Crowd control issues

[CaledonianGonzo]

The complaints outweigh the positive views on here after every festival. 

[Zoo Music Girl]

4 minutes ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

I don't see how anyone can argue against this. It's the first year I didn't leave feeling fantastic and actually thought I wouldn't recommend Glasto in the way I always have.

Surely forum vets can weigh in, has there ever been such massive levels of complaints / discussion on here after the festival? And that's only the tiny section that use this forum, nevermind Facebook/ Twitter complaints

I mean I've just been saying on the other thread that I've never seen as much negativity on here as I did this year post festival (negativity about the festival I mean, the Covid years were pretty negative in general!).

I didn't go this year so I have no fucking idea. I just remember that all of us sat at home watching on telly and thinking it looked great were pretty shocked to see all the people saying they were having a bad time. With hindsight I imagine those impressions have softened a bit, but yeah it was noticeable.

[MrBarry465]

When a festival gets to a point where crowd sizes are hindering peoples enjoyment - then it's done for mine.

There is always an oversaturation point and it appears Glasto has now hit that. 

[BBC7BBCHEAVEN]

4 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

The complaints outweigh the positive views on here after every festival. 

I'd be surprised if that was true, there lots of amazing sets and plenty of threads on people's highlights

I just feel like it was "being in the festival" that wasn't as enjoyable if that makes sense. Huge crowd movements and crushing, so many coked up arseholes, prices that were hard to swallow etc. just made the parts in between bands that I usually love feel more like a t in the park style festival 

[stuie]

27 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

Re "the vibe", it was definitely off this year. If people don't want to take this from me, then maybe they'll accept it when I say that several of my old crew mates and one of their daughters (14 year old, been going all her life) said the same.

 

22 minutes ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

I don't see how anyone can argue against this. It's the first year I didn't leave feeling fantastic and actually thought I wouldn't recommend Glasto in the way I always have.

 

I think we all need to remember that this was the biggest mass gathering since the covid lockdowns and for some people, the first time they'd been to any such event since lockdowns. 

Some people were struggling / readapting / anxious.  Some may have drunk more or done more drugs to compensate.  Lots of the security and staff were either brand new or out of practice. 

 

[Crazyfool01]

1 hour ago, Fuss said:

Hi all,

Long time reader first time poster.

I've been to a few Glasto's, and next year is the first time I'm not even going to try and get tickets in the last 10 years.

I freely admit I might be getting older (I'm 36), but I really don't think I can just blame age related sensibilities.

There was so much casual cocaine use, loutishness and violence this year (Yes, Arcadia usually has an edge, but it was EVERYWHERE this year). As early as 8pm the entire festival took a turn, the atmosphere nose-dived, and it became quite an intimidating place and there were a hell of alot of fights, knives and threats. 

I'm a season ticket holder for my local football club, so I see quite a lot of "lads lads lads" type behaviour, but it doesn't usually have the level of menace that Glastonbury had this year.

Don't get me wrong, the warm friendly sense of community and good times are still there in abundance during the day, but I don't want to go to half a festival again.

To me it looks like it'll go the same way as Reading and Leeds in the long-term. A real shame.

I presume you reported the knives ? If so that would probably show up in the crime figures … reported thefts were definately down …. In 14 festivals I’ve not seen a fight … cocaine use was more obvious I would say but nos seemed like it was down or less obvious these things change but didn’t really impact my festival whatsoever 

[GeezLouise]

I recommended glastonbury to someone on sunday and as I was saying it I was like 'do i actually think this anymore?'. last years festival really has me a bit iffy about next years. I'll still go if i can, obviously, but i'm really hoping they fix some of the crowd issues. 

I didn't see any knives though, except for the family next to me when they were cooking sausages.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

50 minutes ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

I don't see how anyone can argue against this. It's the first year I didn't leave feeling fantastic and actually thought I wouldn't recommend Glasto in the way I always have.

Surely forum vets can weigh in, has there ever been such massive levels of complaints / discussion on here after the festival? And that's only the tiny section that use this forum, nevermind Facebook/ Twitter complaints

This is the first time I've seen threads go on for so long with so many posts talking about the vibe or the crowd control issues. There are obv some negative reviews to any event, statistically it would be impossible not to, but on this scale before? No, this year there have been more.

It's been discussed on here for months now and plenty of people who have been to other festivals/football matches/concerts/holidays etc have said that it wasn't just because Glasto was their first large event after COVID. Find that quite an easy answer to offset any blame on the organisers.

 

[Skip997]

2 minutes ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

 Find that quite an easy answer to offset any blame on the organisers.

GFL have to take some flak re overcrowding. It seems like the extra 7000(?) tickets was a mistake. 

[BBC7BBCHEAVEN]

Yeah, not sure the post-covid thing works. For one, it doesn't address the main issue people seem to have which was just too many people.

 

It was also long after things had reopened and I would be very surprised if it was the first return to crowds for most people 

[dotdash79]

I think it was a combination of things:

Inexperienced security/ stewarding team with a lot of knowledge leaving the industry

Extra 7000 tickets sold will add more traffic

More people arriving on the Wednesday, due to the festival not being on for as long as well as rail strikes were also happening which would have brought people on site earlier

Reduced social interactions of the crowds leading to some unexpected behaviours

People not being used to being with that many people

[Hotchilidog]

Bizarrely I have to say I enjoyed last year's festival as much as any since my debut in 2009.

That said, this was in part because I just accepted the reality of not being able to run across site to see everyone on my list so I cut my itinerary to a more manageable one. I was able to pretty much have an experience during the Friday-Sun that was not impeded by some of the overcrowding I experienced on the Thursday.

For me the main issues were William's Green Thursday. Clearly a victim of it's own success, there needs to be rethink of the programming or spreading it out elsewhere, maybe something running over in Silver Hayes at BBC Introducing for instance. Maybe the Cabaret tent could open on Thursday?

Next up The Park. It's a place that can easily get overrun as bands booked ages ago find themselves more popular at the time of the performance. This  would not necessarily be a huge problem if the sound was better so that people further away could hear the stage. my problem at Wet Leg was not being unable to see the stage, but not being able to hear it from within The Park itself. 

Then you have the Park/Arcadia situation, not one I had a problem with but this seemed to be the most serious problem from the accounts on here. I'd like to think that the organisers have really looked at this in terms of signage and crowd control, maybe a SE Corner style oneway system could help resolve this issue.

Personally I had a great festival, and to be honest once I had figured out what was realistic for me I was not really inconvenienced by overcrowding. However I think the festival has to take seriously the accounts of festival goers who did have serious issues.

 

[stuie]

55 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

GFL have to take some flak re overcrowding. It seems like the extra 7000(?) tickets was a mistake. 

 

54 minutes ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

Yeah, not sure the post-covid thing works. For one, it doesn't address the main issue people seem to have which was just too many people.

I still think the majority of the overcrowding issues were down to poor programming rather than 7000 extra people. 

[CaledonianGonzo]

4 minutes ago, stuie said:

 

I still think the majority of the overcrowding issues were down to poor programming rather than 7000 extra people. 

Is it even poor programming?

Big acts playing small stages or anyone who's even vaguely noteworthy on the Thursday are always going to be stowed - in which case you either need to go early for a good position, accept a bad position if you dont want to spend ages waiting or swerve it entirely.

I'd hate to see them lay off surprises or secret sets because some people cant figure out the above 3 courses of action for themselves.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

1 hour ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

Yeah, not sure the post-covid thing works. For one, it doesn't address the main issue people seem to have which was just too many people.

 

It was also long after things had reopened and I would be very surprised if it was the first return to crowds for most people 

Exactly. I doubt most ppl went from hiding in their living room and the first thing they do is a 180k ticket, five day, event.

[Skip997]

7 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

I'd hate to see them lay off surprises or secret sets because some people cant figure out the above 3 courses of action for themselves.

"Secret sets" are a large part of the problem, mainly because they're not secret.

[The Nal]

2 hours ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

I don't see how anyone can argue against this. It's the first year I didn't leave feeling fantastic and actually thought I wouldn't recommend Glasto in the way I always have.

Surely forum vets can weigh in, has there ever been such massive levels of complaints / discussion on here after the festival? And that's only the tiny section that use this forum, nevermind Facebook/ Twitter complaints

Far far too many people on site. Way too busy. They need to cut at least 20k next year.

[aj6658]

Every single place I went felt like a slog. Every single stall in the arenas had massive queues. Some of the gigs were heaving. 

It was too busy and to the point I wasn't enjoying it. 

[Skip997]

9 minutes ago, The Nal said:

Far far too many people on site. Way too busy. They need to cut at least 20k next year.

Totally agree.

[Crazyfool01]

10 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

Totally agree.

so cut 20k and put prices up yeah ? Wouldn’t that be another thing you’ve been  complaining  about ? Or cut the money to charity ? 

[CaledonianGonzo]

24 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

"Secret sets" are a large part of the problem, mainly because they're not secret.

And so they should be binned because some folk get there late and have to stand at the back?

[Skip997]

2 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

And so they should be binned because some folk get there late and have to stand at the back?

You're missing or not understanding my point.

They become become massively overcrowded because they're always leaked.

[Skip997]

4 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

so cut 20k and put prices up yeah ? Wouldn’t that be another thing you’ve been  complaining  about ? Or cut the money to charity ? 

How about cutting production costs.

[CaledonianGonzo]

1 minute ago, Skip997 said:

You're missing or not understanding my point.

They become become massively overcrowded because they're always leaked.

I realise that- it's usually on here or on Secret Glasto that the leak occurs

I just dont agree that the fact that they attract big crowds is a problem and they should be scrapped as a result.

[Drinky]

Probably a bigger issue than secret sets is billed artists drawing 2-3x the capacity of an area (TLC, McFly, Wet Leg) while others play to tiny crowds on main stages (Rufus, bless him) which have been cut from 9 slots a day to 7.