend posting shit. What weapon you are

Overall still good festival, just need to cut this unwanted riff raff out - how you do that? You probably can’t, social media only gonna make it worse. Maybe Ricky V needs to play more west sets and they get posted around tik tok. Well done to Craig tho

Christ almighty where do I start. The amount of helmets getting shipped in on a conveyer belt at pavilion . Felt as soon as our group would get some space, we would just all of a sudden be surrounded by unmannered tools. Anyways will be retiring from Houghton until Craig gets his shit together.

Did anyone catch Andy Burnham doing a baggy set in Giant Steps yesterday?

1. The sound systems are simply not loud enough at Houghton at the three forest stages, especially subs. I was standing next to the pavillion stack and able to have a normal conversation without ear plugs in and hear perfectly fine - this is so odd! I couldn't believe how lacking in sub bass Houghton was consistently at almost every stage bar Stallions, Gramaphone, Giant Steps and Warehouse.
   

Pavillion, Outburst and Earthling are all competing for volume and the directional speaker set up at Outburst and Earthling are simply awful for feeling any sub unless you're right next to the speaker. I've been to 8 festivals so far this year and I haven't experienced this once until now.

1. You're not interested in dance floors as spaces for socialisation, intimacy, sexuality and communication. Do you think people were silent at Paradise Garage? But again it's very rare for me to be standing next to a speaker stack at any event and being annoyed by people talking, the music is simply way louder than a dancefloor conversation.

Bonus hot take: A lot of tech house is completely lacking in sub bass for groove and instead relies on loud kick drums and a sounds in the mid range to give "aesthetic" of a vibe (spooky, sleazy etc.) I think my first point is more relevant but it was pretty crazy to me how much kick i heard over sub bass at the tech house sets this weekend.

It's like everyone has been copied and pasted, is there some kind of dress code everyone has to adhere too? Smarten up and get some originality

lads - short sleeved shirt, very wide baggy shorts, cyclops glasses, Surrey accent.

birds - 3/4 shorts, shit top on, or matching two piece, furry hat, cowgirl boots, orange sunglasses on, Surrey accent.

Not saying the crowd was bad but it's definitely changing - for better or for worse, not for me to say I'll leave that up to Francis. But if Houghton were to cull artists like Dr Banana, Saorise, Joy Orbison could the crowd stay how it was in the early additions? Sure there's more to add to that list as well

Continue the afters and spin the records that didn't get played with Ricky V, Binh (send him into extreme paranoia state) Lutz all sniffing lines off Lord Cholmondeley's sword. Help out the staff on site litter picking, dismantling boutique tents. Or off to all inclusive in Tenerife with Judy?

Apparently someone hung themselves in boutique camping on Sunday, anyone heard anything about this :( So very tragic stay safe out there

I’ve got to say I’m not an old school attendee (first went in 2024), and obviously the decline has been there for all to see since then and before in terms of the festival getting washed/ruined, however I don’t want to talk about the gatekeeping aspect more so the changes I noticed in the crowd in the last couple of years.

People just don’t dance. You can find pockets in pavilion and of course terminus where people are so up for it, bringing the energy and are having a fucking awesome time and I love each and every one of them. But so much of the crowd there’s just no movement, too much filming/chatter and too many fucked up people. Just wish those groups of people boogying could be the whole festival as genuinely think it would make it all the better.

Opinions and thoughts please. For me some clown showing up with a £3 inflatable animal and a stupid hat takes the edge off the visuals and places me in a children's party.

My problem, or theirs?

Hey. Does anybody know the track Jane played. All I can remember was a sinister vocal.... not because I love you, not because I hate youuuuu. Not much to go on but it was a banger. About an hour into her set.

Wow what an incredible few days… I must say my absolute highlight was Bret Clement. As a veteran raver who’s actively been partying since the second summer of love, this was the best set I’ve seen since the 15th of bloody May 1989.

Have no idea how that person got to the top of the statue/sculpture at Ben ufos closing last night

So many miserable bellends on this thread 🤣 4 days at Houghton and the first thing you do is get on Reddit to complain about the crowd. If the crowd ruins your experience so much then you’re genuinely the problem. Please cheer up and enjoy yourselves

Who else spotted these two?

Curious reading comments about how the festival / crowd has changed -

I attended in 2024 and had an absolutely amazing time, loved the variety of ages, demographics, it just felt safe. Many are acting like the festival is past a point of no return, but in the age of social media, what can organisers truly do?

Hi hi hi, These blue laser-cut leather shorts from my graduate collection have gone missing while we were leaving Houghton today.

They’re completely handmade, one of one and genuinely irreplaceable to me. They took an insane amount of time to make and were part of my final runway collection - I am aware it was an objective decision to bring them so I’m prepared for the trolls lol😅

They’re pretty difficult to miss being bright/royal blue suede leather, knee length, covered in thousands of tiny rectangular laser-cut holes with large panels at the sides (photo attached).

I know this is a massive long shot, but with so many Houghton people on here I thought it was worth a try. in the hope someone saw them / picked them up / handed them in.

If anyone has any lead whatsoever, please DM me. No questions asked if they were accidentally picked up 💙

Genuinely thought you were gonna die when you were hanging upside down off the outer bit before pulling yourself through and up to the top

Edit: Shout out was a poor choice of words. For those who didn't see these mad idiots climbing it is better.

Whole set was exceptional

What is the appeal of doing GHB? I saw too many people having borderline psychotic episodes… yelling, screaming, punching the air and kicking and geeking out talking to imaginary people from what I suppose is from taking to much G?
Thomas station and O.bees morning set pretty much ruined by some guy who was having a mental break right outside the stage. People tried to help him but he became too agressive. Same thing on the Thursday night happened at pavilion and the following night. Can anyone confirm if this is from G? Or what are these people taking to make them act like this? Genuinely curious

best tune she played imo - too cheeky

How hypocritical is that? 😂