By Jase Walker and Monk
With one of the biggest events on the ÜK’s metal calendar looming large this weekend, it has to be admitted that one of the most talked about issues over the past couple of weeks, especially with regards to notable festivals across western Europe, is the absolutely insane heatwave which has affected them over the course of June (and now into July). For myself personally this greatly affected both Graspop and Jera On Air, the latter in a much more significant manner due to the insane levels to which the heat rose.
So how did these festivals deal with this issue? Over the same weekend as Jera On Air, a large electronic music festival in the Netherlands, Defqon 1, was fully cancelled after attempting to reduce the numbers previously and then throwing in the towel entirely. Amongst all the memes and internet shit talking about “metalheads just do it better”, there is something that definitely needs focus on and that’s how some festival organizers seem a bit better prepared for than others.
So I’ll lightly touch a bit on Graspop first as this was the first round of days for me where the forecast shifted from “it’ll be warm” to “Dante’s inferno but in Belgium”. It’s no secret that people should generally pay some attention to the weather forecast prior to open air festivals because doing a bit of prep work can often make or break someone’s festival experience.
I’ve been doing big outdoor camping festivals for over 20 years now so I’ve learned some lessons in pretty harsh ways. I’ve made the mistake of taking too much stuff, not taking wellies, leaving my tent a bit too open and trusting the weather, not taking surplus clothes or toilet roll… you get the idea. I’m not some sort of “festival guru” by any means so you won’t catch me writing exhaustive lists of do’s and don’ts, because my own comforts are probably going to be a bit different to everyone else’s but what I do strictly follow is travelling light but prepared.
Anyway, Graspop made some decent and effective changes while the festival was running which is no small feat and was more than likely logistically quite difficult for a festival of this size. Extra water taps were added around the festival and members of staff were propped up at a few spots with pressure washers set to misting to give people some cold water relief. I have to applaud them for even making just this change considering how big the site is and probably did quite a lot to make things a bit more bearable.
What they did mess up on was the roof tarp for the Marquee and Metal Dome this year was black. As a result both of those stages were literal ovens to the point where I opted to stand outside in the sun because while it was 34c outside, it was over 40c inside those tents so the shade offered no salvation at all.
As for the festival that did do a lot right and at incredibly short notice and likely high cost was Jera On Air.
So what did they do exactly?
Well, prior to the festival they posted this on their socials:
So, I’ll just detail what my own personal experience with this was.
The ‘large fans’ they’re referring to were absolutely fucking bonkers. They were probably propped up a little bit high for my liking generally but the power of these fans was like being stood in front of a jet engine. I probably ended up standing in front of these fans for the majority of any set I watched the entire weekend, the relief was incredible. This also ended up with some rather hilarious moments with unfortunate people with either large eyelashes or longer hair getting blown around a bunch, not great for them but was enough for a consistent bit of chuckling for me all weekend.
The stretch tent next to the supermarket was a solid idea and was almost constantly packed outside of the peak of the day when most people were in the arena seeing bands. I do wish that a couple more spots were added with these stretch tents in the arena itself but there was a pretty ample provision of them anyway so nothing major.
The cold showers were amazing to use to get rid of the heat sweats and the like but I do feel like there should have been at least one bank of showers that had heated water because ice cold showers when it was still somewhat cool in the morning was quite a shock to the system. Not super pleasant in the morning, absolutely incredible in the late afternoon though.
BlaBla Spa was a lifeline for many people and were always stocked up on sun cream and aftersun and were often seen helping people make sure they were covered up, big shout out to them for their services.
What the news post doesn’t really mention is the amount of staff that were going around with sponges and buckets of water and dunking them on people’s heads at their request. This was constant across each of the stages and I took them up on it more than a few times and they were happy to oblige. Bottles of cold water were being handed out for those brave enough to be on the front barrier at Eagle and Vulture too.
Around the toilets there were also large crates of water left outside so people could dunk their hats/cooling towels/t-shirts/heads into them for some brief relief but this did end up looking a bit awful very quickly due to the sheer amount of dirt and dust being kicked up off the floor.
The paramedics on site were super proactive with checking in on people who were laying out on the floor and I got checked a couple of times as well when I was exhausted and laying out in front of one of the sets of fans.
These were all great provisions by Jera On Air but I think one part that needs specific focus is the overall attendees of the festival itself. People were down to make the most of the festival and some mosh pits ended up just being water pistol fights, the staff even joining in to douse people with buckets of water in the middle of it too. People were actively checking in on each other, anyone who was laid out was asked if they were okay and people joined in to help carry those that weren’t to either paramedics, staff, or the medical tent itself.
And finally, while not necessarily heat related, the final night was wrapped up by one of the biggest sudden storms I’ve seen in years with a week’s worth of rain falling in the space of an hour, gale force winds and a staggering amount of lightning. The festival grounds were immediately evacuated and told to go to their cars for shelter during the storm until the conditions blew over. I wasn’t there to experience it for myself fortunately but the friends I had that remained there gave me the updates as we drove home.
The bottom line is: Everyone, staff and guests both, were all invested in making sure that this festival continued and was enjoyable.
Jera On Air already won a very special place in my heart back in 2024, but this year, despite the trials of unbelievably weather conditions, cemented Jera On Air as the best festival experience I’ve had.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Following on from Jason’s original article, and with weather warnings again in place for the ÜK for this coming weekend, the organizers of Saturday’s Iron Maiden 50th anniversary Eddfest celebration at Knebworth have issued updated advisory information for fans. This includes the following note:
- With the current heatwave building in the UK, please remember to bring sun cream, a sun hat, and a reusable water bottle. In addition you’ll be permitted to bring in sealed, full 2-litre bottles of water. We’d encourage you to take advantage of this and bring one with you. There are water points around the site that you can use to refill the bottles. These are signposted so please drink plenty of water to stay hydrated!!
We have been monitoring the responses of other events and festivals to the current and predicted weather conditions. While some seem to be taking the (probably) expected “whatever” approach to the situation, others have taken sensible precautions, including some of those outlined in Jase’s report.
Our advice, from rock fans to rock fans, is simple… Put the sunscreen inside your wellies, wrap your hat in your raincoat, and be prepared… but, above all – enjoy yourselves.