So I was working on the bars at the big chill as part of my tour of different festivals on the bars, I had a unique experience compared to most of the other staff as I was transferred to different bars all the time when others got busier so I got to see what different bars were like (if Id slacked off more I probably wouldve only been on the one but hey I was happy to be moved around made the days go quicker)
In my opinion main stage was the worst as most of the day there were bands nobody knew who they were playing and by the time the headliners got on they cranked the music so loud that all you could here was the thumping bass and could not here the tune or singing behind it, and we werent exactly far from the stage being directly opposite it too. Amstel bar was good with party tunes all day long and a relatively busy environment. Castle bar opposite castle stage was mellow and chilled with very unusual chilled versions of songs on mellow instroments if that makes any sense, was fun to play guess the song with the other bar staff there until I got moved back to main bar.
For me the last day was the best bar in club 10(possibly meant to be club tent and I misheard it) the open air stage with comedy in the morning, then some really good dance music, the end of the night sucked a bit with dub step, so repetitive and boring I tell you. But a nice and chilled bar and we had far too many staff so could have a bit of fun and relax on the last day.
The worst part was when you werent working you have to sit in the workers campsite and do nothing all day, we were all commenting on how its like a prison campsite, there is absolutely nothing to do and if you start at 6:30pm you bake in the sun with about 10 of you left on the campsite waiting to start a shift and you cant even sleep as its so hot.
I guess it is really more of a festival to be enjoyed walking around and chilling out as opposed to actually going there and frantically rushing the stages to see bands, hence being called the big chill, and really the place was huge covering quite a lot of land, so it would be more of an event to enjoy with your mates and meet new people. I would like to see it from a visitors perspective, I can see where the appeal would be and as a chilled out event for gathering people together to have fun I see the appeal, but as an event for the music there were a few issues with the levels for the actual enjoyment. Maybe next year they will sort out the sound levels and things will be better. I can tell you now, the music was louder at the big chill main stage than any of the other festivals I worked at and that includes bloodstock the heavy metal festival.