Crowd control issues

[clarkete]

2 hours ago, Crazyfool01 said:

We will see but I’d imagine they need to maximise the numbers from a business point of view . I honestly didn’t find it too busy personally … but I didn’t go to any of the talked about sets somehow I must have avoided the busy food vendors too 

My experience same as yours, I didn't go to those sets, I avoided busy food queues and so had a great year. 

Where I was going between places that I expected to be busy I went a less travelled route or either chipped off just before an act finished or waited for folks to leave immediately after a set.  I had one point when we were heading to JP (maybe for Self Esteem but not sure) and we got there as the young crowd were leaving the previous act. If you go the wrong way you're swimming against tide coming through a choke point, so we just found an island and sat tight for ten minutes. 

For those who think the festival suddenly have tons of cash to either cut figures or splash out, it's worth checking this post from @incidentand the one below about infrastructure costs, plus of course their own statement yesterday. 

 

[CaledonianGonzo]

9 minutes ago, clarkete said:

My experience same as yours, I didn't go to those sets, I avoided busy food queues and so had a great year. 

Where I was going between places that I expected to be busy I went a less travelled route or either chipped off just before an act finished or waited for folks to leave immediately after a set. 

Same - but for me the key thing is that was by no means new for 2022.  It's always been the way of it.

[clarkete]

13 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Same - but for me the key thing is that was by no means new for 2022.  It's always been the way of it.

Yes. 

BTW I certainly would agree that some places there were either less stewards or they were less experienced - just seemed less assertive maybe than you'd expect someone to just get on a megaphone and shout keep left, stop or whatever. 

But I'm not surprised if some folks had to drop out after the covid gap. 

 

[Skip997]

4 minutes ago, clarkete said:

Yes. 

BTW I certainly would agree that some places there were either less stewards or they were less experienced - just seemed less assertive maybe than you'd expect someone to just get on a megaphone and shout keep left, stop or whatever. 

But I'm not surprised if some folks had to drop out after the covid gap. 

 

Green traffic still tend to do so and use whistles, which I found was very effective at gaining peoples attention.

One thing I noticed - in previous years there was a "security sweep" on the Wednesday in an attempt to weed out anyone without a valid wristband or accreditation, I didn't notice it this year - lack of security?

[clarkete]

13 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

Green traffic still tend to do so and use whistles, which I found was very effective at gaining peoples attention.

One thing I noticed - in previous years there was a "security sweep" on the Wednesday in an attempt to weed out anyone without a valid wristband or accreditation, I didn't notice it this year - lack of security?

Ah I was first timer in Sticklinch, noticed they were very vigilant about bands between there and the festival and back, wasn't sure why they did it both ways until I read here that some had tried to sneak through. 

Whistles would have been good, but tbh this was just where there were people and they could have taken charge but didn't. Tbh they were on the walkie so presumably would have responded if it became dangerous. 

[gfa]

43 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

Green traffic still tend to do so and use whistles, which I found was very effective at gaining peoples attention.

One thing I noticed - in previous years there was a "security sweep" on the Wednesday in an attempt to weed out anyone without a valid wristband or accreditation, I didn't notice it this year - lack of security?

Security was generally hard to attract all summer for festivals i'm pretty sure

[incident]

6 minutes ago, gfa said:

Security was generally hard to attract all summer for festivals i'm pretty sure

Recruiting staff has been an issue generally, across most festivals, for the past two years. That includes both paid and volunteer staff, and all manner of different roles.

My suspicion is that in a lot of areas Glastonbury would be somewhat insulated from that because there's a much higher returnee rate than average and a lot of the staff are drawn from outside the "festival circuit" (local PTAs etc). But in terms of Security I assume they probably struggled - everyone else certainly did and Glastonbury need more security than several of those everyone elses combined.

[Leyrulion]

5 hours ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

Yeah, I don't get the secret-not-so-secret sets. Putting huge acts on that close fields and interrupt flows of people, or people missing out on acts they'd otherwise plan to see. Feel like more of a fun thing for the organisers than others.

 

6 hours ago, chazwwe said:

Bastille shut down that whole side of the festival for an hour before they even came on. This then led to people being directed backwards and into on coming crowds trying to get in. That's poor programming. When an artist effects the area next to where they're playing. 

 

6 hours ago, Skip997 said:

How about cutting production costs.

 

6 hours ago, Drinky said:

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. 

I think a lot of this could be helped my being more imaginative about stage use. 

E.g. With relatively minimal reconfiguring you could fit out IIcon for live acts and have McFly type acts/secret sets there. 

[stuie]

20 minutes ago, Leyrulion said:

I think a lot of this could be helped my being more imaginative about stage use. 

E.g. With relatively minimal reconfiguring you could fit out IIcon for live acts and have McFly type acts/secret sets there. 

McFly in Block 9? 

Not feeling that. 

[gfa]

50 minutes ago, Leyrulion said:

 

 

 

I think a lot of this could be helped my being more imaginative about stage use. 

E.g. With relatively minimal reconfiguring you could fit out IIcon for live acts and have McFly type acts/secret sets there. 

It would save a bit on stage construction but its important to remember they'd need a second crew still as it would be open beyond the acceptable hours for the main crew. Crew is probably one of the major costs with some of the smaller stages that get used every year at the festival - although i guess you save lots on equipment hire which must be a LOT of £££

Edited October 18, 2022 by gfa

[Leyrulion]

32 minutes ago, stuie said:

McFly in Block 9? 

Not feeling that. 

You wouldn't necessarily call it block 9 in the day, but why not. 

5 minutes ago, gfa said:

It would save a bit on stage construction but its important to remember they'd need a second crew still as it would be open beyond the acceptable hours for the main crew. Crew is probably one of the major costs with some of the smaller stages that get used every year at the festival - although i guess you save lots on equipment hire which must be a LOT of £££

I sort of assume when suggesting this that you're moving that crew from elsewhere and losing what would have been on there rather then adding extra stuff.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

1 hour ago, Leyrulion said:

 

 

 

I think a lot of this could be helped my being more imaginative about stage use. 

E.g. With relatively minimal reconfiguring you could fit out IIcon for live acts and have McFly type acts/secret sets there. 

I just think at the absolute minimum, if you're going to keep the secret sets, put bands on stages which actually can hold them comfortably. Ezra should have been on Other or the Pyramid, McFly could have been in JPT, the Killers obv Pyramid or Other, and so on.

[tarw]

5 minutes ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

I just think at the absolute minimum, if you're going to keep the secret sets, put bands on stages which actually can hold them comfortably. Ezra should have been on Other or the Pyramid, McFly could have been in JPT, the Killers obv Pyramid or Other, and so on.

That looses the whole point of a secret set though. To me it’s seeing a big artist playing in an intimate setting that’s the draw.
Since the Radiohead debacle I think that all the “big” secret sets ( sorry Foals) have been in JPT that can be closed off without causing congestion to main routes. 

[Skip997]

10 minutes ago, tarw said:

That looses the whole point of a secret set though. To me it’s seeing a big artist playing in an intimate setting that’s the draw.
 

Hardly intimate if you're stuck half way up the hill in a huge crowd.

[tarw]

3 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

Hardly intimate if you're stuck half way up the hill in a huge crowd.

Fair point but I was talking about secret sets in JPT mainly. Wet Leg wasn’t a secret set. It was down to their management insisting they played Park so they could get publicity from it being rammed. 
I actually went to Wet Leg, saw the crowds and went

[Suprefan]

9 hours ago, Skip997 said:

How about cutting production costs.

So you want no screens and shitty sound? Every stage can be like the Park was all weekend or The Glade on Thursday night where you cant hear anything unless youre close and everyones just having a chat instead.

 

you need to invest more in sound and visuals so people in the back are ENGAGED. If youre in the back of the Pyramid field and still feel like youre up close with the crowd then you wont be bored or disinterested.

Edited October 18, 2022 by Suprefan

[tarw]

20 minutes ago, Suprefan said:

So you want no screens and shitty sound? Every stage can be like the Park was all weekend or The Glade on Thursday night where you cant hear anything unless youre close and everyones just having a chat instead.

 

you need to invest more in sound and visuals so people in the back are ENGAGED. If youre in the back of the Pyramid field and still feel like youre up close with the crowd then you wont be bored or disinterested.

I think that you are misunderstanding the back of the pyramid field. It is designed for the disinterested. You take your picnic basket and rug there and chat to your mates with a bit of background music. 😃

[clarkete]

1 hour ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

I just think at the absolute minimum, if you're going to keep the secret sets, put bands on stages which actually can hold them comfortably. Ezra should have been on Other or the Pyramid, McFly could have been in JPT, the Killers obv Pyramid or Other, and so on.

Agree - I think in the days of better connectivity and speedy information sharing you're right - it's harder than ever to have popular acts on smaller stages. 

They've often had popular acts that were well received on bigger stages.. 

https://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/the-libertines-secret-set-was-glastonburys-most-exciting-moment-in-years-heres-why-767640

[BBC7BBCHEAVEN]

8 hours ago, Zoo Music Girl said:

I think they were both 2011 (Radiohead and Pulp), one Friday and one Saturday.

They were both the same year. Pulp was fantastic, Radiohead is possibly the worst set I've endured at Glasto

[Guy Incognito]

 

The Park all weekend was a nightmare. Park hill on the Wednesday was so so packed. William's Green and the SE corner especially felt very very overcrowded this year too. Also the path along the back of the Other Stage next to the campsite was completely blocked pretty much every time I used it. 

They need to reduce the capacity, it's as simple as that. I'm not sure they will though. 

[Leyrulion]

2 hours ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

I just think at the absolute minimum, if you're going to keep the secret sets, put bands on stages which actually can hold them comfortably. Ezra should have been on Other or the Pyramid, McFly could have been in JPT, the Killers obv Pyramid or Other, and so on.

Or places you can't get to e.g. rabbit hole and Paolo nutini. And keep it secret. 

Tbh for me a secret set should be an artist that's already played/going to play doing another different set unannounced. E.g. acoustic/DJ/guest appearance. 

[Suprefan]

1 hour ago, Leyrulion said:

Or places you can't get to e.g. rabbit hole and Paolo nutini. And keep it secret. 

Tbh for me a secret set should be an artist that's already played/going to play doing another different set unannounced. E.g. acoustic/DJ/guest appearance. 

The interesting thing there is that with how Crows Nest announces daily it doesnt ever turn into a horrible mess in there if a decent sized act plays. Dont think I saw anyone say Big Thief was rammed to the gills when they played. Also, its kinda out if the way, so who wants to go all the way back to the park, up the hill for that set in the evening.

Jack White was pretty full on Sunday. Getting out of The Park was not pleasant and they had done that re routing of the paths to control it better.

it just felt way too busy on Thursday more than anything because there was nothing to do. No point being in The Park at all that evening. And considering it was an area that had so much going on they probably should have a couple of acts play there. not like anyone can hear anything if youre on the hill as it is. The Williams Green thing needs to be fixed for sure for starters. It was bad at 4pm, whats the use into going around there even to look at the food stalls or traders if every queue is a mile long for no reason. Although the quickest bite to eat I had all weekend was during TLC causs nobody was getting food.

 

Edited October 19, 2022 by Suprefan

[Reckoner]

Appreciate there are probably all sorts of sound and license restrictions but watching the crowd at west holts on Thursday afternoon go off to the Toto - Africa soundcheck only for it to then stop, sucking the life out of the crowd who then all started to wander off in search of something feels like a missed opportunity to use a large space to keep people entertained 

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

10 hours ago, tarw said:

That looses the whole point of a secret set though. To me it’s seeing a big artist playing in an intimate setting that’s the draw.
Since the Radiohead debacle I think that all the “big” secret sets ( sorry Foals) have been in JPT that can be closed off without causing congestion to main routes. 

The whole point of a SS is wasted anyway. 

Like the article (already from 2015 they were saying SS had lost their sparkle) from Clarkete, Lisa Wright writes:

The thing about secret sets is that they’re not normally that secret. Come early afternoon, the entire site has cottoned on and come gig time, it’s almost the same entrance as watching a billed band.

With that in mind and the fact everyone can pass on said info at the click of a button, it's totally lost any magic.

Really intimate would be putting GnR on in the Rabbit Hole and letting the masses squeeze through the tunnels. That would be really ace.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

8 hours ago, Leyrulion said:

Or places you can't get to e.g. rabbit hole and Paolo nutini. And keep it secret. 

Tbh for me a secret set should be an artist that's already played/going to play doing another different set unannounced. E.g. acoustic/DJ/guest appearance. 

Ha, just saw this before I wrote my earlier comment. 

I like the idea of a bigger artist perhaps popping up somewhere else, but I feel like the size of the stage still needs to be almost like for like.

The Paolo Nutini one sounds like it actually was secret before he went on or otherwise it would've been bedlam.