Rouken Glen Park Glasgow reviews by real event-goers

Review of Playground Festival

We were at the festival on Saturday and generally really enjoyed it. Excellent venue, easy to get in, food offering great (maybe add fish & chips next time?!!), bars were fine to begin with but queues ridiculous later on. A token system as at other events I have attended would help to alleviate this as bar staff wouldn't need to handle cash. Also more beer/lager on tap. Loos were fine although separate male and female would be nice for us girls! Also some signage for the men's urinal area as lots of men didn't know it was there. Hand sanitiser good idea rather than hand washing. There also needs to be a bit of consistency re what is allowed in - chairs were on the list of prohibited items so we didn't bring them but saw lots of people with chairs. For a more mature audience chairs are essential!!!

Apart from Lauren Hill, all the acts were great, on time and engaged with the audience. Craig Charles my favourite - need more of him!! Lauren Hill v disappointing - although I know she has form for being late, to keep us waiting for an hour last night was unacceptable. I felt sorry for her "official" dj who clearly knew she would be very late and was trying her best to fill in - although presumably this is a regular occurrence. I hope LH will not be paid her full appearance fee.

All in all, a really good experience and would attend in future.

Review of Playground Festival

Very large queues at the bar, otherwise a good day out

Review of Playground Festival

Great venue, bit too pricey though. Very disappointed in main act Lauren hill being an hour and a half late. Would still go back though next year

Review of Playground Festival

Is it really a "festival" when nearly every act is a D.J.? Main headline act didnt even bither to turn up on time. Thumbs down to you Loryn Hill.

Review of Playground Festival

This Friday night festival was brilliant.
Sadly they underestimated the bar interest and the 45 minute queues were the only downside.
I will look out for it again.

Review of Playground Festival

There was a lot right with this. The location is excellent and fit for purpose, there was a good selection of food and nice area for eating, good seating provided with a DJ. Good stuff for kids too.
However the organisation of the bars was poor, since they were cash bars this seemed to contribute to long delays. By 7pm I had 45 mins wait at a bar, missing a lot of the set I wanted to see. Should probably use token system like other festivals, with main bar only providing lager, cider, wine, spirits, with plenty already poured and ready to hand out. Then have couple of craft beer bars, speciality gin etc.
Toilets were actually ok, lack of toilet paper a problem but if you remember to bring tissues it's fine.
Lighting was poor once dark, toilets dark, leaving the venue extremely dark with no staff guiding where to go, thankfully we knew the area and park but if I hadn't could easily be disorientated.
Lineup was decent, Craig Charles set was highlight, De La Soul disappointing, Lauryn Hill very late on, but none of that is organisers fault.
Overall it was a great venue and there's a market for it, good atmosphere and DJs were good, keep as a funk/soul type festival, obvious teething problems being first year. We would definitely come back, hoping issues highlighted were fixed.

Review of Playground Festival

Ok first off, few teething problems I would say. There was a serious problem on the Friday. The bar service was shockingly bad but to be fair, us Scottish people are used to festival organisers massively underestimating how much we drink. At least double the staff was needed to make those queues bearable. Was a little more organised on the Saturday so fair play for trying to deal with that.

And in all fairness nobody can blame the organisers for Lauryn Hill being an absolute diva of the worst calibre imaginable. To actually use her son’s birthday as an excuse for being an hour late to stage and playing only a half hour set is pathetically unprofessional and shameful. The fans were right to boo her in their droves.

All that being said, I would still definitely recommend this festival to anyone and everyone. The atmosphere was absolutely electric. Everyone was having a blast and the lineup was outstanding. Groove Armada were tremendous on the Friday, in fact, all the bands were great and the crowd gave them the raucous reception that Scottish fans are renowned for. Looking forward to Hot Chip and a great line up on the final night.

I really hope we see this festival again next year and for many years to come. Organisers did an unbelievable job securing that line up for a new festival and the setting was beautiful. Glasgow needs something that isn’t Trnsmt.

Review of Playground Festival

Already asking for a full refund for me and my partner for the saturday. Never ever attended such a joke festival in my life. So unorganised it was funny

Review of Playground Festival

Fab venue, AMAZING food, good family area and great music. Shame about Lauren Hill but otherwise amazing day with friends and wee ones. Would defo again next year if it comes back.

Review of Playground Festival

To have paid £55.00 x 6 tickets to see Lauren hill for 20 mins was completely unacceptable...the queues were a minimum 50 mins for food and the same for drinks was appalling...I feel we should be refunded!
We live on the doorstep of the site and should have stayed in my garden! We wanted to support this but would never attend again!

Review of Playground Festival

Absolute joke, terrible, complete ripoff.
Lauryn Hill was a disgrace

Review of Playground Festival

We turned up on the Friday thinking we had bought fri/sat tickets but actually had accidentally bought sat/sun tickets. Went up to the box office to explain our situation and ask if we could change our sun tickets to Friday but the woman was rude and passive aggressive and didn’t help us out even though neither Friday or Sunday were sold out. So we paid a lot of money for one night in a very average festival with about 40 min wait at the bar at points. Definitely not returning next year

Review of Playground Festival

The music was good apart from
Lauryn Hill
Poor time keeping
Short set
Poor value for money
Pretty disgraceful for the head lining act
Compensation?

Review of Playground Festival

Extremely long queues at the bar, and when we eventually got served we found out the bar had run out of most drinks! Headline act was an hour and a half late and only played six songs! very disappointing.

Review of Playground Festival

Lauryn Hill was a joke. I want my money back.

Review of Playground Festival

Whilst the line up was good, bar Lauryn Hill who doesnt deserve an audience whatsoever, they've had so many problems with this event which is a shame. Queues were huge for any drinks or food, no provisions put in at all for the rain coming on and terrible handling of Lauryn. The fact that no one from the event has responded to any comments is disgraceful.

Review of Playground Festival

It was a shambles from start to finish!

Bar staff took forever to give you a drink (and this was at 3pm). It got slower and more shambolic as the day continued.
Food venues ran out of supplies before 5pm (can no one nip to the Spar??)
The event organisers were not prepared for the rain which turned the place into a mud bath. (Hello, it's Scotland!)
There was a severe lack of signage from the train station to the festival entrance as well as inside the event itself.
Oh and don't forget the lack of supervision at the toilets meaning long queues and no toilet roll or hand wash in the cubicles - a health & safety breach I'm sure.

I don't even want to discuss Lauryn Hill's disrespectful 30 minute set (which was billed as an hour and a half) where she mumbled some excuse about her child's birthday. I don't care Lauryn! Everyone has birthdays! I've paid lot of money and I'm expecting a show from you!

Then, the final insult was after the event organisers switched off the sound and made us leave, the park was unlit and we were scrambling around in the dark and mud trying to find our way to the park entrance.

The only good thing about the event was that ScotRail had put extra trains on to take us back into Glasgow city centre!

Review of Playground Festival

Lauryn Hill's antics not the fault of organisers but shocking queues for drinks were, especially after becoming aware of this from the previous evening! Then having waited fifty minutes in the queue, no wine!!! At 8 o'clock....really!! Umbrella confiscated only to see loads of people with them inside the venue! No lights on exit routes!!! It's like you's took the money and ran!!

Review of Playground Festival

All in all a lovely festival, well organised and the Saturday line up was just great
The only disappointment was Lauryn Hill, she came on so late we had to leave to get back in to the city to get connections... very disappointing for a headline act! Who we could t wait to see

Review of Playground Festival

In terms of the whole set up, it was a well run event with a nice relaxed atmosphere. Thought the drink prices were slightly excessive, £10 for 2 small cans of beer/cider that had been pre poured into plastic containers and as they’ve been sitting for a short while, were inevitably flat.
The relaxed atmosphere lasted until 10:40 when Lauren Hill decided to show herself(she was meant to be on at 9:30ish). She was booed before she came on and I understand, booed when she came off. No wonder!! The main reason we went was to see her and I’m sure the majority of everyone else. I wanted to surprise my partner with seeing her as she’d never saw her before and loved her music. We waited 1 hour and 10 before she decided to grace us with her presence, disgraceful. Even more so as there was lots of young kids waiting to see her, who were just getting more upset and tired by the minute. We left before she even got the chance to belt out a song, heard her halfway through the park. I’m afraid 20 minutes of the main act isn’t enough for me to justify the tickets price’s and as a result I’m going to claim a refund.