80s Rewind Festival Reviews
Latest Reviews
★★★★☆
“Fantastic Rewind 2011”
Written on: 02/09/2011
Our first time at a festival, and it deinately won't be our last had a fabulous time, the bands were great especially Human League, Billy Ocean, Go West, Bananarama and Buck Fizz. The camp site was great the security was really good only complaint were the toilets on Monday morning were disgusting but until then they had been emptied regulary but we did leave very early so no sure if that was the reason. The atmosphere was brilliant everyone was so friendly. The drinks were very expensive... (read more)
★★★★☆
“The AWFUL Car Parking ...and lack of Car Parking Staff !!!”
Written on: 24/08/2011 by w4pfe
This Ruined the whole Festival for me and im sure it did for many others !! It took 2 Hours and 30 mins to get out of the Car park it was an Utter shabbles and not for the first time this has happened either . On entry to the Festival there were Car Park attendants every where. Then at the end of the festival there were 2 to clear a carpark of a thousand or so Cars it quiclky turned into complete chaos. No clear defined entry or exit and cars trying to join from all angles. The Poor... (read more)
Guest's Response to w4pfe's Review
Written on: 16/09/2011
Sorry to disagree, but we had the easiest exit from a festival ever. We left around 11am after a leisurley Breakfast. drove the car closer to the camping field so easier to load. And left without any queues.
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★★★★☆
“REWIND FESTIVAL HENLEY 2011”
Written on: 22/08/2011
the festival was very good but prices there were very poor could be greatly improved. Billy Ocean was fantastic and all of the acts were pretty good. It seemed like alot of thea cts were filler though the organisers should get alot more of the more iconic and succesful bands of the 80s such as aha, duran duran and blondie to play. but it was a great weekend and the atmosphere was excelent i found this review on facebook looks really good if youre thinkin of goin next... (read more)
★★★★☆
“great again, hope it happens again 2011. Tried...”
Written on: 06/09/2010
great again, hope it happens again 2011. Tried glamping, not a lot better than normal camping. When will organisers learn that more showers and toilets are required. Food and drink too expensive so we walked to Henley to get a good breakfast every morning which lasted most of the day.
Lets have a big name on Friday night to start things off with a bang.
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★★★★★
“Returned for 2010 after cracking Rewind festival in...”
Written on: 05/09/2010
Returned for 2010 after cracking Rewind festival in 2009. Didn't think the line up was as strong but I was proved wrong as all the bands, except Curiosity Killed the Cat who stank, were excellent. Thought Level 42 were excellent & although I'm no great fan of Jimmy Somerville he was really good & got the whole crowd going & sounded great. Rick Astley was superb & had great interaction with the crowd who loved him. He can still really belt them out as well. Line up worked well & progressed a... (read more)
★★★★☆
“It was an amazing weekend, took our kids for their...”
Written on: 30/08/2010
It was an amazing weekend, took our kids for their first festival experience and they loved it too. No one has mentioned Chesney so I will, we loved him! Also though amazing acts from Heaven 17, Jimmy Somerville, Rick Astley and kid creole. The kids favorite was Bjorn again because they actually knew the music! Very disappointed with Curiosity Killed the Cats as used to be a big fan, dreadful!
I do have a couple of complaints about the camping I am afraid! Trying to find the family...
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★★★★☆
“As everyone says the bands and atmosphere at the event...”
Written on: 27/08/2010
As everyone says the bands and atmosphere at the event were excellent and we had great fun. However considering that the website plugs this festival as being up market with better than average facilities I think this is rather misleading. Toilets, showers and camping were horrendous and worse than you would find at any other. Bars were also rubbish - very little choice of drinks, huge ques on Saturday, no draught beer - it was like a local village hall bar! I work in the catering industry... (read more)
Festivalpaul's Comment
Written on: 29/08/2010
I would disagree that the facilities were " ... worse than you would find at any other (festival) ..." to be honest. I think the toilet issue certainly could qualify for this statement, but the showers? I had a shower every day, no problem. I think there will never be enough showers, if the entire campsite wants to shower between 9 and 11am, for example (as seemed to be the case). And as for camping? I had so much space around my tent, you could have driven a bus through it! Not bad for being 50mt from the showers!
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<br/>I think the beer (Real Ale especially) was a joke. There is a brewery in Henley itself, where when asking the brewer why he wasn't at Rewind, was told that "they never replied to him about it", when he approached them.
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<br/>Running out of wine on the Friday, and having none on the Saturday evening though was a crime almost beyond redemption in my opinion!
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<br/>So, I would have to agree with some of your points, and disagree on others.
<br/>No doubt I will be there next year though!
<br/>
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Zacabi's Comment
Written on: 07/09/2010
I didn't camp so I cannot comment on that.
<br/>
<br/>As far as the bars are concerned, I agree that it was a shocking miscalculation to have run out of wine so early on. It was also very cheeky to be selling such low budget quality wine at such high prices, but then I guess if they sold out then there's your justification! The selection of drinks was poor. If your round included a soft drink then you had to make a separate visit to the ice cream van as well as the bar! There was one bar selling real ale. It was over by the comedy/karaoke stage. In its defence, it had proper Wychwood Hobgoblin ale out of proper pumps and was better value for money, being a full pint for your £4 instead of a small bottle of lager or wine. On the other hand, the queue was always so long you had to *really* want an ale badly, in which case you were probably better off walking to a pub in town! In my view, if you have queues that long for anything, then you haven't provided enough of whatever it is!
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<br/>In defence of the bars, the staff were very friendly, helpful and relaxed, and the queues did move through quite quickly (except the real ale bar!) and they were better than the Reading Festival bars, where the staff didn't seem to know the difference between red and ros wine!
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<br/>I was so put off by the price of drinks and the lack of supplies on the Saturday that I didn't drink at all on the Sunday.
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★★★★☆
“We went for the second time to this kind of festival....”
Written on: 27/08/2010
We went for the second time to this kind of festival. First time we went to Retrofest in Glasgow. It was again Fantastic!! The Atmosphere was very good, the food was reasonable good. We loved every second of it. Best acts for us were Jimmy Sommerville and most of all Boy George. George has got so much Soul!! We loved both days, allthough the last act on sunday of Tony Hadley with ABC en Go West was a bit Messy.
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★★★★★
“The BBC was incorrect in forecasting light-heavy...”
Written on: 26/08/2010 by ukgemmab (1 review written)
The BBC was incorrect in forecasting light-heavy showers over the weekend as the sun shone in Henley for the second year running at Rewind. Bigger and better than last year's inaugural festival, the 2010 line-up didn't disappoint.
Aside from a couple of technical/ sound issues and some early acts overrunning (perhaps thanks to Kajagoogoo's six song set), Saturday's line-up was probably the best out of the two days. Jimmy Somerville looked and sounded as good as he did twenty-odd years ago...
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Zacabi's Response to ukgemmab's Review
Written on: 07/09/2010
An excellent review. Just reading it reminds me what a good time we had! I think Sunday was just as good, though, if not better than Saturday. The Beat, 10cc and Odyssey were brilliant. Kid Creole, Marc Almond, Midge Ure... just one surprisingly satisfying performance after another!
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★★★★☆
“I had high hopes for the 80s Rewind festival, based on...”
Written on: 25/08/2010 by zacabi (1 review written)
I had high hopes for the 80s Rewind festival, based on the artists I knew and liked, and those hopes were surpassed.
I was most looking forward to seeing Heaven 17 and Level 42 and they were excellent. I didn't really know what to expect from The Beat, Odyssey or 10cc and these bands were amazing, getting Sunday afternoon off to a stunning start. Special mention should also go to Midge Ure, Marc Almond, Jimmy Somerville, Carol Decker (T'Pau), Clare Grogan (Altered Images), Bjorn Again,...
(read more)
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Showing 1 - 10 of 32 Reviews
★★☆☆☆
“Rewind Festival 2010. The music was great, however the...”
Written on: 25/08/2010
Rewind Festival 2010. The music was great, however the camping facilities were appalling. There were the minimum number of toilets and showers, resulting in huge queues. The toilets were also very badly positioned with open urinals rights by peoples tents and the main walkway. Tents were packed together far too tightly and you had to hike your stuff quite a long way from your car. There were trolleys to hire, but these had a amazingly disappeared when the time came to pack up - maybe because... (read more)
Zacabi's Comment
Written on: 25/08/2010
Thanks for the review. I didn't camp (the bands were camp enough!) and thanks to your review I will make sure I don't camp next time either!
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<br/>However, a few responses to points you raised. Surely the urinals were put in place before people pitched their tents, so were people choosing to pitch their tents next to open urinals? Similar point with the tight packing - were people not at liberty to leave some space between their tents? Also, did the rest of the festival not deserve a higher rating overall? You said the music was great; did the camping spoil it completely?
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Festivalpaul's Comment
Written on: 04/09/2010
You could have parked a bus between my tent and the others near by. I think it was a case of looking further afield than just by the entrance, to be honest.
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★★★★★
“This is our second year at the 80s Rewind, we came...”
Written on: 25/08/2010
This is our second year at the 80s Rewind, we came both days last year but this year the artists we wanted to see were on Sunday so we just came that day. All the artists were excellent and very entertaining - special mentions for 10cc, The Beat, Bjorn Again. Tony Hadley did a great job of closing and it was a credit to him that so many people stayed on despite torrential rain. We were sat next to a mad Scot dressed as Mr Blobby, who was a big attraction for lots of folk! Food & wine were... (read more)
Zacabi's Comment
Written on: 26/08/2010
Hi, nice review. I agree that 10cc, The Beat and Bjorn Again deserve special mention.
<br/>
<br/>I didn't go to Rewind last year so didn't quite know what to expect. I went to both days and thought they were almost equally good, with possibly the Sunday getting a slight edge, even though my two favourite bands (Heaven 17 and Level 42) played on Saturday!
<br/>
<br/>Did you really think the drink was reasonably priced? I felt £4 for all alcoholic drinks (small portion of wine, small bottle of lager etc) was very over-priced and made it very expensive to get even half drunk! The food was fairly reasonable, though.
<br/>
<br/>Like you, I'll certainly want to go again next year.
<br/>zac
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★★★★☆
“First time to the the Rewind Festival in 2010 with my...”
Written on: 23/08/2010
First time to the the Rewind Festival in 2010 with my wife and our Scottish friends, fantastic event despite the downpour & ponchos on Saturday night and Curiosity Strangled The Cat! The four of us reliving our teens with the highlights being Jimmy Summerville, Marc Almond, Midge Ure, 10cc, Tony Hadley, Heaven 17, Kid Creole, Odysey and the comedian, Rick Astley ! A few too many Henley ettes.....who took a dim view on how much Pimms we were consuming and our dance moves, particularly to... (read more)
★★★★☆
“Attended the Rewind Festival for the second year and...”
Written on: 23/08/2010
Attended the Rewind Festival for the second year and once again had a great time. Usual problems with shortage of toilets and showers in the camping area. Bar prices were naturally higher but not ridiculous (unfortunatley they ran out of wine on Saturday) Great choice of quality food at reasonable prices. Site was in a great setting, well organised and laid out with a lovely atmosphere. A good line-up but slightly lacking in female artists. Little disapointed that some of the artists decided... (read more)
★★★★☆
“We had an excellent time...the whole audience was so...”
Written on: 23/08/2010
We had an excellent time...the whole audience was so up for a laugh it made for a great atmopshere...some great acts who have not lost that sparkle...Jimmy Somerville, Rick Astley ( bonkers ), Tony Hadley, 10cc, Marc Almond...superprisingly good act Heaven 17....Curiousity killed the cat was the only bum note.
Great selection of food stores at usual Festival prices...beer was a bit steep and no where near enough toilets
The traffic management was an utter shambles on leaving...they...
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★★★☆☆
“Rewind Festival - Had a great time, sadly let down by...”
Written on: 23/08/2010
Rewind Festival - Had a great time, sadly let down by two important things - toilets & wine! The number of toilets was very low, especially in the campsite. If I were a cynic, I would suspect that the "pay-per-trip" toilets (comfy crappers) had a deal going. Second issue - how can you run out of white wine late on Friday, and not have any on Saturday? Combined with a strictly enforced "no fluids into the arena" policy, resulted in nothing to drink (unless you'd stumped up the extra for... (read more)
★★★★★
“I took my sister who was born in 1983 as a suprise!!! ...”
Written on: 23/08/2010 by Tracey Cross (1 review written)
I took my sister who was born in 1983 as a suprise!!! She had never camped before!! We had a fab time, will definately go again next year. Next time we will pay for the VIP ticket on top of our camping weekend... got a bit wet last night but hey ho!! it's part of camping isnt it? The food was great, drink was a bit expensive, but we were prepared for that. A bit of advice.... go for the comfy crappers wrist band for the weekend, the public toilets were awful... everything else was as... (read more)
★★★★☆
“Excellent definitely say sunday better than saturday...”
Written on: 23/08/2010
Excellent definitely say sunday better than saturday but Jimmy Somerville and Rick Astly fantastic (Rick should have closed sat night!). Curiosity killed the cat...well what was he on!
Sunday fantastic 10cc gave me goose bumps and even in the rain Tony was absolutely amazin!!!!!!!...second year Ive been would definitely go again!!!!!
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★★★☆☆
“Fantastic weekend, bands on Sunday much better than...”
Written on: 23/08/2010
Fantastic weekend, bands on Sunday much better than Saturday, group in question Curiosity strangled the cat. Why was he let perform? Jimmy Somerville was outstanding please play in the UK sometime soon. Fantastic trip down memory lane. Definitely will go next year (read more)
★★★★★
“80's Rewind Festival was an absolutely fantastic...”
Written on: 05/09/2009
80's Rewind Festival was an absolutely fantastic weekend...first time camping and to a festival definitely want to go again so pleasseeeeeee one for next year!!!
Ok queued for showers and coffee first thing but it was all part of the fun!!
Bands bought back loads of memories and hey weve all aged but it was amazin and totally goose bump time singing along to I will survive with the lady herself....truly awesome....
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Showing 11 - 20 of 32 Reviews
★☆☆☆☆
“80's Rewind Festival was a great festival all round ”
Written on: 01/09/2009
80's Rewind Festival was a great festival all round
Music great even if the tone/sound was lousy. Stalls unable to complete transactions due to interference. Was the two connected to the electrics ?
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★★★★★
“I got to throw my beloved pants at Rick and they...”
Written on: 28/08/2009
I got to throw my beloved pants at Rick and they brushed his right shoulder oh what a dream come true, the whole 80's Rewind Festival weekend was totally fab and sad to see Paul Young not at his best.
I found all the campers over the weekend to be great sports and i hope to see them next year put me down for another ticket, and the setting was fantastic (the weather was on our side, a bit like my pants on Rick)
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★★★★★
“80's Rewind what a weekend. Campground was excellent,...”
Written on: 27/08/2009 by Lizzydrip63 (1 review written)
80's Rewind what a weekend. Campground was excellent, yes it needed more loos and more showers but is that not part of the fun. This was my first ever and I hope it returns next year. Fantastic location great walk into Henley the first day than a walk along the Thames the second.
99% of the Acts were fantastic my only disappointment was Paul Young. Heaven 17, Nick Kershaw, Howard Jones and ABC absolutely great Ricky Astley had a personality which was a surprise but the one that stood...
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★★★★☆
“As this was the first time I had camped at a Festival,...”
Written on: 26/08/2009
As this was the first time I had camped at a Festival, I was a little disappointed with the number of showers/portaloos per head at 80's rewind festival. We couldn't get full access of facilities to eat/drink until 12pm so most people who hadn't catered for this had to go to Henley.
This said, the location of the event was perfect and everyone was so friendly.
All the acts,bar Paul Young, performed outstandingly and with such energy, it was a privilege to be there.
The headliners were an odd...
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★★★★☆
“Well 6 of us from the North travelled and camped at...”
Written on: 26/08/2009
Well 6 of us from the North travelled and camped at the
80's Rewind Festival. We loved it. It is always easy to criticise , toilets and showers. Otherwise the camp sight and venue was very well manned with lots of security and we felt safe to pitch and leave our tents.
The bands, well!! a few let themselves down (needed a little more practice) on the first evening. Otherwise there was some brilliant comebacks. China Crisis the real thing, Toyah and Heaven 17 blew my mind the first day.....
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★★★★☆
“Great line-up and atmosphere. Need to sort out...”
Written on: 25/08/2009
Great line-up and atmosphere. Need to sort out catering for campers. The main catering wasbehind locked doors until mid-day. Although they advertsied breakfast at these concessions you couldn't get to them. An hour to queue for a coffess is too long at the only two concessions on the camping site. Otherwise was great once you got onto the site. Great crowd and location. Well done. (read more)
★★★★★
“I was only able to attend the 2nd day of this two day...”
Written on: 25/08/2009
I was only able to attend the 2nd day of this two day festival so I can't comment on the camping or the acts on the Saturday. However, after enjoying a fantastic day on Sunday I will without a doubt be buying weekend tickets next year. This was the first ever festival of it's kind - a veritable 80's feast of electro, disco, and good old cheese. The Saturday was sold out, an indication of the renewed popularity of the acts performing that day (Rick Astley, Kim Wilde, Bananarama, Belinda... (read more)
★★★★★
“Great time, great bands, fantastic atmosphere, would...”
Written on: 25/08/2009
Great time, great bands, fantastic atmosphere, would definitely go to 80's Rewind Festival next year. Location was wonderful especially as weather so good. (read more)
★★★★☆
“The 80's Rewind Festival weekend was excellent, there...”
Written on: 24/08/2009
The 80's Rewind Festival weekend was excellent, there was plenty to see and do for everyone and the bands were quality, some better than others, the highlights were Sister Sledge, Billy Ocean, The Real Thing and Rick Astley who gave great performances, the disappointment was Paul Young, he seemed drunk!
There was lots to eat and drink although prices were damn expensive, make sure you have lots of money...
The camp site needed more toilets, showers and coffee vans, as you had to queue...
(read more)
★★★★★
“80's Rewind Festival what a fab couple of days we had....”
Written on: 24/08/2009 by Vivienne Ward (1 review written)
80's Rewind Festival what a fab couple of days we had. All of the artists sounded great. We didn't camp so can't rate the camping facilites but if the rest is anything to go by I imagine they were good. Absolutely lovely setting on the Thames at Henley with plenty of food and drink choices. All of the bands were good so difficult to select a few for headline bands. The ones that stood out for me were Toyah, China Crisis, The Real Thing, Billy Ocean, Rick Astley, Go West, ABC, Paul Young,... (read more)
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Showing 21 - 30 of 32 Reviews
★★★★★
“ 80's Rewind Festival was a great weekend - best acts...”
Written on: 24/08/2009 by pabriscoe (1 review written)
80's Rewind Festival was a great weekend - best acts were Kid Creole and the Coconuts, Belinda Carlisle, Rick Astley, Nik Kershaw, Sister Sledge and The Christians. Disappointed by Paul Young, Howard Jones and Kim Wilde (headlined first day but didn't impress the crowds). Most acts didn't take themselves too seriously and looked pleased to be back in front of their now middle-aged (and mostly overweight) fans. Fantastic summer venue and food and drink sufficient for all tastes. (read more)
★★★★☆
“80's Rewind Restival was my first festival and it was...”
Written on: 24/08/2009
80's Rewind Restival was my first festival and it was a great experience. Weather was excellent and the overall size of the event made it easy to get around the site and see all of the acts. The organisation was good and although prices were typically high, the quality of the food outlets was first class. I can't think of anything that didn't work for us - we had a real blast (read more)
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Guest's Response to w4pfe's Review
Written on: 02/09/2011
Agreed. Gig was fantastic. Car park was horrendous.
We got lots of grief from the jumped-up stewards because we had the foresight on Sunday morning to move our car out of the rapidly deteriorating corn-field car park for camping ticket holders, into the relatively mud-free daytime parking.
In the end we decided to miss the final act to avoid the hideous exit queues, especially with a 4 hour drive back to Teesside.