The sun was out, the cider was flowing, there were some questionable outfits, plenty of glitter, and bumbags galore, but most importantly there were groups of people together to see live music once more.
The In It Together Festival is a new festival for Wales. Held next to Margam Park at Old Park Farm in Neath Port Talbot, the idea behind it is, quite simply, a post-Covid knees up. Their website explains the idea behind In It Together as: "To us, it is the very sentiment of all we have witnessed during the pandemic and the sense of community it has brought.
"From the weekly clapping for the NHS and all key workers, to neighbours standing side by side to recognise the sheer gravity of what the world was becoming. For over 12 months, we have stayed away from those we love most in order to protect them so we can one day be reunited safely. We’ve come together as a community and celebrated those who often go unrecognised and we’ve reevaluated our lives to make the most out of them.
"That is where the concept of In It Together came from. It is a community, a festival, a reunion and a celebration. It is all that we’ve gone through and all that we’ve missed."
It's an admirable sentiment and on the opening day there was plenty of that on show. Groups of family, friends, teens and plenty of families all using it as an excuse to get together and have fun.
There's a huge field for families, with a circus tent, kids' performers, a giant Guess Who, Connect 4, beanbags and a brilliantly impressive bouncy castle for those over four. Our toddler adored the circus tent, and watching The Greatest Showman performance for one.
There are a large number of food outlets, and you barely had to queue for any and the bar was so quiet that when my husband first went up the staff were visibly excited.
But this is, first and foremost, a music festival. Over the three days headliners are Two Door Cinema Club, Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds and Clean Bandit. Others include Gabrielle, Tinie Tempah, Craig Charles, HRVY and Scouting for Girls to name just a handful. It promises other local and emerging talent, and frankly, sitting in a field listening to music pass your ears is a brilliant way to pass a bank holiday weekend whoever you are.
It's fair to say my days raving til the early hours are on hold for a while so we spent a huge chunk of our day there in the family field but the acts we saw on the main stage made a sunny afternoon on the grass worthwhile. It wasn't wild, there were plenty of camping chairs being used, and it was inclusive whatever your age or desire to get very sweaty near strangers in the moshpit.
But this experience doesn't come cheap. The three-day camping ticket costs £186.15 for adults (£219.15 for VIP entry), non-camping for the three days is £142.15. A day ticket for a teenager is £71.75, a child's day ticket (aged five to 15) is £27.75 or day ticket for adults £71.75. One family I overheard exclaiming "we could have gone to Spain for what this has cost us" and once you add all that up, it's probably not far off.
On the plus side, it was great to have a festival on our doorstep we could go to for the day. Having done the biggest festivals, it's not fair to make a direct comparison. As I looked around I'd wager that a lot of teens were using it as a more achievable way to try out festival life, and a lot of families too. It was our first with a child, and it's definitely a different experience but we were all really impressed with the family area which was a joy to watch our tot run around in the sun. There were acts I knew, and some I didn't, and a nice family-friendly experience and some of the boring bits like parking were well organised once we made it to the site.
However, as a new festival you always hope they'll iron out some of the problems you get every time at the bigger ones. It was day one, but there were teething problems which didn't set our day off to the best start. There were warnings about traffic but it took about 50 minutes to get from Pyle onto the site. Despite the website saying it would be open at 11am when we arrived not long after we told it wouldn't be before 12 and were left in a holding area.
Plenty of people had read the same information and were left waiting, and others were on various wild goose chases around the not unsubstantial site. You do expect some snags on day one of a new festival, but kicking off the day in not one but three lengthy queues wasn't a great start. Music was a good hour late starting too and there were no signs or information anywhere to tell you what was on when - and typically, no phone signal to check.
Online, and even after we arrived, a big deal was made of no liquids being allowed in, even water, with promises of refill stations around the site, but there were none. Instead crates and crates of bottled water were provided which is better than nothing, but far from what you'd expect environmentally.
Food prices are always high at a festival, but with a dish of chicken noodles priced at £12, fish and chips at £10, a pint at £6, and staggeringly, a 99 ice cream at £5, if you're a day tripper or a camper who isn't planning on getting out the stove, your extra costs will rapidly ramp up. Despite Wales having a brilliant street food scene, I didn't see any of the brilliant local outlets we have there which is a shame when you could use it as a way to promote some of our brilliant local businesses, and I didn't see a single word of the Welsh language once on the festival grounds.
Would I recommend it? I think unless you're going to spend the whole day there, which is impossible with a young family, the day price is a lot for what you get especially as the rules mean you can't take any food and drink in as a visitor, so your day rapidly gets a lot more expensive.
If you want to trial a festival which has something for everyone on a considerably smaller, and more cost effective option than say Glastonbury, yes I'd give it a go. But for value for money you either need to be a really big fan of the headliners, or go for the whole weekend. The reason for the festival is one I wholeheartedly endorse, but there's just a few things to work out, and the price point would be one. The festival runs until Sunday, June 5 and you can find out more here.
