Younger but more arrogant crowd this year?

[Englishdragon]

I will say Im not in any way saying Drugs and Alcohol are bad, anyone that saw me on the Thursday night in the Chameleon bar silent disco will have seen how much alcohol I had drunk during the day, Im just saying people (me included) tend to forget about being courteous when all of their effort is being put into putting one foot infront of the other which can come across as being a dick.

Also there seems to be two ends of the spectrum as to what people class as a "dickhead", People on their phones and such can do what they want as long as it doesnt affect my festival, I was on my phone during bands I didnt overly care about and it was my main guide for the weekend with the clock and Glastonbury app. Im talking about the people barging past and generally not giving a fuck about anybody else.

I will start a thread in the next day or two about some of the people I saw, including the golf incident and none of them are people I would categorize as young.

Edited July 1, 2014 by Englishdragon

[eoJ]

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

I arrived at about 10:30/11 AM, no queues whatsoever, walked straight in. Went via Glastonbury town, and there was no traffic at all, just what you'd expect on any other day, got stuck behind a horsebox for a couple of miles, but other than that, that was it. As long as you're not setting up a camp for 15 people with marquee, then there's no problems finding a spot even in the busier fields (I managed to find a space for five people with sitting room in the middle, in Oxlyers - there was more space in Park Home). Plus, you have the advantage of more people around to help, got one neighbouring group help me with putting my tent up, and another give me some pegs when I found I'd left them behind (followed by inviting me over for barbecued veggie sausages).

[russycarps]

If people took less cocaine and shit mdma and more acid then all the problems would melt away

[Sofa]

Having been to Boomtown a few times ,this has a young crowd and I have never met anyone more polite funny and good to be around to be honest .they understood what being at a festy was all about and they drunk me under the table along the way .I actually found the people most moaning and being an arse where the people my age group ( 40s ) .Age has nothing to do with anything .

[rawrsomesauce]

I don't think it's anything to do with the age of the crowd, I met some right c**ts across all ages over the weekend (I'm 21). Even ended up shouting at one of them when they tried pushing me over to get closer for Ed Sheeran.

[billum]

Generally I found less annoying things going on this year, especially my pet hate of long trains pushing to the front of the biggest gigs (perhaps this was because I tend to avoid the biggest stages now...)

But one guy I couldn't believe, walking along the railway line with a couple of mates, chatting... while having a piss out of the front of his jeans all over the path as he went (and onto others walking along nearby). I mean ffs the railway line has loos about every 25 yrds! Horrible.

The re-charge tent was unbelievably busy, and the queue almost wiped out access to most of the Glade bar / Leftfield area! Maybe as phone power-packs get cheaper and better there'll be less of a massive demand for the tent (probably not, though). EE are clearly trying to find ways to do this better, to their credit.

[Starchild771]

I fail to see how the mass of people wearing Hunters and flower headbands are any different from the mass of alternative types who like to style themselves with dreadlocks, rainbow hair and ethnic clothing? People should be free to dress how they wish and that often involves identifying with certain stereo typical groups - judging a person's character based on a 10 second glance leads to misjudgement.

I was called a c**t just for walking between two people - I just looked at the girl, shook my head and laughed. She was probably just over-excited/drunk/high. She probably has a good heart, is a good friend to her mates - or maybe she was just psychotic(but I highly doubt it) - who knows? I also had tons of young girls barge past holding hands and yes it's annoying but it's not really a reflection of their character at all - the vast majority of them are probably really nice.

There were people running and messing around in the mud that managed to get it everywhere, splattering loads of people and my food (lesson learnt - don't eat near the muddy walk-ways), again it was just youthful exuberance and they were just enjoying themselves.

Younger people can be more self-centred and immature (duh), but isn't that to be expected? Doing stupid things like not offering a lighter as a joke is just the kind of immature thing that should be written off as childish antics, I wouldn't take it seriously. There was a group of young guys on the bus who spent most of the journey in the loo because they thought it was a good idea to drink tons of beer on way trip down - I'm sure in a year a two they'll grow up and learn from their "mistakes" I'm in my 30's and things were exactly the same when I was their age.

(..also met loads of lovely, polite, well-spoken younger people including a really sweet group of "chavs" who were having immense fun during one performance).

[Winslow Leach]

I agree with most people, age means nothing. Of the w*nkers I met, as many were middle aged as were close to my own age.

Having said that, most of the people I met were ace.

[CaledonianGonzo]

I met loads of great "youths" this year - no issues with any of 'em.

[Ruwise]

In general I encountered less dickheads than last year but I think that's because I've discovered something really amazing which is the ability to move away. I used to get annoyed if I found a good spot and then somebody came along and behaved badly. I'd let myself stew about it and wind myself up, now I turn to my husband say he looks like a knobber best move over a bit.

Another lesson I've learn is at the main stages try and get in amongst it a bit more. As my hubby doesn't really like crowds we used to avoid doing that but actually you often have a bit more room and are more likely to be surrounded by people who actually want to see the artist that you are there to see.

One thing I will say in defence of the young people is that there are dickheads of all ages around the festival. The worst experience we had was during Dolly which was the only one we made the mistake of going further back near the oak tree and there were hundreds of people of all ages who clearly only went for a song or 2 to take their selfie and then bugger off disturbing and spoiling the experience of everybody else. I have no objection to people just turning up for a few songs but I will never understand why they don't stick to the sides so they are not spoiling other peoples experience when they do leave. I think out of the hundreds who went past us only about 4 even said excuse me or sorry.

I totally agree with those who have said that there are 2 festivals the main stages and the rest. I think for the most part I enjoy more the other part though I have to say I spent a lot of time at John Peel this year and didn't have any negative experiences there at all.

[frostypaw]

I fail to see how the mass of people wearing Hunters and flower headbands are any different from the mass of alternative types who like to style themselves with dreadlocks, rainbow hair and ethnic clothing? People should be free to dress how they wish and that often involves identifying with certain stereo typical groups - judging a person's character based on a 10 second glance leads to misjudgement.

On the whole it's the dumb vain fashion following selfish arseholes that do the bad things. Their utter lack of comprehension of how little the shallow crap they've flung their 'disposable' cash on matters is awe-inspiring at a festival based on charity and helping each other, not just being obsessed with yourself and your appearance.

The masses of umbrellas - mostly held by girls with waterproofs on already presumably to keep their makeup nice because they served no other purpose.... the seas of chairs and picnic blankets... all populated primarily by folk fitting into that group. It's not something being imagined.

People are free to dress how they choose - and sadly also free to act like arseholes. The fact that the two seem to correlate is not hard to spot, it's just sad. People commonly dress to fit in with the group that they aspire/relate to, it's far from news

[CaledonianGonzo]

I'm still not sure how current fashion trends - denim cut-offs and Hunter wellies are different to those from, say, 25 years ago when it was Doc Martens and German army parkas. Or in the Britpop era when everyone was wearing Adidas.

[ivan]

I have to say i was very impressed with the younger element.

I was stood near loads for Metallica and the lot of em went into metal mode for the whole of the Metallica set.

[stopwn1981]

I'm still not sure how current fashion trends - denim cut-offs and Hunter wellies are different to those from, say, 25 years ago when it was Doc Martens and German army parkas. Or in the Britpop era when everyone was wearing Adidas.

I guess it's less the actual fashion, but seemingly the type of people buying into that fashion, the (increasing) number of them and their general outlook/attitude to other people (sweeping generalisation of course).

[frostypaw]

I'm still not sure how current fashion trends - denim cut-offs and Hunter wellies are different to those from, say, 25 years ago when it was Doc Martens and German army parkas. Or in the Britpop era when everyone was wearing Adidas.

They're not, it's just the current version of fashion. Has to keep changing otherwise they couldn't keep selling the idiots stuff

[blackred]

In case no one else has said it, it's not the crowd getting younger - it's you getting older.

Opinions are made based on the odd encounter, sometimes these are good, sometimes these are bad. I'm sorry to hear you had some bad encounters.

I had a fucking ace time this year and everyone I talked to was great, saw a minimal amount of dickish behaviour and most of that was from people old enough to know better.

[APC]

I think its pretty arrogant to be palming off entire groups of kids for what they are wearing. I saw untold amount of w*nkers in all different types of clothes. I bet some of those making these judgements were percieved to be w*nkers at some point.

[Ruwise]

On the whole it's the dumb vain fashion following selfish arseholes that do the bad things. Their utter lack of comprehension of how little the shallow crap they've flung their 'disposable' cash on matters is awe-inspiring at a festival based on charity and helping each other, not just being obsessed with yourself and your appearance.

The masses of umbrellas - mostly held by girls with waterproofs on already presumably to keep their makeup nice because they served no other purpose.... the seas of chairs and picnic blankets... all populated primarily by folk fitting into that group. It's not something being imagined.

People are free to dress how they choose - and sadly also free to act like arseholes. The fact that the two seem to correlate is not hard to spot, it's just sad. People commonly dress to fit in with the group that they aspire/relate to, it's far from news

But then again for balance the most selfish person I saw with an umbrella was a dreadlocked, hippy looking guy in his 30's I'd guess. We had to move away from him or we would have gotten drenched.

[CaledonianGonzo]

I guess it's less the actual fashion, but seemingly the type of people buying into that fashion, the (increasing) number of them and their general outlook/attitude to other people (sweeping generalisation of course).

If that's the case - and I stress the if - then it's likely to be something else driving it on a societal level rather than just in terms of choice of footwear.

They're not, it's just the current version of fashion. Has to keep changing otherwise they couldn't keep selling the idiots stuff

In which case, plus ca change.

Edited July 1, 2014 by CaledonianGonzo

[frostypaw]

In which case, plus ca change.

true, but there's a definite increase in their number

camping chairs have always been available and were for years before the lakes of them started forming. there's a real shift as the public's perception of the festival changes - if it looks like somewhere you could come and lounge about looking fabulous and clean and have a nice picnic and watch some bands then that is what it will attract and increasingly that's what's shown

look at the photos in that daily mail litter thread and count up how many men vs women you see in focus, and what footwear they are wearing. rather than tell you if you look yourself you'll actually believe me. for a significant wodge it's no longer seen as an alternative crazy thing but just a summer event like Henley or Glynebourne or Cheltenham or Wimbledon just you buy a pair of wellies instead of a hat

luckily they're not winning yet, but it's a big fricking change from 2003/4/5 I can tell ya when the chair people in the pyramid were the occasional group with a stack of beer as high as a man and a campfire singing songs and dancing.

Edited July 1, 2014 by frostypaw

[ghandi]

I'm not sure about the arrogant side of it, we had a VERY large group near us, uni kids, all very polite when passing through our little camp when we were sat outside, but I had an idea, perhaps impressed in my mind by the mess in pennards that we've seen in pictures, that they would just dump everything when leaving at the end. And true to my thoughts that's exactly what they did. I couldn't quote believe it, we got up on Monday morning at about 5am , spent about 45 minutes to pack everything away, and they just adorned their rucksacks and marched off leaving 2 massive tents and about 6 to 7 other smaller ones around it all intact with a mass of trodden in garbage around it, I couldn't believe what I was seeing! No wonder the Eavis want to get to pre erected camping if this is what spoilt brats do. I've not seen it in Kidney mead after camping there for 4 years, or perhaps I just hadn't noticed.

[DeanoL]

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 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

Yes let's ban the stuff I don't want (phones) and keep the stuff I do (drugs) because clearly the problem is stuff I don't like.

I agree the charge tent is not required, battery packs are cheaper and easily available now.

[Starchild771]

On the whole it's the dumb vain fashion following selfish arseholes that do the bad things. Their utter lack of comprehension of how little the shallow crap they've flung their 'disposable' cash on matters is awe-inspiring at a festival based on charity and helping each other, not just being obsessed with yourself and your appearance.

The masses of umbrellas - mostly held by girls with waterproofs on already presumably to keep their makeup nice because they served no other purpose.... the seas of chairs and picnic blankets... all populated primarily by folk fitting into that group. It's not something being imagined.

People are free to dress how they choose - and sadly also free to act like arseholes. The fact that the two seem to correlate is not hard to spot, it's just sad. People commonly dress to fit in with the group that they aspire/relate to, it's far from news

Regarding the umbrellas... It's Britain, it's raining some people have umbrellas - so what? My boyfriend had an umbrella and it poured a load of rain down my back (sure he got a dirty look) but he wasn't using it to be a selfish git, he just thought an umbrella were a good thing to have in the very heavy down pour. You can presume they are using them to keep their make-up nice but since when are presumptions reality? I had one on Monday that I was using to stop myself from burning in the sun (I've had skin cancer).

I've mixed with all kinds of groups of people and even if people want to identify with with groups they feel they can relate too, doesn't necessarily make said person a better person than someone else. Personally, I don't care to identify with any group and like to be open-minded and just take people as they come.

As for the abandoned stuff, well it's easily the worst part of Glastonbury. There was an older group near us who were really friendly but they left tons of stuff for the land fill. The irony is that they spent over 2 hours wrapping their army of sack trolleys in cling-film and couldn't be bothered to sort the rest of their junk out. These were big, healthy looking men and women too. Despite moving house a week ago and having a leg injury/Glastonbury exhaustion, I still managed to clear everything, dispose/recycle the rubbish and take my very heavy stuff the long way back to the coach.

[JGP]

Just want to point out that the 'types' you're talking about make up a minority of the young population who go. I'm 20 and have an incredible amount of respect for Michael, Emily and the Festival as a whole.

Oh as well, I had a group of 30(ish) year old New Zealanders, a small group of friends who were around my age, and a Mexican couple who looked about 40 around me and the young group of friends were the only ones to clean up properly and take their tents out of them. Once again, it isn't all just the youngens.

Edited July 1, 2014 by JGP

[Badlands]

I've seen the same thread with the same comments each year that I've been on here. Y'all just be getting old.

And it's the same shitty cliches. I'm guessing it will be page 6 before someone turns on the scousers.