Glasto = Too Commercial?

[paulhayhurst]

It has got more commercial but if you look at al its had to do to keeo mendip council happy eg Policing, super fence etc etc, it has had to make more money to survive, and there are still plaenty of areas you can go that aren't the least bit commercial.

I challenge anyone to go to V festival and then say Glasto is commercial and actually mean it. V is the most commercial heap of sh1te immagineable.

Glasto in my opinion has the balance as good as it can be to survive. My only complaint would be that they don't force the bbc to show acts on the smaller stages

[whatmidlifecrisis?]

Newbie I’m afraid and first Glasto in 2008. My ramble is elsewhere on the board (“one word that describes Glastonbury”) about how I ended up going at the age of 41. I had heard the ‘Glasto has sold out’ stuff before I went as was expecting the worst. Even contemplating ways to smuggle in drink/food and frankly expecting 6 days of “Now sponsored by Carling on the Pyramid Stage….” or “SeaSick Steve was brought to you by The Top Man Fashion Group”.

One of the reasons for returning this year (and I hope every year from now on) was the fact that this ‘in-yer-face’ money grabbing is not in evidence at all. It helps make Glastonbury a real escape from the World for a few days.

Yes the food is a little toppy and the beer is London prices but at least it appears that it is price fixed across the board and there is an obvious lack of big names. (Orange was the only real brand name that I felt departed a little from this.).

Ticket cost is steep but when you think of what you get for your money it is incredible value. On gigs alone it works out at around a tenner if you see only 16 bands which is a bargain (you’d pay a tenner nowadays to see some no-mark band in your local pub). I would also challenge anyone to find a better 5 day holiday for the money. I do feel sorry for those that find it hard to get the cash together especially when you consider the original audience of the festival being hippy/student. For me it is the Glasto crowd that make it special and the thought of pricing a large proportion of these out worries me. Perhaps this is an argument for more sponsorship in-order to keep the price down but the balance is difficult to manage and I reckon ME gets it just about right.

On the commercial bands front it is a well known fact that people do not play the festival for money – they are the reportedly lowest payers apart from any purely charity events. Perhaps they are on big labels but that is the nature of the business and not (IMO) a reflection on Glastonbury.

As I say I can only comment as a newbie and do not want to offend people that feel that have seen a real departure form the ethos of the festival but in today’s world I felt it was a breath of fresh air and hope that they keep it just about how it is.

Roll on June.

[Mardy]

To commercial now. Too backwards looking? I'm beginning to think so. I can understand why, they're big names yadda yadda yadda and loads of people like them, but well, I know there's not much been announced so I'll till I call it, but it seems to be a it too legends of the 70s/80s/90s.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, with that mindset, in 1970, they'd have booked Duke Ellington to headline instead of Marc Bolan.