Title: Greenfield festival 2022 Date: 2022-06-13 21:00 This year, I didn't attend the Hellfest [like in 2019]({filename}/misc/2019.md), but I had the joy of going to the [Greenfield Festival](https://www.greenfieldfestival.ch/en) instead. [![Greenfield 2022 poster]({static}/images/greenfield_2022.jpg)]({static}/images/greenfield_2022.jpg) It was mostly a trip to memory lane: [Billy Talent](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Talent), [Hammerfall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HammerFall), [Alestorm](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alestorm), [Bad Religion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_Religion), [Skillet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skillet_(band)), [KoЯn](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korn), [Baroness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baroness_(band)), [Agnostic Front](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnostic_Front), [Battle Beast](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_Beast_(band)), and [Annisokay](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annisokay) whose singer couldn't make it, so it was replaced by [Caliban](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliban_(band))'s. Oh and also [Bring me the horizon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bring_Me_The_Horizon), which somehow managed to: - have horrible [soundcheck](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soundcheck); - painfully loud even wearing [ER20XS](https://www.etymotic.com/product/er20xs/), - saturated (!!!) the speakers, - gave the vivid impression that the singer was doing playback - had songs where the two guitarists and bassist were simply walking on the stage. - Cherry on the top, the effects on the singer's voice were sometimes cut a bit too early, outing him as a surprisingly weak singer. As usual, [Powerwolf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Powerwolf) was still an **immense** pleasure to witness, as well as [Gloryhammer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloryhammer). [Electric Callboy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Callboy) was a nice surprise: it was fun to hear what *modern metal* is sounding like those days, and it's always welcome to have bands bridging gaps between musical genres: here between metalcore and electronic music. Weather-wise, rain on Wednesday and Thursday, and blazing heat the remaining days: [Quechua 's Fresh & Black tents](https://www.quechua.com/quechua-tents) were a welcome innovation to the world of traditional oven-like ones. I was curious about what a Swiss festival would look like, and [wasn't disappointed](https://www.greenfieldfestival.ch/en/guide): - 20CHF to park a car, 8CHF per shower, 10CHF deposit per trash bag, VIP/GOLD/EIGER/MONCH/… tickets (no clue about what those meant: I took the regular ones), "camping claims" to reserve your camping square in advance, 2CHF for a locker, pay to get a [deployed cardboard tent](https://www.greenfieldfestival.ch/sites/greenfield.ch/files/documents/guide/factsheet_green_camping_kartent_gf20_eng.pdf), … welcome to Switzerland! - No bottles/cans allowed on the festival, albeit tetrapak up to one liter were allowed. I still have to find a beer brand coming in paper bricks… - "Crowd Surfing, Wall of Death, Circle Pit" were expressibly forbidden, but happened anyway. - Reusable cups and dishes, with a deposit, meaning that the trashcans were surprisingly empty. - People with a green "Hunter and Gatherer" t-shirt, collecting litter, to whom you could *donate* your cups and dishes, effectively giving 2CHF per item to the Greenfield Festival Foundation. Those volunteers were given a 3 days pass for free in exchange of 3 hours of collect per day. - A **lot** of food shops, which I didn't make use of, relying almost solely on an amazing [vegan kebab](https://www.outlawzfood.ch/) one, since it provided the best ratio tastiness/price/quantity. - Everyone speaking perfect English (contrasting with the weirdly translated website), and often French as well, making it hard to brag with my German skills, since they recognised my accent. - Strict bold "no-drugs policy" that was of course completely unenforced. - Clean and non-smelly toilets, albeit one could, for 2CHF per person and time, use privates "clean toilets in a quiet atmosphere". No idea what this meant, I used the regular ones. - A quiet/counselling/… area, by [Metal Church](https://www.metalchurch.ch/ansprechbar) by the local protestant cult, as well as a chapel ("The tent chapel is decorated with a beer can cross on the outside."), - A traditional Medieval Swiss Market - "The age restriction to attend the festival is 16 years. Adolescents under 16 are only given entrance to the festival if the legal representatives approved so. You have to bring a signed participation approval with you to the festival’s entrance.", along with a strong recommendation about not bringing kids under 8 years old. So this wasn't really a family festival, which was weird, because the Hellfest has pogo/wall of death/… yet is family-friendly. - One of the main sponsors was a cigarette manufacturer: ads in a couple of places, an entire lounge, people selling cigarettes on-site, … meaning that there were a lot of smokers/smoke. - Took place in a valley, surrounded by beautiful mountains all around. - Everyone came by train, in a couple of hours ride. Annoyingly, the festival was riddled with minor technical hiccups, both on-stage (sound issues, weird soundchecks, …) but also for attendees: I had a 2 days ticket (Thursday and Friday) but wasn't allowed to plant my tent on Wednesday, so I had to buy a Saturday ticket at the entrance to do so. Speaking of camping, a "quiet area" would have been nice: we were sleeping between two large groups of people who took turn blasting music all day (and night) long. All in all, it was a nice ~small festival (one main stage, and a super-tiny one), *affordable*, with a decent lineup, and without any major hindrances/issues. Would recommend if you'd like to attend a smaller/bubble-wrapped version of the Hellfest.