HRH Prog (North Wales)

 

We went to the March one in 2017 (Pendragon, IQ, Gong, Enid, Karnataka, Hawkwind) and enjoyed it, I didn't do the November one (not a lot of bands I knew), and it seems to recur each November now. I'm going next month.

 

We've been going to the HRH events for a couple of years now. There's the HRH one, the HRH AOR one there too. AOR is springtime and main HRH November. I believe the prog one used to tie into one of the those scifi conventions with all the cosplay, but runs by itself now. HRH tends to be your normal rock with occasional prog (supposed to be generic but few prog bands in there), and AOR is much more old and new hair metal bands.

 

Anyway, if you buy accommodation via HRH you either get a caravan or a chalet (that might be related to how often you've booked), and the main camp is open in general to others, but quite empty given its March or November. The main venues are across from each other and wristbanded, pints are overpriced at £4.50ish, there's a Burger King, Fish and chip shop and a pizza place inside the venues and a pub down the road inside the camp. You can also cook in your chalet.

 

Bands are on Thursday night from about 7pm and either free via accommodation, or a ticket. The main ticket covers Friday and Saturday, and can be bought per day. They start about 1pm, and have special acoustic sessions elsewhere accessible with VIP tickets.

 

Prog hasn't really sold out the same as the other HRHs, and if you go on their website you can often get the ticket competition. We use that regularly, and you win in effect tickets with just the booking fee to pay. Now what we do is we book the accommodation via them, which removes the booking fee, and rent for 6 (fill with friends for prog and other people we find for others), at effectively £95 per person. Some people can do this cheaper, but I feel guilty enough only paying £95 for 3 nights of accommodation plus bands, and want the festival to continue. You get the Thursday night if you book the accommodation.

 

VIP is about £30 more for the weekend, and gets you sitting down access areas in each venue, your own bar (kind of pointless, main bar always well served, and special bar is limited), vip ticket queue and access to acoustic and late night special events.

 

I've enjoyed the one I went to, the second lineup was really nothing I'd heard of. But once I'd went I'd seen a lot of new bands and got a lot of new stuff to buy. A prog CD stall in one of the arenas which was selling them for about a tenner is something I'd be looking forward to next time I go. I'll be balancing out with 30 odd cds next time...