2023 Festival

[gfa]

8 minutes ago, Nestacres said:

Glastonbury has around 60 stages - lets not get carried away here. At least half of them play to about 20 people. I got a Friday only ticket this morning and there were 8000 people ahead of me in the queue, but Foals/Fender/Wet leg day tickets were always going to be popular

Oh fair enough - i thought they always used the over 100 stages tag line thing on their website, my mistake - and of course  many play to few people. The glastonbury vs anywhere else value debate is pointless anyway

[andyrhodes24]

55 minutes ago, she bangs the drums said:

They were available right up to the festival this year's festival and that was for a sold out weekend, no chance this line up sells out for next year. 

That’s what I thought, I’m assuming it’s an error from Ticketmaster (shocker).

AM single handedly sold the festival out last year, if it wasn’t for them it wouldn’t have sold out two days after Christmas. Glad there’s no rush to get tickets this time!

[nathanh]

I went to get tickets at 9 and was 3k in the queue however all queues seem to have completed disappeared by now

Edited December 12, 2022 by nathanh

[gfa]

I last did 2021 and recall it was fine in the morning then i think days started selling out, twitter was going crazy and we wanted to wait thinking it would be a slow sell out, then jumped on it and barely got tickets around 4-5pm.

I guess what i'm saying is lets wait and see - wonder when the days will start to sell out, can't see Fender lasting long at Reading (away from the 2 stadium shows and trnsmt)

[WhoOdyssey]

Billie Eilish is being billed as the youngest solo headliner, so I assume there's been someone younger in a band - anyone know who that could be?

[NoBuses]

15 minutes ago, WhoOdyssey said:

Billie Eilish is being billed as the youngest solo headliner, so I assume there's been someone younger in a band - anyone know who that could be?

AM in 2006?

[NoBuses]

Just now, NoBuses said:

AM in 2006?

Scratch that, they subbed not headlined

[Benj]

2 hours ago, thetime said:

The festival needed to be updated, its had the same format since I stared going from the mid 90s( main, nme, carling). People were crying out for the second stage to be open for years. 

Do I think the current set up works? No, went in 2021. But it did need updated to freshen it up.

It has been changed and freshened up a number of times since the mid 90s. For starters the arena size has pretty much doubled, allowing the addition of 3-4 extra stages (now obviously 2 less)

Warped tour stage, came and went, dance stage has come and gone, come back, changed size loads, 1 extra has come, BBC intro, various different Tubourg towns etc…, Pit, Concrete Jungle etc… have rotated in and out 

Its always adapted as it’s grown. I have had no problem with this. previous changes have always ADDED variety 

Changing to actually reduce variety is my issue. Not just in number of bands but in types of venue

I have no issue with freshening things up, I was originally open minded to the change to the two main stages.

It’s pretty unanimous now that it has not worked and has reduced the quality of the festival, not enhanced it. 

 

 

 

[Benj]

2 hours ago, gfa said:

More like 90/100 less stages

28 is surely a joke? is that for this year really because that is horrendous

Good point here, it definitely needed a freshen up. 2021/22 did sell very well, people just don't like this lineup i think off this board most people don't care about the change to 2 main stages

There’s a fair bit on Reddit and Twiter. 

Yet most people commenting on socials prob haven’t been pre 2020

[BenG92]

3 hours ago, jumperofftheshelf said:

325 for Early Entry Weekend is absurd

Yeah an extra £35 seems a bit daft, the extra day camping option at Download is only £20.

Nobody should be surprised by slow sales though, it's midway through December and Arctic Monkeys aren't playing. This thing will still sell out by next July, just take a lot longer than 2022. 

[gfa]

30 minutes ago, Benj said:

It has been changed and freshened up a number of times since the mid 90s. For starters the arena size has pretty much doubled, allowing the addition of 3-4 extra stages (now obviously 2 less)

Warped tour stage, came and went, dance stage has come and gone, come back, changed size loads, 1 extra has come, BBC intro, various different Tubourg towns etc…, Pit, Concrete Jungle etc… have rotated in and out 

Its always adapted as it’s grown. I have had no problem with this. previous changes have always ADDED variety 

Changing to actually reduce variety is my issue. Not just in number of bands but in types of venue

I have no issue with freshening things up, I was originally open minded to the change to the two main stages.

It’s pretty unanimous now that it has not worked and has reduced the quality of the festival, not enhanced it. 

 

 

 

None of these changes are anywhere near as significant as the change to two main stages. Nobody on here likes the 2 main stages but it had a significant improvement in ticket sales for 2021/22, with both sites actually fully selling out in both years (i think?) - something that hasn't happened for a LONG time in Leeds.

[she bangs the drums]

8 minutes ago, gfa said:

None of these changes are anywhere near as significant as the change to two main stages. Nobody on here likes the 2 main stages but it had a significant improvement in ticket sales for 2021/22, with both sites actually fully selling out in both years (i think?) - something that hasn't happened for a LONG time in Leeds.

The festival got lucky with this, post COVID they could have had you and Benj as headliners on one of the days along with Arctic Monkeys andc RATM and sold out! 

It's the same with sporting events, ticket sales have been off the scale, however next year will be the true test.

I doubt Leeds will sell out with this initial line up.

[Benj]

50 minutes ago, gfa said:

None of these changes are anywhere near as significant as the change to two main stages. Nobody on here likes the 2 main stages but it had a significant improvement in ticket sales for 2021/22, with both sites actually fully selling out in both years (i think?) - something that hasn't happened for a LONG time in Leeds.

It’s a marketing masterstroke.

On paper it looks stronger, esp at the crucial launch stage where they’re competing with other festivals

Ultimately, for those who’ve been pre 2020, we all know what it’s a massive downgrade value wise

Edited December 12, 2022 by Benj

[Benj]

32 minutes ago, she bangs the drums said:

The festival got lucky with this, post COVID they could have had you and Benj as headliners on one of the days along with Arctic Monkeys andc RATM and sold out! 

It's the same with sporting events, ticket sales have been off the scale, however next year will be the true test.

I doubt Leeds will sell out with this initial line up.

This year will be a true test, with COVID boom gone and recession on the way.

I think it will still sell well, it’s a strong set of headliners and 70% of tickets are bought by middle class parents who won’t have felt a pinch yet. 

I think it’s that last 30% theyll need to work hard to shift and the 30% of that who are probably regular returnees will be much harder than the slam dunk it’s been previously, given the changes 

[gfa]

26 minutes ago, Benj said:

It’s a marketing masterstroke.

On paper it looks stronger, esp at the crucial launch stage where they’re competing with other festivals

Ultimately, for those who’ve been pre 2020, we all know what it’s a massive downgrade value wise

You've just summed up why it works, come 2023's festival less than 20% of weekend campers will have gone pre-covid.

Even if it doesn't fully sell out in the end, they could have paid less for artist fees than this year potentially and then make more money as a result.

[Benj]

54 minutes ago, gfa said:

You've just summed up why it works, come 2023's festival less than 20% of weekend campers will have gone pre-covid.

Even if it doesn't fully sell out in the end, they could have paid less for artist fees than this year potentially and then make more money as a result.

Yup.

I’m not saying it’s bad for the promoters  It’s clearly not, they save significant cost and are able to crow about 6 big names to help sell the festival

It’s bad for us, the punters 

To be fair to Reading (again as I’ve mentioned before), I’m not sure they could fill the old bill these days, there’s just too many festivals in the UK competing for talent.

The smaller bill has been forced on them

[gfa]

1 hour ago, Benj said:

To be fair to Reading (again as I’ve mentioned before), I’m not sure they could fill the old bill these days, there’s just too many festivals in the UK competing for talent.

Interesting point, APE has grown a lot and often has a very Reading audience day plus fests like Victorious, Truck and Y Not have grown a lot vs 5 years ago. Community too + that leeds day festival + the new welsh one too.

Never really about this

Edited December 12, 2022 by gfa

[Benj]

1 minute ago, gfa said:

Interesting point, APE has grown a lot and often has a very Reading audience day plus fests like Victorious, Truck and Y Not have grown a lot vs 5 years ago. Community too + that leeds day festival + the new welsh one too.

Never really about this

Then you have Slum Dunk, Trees etc gutting Pit options too. 

Only problem Is Reading are upping their prices, again maybe because they’re having to pay more for acts due to the competition.

It’s basically festival shrinkflation, we’re paying more for less

[R Shah]

On 12/8/2022 at 12:14 AM, stanh said:

Saw this prediction poster whilst scrolling through socials earlier, I didn't make this though, so just putting that out there (credit to whoever did make it), that aside, not really for me, but quite fair placings of the artists, and tbh does seem very R&L, matches quite a lot of the chat on here, so wouldn't be surprised if someone on here made it. I reckon it would probably receive quite a bit of stick on the initial announcement, but still sell fairly well, especially once it gets padded out.

Anyone know how this poster was like randomly accurate for the most part but the days were mostly wrong?

[nathanh]

15 minutes ago, R Shah said:

Anyone know how this poster was like randomly accurate for the most part but the days were mostly wrong?

It was really obvious for a good few weeks, if not months who we were going to get.

I still think there's a high likelihood that this could get even more accurate, because I can see acts like Flo and Mimi Webb making the next poster

[gfa]

3 hours ago, R Shah said:

Anyone know how this poster was like randomly accurate for the most part but the days were mostly wrong?

Look at efests every so often and throw enough darts at the wall and you'll eventually hit - wouldn't look much into it. we don't know who made it anyway unless stan can enlighten us 🙂 

2 hours ago, nathanh said:

It was really obvious for a good few weeks, if not months who we were going to get.

I still think there's a high likelihood that this could get even more accurate, because I can see acts like Flo and Mimi Webb making the next poster

Nobody thought we were getting Imagine Dragons

[Benj]

17 minutes ago, gfa said:

 

Nobody thought we were getting Imagine Dragons

There were a few shouts before the poster, due to them popping up elsewhere in August wasn’t there?

[gfa]

2 minutes ago, Benj said:

There were a few shouts before the poster, due to them popping up elsewhere in August wasn’t there?

Sziget but i think that poster was posted before then, sziget was like a day before reading i think?

[charlierc]

1 hour ago, Benj said:

There were a few shouts before the poster, due to them popping up elsewhere in August wasn’t there?

 

1 hour ago, gfa said:

Sziget but i think that poster was posted before then, sziget was like a day before reading i think?

Yeah until they were on the Sziget poster, I'm not sure they featured heavily in the conversation.

[FeverDream]

*Deleted* cause I’m a moron!

Edited December 13, 2022 by FeverDream