Crowd control issues

[gooner1990]

7 minutes ago, ogriff said:

I assumed the rules were relaxed this year to allow for those whose kids were u12 when they bought the ticket in 2019, but were now "too old" to get in. Would make sense for that to then be tightened up for the next non-Covid-delayed festival

A friend of mines daughter was 10 when the tickets went on sale but she turned 13 just before the festival this month and he had to pay £285 for her to come, although he was just sent a direct link to make the payment.

[SighMo]

Just now, CaledonianGonzo said:

Will have been the same crowd inner - outer density effect caused by people going in the door and stopping.

Yea but they had a queuing system of sorts. A narrow funnel onlynlettimg a few in at a time as people left. 

[idb]

34 minutes ago, Ohinever said:

I'm ultra local to the fest, and have been told this morning thousands of 15,16 year olds getting in as under 13. 

I was thinking whilst there that any large group of 18-19 years olds must have decided to go when they were all in their mid teens to be able to get tickets for this years festival unless they got them in the re-sale.

[Haj88]

I read this article today and this thread was the first thing I thought of

https://thequietus.com/articles/31725-glastonbury-festival-review-people-eh?fbclid=IwAR2D5NB3e9t8QmOCah3y9pDHFk7TOFnCtxe8USZoviE0PqlkwuXtYwKXmls&fs=e&s=cl

[fred quimby]

11 minutes ago, Haj88 said:

I read this article today and this thread was the first thing I thought of

https://thequietus.com/articles/31725-glastonbury-festival-review-people-eh?fbclid=IwAR2D5NB3e9t8QmOCah3y9pDHFk7TOFnCtxe8USZoviE0PqlkwuXtYwKXmls&fs=e&s=cl

I liked that

[clarkete]

2 hours ago, AlexOvd said:

People complaining about the existence of showers as something bad in probably the worse festival in ratio people-showers. There are literally less than 15 showers in Kidz Field (which are the "official ones) for 210.000 people.

If you don't want to have a shower is ok, but in a festival with such a big amount of kids and people from many ages I think showers are more than neccesary. And I hope it will be more. It's called evolution.

 

It's a bunch of claims of how the festival used to be - several of which are wrong, followed by some claims of how it is now, some of which are also inaccurate 😊

[Hotchilidog]

1 hour ago, Haj88 said:

I read this article today and this thread was the first thing I thought of

https://thequietus.com/articles/31725-glastonbury-festival-review-people-eh?fbclid=IwAR2D5NB3e9t8QmOCah3y9pDHFk7TOFnCtxe8USZoviE0PqlkwuXtYwKXmls&fs=e&s=cl

That was pretty funny and nicely self-deprecating. One thing the author is right about though, what was it with the Bucket Hats this year? I did not get that memo I stuck with my Panama.

[SighMo]

Not really a crowd control issue but we were well impressed to see the young guy in an electric wheelchair appear well into the Kendrick Lamar set right on the barrier. God knows how but fair play to his mates. Don’t think they hung around for long. 

[essjay2009]

15 hours ago, august1 said:

has anyone ever seen a steward in the pyramid field, thats not behind a barrier?

Yeah, just before Macca this year but they were carrying someone out on a stretcher with an ambulance waiting, so I don't think that really counts.

[briddj]

1 hour ago, Hotchilidog said:

That was pretty funny and nicely self-deprecating. One thing the author is right about though, what was it with the Bucket Hats this year? I did not get that memo I stuck with my Panama.

I started wearing a bucket hat again in 2009. #trendsetter

[Hotchilidog]

16 minutes ago, briddj said:

I started wearing a bucket hat again in 2009. #trendsetter

Ahead of the game! Nice!

[Old_Johno]

2 hours ago, Hotchilidog said:

That was pretty funny and nicely self-deprecating. One thing the author is right about though, what was it with the Bucket Hats this year? I did not get that memo I stuck with my Panama.

My mate runs a festival clothing stall, at festivals all over the UK, and he’s making a fortune on cheap bucket hats at the moment, forget band T-shirts, sunglasses, studded belts or fancy dress. 
 

£15 for a £2 hat.

[Tranquility of Solitude]

7 hours ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

This is the part in your original post talking about sanitisation of the festival:

"Sanitise the festival to suit your agenda if you like, but be careful what you demand."

All of the things I have said are truths tho. Apologies if it sounded too direct. I actually agree with bit about the fuckwits and the idiots who stand around chatting in the middle of huge thoroughfares and don't move to the side, or people who think they can claim their ground by putting a blanket down and getting uppity when others get close during busy acts.

I could add banning of flares to the list as well tho - that one I'm still undecided on, personally, as it still represents a danger hazard... they just look so damn good during evening sets.

The others are 100% all true...

There is a Co-op on site. 

There is more pop every year. 

There are showers and they were only introduced in the last decade or so. 

Glamping options have appeared over the last decade or so. 

People do talk on the food thread about all the middle and upper-middle class crap they can't wait to eat at the festival; cheese, foccacia, olives, bio-organic cereal handmade by Nepalese monks... 

Haha. Okay that last one was a joke and I bet if it existed they'd be pictures of it in the Food thread in a heartbeat. All the rest are true and represent a festival that is no longer "get down and muck in", and more, "let's all spend a sw*nky weekend in the country"... 

NB - I would add that all the extra luxury and comfort the festival adds, certainly doesn't help with decreasing its appeal. If anything it makes it easy for absolute flakes to enjoy the festival while not foregoing too much pampering.

If we could go back to the days of 5 quid sausage baguettes and a pile of greasy noodles, with people walking around stinking like filth for 5 days, with only a wetwipe in the morning as a freshen up, I'd take it.

But the thread is about crowd control, and my post was an opinion on my own experience of that. The point regarding sanitisation was clearly vis a vis crowd control.

You’ve replied making points around food prices (which are exaggerated... I ate at least three times a day on site, food was fabulous, and I never paid more than£12.) How does the price of food impact crowd issues? How does the wealth, or cheese preferences of the clientele impact crowds? Showers? Glamping? How does the presence of a co-op impact crowd control?

I tend to agree that there does appear to be a creeping aspect of money/wealth enabling access and small preferential treatments, and I think the festival is worse off as a result, but that’s got nothing to do with crowd control and probably belongs in a different thread.

 

[efcfanwirral]

40 minutes ago, Tranquility of Solitude said:

But the thread is about crowd control, and my post was an opinion on my own experience of that. The point regarding sanitisation was clearly vis a vis crowd control.

You’ve replied making points around food prices (which are exaggerated... I ate at least three times a day on site, food was fabulous, and I never paid more than£12.) How does the price of food impact crowd issues? How does the wealth, or cheese preferences of the clientele impact crowds? Showers? Glamping? How does the presence of a co-op impact crowd control?

I tend to agree that there does appear to be a creeping aspect of money/wealth enabling access and small preferential treatments, and I think the festival is worse off as a result, but that’s got nothing to do with crowd control and probably belongs in a different thread.

 

I know the Co-op was mentioned as a negative above but I think that actually helps people with less money go to the festival - its much cheaper to buy food from there than from most of the stalls. 

[LoraMaze]

11 hours ago, Ildavo said:

When we got to Pet Shop Boys, about 2 songs in, it looked like the whole of the Other Stage field was full as crowd was full all the way up to the food stalls on the edge.  I managed to be tall enough to peer over though and it looked like there may be a space behind the sound stage so we walked through the crowd.  Once we got to the wood chippings bit there was one huge massive space with no one in it. I could still see most of the stage and could have run around flayling my arms about without being anywhere near to hitting anyone. 

Yeah they all started amassing around our tent by the walkway in Oxlyers…so we fucked off home early. If we hadn’t have packed up our stuff already and were feeling more spritely I might have suggested we move further in

[Suprefan]

9 hours ago, alanr said:

RFID bank notes

UK government does not put RFID in banknotes.

The idea of scanning tickets using RFID, or barcodes, sounds so simple but is a huge undertaking.

There are 4 ped gates which deal with huge volumes at peak times, and numerous additional entry points. These would all need to link to a central database to implement any sensible system. The infrastructure to do this is huge, and is not really feasible on a large rural site for 1 week every year.

Aaah ok. Sorry but Coachella is 2 weekends and handles about what Glasto does in total. Rfid wristbands for everyone and no problems With the scanners cause everyone has to register their wristband ahead of time so the database knows who is good and who isnt. Lots of big fests use it already so its there to implement.

So you just want to tell me that glasto is really damn lazy when it comes to adding technology because they arent willing to invest since theres no money to do so anyway and will cope with letting people sneak in because theyre still going to get money from that lot via bars and food. 

Edited June 30, 2022 by Suprefan

[Pinhead]

5 minutes ago, Suprefan said:

Aaah ok. Sorry but Coachella is 2 weekends and handles about what Glasto does in total. Rfid wristbands for everyone and no problems With the scanners cause everyone has to register their wristband ahead of time so the database knows who is good and who isnt. Lots of big fests use it already so its there to implement.

So you just want to tell me that glasto is really damn lazy when it comes to adding technology because they arent willing to invest since theres no money to do so anyway and will cope with letting people sneak in because theyre still going to get money from that lot via bars and food. 

I'd rather they invested in bands and programming rather than an unnecessary technology as RFID bands that have more to do with marketing than experience and convenience.

[4AssedMonkey]

8 hours ago, Haj88 said:

I read this article today and this thread was the first thing I thought of

https://thequietus.com/articles/31725-glastonbury-festival-review-people-eh?fbclid=IwAR2D5NB3e9t8QmOCah3y9pDHFk7TOFnCtxe8USZoviE0PqlkwuXtYwKXmls&fs=e&s=cl

Great article.

[Dennis22]

1 hour ago, 4AssedMonkey said:

Great article.

It is, and it's how Ive felt, the last 2. Lots of it is an age thing, but it's, not just about being about being old. It's how the younger generation view and enjoy themselves. Now that's not my issue, and not there's, they deserve it, it's the best years of there lives, I just feel, that the new generation are not so much about the vibe, the ethos and the history of the festival I guess.

However that is a sign of the change in society, festivals and partying I guess.

Who am I to call out people enjoying themselves.. I won't do it.

I will say the festival will shift again, and the ethos, magic, community feel lost as we oldskool move on.

The festival has to stay relevant, sadly, things will be lost to make that happen and that's just life.

 

 

Edited June 30, 2022 by Dennis22

[Isaact]

On 6/29/2022 at 11:20 AM, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

 

Talking about overkill as well, I think someone else mentioned, why are there two dance areas? South East corner rivals and has taken over Silver Hayes now for years. They either need to divvy up the size of the DJs better so there's a more even split, or rethink one of the areas completely.

 

 

To split the crowds - you want counter-programming across multiple areas of the site to split it so that literally everyone awake doesn't go to the same place.

Silver Hayes needs bigger and better acts to draw more people away from SE Corner (I would argue it needs a Metal/Rock late night live tent too, to draw anybody looking for that kind of music, and a silent disco too), to keep the SE Corner less busy.

In an ideal world you want half the crowd in each area.

Edited June 30, 2022 by Isaact

[Dennis22]

4 minutes ago, Isaact said:

 

To split the crowds - you want counter-programming across multiple areas of the site to split it so that literally everyone awake doesn't go to the same place.

Silver Hayes needs bigger and better acts to draw more people away from SE Corner (I would argue it needs a Metal/Rock late night live tent too, to draw anybody looking for that kind of music, and a silent disco too), to keep the SE Corner less busy.

In an ideal world you want half the crowd in each area.

I was thinking before, that maybe the JP tent needs to be moved up towards Carmegeddon. It used to be up and coming bands, but is now filled with bands that draw big crowds.

Anyone coming from cider bus side can only pass from the top on a walkway.

 

 

[Pinhead]

Put Peel back where it used to be. Its lost up there and the routes to  / from are natural pinch points.

[Dennis22]

24 minutes ago, Pinhead said:

Put Peel back where it used to be. Its lost up there and the routes to  / from are natural pinch points.

Agreed on this. Or just schedule up and coming acts. Only one way in from the top, If not coming from the other stage.

Think if they moved it, and kept lineup the same it would move people out.

[Dennis22]

1 minute ago, Dennis22 said:

Agreed on this. Or just schedule up and coming acts. Only one way in from the top, If not coming from the other stage.

Think if they moved it, and kept lineup the same it would move people out.

Put Carmegeddon in the bin. 

We have the palais to watch movies, area is nothing short of a vanity project.

Edited June 30, 2022 by Dennis22

[august1]

feels like the whole site could do with a bit of a rework, it wont happen of course. I'd imagine any changes would have teething issues and unexpected consequences as well as positives. 

Would be interesting if they kept the pyramid where it was and ripped up the rest.

The way its naturally been built up and adapted over the years, now its reached peak capacity/size, feels like a bit of a sluggish beast. Where as smaller fest could be much more agile to change.

Edited June 30, 2022 by august1