Glastonbury - the new V Festival?

[robith]

Also re: Caroline Lucas, I really respect what she's achieved, but the last party political broadcast she did was SO negative (basically all the major parties are shit, which surely isn't what the green party is about), and her style was totally out of place for where she was put in. She was basically just ranted, repeating the same things over and over, felt really unrehearsed. Also she kept saying trident was "immoral and illegal" - immoral certainly, but I fail to see how it's illegal. By the end (and I'm a politically aware person with environmental interests who works for a development NGO) I was really annoyed with her.

Also I love how "Booed a Green MP WAITING FOR A HIP HOP ACT!" OH THE HUMANITY! A HIP HOP ACT!

Yes, in fact a seminal hip hop act who defined the genre. Who, like a lot of great acts I saw on the Pyramid, actually got a tepid reaction from a pretty uninspired crowd

[ibilly99]

It was interesting listening to Andrew Kerr (organiser of the first free festival in 1971) talk on Wednesday afternoon. Essentially what he was saying was the bit in bold

[thetime]

People moan about glast being another v andvcomplain about the health and safety...beggars belief.

I can't imagine the mud being as bad as 1997/1998.

[robith]

Also I find it weird that people are pointing to a pop act headlining as it becoming like V.

I can't tell you how irrationally annoyed I got on Saturday night when a digital screen informed me the queue for the SE venues was 2 hours like I was in a f**king car park in a shopping centre.

[fantomas]

jish, what chemical bros song was it where they used the clown children and man (as per your avatar?) they were great at hurricane in germany, so sure they were at glastonbury too.

more on topic, I couldn't get a glastonbury ticket this this year but sure it's not suddenly turned into V over one weekend.

[katgem]

There was some very scary surges. Were standing near the front for Morrissey and the crushing near the front for U2 was unreal. The litter and discarded gazebos and equipment was disgusting this morning. Never seen it this bad before.

[Dark Star]

Also I find it weird that people are pointing to a pop act headlining as it becoming like V.

I can't tell you how irrationally annoyed I got on Saturday night when a digital screen informed me the queue for the SE venues was 2 hours like I was in a f**king car park in a shopping centre.

[jish]

Fanthomas, the one on my avatar was from Do It Again/Get Yourself High but the one I think you're talking about is Clown Cherub Harmonies.

Incidentally,I've visted the festival 10 times now and the mud was as bad as 97. 98 was more watery mud and was a breeze in comparison to the Friday and Saturday, particularly getting around all sides of the Other Stage

Edited June 27, 2011 by jish

[Phil-itfc]

I've been to V several time and I tend to disagree I was with 2 Glasto virgins this year both who have been to V and several other mainstream festivals and said how great it was. This could be down to the fact we kept away from the main stages. They also commented on how the crowd was a lot nicer than the festivals they had been to. They also said there is a small amount of people there to say they have 'done Glasto' however V is 1000 times worse than this where even in 30 degree heat every girl seems to have wellies and hot shorts and even on Friday they have perfect make up and hair!

[MEGABOWL]

Having been to both recently no Glastonbury is not the new festival. Not even close. Main Stages at big festivals are always going to have an element of people there 'to be there' rather than for the music, that's always been true in the 15 years I've been doing festivals. However, the comparison starts and ends there.

[blue4life]

I'm going with the idea that it was the 2010 sun that brought in that element crowd hopefully the Sticky mud scared them away

[MEGABOWL]

Caroline Lucas was heckled and booed throughout - to be honest, the tone of the speech wasn't great but f**king hell...people shouting down green sentiment and politics at Glastonbury while building up for a Hip Hop act summed it up for me..

youre right about the BBC coverage; but it shows how it's now perceived that they've tailored the way they protray it to reflect new urban acts/V Festival crowd vibe..gossipy/trashy coverage..looked like Ch4 on a Sat morning.

Eavis wanted to make the festival super accessible but in doing so has diluted a lot of the points that made it magic

[VCK]

Those stages have always been close to V. I have seen Pulp and Primal Scream at V. It's nothing to do with the line up and everything to do with people going because they've seen it on the telly rather than because they have any interest in any of the political messages or charities the festivals support.

There can be no vetting procedure for Glastonbury, political awareness is not a pre-requisite for a ticket, - although someone once suggested an idea where instead of the current ticket lottery, registration for tickets was processed via performing a certain number of hours voluntary work for charity. It'd be brilliant for restoring the vibe of it being something worthwhile, raising awareness, and on the face of it, the charities would also benefit, but I have a horrible feeling that many "volunteers" might not be quite as much help as they might be.

[Ohinever]

Sadly it will take an unfortunate accident, and probably a fatality before numbers are properly restricted or CROWD MANAGEMENT is taken seriously. Some of the surges, as above, at the Mandela exit of the Pyramid stage were effin scary, and this comes from a thirty year veteran of football matches - yes before they got a conscience in dealing with their punters - and we all know what needed to happen there before things improved.

As mentioned above, exiting the Dance village toward the Other stage was incredibly dangerous Thursday. There is absolutely no excuse for a festival that makes millions of pounds not to police walkways, especially when the weather has been bad.

I would also start with banning chairs. Take a blanket if you need to sit down. They act as an obstruction to movement, and make areas seem much more crowded than the really are.

Something bad WILL happen at Glasto at some stage - change needs to happen now.

As per the o.p.: I only started going in 05, but haven't missed one since. I do feel that the festival has changed in that short period in many of the ways you describe in the longer term - and I am sure the new American styllee headline acts have had a lot to do with this....

[safehands]

This year I watched 3 acts. Last year i watched 5. Instead, i spend my time wandering round the greenfields, arcadia, the markets... went on a pub crawl this year...

Spent a lot of time chilling in the park.

I'm a 25 year old major label marketing department employee. I'm not a crusty, I'm not a veteran and I'm not someone that's seen every act on the big stages. However, If I wanted to go to a regular festival, I wouldn't be at Glastonbury. There's so much more to it than the main stages. If you stick to Other/Pyramid/Dance then don't come out of it all expecting to have had the time of your life. Live a little and explore. You'll find Glastonbury has so much more to offer than it blows every other festival out of the water.

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

The music's been pushed so far away from it's origins? Like feck has it. People seem to be expecting variety on the pyramid. You find variety elsewhere. On Friday morning, I watched a discussion on Global Solidarity, then watched an african tribal band, then watched a hotly tipped up and coming band. Can you do that at V? I don't think so.

People need to think about things before making misguided statements. Glasto has massive amounts more variety than any other major festival, and it will always be that way.

[Gary]

your pub crawl and conversationwith lord whatever his name was sound like you had a ball of a time my man. Yi cannie beat glasto for the madness. main stages are not the aim of the game. I'm organising a pub crawl for 2013

cheers for the idea Gary boy

[Pooog]

After 2007, people were complaining there were too many middle-class 30-somethings there "doing Glastonbury". Michael Eavis said afterwards that he was going to try to attract a younger crowd, which he's now done with bells on.

With that in mind, I read somewhere last week that Glastonbury was becoming "middle-aged"...

It all depends on who you are, which stage you're at and who you're watching.

But I didn't get my chair confiscated, I didn't see £6 cheesey chips on sale, I didn't have to wait 45 mins for a pissy turdis, and I didn't see piss being thrown: instead, I got to see BB King, the Wall of Death, a guy playing a fiddle while tightrope walking over a river, and the Underground Piano Bar.

V Festival it is NOT.

[EasyUserName]

... while the same heavies surround Wayne Rooney for protection and allow him and his crackhead bird to swan round the fest for a photoshoot..

...

[pompeygreg]

Having a chair with me yesterday was a real bonus in the heat and without it we might not have stayed and watched some of the things that we did. But then there were only two of us and we always tried to leave space for people to walk through. I tried to leave the Pyramid stage for a beer before Paul Simon and found myself in a cul-de-sac of chairs. The one empty chair got moved out of the way, with a response of "It's not good form to move someone's chair"! That twat got jeered nicely.

But then you can always leave the Pyramid and enjoy what else there is at this incredible place. Up by the Acoustic / Theatre space yesterday it was beautifully quiet at times. I am always truly grateful that we get the chance to go back.

[jish]

V Festival it is NOT.

[zippyhannah]

I know this is an old thread but I went to v fest this year (free tickets threw work) and omg I have never been to a featival like it. More makeover/hairstraighting shops then anything else full off ppl who want to be seen then have fun. Girls had full faces of make up on and hair in pin curls ( festivals for me I never care how perfect I look) security points from camping to the village then the village

To arena we had our chairs confiscated and coffee that I bought from costa (yes there was a costa) before I went in. what am I going to do with chairs and coffee.

The clientele of the festival seems a lot more Chavey then Glastonbury no sorry when bumped in to no excuse me to get past just cut in the line when waiting for toilet.

On the plus point the site was flater then glastonbury roll on 2013 xxx

[Spindles]

I've never been to V, but have read of it's reputation. My little sister goes because her fella won't go to glastonbury (he doesn't do camping, so they drive to V in the morning, drive home at night on both days) and she says it doesn't compare (she came with us in '99, which was a classic year, imo).

I don't really think that the lineup has become more commercialised particularly (in '99 for example I can recall the corrs playing, among other pure pop acts) but it is fair to say that the clientelle changes with every year, sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.

I feel safer at Glastonbury since the fence, but it feels more crowded now, which is weird. I was there in 2000 and there was never a point that felt more overcrowded than the Pyramid field during Paul Simon in '11, during which I saw some very seflish and nasty behaviour, but really only then.

'11 was not a classic year, partly because of the mud, partly because of the experience of being one of the people caught in that big dance village crush on the thursday night and partly because some people who came that year were just not very nice.

Lots of people though, like me, my kids, quite a few of my friends, once they have been they can't not go, they have the bug and have to keep going back, we don't feel the need to focus on pyramid stage acts and don't have a problem with parking our arses and having a beer/spliff/chat when the headliner finishes and spending 20 minutes letting the crowd disperse rather than getting caught in the crush. I think that the longer glastonbury goes on, the greater the number of people who get it, who keep coming back, who don't add to potential problems will be.

[markeee]

The

I know this is an old thread but I went to v fest this year (free tickets threw work) and omg I have never been to a featival like it. More makeover/hairstraighting shops then anything else full off ppl who want to be seen then have fun. Girls had full faces of make up on and hair in pin curls ( festivals for me I never care how perfect I look) security points from camping to the village then the village

To arena we had our chairs confiscated and coffee that I bought from costa (yes there was a costa) before I went in. what am I going to do with chairs and coffee.

The clientele of the festival seems a lot more Chavey then Glastonbury no sorry when bumped in to no excuse me to get past just cut in the line when waiting for toilet.

On the plus point the site was flater then glastonbury roll on 2013 xxx

[LondonTom]

i'm not surprised it's more chav, the lineup would attract that IMO - also a lot of those people wouldn't bother with glasto as it's too far to get too for a lot of people!

Edited August 21, 2012 by LondonTom