The Pyramid Stage...

[FunkyDenz]

I spend more time at the Pyramid Stage than any other stage. I do go and see lots of acts on different stages, but I invariably drawn back to the Pyramid Stage. It's either for acts I really want to see, or those who I know will put on a good show. It does get very crowded though, and going to the toilet mid-set can be a mission and a half.

[strummer77]

Part of the problem I have with any main stages is that all too often you get the people who are there for one or two of the hits and will talk through the rest of it - although I didn't go and see them it seems that Gorillaz had this problem last year - good set but as it wasn't hit heavy people weren't interested.

Edited January 9, 2011 by strummer77

[frodoisdead]

One thing that irritates me about the Pyramid is people taking chairs.

Now I don't so much mind when they're at the back of the stage and out of the way but when they're in and around the standing section of the crowd then it can really grind my gears.

I mainly don't go because the music's not my thing but those pesky chairs...

[Porcelina]

Oh god that reminds me, there was a massive group of people who'd obviously been sat there all day on the Saturday last year and they were infront of the sound booth, during Muse, who probably got the biggest crowd of the weekend.

I'm all for letting people do their own thing and the like but there's an unspoken code on those matters.

[angelofharlem]

I love the Pyramid stage. I find there is always a good atmosphere there and you always get a good view when sitting on standing on the hill. I like sitting on the hill at night with the flares all around and a view of the site lit up, and the stage itself looks really impressive at night. However, I don't like the Other stage at all..I find it lacking in atmosphere and as the ground in front is flat I can never see anything!

[ivan]

Pyramid stage is one of the best views, atmospheres etc at any festival. The other stage on the other hand. Hate watching bands here. The bleed of noice from the Glade and Dance village, the slope down from the stage on the left, the awful sound quality, the lack of screens, (until late year)..Pyramid though, great place...

[robith]

I can't believe people are putting it down to "snobbery." Dismissing people's opinions as snobbery without listening to them, strikes me as being rather snobbish in itself.

The first year I went to Glastonbury in 2004 I stuck mostly to the pyramid stage and I loved it, so if I hear people who go and just stick round that area I can understand their reasons and don't belittle them for doing so, everybody's Glastonbury experience should be their own.

But now I personally find that there is too much to explore in the world of glastonbury, and that the pyramid stage is too far out of the way and just way too crowded to be enjoyable. That's not to say that I have not had some good times, if the weather is nice during the day it can be pretty cool before it gets to claustrophobic. Watching Crowded House in 2008 springs to mind as one of my favourite Pyramid memories.

But personally when it comes to headliners time I'd rather be somewhere less rammed.

[ivan]

People also seem to think the less bands you watch the cooler you are and the 'better' you're doing the festival. Which ties into the pyramid-hating thing

[robith]

Pyramid stage is one of the best views, atmospheres etc at any festival. The other stage on the other hand. Hate watching bands here. The bleed of noice from the Glade and Dance village, the slope down from the stage on the left, the awful sound quality, the lack of screens, (until late year)..Pyramid though, great place...

[THEBOILERMAN]

I think i`m missing somthing here..... i struggle to remember what bands i`ve seen never mind what stage there were on.

maybe it`s an age thing....!!!

[fuzzylogic]

I think the point people are making is not that people don't liek stuff on the Pyramid, but they way some people wear a "I Hate The Pyramid" as some kind of inverted badge of honour

[robith]

But yet in this thread not one person who doesn't like the Pyramid has said this, each one has given their own individual reasons. The only people saying this is the pyramid supporters.

It comes across as very disrespectful, it's like if I started saying that the Pyramid supporters are all flag waving, chair sitting, cup pissing lager louts.

[amfy]

But yet in this thread not one person who doesn't like the Pyramid has said this, each one has given their own individual reasons. The only people saying this is the pyramid supporters.

It comes across as very disrespectful, it's like if I started saying that the Pyramid supporters are all flag waving, chair sitting, cup pissing lager louts.

[eFestivals]

Because everyone who has posted in this thread is incredibly reasonable and given their thoughts on the merits of the line up.

Having posted here a while, surely you must have noticed that people trot those kind of lines about the pyramid out quite a lot?

yeah, but if you rarely go to the Pyramid and tend to go there only because there's nothing on another stage that takes your fancy to a greater extent (which is certainly how I end up seeing bands on the Pyramid), then if a band you fancy pops up for another stage then it's the case that that person HAS got "another reason to avoid the Pyramid".

I don't see such comments as snobbery, they're nothing more than a statement of (personal) fact. I reckon that such statements only get considered to be snobbery if the person making the consideration has personal musical tastes which are aligned to what the Pyramid offers - but then it's actually their own snobbery that is driving that opinion, a snobbery based in the idea that others should be liking what they do (which is of course rather stupid of them ).

[MEGABOWL]

But yet in this thread not one person who doesn't like the Pyramid has said this, each one has given their own individual reasons. The only people saying this is the pyramid supporters.

It comes across as very disrespectful, it's like if I started saying that the Pyramid supporters are all flag waving, chair sitting, cup pissing lager louts.

[Milbert]

The Pyramid is a decent place to catch a few novelty acts during the day and there really is nothing quite like a Pyramid headliner, other than that it's a bit hit and miss.

It's far better than the Other Stage, what seems to sap the life out of even the best of bands. Bar headliners.

[BlackHole2006]

Yeah, agreed.

The Other stage is awful. My heart always sinks a bit when someone I like has to play on it because I'd rather miss them than endure the awful acoustics and piss-poor view.

[sifi]

Any stage that has given me

Roger Waters

Faithless (02 set)

Macca

Isaac Hayes

Slash

Ray Davies

Stevie Wonder

Snoop Dogg

REM

White Stripes (02 set)

in the last decade gets my vote.

[Milbert]

Arrive early and get a space at the front= Problem Solved.

[BlackHole2006]

Heheh, yeah, right

The only thing of note I've ever seen in the Other Stage field was two crusties f**king. Just going at it hammer and tongs, broad daylight, in full view of everyone. It was like an eclipse, you know not to look directly at it, but you can't help yourself

[usm]

When I go to Glastonbury I tend to seek out the other side of the festival and avoid the pyramid, other stage, avalon, dance tent, park, jazz stage, arcadia, pilton farm, glastonbury and somerset!!

That to me is the true festival experience, unspolit, untouched, uncommercial........I would never dream of actually seeing bands, DJ's, performances, artists and the like...that would be silly

[4AssedMonkey]

For me it's just that I don't like large venues generally. Big arenas, larger fest stages, they just seem to bland things down. It takes a really special performance to generate a good atmosphere in a larger space and many pretty decent acts just don't seem to be able to pull it off.

Plus, at the Pyramid field, you have to avoid all those who set up base camp and tut at you for standing anywhere that partially compromises the view from their folding chair.

Oh, and the f**king flags.

The worse bars and food stalls seem to be adjacent too...

...actually it's f**king w*nk round there. Don't go.

[Spindles]

Sound at Editors was spot on last year , you should catch Papillon on youtube its fab , just as sun

was going down !

[strummer77]

Oh yeah lets ban chairs at the Pyramid. There were the most I've ever seen for Stevie Wonder this year and some woman, looked like she was there for the day: picnic etc shouted at me for walking past and accidentally knocking an unoccupied chair over (for which I had already apologised). It shouldn't f**king be there!

(I'm local so don't think I'm slagging off day trippers, locals deserve the chance)

Edited January 15, 2011 by strummer77

[captain futility]

i rarely visit the pyramid stage for the same reason i don't attend arena concerts - size.

when i go and and see a band i like to be able to see them, not watch it on the telly.

for those bemoaning the problems at the other stage, i've never noticed them. it's easy to get close to the front, just a question of timing/approach.

and while i may occasionally label the all-day pyramid crowd as lazy and unimaginative, i'm so glad that there's 30,000 of them leaving the rest of the festival for me.

Edited January 16, 2011 by synkafncrew