By all accounts it was pretty pants for most people.

Efestivals summing up was:

"This weekend's Zoo Thousand and Eight which took place in the grounds of Port Lympne Wildlife Park in Kent over the weekend of Friday 4th to Sunday 6th July has left many attendees disappointed, and been branded by many a 'shambles'.

The festival suffered act cancellations, health and safety problems and organisational chaos that has left many fans disgruntled. The Zoo Thousand facebook, (here), has some vitriolic comments from festival goers.

It would seem that the festival's organiser Matt Dice was taken off the site by Police on Saturday, and the Port Lympne Wildlife Park took over the event on Saturday afternoon.

The festival billed in some quarters of the press as 'the festival of the summer' started two hours later than scheduled on the opening day and one of the main stage headliners, Dizzee Rascal, failed to perform, so Lethal Bizzle, due to perform in the Tap'n'Tin tent, went on in his place.

The problems continued on the Saturday, when the Tap'n'Tin tent, the second biggest stage at the festival was closed in heavy winds for health and safety reasons. The closure meant that much of the acts due to perform there were moved to other stages and rescheduled. However many of the band's fans say they missed their sets.

One of the day's main attractions, Chas'n'Dave, were moved into the VIP area which was inaccessible to most ticket holders. Festival goers have also complained about a lack of facilities in the campsites, with hardly any toilets and no taps, while the toilets in the main arena have been described as "full to overflowing".

Sunday's headline act Athlete failed to play, and the other main attraction for the weekend Pendulum also failed to show. Local news service Kent online, (here), have highlighted further details of the problems, saying the event goers have called the festival a "shambles" and are demanding refunds. The website says:


The three-day gala featured Mark Ronson, and was due to star Dizzee Rascal. But the rap star failed to appear, and there were other mishaps which marred the first festival of its kind at Port Lympne.

Gareth McCarthy from Kent said: "It was an absolute shambles from start to finish. We had to queue for over four hours on the Friday just to get into the camp site.

"On the second day the second biggest stage was closed due to some problem or other and there was no details of where the acts would be playing, so we missed the artists we had actually come to see.

"The third day we had to queue for over two hours to get into the arena as there was another health and safety issue!!! Dizzee Rascal didn't turn up, Pendulum didn't turn up.

"The food was extortionate. It cost £11 for a burger and chips."

Nathan Davis, of Chatham, said: "It was dreadful, complete waste of money. I want my money back. I have a complaint as long as my arm."

Rachel Collings, of Canterbury, said: "There was bad organisation, lack of security, acts not playing, nothing special for the VIP campers (it was standard camping but with a fence round it), the stewards were not informed properly of where to direct people."

Meanwhile, Jodie Doubleday of Sittingbourne said it was the worst festival ever.

He added: "As a seasoned festival goer (14 and counting) I expected a little something and got nothing. Three hours queues to get in, the second stage closed for two days, acts moved to stages we can't get to - and Sunday was a shambles. Next year call it zoo thousand and HATE!"

Others complained of dirty toilets, and there was a general cry for a refund.

No-one has been available to comment on behalf of the organisers.

The BBC are reporting (here) that a spokeswoman for the park has said: "As with all music festivals, there were some hiccups. This being the first Zoo8 at the park, there were bound to be some problems but they were all resolved quickly and efficiently, mainly by our own staff who stepped in to sort things out.

"According to St John Ambulance, Health and Safety, the licensing office, environmental health and the police, they were all happy."

Sounds almost as good SugarLive last year :-)

Is that the Matt Dice as in MC / DJ Dice of Breakology nights, Think they were linked to Devious

On another note werent Devious (maybe not under that name) the guys behing the Seduction raves at he Lido in the early 90's ??

Devious had a finger in the Z008 pie

the same dice 4 sure

Devious where the promoters behind it think Devious / Breakology are the same organisation if im right Danny Devious was the guy behind the pontins dance weekenders ??

The Devious logo was all over the Z008 flyers and posters so I think it's safe to say it was probably to do with him. All said and done it looks like it was proper pants

Bring back electric Gardens

it was a disappointment that the tents closed early but i still had a pukka time as was my 1st festival!!
spent most of it in the groove monkey tent which was blinding!!:)
and yes the toilets were absolutely revolting.they came 2 clean them in the morning but only 1:(

apparantly there was alot of bad behaviour and chaos on the friday at the dnb tents which is a shame aye!!

Pendulum were in the Pyroradio/Breakology tent im sure after friction i think and i only went on the saturday with a load of mates mainly just for that stage and it ran smootly in there and was probably the most liveliest stage goin on that day and was ram as hell a lot of the time, great atmosphere.
The blokes urinals were overflowin everywher so most ppl jus went against the fence have heard bout artists not gettin paid so didnt play or turn up or got there and had no where to play etc and theres more on the zoo website www.zoothousand.com under forums, think cos ther were so many problems it all adds up a lot of things that werent big deals r bein mentioned cos added to the total amount of problems but all in all from my view just goin for the dnb i had a blindin day never too long a wait at the bar drank enuf of my own b4 goin in n goin 2 me mates tent n dat now n agen food was quite expensive but it festival prices not ur local chippy so u no they guna mug u a bit they gota cover there costs n make a bit aswel but if u ad sense ud get ur burger frm 1 place n 2 stands down cud get chips for cheaper n a lot more so half de ppl moanin sayin bout prices n shit shud no bout de old fashioned shoppin around wel i wudnt call it dat look 2 de stand 2 dwn frm wher ur stood c a better price b portion sold blatantly init lol and if it was de same dice him n spinout along with pyro cetainly ran their stage alright atleast it was heavy!
and reason iv come in the margate forum seenn mc funs websites theres an UNCZ live p.a booked 24th dis month in margate any1 no wher n wot de event is so can c de line up etc b quality a small nite of that b4 sanc fest den v get in lol

Allegedly Mark Ronson got paid in £ Coins, and he was the only artist to get paid pmsl

Me Steph , Biff and Tina, Hank, Craig and few others went and it was poorly organised, the toilets were shocking! BUT we did rock it in the dance tent with groove monkey all day and night Saturday and most of the afternoon Sunday in the electro tent! We had lots of fun and laughs for Simon's birthday it is the people you go with though that can make a great weekend! Think is the organisers run out of money so doubt theres any money for refunds unless they have some form of insurance!

Shame i missed out sounds like all you guys had such a great time

I second that !!!!

im with u on that 1 was a pukka tent:)


glad u had a gd 1 biff

and thanx again guys 4 an early b-day pressie much appreciated!!

your right there lou, groove monkey was best tent, even our kids loved it

At least one tent worked then lol

your kids did love it bless them lol!!

lol sure did 4 me hehe:)

This is my opinion for what its worth, If you didn't enjoys yourself there, dont slag it of on DSI/Facebook, write/phone the the organizers and talk to them. Local events need supporting, not hammering into the ground never to be seen again.
If you did enjoy yourself, then you must have been in our tent LOL, cause it fookin rocked all night ;-)
Groove Monkey/FNUK & Charlie's Church pulled of an absolute blinder, and is because they are all just like you an me, down to earth, decent people who just want to have a good time. I myself had the most awesome night of my life, I was privileged to play alongside these guys and would do i again next year if we could.
Big thanks to all those who came with me, Tina, Dan, Steph, Abbey, Lucy, Hank, Jamie ect ect who all helped me to celebrate in the style only us lot know how, VERY MESSY lol. Love all you guys to bits x
Anyone for Creamfields????????

Oh, an people keep mentioning toiles, I was there all weekend an I dont remember seeing any!!!! I did however see some blue boxes like Tardis's that were more full of shit than politician, an thats sayin somethin

I think the hue and cry is not about who played, and I am glad that all those that did manage to play pleased the crowd, it's about the poor organisation by the people at the top that wreck it for everybody else.

The poor management has been plastered all over the news and papers, which unfortunately will possibly fuck it up for next year, and this corner of blighty really needs good events to go to.

Glad you had a good time though mate.. Roll on Ibiza