Younger but more arrogant crowd this year?

[johnmcga]

As usual, I encountered some lovely people and some idiots, of all ages!

I found it hard to spot any patterns to be honest, but a special shout out must go to the young couple in front of me at Metallica who took — no exaggeration — around 30 selfies in the space of ten minutes while the band were on. I wouldn't have minded so much except they were using a cameraphone with one of those irritating flashes that kept distracting everyone around them.

Litter still seemed to be an issue but I can't say it seemed any worse than previous years. Same with people pissing in inappropriate places — I do think maybe we need to bring back the Green Police and up the message about pollution.

Edited July 1, 2014 by johnmcga

[Deepsky]

I blame the busiest tent of the festival - or so it seemed since every time I walked by people were wasting Glastonbury time queuing - the EE recharge tent.

It's a festival, Glastonbury Festival at that. Get off the network and be free of your bloody phone for five days!

Oh and THIS...

Fed up to having to constantly take evasive action because people just walk along staring down at their phones not caring where they are walking/who they are about to walk into.

YOU'RE AT GLASTONBURY FFS. NOTHING CAN BE MORE INTERESTING THAN THAT!

[Englishdragon]

I think people are stereotyping when there is a very easy answer to all of this.

Drugs and Alcohol.

People off there face as usually more likely to barge past you and not realize what they are doing. I usually found a quick word with them and they apologize, I had a lad basically stand on my ankle whilst he walked past and I said "What the fuck" and he snapped out of his trance and was very apologetic about what he had just done.

Sadly the complete and utter w*nkers I met at the festival were all older than me (Im 26) so its wrong to just said all the issues are with the young kids

[alframsey]

Personally I thought this year had one of the best crowds I can remember, everyone was happy and friendly.

[Riggins]

I have to admit spacial awareness wouldn't go amiss. The amount of times I had to duck and dodge people just to avoid them walking into me was pretty phenomenal.

[jonnyisRFC]

After attending Reading Festival for years the crowd at Glastonbury is a breath of fresh air!

[DeanoL]

Oh and THIS...

Fed up to having to constantly take evasive action because people just walk along staring down at their phones not caring where they are walking/who they are about to walk into.

YOU'RE AT GLASTONBURY FFS. NOTHING CAN BE MORE INTERESTING THAN THAT!

When I did that I was invariably looking at the map on the Glasto app.

[bexj]

It doesnt bother me, ive spoken to all sorts this weekend and almost without exception they've been chatty, pleasant, funny and engaging. Long live variety at Glastonbury!

[pancakes]

I blame the busiest tent of the festival - or so it seemed since every time I walked by people were wasting Glastonbury time queuing - the EE recharge tent.

It's a festival, Glastonbury Festival at that. Get off the network and be free of your bloody phone for five days!

I agree with OP completely, I'm 20 and the way some young people dressed and behaved this year was awful. No respect and they just find it funny to act like dickheads.

It really put me off the festival this year, I felt like there was a different vibe. Maybe I noticed it more because it was from all the people my age though still significantly better than the reading/leeds crowds.

I went with a friend and their friends who I didn't know and they spent the whole weekend taking every drug they could get their hands on from 8am, chucking their rubbish everywhere so by Monday morning it was a rubbish tip outside the tents, some guy put his tent next to ours and they picked it up and chucked it and they didn't go anywhere except the beat hotel and food stands.

So when my phone died I had to go and queue in order to ring the decent people I knew at the festival to get away from them!

Also with wellies - I bought ten quid ones from primark a couple years ago, never had blisters from them ever and they haven't ever let water in.

[stopwn1981]

I agree with OP completely, I'm 20 and the way some young people dressed and behaved this year was awful. No respect and they just find it funny to act like dickheads.

It really put me off the festival this year, I felt like there was a different vibe. Maybe I noticed it more because it was from all the people my age though still significantly better than the reading/leeds crowds.

I went with a friend and their friends who I didn't know and they spent the whole weekend taking every drug they could get their hands on from 8am, chucking their rubbish everywhere so by Monday morning it was a rubbish tip outside the tents, some guy put his tent next to ours and they picked it up and chucked it and they didn't go anywhere except the beat hotel and food stands.

So when my phone died I had to go and queue in order to ring the decent people I knew at the festival to get away from them!

Also with wellies - I bought ten quid ones from primark a couple years ago, never had blisters from them ever and they haven't ever let water in.

Exactly - people buy hunter wellies because they are expensive, trendy and purvey a certain social status (they are not a piece of superior manufacturing)..which is not in keeping with the original Glasto vibe. I got no problem with it, we just have to accept Glasto is a trendy thing to do now, not an alternative culture of any kind...sign of the times in wider society is all.

[Mud Dweller]

Every year there is this suggestion. The festival is a lot safer now compared to 20 years ago, maybe that has taken a little of the edge out of it for some. Sure the vibe was a lot different but it certainly in parts wasnt the eutopia people suggest it was.

There will always be pockets of idiots, it's the law of averages when so many people are in one place.

Cant defend anyone who doesnt claim up after themselves though, that is a disgrace. Im from Liverpool and to hear a group from my part of the world done that saddens me - im sure if their mothers knew they'd get a clip around the ear!

Edited July 1, 2014 by Mud Dweller

[Andeeroo]

Just to counter this from a personal perspective, the age representation seemed no different than any other time that I've been and it was the friendliest bunch I've encountered!

[Samhodson95]

i was more than embarrassed with how some younger people treated others... had a few issues..offering help to a young set of lads who had no idea how a tent functioned... got told to 'fuck off you nosy fuck' its my third Glastonbury..im only 18 and it shocks me...

had problems with a group camped next to us...who thought it was necessary to steal our chairs every night when we went out... they was 20-25 as i spoke to one briefly upon arrival...this stopped on Saturday as they realised i kept stealing them back....didn't stop them getting more from others around them...

to bo honest...may seem another planet to my generation but its so so much better finding a bar off the beaten track and talking to the older crows..who've done it..or not done it and seeing what they think of it...nothing better than that at Glastonbury


ignore the general drunken state and the dodgy £3.00 hat...but made many a friend and had some amazing stories told to us

[stardustjunkie]

I was 18 when I went to my first Glastonbury. I'm 22 now and have been to all 4 since 2010. I think this topic is tarring all younger people with the same brush and that's not very fair. I'm perfectly pleasant to everyone I speak to, I clear up after myself, I didn't get drunk once and I certainly wasn't out of it on drugs. We camped next to a few people around my age and they were all just as lovely, we said hello to each other whenever we saw each other and I even offered to help one of them put their tent up. We all cleared up after ourselves and yet the nearest lot of mess came from a group of 40-50 year olds camped to our left, who spent most of their time at their tent sat on their chairs and threw all their rubbish on the ground.

Not once have I been rude to people, intentionally bumped in to anyone or left a mess where I was camped. I'm also from the South but apparently that makes me posh? I'm just the same as the northern lady we were camped with, out to enjoy myself and have fun.

Perhaps we should spend less time stereotyping and pointing the finger and more time worrying about enjoying ourselves and accepting everyone else who is there to enjoy themselves. You'll get idiots wherever you go, the best thing to do is move on and enjoy yourself away from them.

[ohvienna]

Not really...

As ever, this thread has gone into a hideous stereotypical mess. I've encountered both rude and wonderful people young and old from the North and South with accents ranging from RP to Geordie to Welsh and everything in between...

Spot on. Yes, some of the young crowd were totally obnoxious, but some were lovely too. Same goes for the entire crowd. There will always be a minority of idiots!

I do wish some of the younger people better understood the ethos of the festival though!

[hedgepeg]

wake me up when Glastonbury isn't fashionable anymore - then it'll be good.

meanwhile, I'll be at beautiful days.

[frostypaw]

I think people are stereotyping when there is a very easy answer to all of this.

Drugs and Alcohol.

Mmmm drugs are bad m'kay?

I've seen faaaaaaaaaar more drink and drug soaked festivals without trouble - it's not as simple as the party line I'm afraid, if only. On that basis this year should have been better - people always drink and get trashed more on dry years.

I did see a lot of low-level dickery of the clearly washed hunters and constantly on phone type - there's an amazing shot of what i think is a mum up against the barrier going crazy singing along down the front of George Ezra (I think, watched a LOT of footage in the last day) while her daughter looks bored texting

I genuinely think the festival would benefit immensely from losing the recharge facilities. There's simply no need and seeing the constant queues for the recharge tent and the exchange thing, even by Thursday encountering girls wandering lost looking for somewhere to charge their phone then the sea of chairs in the Acoustic full of folk constantly texting/on facebook until the big song came on...

Noone's going to suffer if they turn their phone off most of the time. Everyone will benefit - they can even frame it as an eco move - I wonder how much juice was used just on phones

[UEF]

I do wish some of the younger people better understood the ethos of the festival though!

I wonder about this. Is this famous 'ethos of the festival' published anywhere? At best I'd say there are differing interpretations of what Glastonbury's 'about', if anything at all.

[frostypaw]

ps. and I wanted this as a separate post - I had a slew of really good experiences with younger folk this festival. chats and natters here and there with people who seemed to really be getting it and at least two groups in crowds who seemed to me to be getting the festival thing totally right - having the time of their lives without screwing it up for others - one group at Foster the People went between discussing how bad it was that people were dropping litter to pissing themselves so hard one of them fell over to singing arm in arm in the space of five minutes - wanted to shake them by the hand. Another at Imagine Dragons were singing their hearts out so hard to put me to shame and saying sorry to anyone they bumped dancing and didn't drop a thing - and the guys dressed in green dragon suits came right through where we were standing and they were bloody lovely too - got stuck in the tighter spot near us and didn't push through. Danced, sang, went round and found their well-deserved way to the front

I left this year feeling a lot happier about the next generation arriving than I have in years

[StaggerLAH]

Agree, there was a circle of tents next to us that contained a few of these type who literally all weekend just sat around the tent talking about how many drugs they'd taken, Security visited them at least 3 times.

[chris_top_her]

I felt a bit out of place without a six pack I must say...

[Jackmypie]

This is the first year since 2010 where I felt there were a lot more older people.

I guess it depends on who you see and where you camp though. We were the youngest out of our neighbours and we are all 20.

[eoJ]

I think people are stereotyping when there is a very easy answer to all of this.

Drugs and Alcohol.

c**ts will always be c**ts, drugs and alcohol just turn them into bigger c**ts.

I wouldn't say I'm in the group mentioned, had friendly chats with many, attempted to give medical help to someone who may have had a brain injury (very stumbly, incoherent, bad memory, bleeding behind ear and unable to remember what caused it, although not sure how much of that was the alcohol), would get near the front, but only through following trains or going through big gaps without pushing. Zero selfies, might take maybe 5-10 photos if near the front of the pyramid, but in quick succession, and timed to not bother too many. Spent plenty of time at the Acoustic tent/Cabaret/Avalon etc. Pretty sure I got called 'braindead' by someone sitting behind me at the back of the other stage, with them saying I was on ket (had taken some during the festival, but none that day, I was just having a little toke on my bubbler. People have mistaken me for being mashed before when I've been stone cold sober, low blood pressure is a bitch.) Drunk in moderation, most I got was perhaps a little tipsy.

Drugs definitely don't make you a c**t, had some MDMA for Skrillex, and I think I did stand on one person's foot, quickly stopped dancing and profusely apologised. Plenty of people near my tent though who were yelling to each other at 5AM, standing on tents, and just ploughing through whichever direction they were heading. There's always going to be a higher percentage of the c**ts in the main fields, but anyone on here should have their clashfinders and know where they can find music that's just as good as anything on the main stage (John Illsey at the Acoustic tent for example - 3 members of the Dire Straits in the band, great set, yet you could easily sit down, and if you wanted, could stroll right into the third row). The higher percentage of c**ts is just the price you pay for seeing things in the main fields. Overall, most people are lovely (even if some of the lovely people are also hedgepissers/litterers.

One thing, I do wish the people selling NO2 would bring a binbag with them, and that they'd fill a load of balloons at once and clip them, to avoid the seemingly constant whooshes.

[Ed209]

I was 18 when I went to my first Glastonbury. I'm 22 now and have been to all 4 since 2010. I think this topic is tarring all younger people with the same brush and that's not very fair. I'm perfectly pleasant to everyone I speak to, I clear up after myself, I didn't get drunk once and I certainly wasn't out of it on drugs. We camped next to a few people around my age and they were all just as lovely, we said hello to each other whenever we saw each other and I even offered to help one of them put their tent up. We all cleared up after ourselves and yet the nearest lot of mess came from a group of 40-50 year olds camped to our left, who spent most of their time at their tent sat on their chairs and threw all their rubbish on the ground.

Not once have I been rude to people, intentionally bumped in to anyone or left a mess where I was camped. I'm also from the South but apparently that makes me posh? I'm just the same as the northern lady we were camped with, out to enjoy myself and have fun.

Perhaps we should spend less time stereotyping and pointing the finger and more time worrying about enjoying ourselves and accepting everyone else who is there to enjoy themselves. You'll get idiots wherever you go, the best thing to do is move on and enjoy yourself away from them.

Well said mate. Its just nobs being nobs, age doesn't come into it in my opinion. I'm rapidly moving towards my mid-thirties and found the glasto crowd last year to be fairly closed off and nobbish, I went to bestival which was predominantly 17/18 to early twenties and I met nothing but brilliant, funny and kind young people who fully embraced the festival spirit.

There's also some pretty embarrassing regional stereotyping going on in here too

[elbongo]

What happened to Glastonbury's of old?

I'm not joking but I do realise the next generation has definitely arrived and every now and again I said to myself. Do I really want this any more?

Even queuing Wednesday morn to get in I thought, bugger this shit! How did this happen?

Too many people.

Those asses who push by and make no effort to acknowledge they are

The mud... tho that has always been uninvited.

20th anniversary this year, might be time to call it a day.

Maybe one more.