I thought that this was going to be a thread about the Pet Shop Boys. Seriously though, that sounds like a shambles. Especially the part about having to wander around at night searching for your tent. Sad to hear there were robberies as well. Only saw the festival on TV but it looked like it was fairly chilled out. Have heard good reports from those who attended.

I camped in the Quiet area and all was just dandy, got good sleep when I wanted to get it, can't say I had any complaints about the weekend. To be honest getting around any campsite in the dark is always a bit precarious, watching out for guide ropes etc. and you really do need a torch. Thats nasty about the robberies obviously eveything wasn't as sweet as I thought it to be at EP.

Just curious, do they allow you to camp in a camper van or similar (even if you had to stay in the car park)? A good option would be to hire/buy/borrow a camper or even just a panel van and stick some matresses in. At least you could lock it. Be a bit worried about vandalism to the vehicle though.

I can only judge the EP camping against two standards: other festivals and common sense. The security personnel were great compared to other Irish festivals. Another example of the Picnic smartly copying Glastonbury and leaving MCD looking like greedy fools. That said, while nobody wants an oppressive presence, they were thin on the ground in the campsites. No problems where we were with serious misbehaviour or robbery though. Still it's the nature of festival camping that while some people in the same area will have a dodgy experience, their neighbours will have been unaffected. What did affect everyone though was the toilets. They were a disgrace, and I say this having slummed it at festivals at home and abroad, including two wet and muddy Glastonburys. There's no excuse for not roping off more pathways in the sites, especially where the end point is a block of toilets. And what was the reason for the lack of urinals? It's crazy to tell us blokes not to piss and pollute but then not supply a single urinal outside the performance arena (at least that's how it seemed). And however often the portaloos were being cleaned, it wasn't often enough - leaving many unusable. Sort it out, POD/Aiken. I agree as well that Yellow camping should have been open to the first arrivals. Fair's fair. As it was, the better informed campers held on for Yellow. At the risk of repeating myself, having a more Glasto-like approach would be useful, with a few camping stewards and more better direction. Not everyone had it sussed out with maps printed off the internet. And yes, there was a big campervan field. Don't know how supervised it was, but it was pretty central. All in all, camping was fine for me - and would be of a pretty good standard by any comparison if the organisers address some of these simple issues. With their attention to creating a top festival overall, I'm sure they will.

I agree about the urinals, but i think a great job was done with the portaloos, they were the cleanest i had seen at any festival, there was even a girl cleaning the toilet seats every few hours in the loos in the campsite. I was camped in the blue campsite very far away and they had watch towere and lighting all night and i didnt hear of an robberies. its terrible that there was any because i had an amazing time.

I thought camping was excellent, cannot fault it. I've never been to a festival where I didn't wander around in the dark looking for my tent and EP06 was probably one of the nicest camping experiences. Likewise with my friends who were camped in all the sections. As for portaloos, I mentioned it before the festival, but I've this knack for finding clean portaloos all the time. Some of the queues were crazy, (not as crazy as the hour long queue for a bagel, I mean, wtf, it's a BAGEL!) but if you headed to another stage the queue was usually non existent and much quicker. But yeah, more portaloos.

Totally agree about the lack of lights, i was in Yellow campsite and it was pitch dark at night, and the toilets were a joke, only a handful for the whole campsite. Didnt see any security all weekend in the campsite apart from the 4 undercover police who caught my mate in his tent rolling a joint, pathetic. The toilets in general were poor, who had the smart idea of putting the taps right outside the entrance to the girls toilets down by the electric arena, the place was flooded and luckily my girlfriend had wellies on.

Ah come!! Everyone knows, no matter where you place the taps, the immediate area is going to be flooded

I heard no complaints about the camping. Wandering about in the dark is par for the course at a music festival. Next time bring a torch.

I got lost in the blue camp site and ended up havin one of the best nights in a marquee i found by chance. Great stuff! I do think they could have just laid some sort of track on the ground to make it easier for people to know here theyve camped. U cant complain about security tho, they were really decent and helpful, if they had been any harsher everyone wud be givin out about that aswell. My only complaint would be the lack of vino to be honest. Very upsetting.

I thought the campsites were grand. U have to expect to trip over ropes in the dark (while in a drug enduced stupour). We were in the red campsite and there was not a hint of trouble or theft or owt like that. As with most (if not all) festivals it only takes 1 or 2 chancers to ruin it for someone and I am sorry to hear about people robbing tents. Maybe the perps simply grew bored with a proper festival after all the fun they must have had at oxygen burning down peoples tents and whatnot......gobs**tes!!

You know on the tent guide rope thing....why the hell do people use guide ropes?? They are really only to be used for extra stability if its going to be windy, I never use mine at a festivals for the simple fact I know people will just trip over them when it gets dark.

Ah, I only use the rop guides when it rains to keep the fly sheet taut thus keeping the tent dry. The guide ropes keep the inside sheet from touching the wet sheet outside. Plus I like tripping people

The best weekend ever! I totally enjoyed the whole camping experience, and got more sleep over the weekend than I would normally (thanks to my earplugs). We were camped in the red campsite just on the walkway (we couldn't find anywhere else) but leaving loads of room for everyone and had no trouble what so ever (appart from a loud northern accent on the Fri and some Mayo sing-alongers on the Sunday). But it was brilliant! And the security were wonderful, funny and polite.