I'm a boring anti-social fucktard, I so really only care about the music, and the price I have to pay to experience it. The whole weekend cost me $320, and with 18 good bands, it had one of the highest benefit/cost ratios of any festival I've attended. Only beaten by that year I rode my bike to the Milwaukee Metalfest, and camped there, so that was like $70 for at least 50 bands. Hmm, ok, and another one that was probably pretty close too was that day at ProgPower Europe where I saw Green Carnation, Orphaned Land and Disillusion because my company had paid for me to be there.
Anyway:
The music: Yeah.
The bands: Isn't this pretty much "the music"?
The crowd: I guess it was nice to have a generally enthusiastic and non-annoying crowd.
The venue: A nicer place would have been nicer, but would have raised the cost.
The drinking: I was recovering from an illness so the only drinking I did was at that nice brewpub on Saturday.
Hanging with the bands: Didn't hang with any, and don't much care.
Price of drinks at the venue: See above
2 days better than 1: Yeah. Part of the "cost" factor; amortizing travel expenses over two days helps.
ticket prices: Part of the "cost" factor, but when travelling, only a minor part, so not that important.
merch CD tables: I don't buy CDs anymore, so I never even looked at them.
that wall of shirts: I rarely buy shirts. But it brought me back to the days of Nightfall Records in Chicago.
The hotel: Mine was awesome, but it wasn't "the" hotel.
The hotel parties: n/a
Dominos at 2am: n/a
The promoters: yeah, inasmuch as they're part of "the music".
The free shuttle bus: n/a. My hotel was an 8-minute walk from the venue.
Neil