Some nice words from our fans........

  Andy and Andy,

Well a few days have passed and I still haven't come back to Earth yet.

Suffice it to say that this year's Summer OTT (2005) was the best yet. After coming to OTT for so many years, I usually find that I drift about far too much and only hear little bits of sets. Not this year. The selection of bands was far too good for me to go wandering off elsewhere. Diesel Park West were great, so a good Friday night was assured. I hadn't expected much from Hawkwind on Saturday, but I was pleasantly surprised. Not only was it a great performance, but it was an incredibly long performance. Book them again in a few years time. Some of the other bands doing the rounds who give very short sets would do well to take a leaf out of Hawkwind's book. They thoroughly entertained everyone and - even though it's been many years since I bought a Hawkwind album - I feel the need to go and buy their latest just as a thank you for such a wonderful set.

I had been worried that a band like Hawkwind would draw a much bigger crowd. It certainly seemed that there were more people there for this festival. But it seemed that you had anticipated this and things weren't anywhere near as bad as I had thought. Bar service was still pretty fast and the toilet queues weren't too long. The weather helped (neither too hot nor too cold), but sadly, that's something you can't guarentee.

But once again, it was the friendly atmosphere that really made the whole event so pleasurable. It's great to see so many people of so many age groups having so much fun. Apart from a couple of grumbles from some folks about beer quality, everyone seemed to agree with me that this was the best OTT so far. I met old timers like myself and folks who were there for the first time and they all said how good it was.

All I can say is, keep up the good work and thanks again for such a great weekend.

£47 truly well spent!

Dave Botham.

God Bless you all !

thank- you a thousand times for your vision, commitment, integrity, and sheer human-ness !!
this is the best festival i have ever found, and I have been doing the rounds for many years, the way the festival is done from a strong ethical foundation, is what proves that the spirit of glastonbury, is alive and well and living in Donnington !!!!!

from the minute my kids and i arrived, we were treated with respect, kindness, smiley people and an amazing will from your brilliant crew, to ensure that we had the best time possible !!!!

The campsite is really relaxed with a beautiful mish mash of tents, trucks, caravans, and more smiles !!!!!

The way you do this is so well done, that the goodwill that you receive from us as punters is genuine, and heart felt, I literally had to join a queue to shake Andy`s hand as people clammered to show their appreciation.
( you may remember me and my kids, we were grabbing the posters from the main tent for keepsakes - at the end on Sunday - after asking of course !!) .

the music was brilliant, and we all chatted for about an hour with our old friends, the ozrics, who played one of the best sets ever, even though they had transport problems on the way, and had just got back from the states and a massive tour , they were really pleased to be home, and it was a lovely way for them to finish the latest round of gigs.
David Saw was great, and surely must be on the list for two years time - please - sheer quality, as were so many of the others acts !!!!!

Anyway, I could go on for hours, about the things we love about your festy, and I can`t think of anything to complain about - truly amazing !!!

As I said at the end to you Andy, please keep the festival to the size it is, and don`t get tempted by making more money from it, the prices are great, from the ticket to the fry - up - this is glastonbury with the benefit of hindsight - perfect how it is - as i said on my feedback slip- small but perfectly formed - just like a precious gem !!!!!!!

loads and loads of peace and love from us all here, to everyone who helped make a brilliant weekend happen, even if you just gave us a smile, you did your bit, but I know you all worked tirelessly, and thanks again, no heavy security, no ugly steel fences, and no bad attitudes !!!!!

let`s hope the blaggers stay away - which they will do if it stays the same size, and offers only meagre pickings for them - they won`t be bothered to come - it was lovely to walk round without being asked if we had any spare tickets for sale by some fat ape who can barely communicate - ha ha ha !!!

Anyway must go as I`m sure you will be sifting through good wishes and thanks, until next time !!

Thanks again, and we are looking forward to May

peace love and unity !!!!!!

Simon, Chevaun and Lauren

Hi Andy,
Thanks for a wonderful time at the spring OTT festival. I didn't know what to expect as I found details of the event online and it was a kinda last minute thing. it was a lot smaller than I thought but that didn't affect my enjoyment. everyone was having fun and it wasn't till I got home that I realised that I had not seen any police there and that says a lot about how good natured it was.
Now you have me hooked, when do the tickets for the summer festival go on sale?
thanks once again
Paul Docherty

We would like to congratulate you on a fantastic spring festival. It was our first time at one of your festivals, and we had a wicked time. Fab music, fine ales ( & lethal cider ) and a lovely atmosphere, what more can you ask for !!
Heres looking forward to a groovy autumn festi.
Keep it fluffy
The happy hippies…Helen & Keith 2003
Please send me 8 tickets to your wonderful Festival…..
J. Housley 2003

Please don't get too big, the atmosphere is special……..
D. Spring 2002

The perfect Festival please don't change anything…..
R. Trent 2001

Can I have 3 tickets please. Looking forward to another great festy, yet again we're bringing a new face, This will be my 8th and my friends 3rd so it must be good
Mike 2003

On line chat

This weekend was a cracking way to round off the festival season, a million thanks to moose, Tort and kerplunk for recommending it to us so strongly.

(But honestly everyone else out there would hate it oh yes!!! Far far too small for any more people at all ... )

We were all camped together too, with moose's van and dragon flag as a focal point. I was less disturbed by the motorbikes on the neighbouring racetrack, and even by the planes, than I thought I would be, although apparantly the volume of bike racing was a lot less than usual.

The campsite layout was very different from what I'm used to, because tents, campervans, live in vehicles (eg an old blue Travellers' coach) and even a few cars were all parked up together, it was a nice informal jumble although I'm sure that wouldn't work at larger festivals.

Because it was a permanent campsite, the toilets and other facilities were pretty good too.

There were also dogs allowed, which are never seen nowadays except at free festivals.

There was a real mix of all sorts of people and everyone seemed to be having a wicked time, and all seemed to be very friendly. I was impressed that moose and mr moose
(veterans of the last few years OTTs) knew so many other regulars.

There was a also a big influx of the Dread Collective to see the Ozrics, Stig felt right at home but during their set non-dready me felt almost in a minority

The choice of beer was superb, shame it had pretty much run out by Sunday morning, but until then there were some wonderful options of never before seen ales from microbreweries. And the Priory ale at the main bar never ran out at all ...

The atmosphere around the farmhouse where the bars were) and in the courtyard outside (around which the main marquee, stalls and chill out barn were arranged) was lovely. We were helped by some unexpectedly good weather (especially on Saturday) and some courtyard entertainment from some exceedingly eccentric and colourfully dressed morris dancers, a bit different from your usual ...
Black Pig Border Morris (beware -- site contains folk music!!)

The late DJ sessions in the chill out barn kicked arse in a serious way, particularly Andy Skank on the Friday with the widest choice of ska, roots, dub and reggae tunes that I've heard outside Glasto or London, he was the man!

Of the live bands Osibissa stood out, they may have been going for over 30 years now in one form or another but they are still full of energy and happiness, marvellous African rhythms and choruses. Loved them!

Look out too for the Angel Brothers and Satnam Singh, the "Beat from the East" is a wizard on the Dhol and tablas and the Angel Brothers are very talented instrumentalists who know how to give a stonking live show. They went down a real storm.

I'm a major Ozrics fan from way back and I have seen them in all about 12 or 13 times. All I can say is that this time they were as good as I've ever seen them, much more impressive to me than at Glasto because here, I could get up quite close (and the light show was less overpowering than it was at Glasto).

Wild show, loads of oldies from Jurassic Shift, Sploosh and other classic albums, including a prolonged dubby-reggae section that suited me down to the ground (sorry, I'm crap at identifying particular names of tracks when mashed in the middle of a gig!) .

They obviously loved the Festival (it was their first time there) and put in buckets of energy and musicianship.
Keyboard and technical wizard Seaweed drinks in our local sometimes and he was REALLY regretful when he talked to us before the show that he couldn't stay behind after, stay on site and enjoy the late entertainment, he was a bit annoyed that he had to go back south. The rest of the band stayed on I think, though. As the MC said at the end of the gig, aren't they a national treasure!