A beautiful festival (Rockness Musical Festival)

Member Name: rachshikari

Product:	Rockness Musical Festival
Date:	02/07/09 (26 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: cheap, great location

Disadvantages: the weather was poor

Living in the middle of England, I've never really been given the chance to visit Scotland due to how far away it is from me. However, by working through a certain company that do festival work, I was able to attend Rockness this year which was a nice change.
Rockness is a fairly new festival and is located in the north of Scotland in Inverness, which of course, is home to the lochness monster. It has to be said, it is one of the most beautiful settings for a festival I've ever seen mainly due to the main stage being located almost on the beach of the loch. From the top of the hill it just looks absolutely spectacular, no photos give it justice!
Anyway, back to what I was saying. Rockness is located roughly 10 miles away from the centre of Inverness in a little village called Dores, please bring whatever stuff you need as it really is the middle of no-where with no shops etc apart from a pub that sells overpriced food and a bus stop that goes to Inverness 3 times a day, therefore make sure you bring enough food and drink etc.
With a capacity of roughly 35,000 people it is a fairly small festival compared to other major festivals but seeing as this was its 4th year, I am sure it will expand in the near future.

The festival itself as very easy to get around, it had 3 main stages and hosted a lot of well known bands and artists such as: The Prodigy, Dizzee Rascal, Pendulum etc. It also had silent discos, a rizla club, which was outdoors but looked a lot of fun and also a SoCo loungue which was always bursting at the seams with people dancing.

Food was widely available from the various stalls around, overpriced as usual, but hey, every festival is right? Foods such as Chinese, burgers, chips and veggie things were available. Drinks were also widely available but at £2 a bottle of coke/water, became quite expensive!

Camping fields were a plenty however, if you like home comforts and preferred bringing a caravan, I think it was an extra £50 to bring that with you and to park in a separate field. Alcohol was allowed in the campsites but not in the arena. Though various alcohols could be bought once inside!! (swizzz).

Prices for 2009 were as follows:
* Friday day ticket: £45
* Saturday day ticket: £55
* Sunday day ticket: £55
* 2 day weekend: £105
* 3 day weekend: £130
* 2 day camping: £122
* 3 day camping: £139
* VIP Friday: £70
* VIP Saturday: £70
* VIP Sunday: £70
* VIP weekend: £150
* VIP camping: £160
* Campervans: £50

VIP really wasn't worth it though in my opinion as the campsite was still cramped and the toilet/shower facilities were good but very long queues for them!

Hope this gives you more of an insite to this festival and hope to see you all next year!!!

Summary: picturesque