The Rabbit Hole / micro venues

[Isaact]

Wanted to make it in there this year, and found the entrance in the tree, but we got there at about 2am on Saturday and were told in no uncertain terms that there wasn't a chance of us coming in that night due to health and safety.

Never made it back.

What was in there? Was it just a stage and a bar, or were there other interactive experiences?

Felt the festival really lacked any kind of interactive / performance art stuff that it usually had this year, I presume due to money, but didn't find a single microvenue in Shangri-la either. Did anybody else?

[banananey]

Got in the queue around half 8 on the Sunday.

Think we were supposed to go in at 9 but after a bit of delay they started letting people in around 9:20.

Short story - there were various performances & interactive things.

Longer, spoilery version:

There were people dressed as various Alice In Wonderland characters outside. Group of people had some teacups and Alice let them skip the queue.
Got to the front of the queue and had to crawl through the Mad Hatter's legs to get into the tree. Had loads of cool decorations inside, crawled through some more legs then someone gave me a flying saucer sweet.
Then Tweedle-Dee & Tweedle-Dum were by two doors and I had to pick one. My partner & I also had propeller hats which they loved. I went through the 'Dum!' door which let to a tunnel I had to crouch-walk through & out of a large vagina into a larger Wonderland themed area.

This area had a bar which only sold cocktails at a tenner each (only had the 1). There was a stage with various performers, I remember a drag performer & someone called LYNKS. They also brought members of the audience on stage for various games like a dating show.
There was also a club bit with DJs & sometimes Alice & some mushrooms would dance on it.
The Queen Of Hearts also came out and played hedgehog croquet with Alice.

Had so much fun there we stayed until 3am and missed all the Sunday headliners. Apparently the likes of Louis Theroux, Noel Gallagher & Rita Ora were about but I didn't see them.

Would definitely recommend going in at least once but definitely best to get in the queue pre-9 to really experience everything.

[gfa]

10 minutes ago, banananey said:

Had so much fun there we stayed until 3am and missed all the Sunday headliners. Apparently the likes of Louis Theroux, Noel Gallagher & Rita Ora were about but I didn't see them.

I think i saw either here or on tiktok that someone met louis theroux at a service station on the way home! 🙂 sounds like a great time that

[PassingCloud]

So what time does the RH open? My young son went to ask the doormen and was told midnight, yet it seems plenty of people in there in the daytime. 
Were they just being a-holes? 

[Talcroft]

52 minutes ago, PassingCloud said:

So what time does the RH open? My young son went to ask the doormen and was told midnight, yet it seems plenty of people in there in the daytime. 
Were they just being a-holes? 

I was working in Park Bar directly opposite. On the Sat night people were queuing from about 20.30 and I think they started letting people in about 22.00.

[stuie]

1 hour ago, PassingCloud said:

So what time does the RH open? My young son went to ask the doormen and was told midnight, yet it seems plenty of people in there in the daytime. 
Were they just being a-holes? 

The bar at the front was open in the daytime for cocktails, the rabbit hole not until 22:00.

[Pinchy87]

.

Edited July 2, 2022 by Pinchy87

[Pinchy87]

On 7/1/2022 at 8:18 AM, Isaact said:

Wanted to make it in there this year, and found the entrance in the tree, but we got there at about 2am on Saturday and were told in no uncertain terms that there wasn't a chance of us coming in that night due to health and safety.

Never made it back.

What was in there? Was it just a stage and a bar, or were there other interactive experiences?

Felt the festival really lacked any kind of interactive / performance art stuff that it usually had this year, I presume due to money, but didn't find a single microvenue in Shangri-la either. Did anybody else?

Yeah I felt like this too, normally much more going on in Shangri-la but I guess all due to budget cuts from the money lost over Covid? 

Would have loved to have gone in the Rabbit Hole secret part, I always assumed it was a myth and just took you into another plain tent with music playing!

Edited July 2, 2022 by Pinchy87

[glasto360]

On 7/1/2022 at 8:18 AM, Isaact said:

Wanted to make it in there this year, and found the entrance in the tree, but we got there at about 2am on Saturday and were told in no uncertain terms that there wasn't a chance of us coming in that night due to health and safety.

Never made it back.

What was in there? Was it just a stage and a bar, or were there other interactive experiences?

Felt the festival really lacked any kind of interactive / performance art stuff that it usually had this year, I presume due to money, but didn't find a single microvenue in Shangri-la either. Did anybody else?

"Felt the festival really lacked any kind of interactive / performance art stuff that it usually had this year, I presume due to money, but didn't find a single microvenue in Shangri-la either. Did anybody else?"

Yup - this summarizes my feelings quite well - missed finding microvenues, little doors with something unexpected behind it, more performers and theatrics in some areas.

Also this film from Arcadia 2011 takes me back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5w1taLehRjo

 

[Chip Batch]

If there are budget cuts, it seems strange they must spend so much on Glastonbury on Sea. It must have been a two month build for that on it's own? A crane for the duration of it too. I had a walk round Sunday for 15 minutes, thought it was a pretty cool idea and that was it. As much as it's good they do all this stuff I didn't really think it justified all the expense on that one. Would like to have seen the robot musician thing though. They looked impressive.

[stereodista]

5 minutes ago, Chip Batch said:

If there are budget cuts, it seems strange they must spend so much on Glastonbury on Sea. It must have been a two month build for that on it's own? A crane for the duration of it too. I had a walk round Sunday for 15 minutes, thought it was a pretty cool idea and that was it. As much as it's good they do all this stuff I didn't really think it justified all the expense on that one. Would like to have seen the robot musician thing though. They looked impressive.

Definitely felt like a cool thing in 2019, but more as a one-off as it’s in no way a venue. Second time of asking, it’s a bit tired. 

[Chip Batch]

1 minute ago, stereodista said:

Definitely felt like a cool thing in 2019, but more as a one-off as it’s in no way a venue. Second time of asking, it’s a bit tired. 

I missed 2019, so it was the first time I'd seen it but yeah, definitely felt it won't be there every year. They could probably sell the steelwork for a fortune now too 😀

[Lushroom]

1 hour ago, Chip Batch said:

If there are budget cuts, it seems strange they must spend so much on Glastonbury on Sea. It must have been a two month build for that on it's own? A crane for the duration of it too. I had a walk round Sunday for 15 minutes, thought it was a pretty cool idea and that was it. As much as it's good they do all this stuff I didn't really think it justified all the expense on that one. Would like to have seen the robot musician thing though. They looked impressive.

The robot band were amazing! I've seen similarish concepts before with 'mechanical bands', but this was genuinely well done and worth watching as a legitimate set.

Also it's been decades since I've watched a Punch and Judy show, and we mainly just sat for a breather, but whoever was doing it was so engaging we ended up staying through the whole thing.