Music Features

So you’ve got your tent and you’re wearing wellies that rival Farmer Giles’ but what else should you be throwing in your bag? Read on and take note from our experts who’ve all been there, done it, learnt from it and moved on.

Lucy Barker, festival veteran and organiser of the Moor Music Festival in West Yorkshire says, "A festival must have is a sense of humour and a blow up mattress. Travel light but have a variety of options that cover all weather".

Why so tents?

After their experience camping in a slug infested puddle, Hull band The Talks told us that they "installed bunks in their van".

One man braves it in the portaloos

If you're not lucky enough to have a van, heed Raw Talent presenter Alan Raw's advice. "Put up your tent properly. Nothing worse that stumbling back in the middle of the night to the campsite and finding your tent has gone west in a force 6 gale."

Wading in with their advice, one of our choices for Leeds and Reading Festival 2008 i concur suggest, "Don't pitch your tent near the toilets, especially if it's forecast to rain. Bring wellies and waterproofs just in case."

If the mayhem of the campsites gets too much, acoustic guitarist Stephen Dale Petit suggests "staying in a hotel" as a surefire way to steer clear of camping mishaps.

Noise pollution

Controversially, Silent Film Project from Scunthorpe would advise you bring "a pair of earplugs in case the Kaiser Chiefs are playing".

Katy Noone, producer of Raw Talent, also suggests earplugs but for a purely practical reason. "Take earplugs so you can get a bit of kip during the night. Having said that, I'm working at the Festival and I need some kip whereas the rest of you should be out enjoying yourselves all through the night so forget the earplugs! Instead, good waterproofs and something to sit on if it's wet. A friend of mind had a bin liner full of straw which he used as a seat during the terrible muddy Glasto 1997. When he left on the Sunday, people were offering him up to twenty quid for it which shows how desperate they were."

Revellers at last year's V Festival

Festival spirit

Josh from The Paddingtons says "get involved in everything" and his festival must-haves? "suncream and Supernoodles".

Similarly, when Hull band The Cherry Cobb Cartel were asked about their essential festival item, lead singer Ryan told us, "You need to have some gravitas about your person to keep going, cos if you start flagging then it feels horrible. You need rock'n'roll-ability, to grin and bear it and not moan about blisters and stuff."

Moor Music Festival organiser and performer, Jordan Senior has a cheery approach to surviving a festival, "a smile and a comedy festival hat" being his essential items.

On finding out they'd been chosen for Leeds and Reading 2008, The Last People on Earth offered a unique perspective on making it through the weekend, with "pretty women and salmon" top of their wishlist.

Keep it clean

If all else fails, Raw Talent Introducing were bombarded with one miraculous festival tool which every festival-goer should have in their backpack.

Silent Film Project: "Baby wipes. No-one can go without them."

The Raw Talent camper van

Lee from Pulled Apart By Horses: "Baby wipes."

Katy Noone: "Baby wipes."

The Talks: "Baby wipes and loo roll. Nah scrap loo roll, baby wipes for everything."

So there you have it, Raw Talent's ultimate guide to festival survival.