Review #14: Sol Fest 2024

SOL FEST REVIEW

*long sigh*

Where the fuck do I begin? This is going to be extensive. Buckle up. 

Honestly let’s start with the positives, because I’m telling you right now, I’m about to rip this festival to shreds. 

Okay so positives, 

The art. Really well done. Was giving mini Hula vibes. There was live painting, a gallery, art installations, they had a small area you could roam around and also had an art maze like at Hula. All the artists there were so nice and just the sweetest things. They had a robot as a little stage next to the afters stage and people could throw down up in it. They had another stage in the campgrounds that was cute. Frick Frack was there too. 

The flow artists were unbelievable!!! So much talent and such a beautiful addition to the fest! I love where they were located for the stages. 

My group. Just the most beautiful souls existing together. I’ve never seen anything like it. We were 40 people and everyone was just such a nice vibe. Bonding and creating positive vibes. We had a BLAST. this was my favorite festival as far as the group went. 

The vibes of the festival are amazing. The people there are such good people. We met friends and everyone was happy and pretty respectful. I didn’t notice a lot of rude people. The vibe is right, everyone there is having a great time no matter the circumstances. The energy is why I came back from last year. I couldn’t believe how good it felt. 

That’s pretty much all the positives I have to say. There will be some here and there from here on out but, I’m fucking massively disappointed in this festival. 

Let’s get into it. 

Organizers were not prepared for this event WHATSOEVER.

So I didn’t get there Wednesday but some of our group did. We got group camping which insured that we had a spot for us. So it rains. They delay the early arrival entry. Most people didn’t get in for HOURS. Missed the whole pre party. Are there refunds being issued? Half of the campgrounds get destroyed, mud everywhere. It opens at 6 pm. By the time Wednesday is done, the campgrounds are already pretty full. 

So back to group camping. My friends get there, the box office has NO idea what group camping is. 

A ticket. On your website. And your box office…has no clue what it is????????

This is the first red flag. I’m a very logical person and this to me literally makes no fucking sense. 

So after having to show a picture of my ID they give my friends a fucking GA car camping pass. WHY DO YOU NOT HAVE A GROUP CAMPING PASS???? They made me make a list of everyone in our group and made me type everyone’s emails. Who had this list???

not to mention, the way they went about group camping was SOOOOO bad. You buy a ticket and it gives you 10 car passes. We had 20 cars so I had to buy two. $3000 dollars for two passes, 20 cars, it came out to $85 a person for our group. No organization. I was in an email battle with them because they refunded some of our group for our original car camping passes, and then said no they aren’t doing refunds for the rest. I’m like what?????? Like what the fuck are you actually saying to me right now. It worked out bc if we didn’t do group camping we would have been F U C K E D. 

But so anyway, 5 of our people are there Wednesday night of 40. They asked them for a group number, we were never given one. They told my first 2 friends we were 7 and 8. They told my next 3 friends we were group 2. You get to group camping and it was a shit show. No signs with the lot numbers. No one knowing where to go. The space we got was big, and it was close which saved us especially with the walking in the heat. People were trying to take the spot, and our friend had to keep kicking people out. No staff members for group camping. It was a free for all shit show. And it’s FUCKING WEDNESDAY MY DUDE. 

So here comes Thursday. My other 6 friends get there around 10 am. They get in line. They turn them away saying they aren’t letting people in till 1 pm now bc they “don’t know where to put people”. Um what? 

So they get out of line and some how got back in line and then they let them in. LOL I couldn’t explain it to you if I tried what the fuck these people are doing lol. 

So they get in, thank god they find group camping everything is going well for us. 

Now we arrive around 4. That’s when we got to will call. Got in line around 4:14 ish. A S H I T SHOW. LIKE A TOP TIER SHIT SHOW. 

They had 4 lines at a fucking STAND STILL. Separated our group we were with the rest of our group which was like 25 of us. Had all our cars in the same row except for 3 of us. I had to get out of the fucking car go up to this guy and be like why are we separated? He’s like it’s all going to the same place I was like yeah no. I said we didn’t pay over $3000 for people to get left behind. It’s getting late and we need to set up. He ended up letting 2 of my friends pull behind our line and one of our cars got stuck in the other line. 

So now they have 6 lines at a stand still all merging into one fucking lane to get into this festival. PLEASE MAKE IT MAKE SENSE. 

VIP AND GROUP CAMPING DIDNT HAVE THEIR OWN ENTRANCE. 

you literally read that right. That is the most RIDICULOUS thing I’ve ever seen in my life. I can’t believe it. All the group camping I’ve done has been so organized (Roo and Forest). We paid a lot, we should have had our own entrance. And no VIP entrance is a JOKE. 

So it takes us 2 fucking hours to get into this festival. I had to get out of the car and direct my group where to park when we got to group camping. I’ve never seen anything like it. Mind you it’s getting late and it’s day one and now we are missing sets. Finally we set up by the time we do that it’s 8 pm. We did however set up the most epic campsite I’ve ever seen. Check out my vlog to see!!! 

So we are now pumped. I’m like okay the vibes are here let’s forget this shit. Let’s have a good time. We get to see Clozee tonight we’re back. So we get in there. We go left all the way to the rail but off to the side and you can’t hear ANYTHING. For Clozee. So I’m like what? Like this is main stage. On the first night. Whatever so we have a good time, maybe the sound ordinance is bad on Thursdays. So we go to Jantsen after at the Mind Stage and that stage was the only stage with good sound. We were on the left again a little up and it was fire. So I’m like okay there is hope. 

We have a fire ass night with each other vibing and hanging. 

Friday we get to the springs for a workshop, couldn’t find it. I’m like alright. So it’s super chill, the water is beautiful, it’s cold, there’s a chill amount of people. Then when the music started there was an insane amount of people. Too many in my opinion. It didn’t have that intimate feeling from last year. It wasn’t aesthetically pleasing. Last year everyone one fit the water park. You weren’t crowded, it was nice. This year it was crowded as fuck. People were saying it was 10,000 but to me it felt like a little more. But so anyway the water got so dirty, and the sound at that stage didn’t fill the whole area and kept cutting out. The vibes again were there for sure, everyone’s just having the best time. Closer to the slide and the visual screen was like a mini beach party. Everyone splashing and vibing out. The stage wasn’t near the water. There was like a separate area for it and then the had speakers and visuals by the water which was cool. 

Now I’m going to break down by category. 

Production was ass. The visuals screens were okay for main stage. The lasers were good on main stage. The sound on the waterpark stage and main stage sucked. They actually turned it down for the headliners LOLOLOLOLOLOL. the after hours stage was the best stage. The tent awning, the sound, the vibe. Everything was good over there. Main stage they had two tent things for shade on the two sides and for me they just obstructed the view. You already couldn’t hear it and now you can’t see it either. It was really hard to get a good spot for Main stage (Sol stage). I should not be able to hear a full on conversation with my friends over the music when i am literally in the FRONT OF THE STAGE. LIKE I CAN SEE THE FUCKING RAIL LOL. Also on the side it had the bathrooms with this obnoxious ass light on the literal left side of the stage. It was so bad. HOW DO YOU LISTEN TO BASS MUSIC WITH NO BASS? I need someone to do the math for me and be so fucking forreal right now. 

Also the sound on the Body stage would cut out all weekend. The bass would cut out, the highs and mids would cut out. It was ridiculous.

Security was ridiculous. The security team was super nice and laxed but had not a clue about anything. They were letting people just walk in. Not taking the metal detector seriously by the last two days. It was like bittersweet bc I felt safe but at the same time I didn’t feel safe at all.

The cops however were a whole different animal. So I heard that they didn’t form a relationship with the police before the event, the cops didn’t even know the event was going on till two weeks before…..red flag. So they were pretty upset to begin with. You could tell the town and the police did not want us there. You really could feel it. Undercovers everywhere. Dogs. Cops roaming around, through camps, through the crowds. And I’m talking big ass cops like 4 of them squaded tf up. So I read all the arrests on their Facebook page. Some of the people they arrested were really causing problems and should have for sure been arrested. Like there was a drunk fuck with no ticket trying to get in, he was causing a scene cops come over, he gets searched and has a fucking gun on him. Like what the fuck???? 

But the other half getting arrested, they were like targeting them. People getting busted for weed? Like what? Literally searching for people to arrest. Literally stopping to make sure if you had a drink in your hand that you had a 21 up wristband on. It was crazy. 

A guy was bugging tf out, bit the fuck out of the cops head like literally took a chunk out of his head. 

It felt like there was this bubble of energy and then an outside force energy just surrounding us. It was a really weird feeling and the word Vortex really was fitting. No one knew what the fuck was going on or happening. 

Medics was disappointing. They apparently were extremely understaffed they said. They weren’t equipped to deal with it at all. No ambulances on site. They took the medic sign down at one point. There was a FIRE in the campgrounds that burned 3 cars to nothing. It took firefighters more than 35+ minutes to get there. Like what the fuck. It’s was 10 minutes away I heard. Just super disappointed in this. They tried their best with what they had. 

The water was DISGUSTING. I kept buying water. Someone said they were using water from the springs as drinking water. EW. someone when I was filling up the bucket to shower said they noticed dirt in the water and to filter it. I was just using to shower but wow. It was actually nasty. Tasted bad and everything. The water they were selling was really good. It had electrolytes and was alkaline. It was $5 a water but it was also in a can and was worth it to me. I’m picky about my water. We had alkaline water back at camp and I just walked that in all weekend. 

Bathrooms. Were. HORRIBLE. I don’t think I ever went in a fucking restroom with toilet paper once unless it was the start of the day. How fucking embarrassing. I always bring wipes with me but this is fucking unacceptable. They were just nasty. There was one by main stage with a bright ass light and then the others one I don’t even know where they were. Wasn’t impressed. 

Showers were 12 fucking dollars lol. The water was cutting out. I only took one shower at the showers and I got lucky. I just used a bucket with water and a portable shower head. I’m not risking paying for dribbles. I heard they were running out of water. You couldn’t pay with your wristband there (I didn’t put my card on my wristband anyway but just an observation). Some of them were dirty as fuck but I like the single showers instead of the ones with the multiple stalls in one lol. I like cold showers and it was hot but you could control the temp. I’m not sure if it did get hot or not. Took 35 minutes to shower. They had ONE SHOWER LOL for ALL of GA. I mean there is no brains at this festival. 

The food was expensive but it was actually pretty good. They had ramen which I’ve never had at a festival and it was so good. So soothing and really comforting. The food wasn’t near the stages which was a little annoying to me bc you had to leave the area to get it. But I liked that it was altogether and in a row. They had way more options than last year too. 

The bartenders were inconsistent. One chick was told she had to ID me every time even tho I have a 21 and up wristband on. Another chick charged me a vodka redbull up charge. I said I didn’t get redbull I got soda water and she’s like it’s still a mixer. I’m like????? Soda water is not the same as redbull. And NO OTHER BARTENDER DID THIS TO ME. I was drinking all weekend like what. Another girl said if u don’t have the 21 and up wristband and they see u with a drink and you can’t prove ur 21 they will arrest you lol. 

VIP: woah. I didn’t get VIP but if I did I would get a fucking refund. First of all their area at main stage was stupid. You could see but again no sound. They had NO one checking VIP wristbands to get into VIP or their showers. GA people were inside. I read on Reddit someone was robbing inside of there. They didn’t have their own line to get in. Embarrassing. Just like what the fuck? VIP showers were shutting down due to no water.

They had the Debussy inside VIP. that was so annoying. Idk why that wasn’t for everyone to enjoy. Everyone was super annoyed by that. 

The venue was super nice but the town it was in was a bunch of fucking assholes. Everyone was so nasty and didn’t want us there. You could feel the town and the cops just not want us there. It sucks because it was a beautiful venue. Maybe less people would also have been nicer too. 

Now the organizers. y’all should be so fucking embarrassed and ashamed of yourselves for real. They established no relationship with the town or the cops. They had 0 organization. It was a complete shit show. In all my 8 fucking years of raving I have never seen a more piss poor festival in my life. And I’ve been to fucking first year fests, fucking life in color Miami, none camping, camping, I mean this was just so bad. It is not that hard to be fucking organized. IF YOU DONT HAVE THE STAFF OR THE MONEY OR THE EXPERIENCE OR THE ORGANIZATION OR THE RISK MANAGEMENT OR THE PLAN TO THROW A FUCKING FESTIVAL THEN DONT. Last year I was in LOVE with this festival. The burn they did to remember Sol, the energy for his memory, it’s just so disgusting to know that now this festival is done. There’s no fucking way they would throw this again there and if they did they would be fucking stupid to. It’s so sad to think that for someone’s memorial this is now how it went. I’m just disappointed beyond belief. They should have researched. They made our community look like shit because they stuck us in a cage with people that didn’t want us there and were out to make us look like shit. It’s just embarrassing. Making an example out of us. Making us have even more attention on us now. It’s just absolutely irresponsible and not at all what the fuck should have happened. Out here in the articles saying it’s good intentions, bro what? You guys didn’t take the necessary steps to insure safety, security, and a good vibe for us. Do your fucking research. They 100000% bit off more than they could chew. They weren’t ready for the upgrade. They should have thrown it small a couple more years. I’m massively disappointed. I really don’t know what else to say. 

All in all, I am massively, disappointed in the way that this festival turned out. I was so impressed last year, I loved the intimate vibe and I loved the message. This year was so different and I really don’t think I will return. Especially with Okee returning next year. The people you go with really create the energy. I had the best time and it was probably my favorite group festival I’ve done. Thank you for reading! My next festival is Forbidden Kingdom! Till next time!