Headliners 2023

[DeanoL]

29 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

For sure it makes a massive difference, at least for me. But I'm not sure that the headliners have to matter due to the ticket cost. There is a huge amount of quality entertainment away from the Pyramid, both The Other Stage and WH regularly host big headliners, e.g. if you're more into Hip Hop than rock then Public Enemy are bigger than The Stones. Then there's the massive variety of top T&C acts, add up the cost of seeing them individually.

The reasons I'd never pay to go aren't related to who is playing. Have explained in another post somewhere.

Yeah there's great stuff and many a festival I've seen maybe 5 bands and then a load of Cabaret and Circus acts. My default is flitting between T&C and Avalon. If tickets were £200 still I could still justify that. But at the current price, I could do a weekend comedy festival, a weekend folk festival, and then go se La Clique or Cirque de Soleil. And probably still have £50 left over.

Everyone has a number of headliners they need to be in to to make it worthwhile for them. For you it's still zero, for me it's gone up to one for the first time with the price this year. For others I can understand it being two or even three.

9 minutes ago, Jose Pose said:

Blimey you don’t half over complicate things don’t you 😂

People don’t see GnR as “Gross” they just see them as a bit dated and having gone well past the point they would’ve been a relevant booking.

Sometimes the simple answer is the correct answer! 

Fair enough - It's certainly why I see it as a weird booking, so it's probably a bit of both. 

[nikkic]

50 minutes ago, Quark said:

Having three great pyramid headliners is kinda like someone cracking on to me as a married man.  I don't want to, but I'd like the opportunity to say no.

Laughed way too much at this 

[Matt42]

I can’t quite explain my feelings on GNR. It’s very mixed and often changes.

On one hand I think it’s a pretty uninspired booking for Glastonbury in 2023. They’ve been doing the same tour since 2016 with no new material and had some shoddy live performances. They are available because they’ve done the stadiums and played download already - so it feels like Glastonbury getting something that everyone else has had. Doesn’t feel like we’ve landed something special.

I know the context behind it plays a big factor. They couldn’t get Taylor and they probably wanted another big name in there to justify the ticket price. I just don’t think they really needed another heritage headliner. They easily could have taken a punt on someone newer and had AM and Elton there to balance it out. A newer act, a mid career (Arctics), and late career (Elton) is the balance they’ve done pretty well in 2022 etc.

I get the sense the band is probably very keen to play. Can’t help but think with the reputation of Glasto in the rock industry now that Slash/Axl know it’s a big deal and want to do it (or at least their management really want it).

The trio itself is a big one - but I don’t think getting three straight up massive acts always means it’s a good trio. It’s about balance. It is commendable that two of the headliners (GNR/Elton) are first timers - which overall is a good look for Glasto that they continue to rope in names who have never done it. I wonder if Glasto are prioritising big/heritage acts who have never done it before experimenting. 

It does make me wonder if AM is the weak link for me… if the headliners were Harry Styles / GNR / Elton it looks way better - or Dua Lipa / GNR / Elton. Hard to know.

Edited February 22, 2023 by Matt42

[ClementsMike]

If someone was born after the original Guns N Roses period and doesn't/hasn't listened to commercial radio since, its fair to understand that they wont know who they are. It's the only place I think play them these days, isn't it?

[The Nal]

GnR will have special guests. 

[stuie]

1 hour ago, DeanoL said:

 It's not worthwhile at the current price to go spend most of the day hanging around the Avalon Cafe, as nice as that might be. You have that experience for a fraction of the price at other festivals.

I appreciate Skip's attitude and approach, but it's worth noting he gets in for free and said there's no chance he'd ever actually go if he had to pay. You can look at it differently then, you're not concerned about getting value for your money. For those of us paying for tickets the headliners have to matter at this point as it's how you justify half the ticket price.

I’m not sure I agree with that to be honest. I don’t actually pay for a ticket with money these days either but I exchange 24 hours of work at much less than my hourly rate. 

Whilst it’s nice to have a pyramid headliner that ticks all my boxes l get my value from many other parts of the festival - the main stage isn’t the draw for a lot of people. It’s rarely unique or exclusive and there’s plenty of other places for this kind of thing.  The vastness of the offer is the main draw, whatever you are into. For me, block 9 and the house/techno is more important than the pyramid. Friends of mine spend most of the festival in The Park/West Holts. The top line of the pyramid isn’t the deal breaker for a lot of people. 

[Skip997]

1 minute ago, stuie said:

I’m not sure I agree with that to be honest. I don’t actually pay for a ticket with money these days either but I exchange 24 hours of work at much less than my hourly rate. 

Whilst it’s nice to have a pyramid headliner that ticks all my boxes l get my value from many other parts of the festival - the main stage isn’t the draw for a lot of people. It’s rarely unique or exclusive and there’s plenty of other places for this kind of thing.  The vastness of the offer is the main draw, whatever you are into. For me, block 9 and the house/techno is more important than the pyramid. Friends of mine spend most of the festival in The Park/West Holts. The top line of the pyramid isn’t the deal breaker for a lot of people. 

Out of up votes

[Alex DeLarge]

If you're talking about value for money then seeing Guns n Roses at the farm is a bargain, their solo tickets are extortionate. 

[DeanoL]

1 minute ago, stuie said:

I’m not sure I agree with that to be honest. I don’t actually pay for a ticket with money these days either but I exchange 24 hours of work at much less than my hourly rate. 

Whilst it’s nice to have a pyramid headliner that ticks all my boxes l get my value from many other parts of the festival - the main stage isn’t the draw for a lot of people. It’s rarely unique or exclusive and there’s plenty of other places for this kind of thing.  The vastness of the offer is the main draw, whatever you are into. For me, block 9 and the house/techno is more important than the pyramid. Friends of mine spend most of the festival in The Park/West Holts. The top line of the pyramid isn’t the deal breaker for a lot of people. 

Genuine question: are there not other cheaper options for house/techno events/festivals? There might not be, when I first started going Glastonbury *was* totally unique: very few festivals even had a comedy stage and Edinburgh was the only comedy festival in the UK.

But certainly now, for the bits of the festival I like the most, there are other places that do it better. There are comedy festivals everywhere, Outcider festival is very much just like Avalon but a few miles down the road...

I also get if you have massively wide interests, it offers something unique: if you are into the sort of acts on the Pyramid, but also Avalon, and also West Holts, and also The Park, and also the South East corner, and you want to see a bit of circus and comedy too... then yeah, you can get all that in one event, which you can't elsewhere.

But for anyone who basically spends the majority of their time in just one, two or three areas, there's probably a better option for you. Unless that one area is the Pyramid, because the one thing £350 is cheaper than is seeing three stadium acts.

[anditmakesmesmile]

8 minutes ago, ClementsMike said:

If someone was born after the original Guns N Roses period and doesn't/hasn't listened to commercial radio since, its fair to understand that they wont know who they are. It's the only place I think play them these days, isn't it?

or, perhaps like me, born well before GnR (55) but last listened to commercial radio with John Peel under the bedclothes.

[Zoo Music Girl]

58 minutes ago, dreams_burn_down said:

Pure speculation but would be overjoyed with any of these:

Angel Olsen
Yo La Tengo
New Pornographers
Suede
Weyes Blood
Spoon
Spiritualized
FKA twigs

Suede would be great there. Did they headline JP last time? Hoping they'll be there as my mate is a mega fan, but could also see them in the less great slot of subbing Other.

[Freddyflintstonree]

9 minutes ago, Alex DeLarge said:

If you're talking about value for money then seeing Guns n Roses at the farm is a bargain, their solo tickets are extortionate. 

Just because something costs a lot, doesn't mean it's valuable

[balti-pie]

59 minutes ago, Florian Saucer Attack said:

You've got me there.

Would Mozart have played R&L if it existed in 1775?

Much more of a Glastonbury booking, with how the pyramid stage loved a bit of zauberflote back in the day 😄

[t0paz]

17 minutes ago, stuie said:

I’m not sure I agree with that to be honest. I don’t actually pay for a ticket with money these days either but I exchange 24 hours of work at much less than my hourly rate. 

Whilst it’s nice to have a pyramid headliner that ticks all my boxes l get my value from many other parts of the festival - the main stage isn’t the draw for a lot of people. It’s rarely unique or exclusive and there’s plenty of other places for this kind of thing.  The vastness of the offer is the main draw, whatever you are into. For me, block 9 and the house/techno is more important than the pyramid. Friends of mine spend most of the festival in The Park/West Holts. The top line of the pyramid isn’t the deal breaker for a lot of people. 

Completely agree with this. I watched, and enjoyed Macca last year. I’d never have paid the money to see him on his tour and I’m glad I saw him again as he won’t be touring for much longer. But… standing around at the Pyramid for so long sucked the life out of me and I didn’t really enjoy the rest of the night because of it. Before I knew who the headliners were I’d already decided to give them all a miss this time around. I’m really looking forward to being elsewhere while the masses are at the Pyramid.

[Matt42]

15 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

Genuine question: are there not other cheaper options for house/techno events/festivals? There might not be, when I first started going Glastonbury *was* totally unique: very few festivals even had a comedy stage and Edinburgh was the only comedy festival in the UK.

But certainly now, for the bits of the festival I like the most, there are other places that do it better. There are comedy festivals everywhere, Outcider festival is very much just like Avalon but a few miles down the road...

I also get if you have massively wide interests, it offers something unique: if you are into the sort of acts on the Pyramid, but also Avalon, and also West Holts, and also The Park, and also the South East corner, and you want to see a bit of circus and comedy too... then yeah, you can get all that in one event, which you can't elsewhere.

But for anyone who basically spends the majority of their time in just one, two or three areas, there's probably a better option for you. Unless that one area is the Pyramid, because the one thing £350 is cheaper than is seeing three stadium acts.

Check out the new event fabric are running in July

[Nicklord]

1 hour ago, DeanoL said:

I think part of it is a weird cultural thing. I've said a few times, they're kinda gross. They ooze 80s/90s toxic masculinity, both in their attitude and their music. They are very much of that culture and it's not something they can really change.

But what's also odd, is that unlike many acts to whom that applies, there's also the fact that as far as well can tell, they've never actually done anything wrong. No abuse of partners, no sleeping with underage girls, no real actual nasty scandals. There's the one song with the racism which they've distanced themselves from, but there's no reason to cancel them. And people would love to cancel them, because, as I say, they're "gross". But they can't, because they appear to actually be relatively well behaved boys (and girl now).

But I think it's really hard to actually explain that, I'm not sure I've even managed it, it's the idea of their attitude being at odds with what you expect from Glasto.

(The Stones are in a similar category, but it was a long time ago when they played *and* they were undoubtedly a bigger booking)

The massive price increase.

It's not worthwhile at the current price to go spend most of the day hanging around the Avalon Cafe, as nice as that might be. You have that experience for a fraction of the price at other festivals.

I appreciate Skip's attitude and approach, but it's worth noting he gets in for free and said there's no chance he'd ever actually go if he had to pay. You can look at it differently then, you're not concerned about getting value for your money. For those of us paying for tickets the headliners have to matter at this point as it's how you justify half the ticket price.

Those lyrics by themselves are just awful, but if I remember correctly they were supposed to be read like: "this is how a redneck boy feels when coming to LA" or something like that

[Zoo Music Girl]

16 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

 

I also get if you have massively wide interests, it offers something unique: if you are into the sort of acts on the Pyramid, but also Avalon, and also West Holts, and also The Park, and also the South East corner, and you want to see a bit of circus and comedy too... then yeah, you can get all that in one event, which you can't elsewhere.

I think this basically describes me. There'll always be something on the Pyramid I want to see, even if early in the day, and I'll spend most time in Park and West Holts music wise, but I love the SEC if I can get in and I love a wander through the Green Fields. Never spend much time in circus and comedy but always want to. Love Avalon. So for me it's the vastness of the offer and the fact you get so many different festivals in one that keeps me coming back. No one headliner would swing that for me. 

That said, it's bloody expensive now. But so is everything.

[Zoo Music Girl]

Just now, Zoo Music Girl said:

I think this basically describes me. There'll always be something on the Pyramid I want to see, even if early in the day, and I'll spend most time in Park and West Holts music wise, but I love the SEC if I can get in and I love a wander through the Green Fields. Never spend much time in circus and comedy but always want to. Love Avalon. So for me it's the vastness of the offer and the fact you get so many different festivals in one that keeps me coming back. No one headliner would swing that for me. 

That said, it's bloody expensive now. But so is everything.

Shit I forgot The Glade. Love it there too.

[Mrs Dubs]

1 hour ago, Quark said:

Having three great pyramid headliners is kinda like someone cracking on to me as a married man.  I don't want to, but I'd like the opportunity to say no.

🤣🤣🤣 top comment ! 

[DeanoL]

The other possibility is that perhaps the programming at the SE Corner or West Holts or Silver Hayes is properly world-class like The Pyramid is, and I just don't know as I have no clue, not really being interested in those genres.

Whereas I know enough to know there are better folk-ish festivals than Avalon, and there are better comedy festivals than the Cabaret tent. Certainly the dance music areas have had a lot more investment than T&C/Avalon over the past 20 years so it's possible.

(Circus I know less about, but it certainly had a blip in getting large mainstream groups for a good a few years but was a big improvement last year).

So yeah to be clear I mean that "for me" the Pyramid is the only area of the festival I'm interested in that can't be beaten elsewhere. It's not that I don't engage with the rest of the festival, but the bits I engage with the most I know full-well are done better by other events, so it's silly not to go to those events instead if that's where I spend all my time.

Edited February 22, 2023 by DeanoL

[gfa]

1 minute ago, DeanoL said:

The other possibility is that perhaps the programming at the SE Corner or West Holts or Silver Hayes is properly world-class like The Pyramid is, and I just don't know as I have no clue, not really being interested in those genres.

Whereas I know enough to know there are better folk-ish festivals than Avalon, and there are better comedy festivals than the Cabaret tent. Certainly the dance music areas have had a lot more investment than T&C/Avalon over the past 20 years so it's possible.

(Circus I know less about, but it certainly had a blip in getting large mainstream groups for a good a few years but was a big improvement last year).

So yeah to be clear I mean that "for me" the Pyramid is the only area of the festival I'm interested in that can't be beaten elsewhere. It's not that I don't engage with the rest of the festival, but the bits I engage with the most I know full-well are done better by other events, so it's silly not to go to those events instead if that's where I spend all my time.

For dance the level of choice / variety is good because theres so many stages. Bookings wise though not sure the scale is that massive certainly not vs some stuff on mainland europe but in the uk its definitely up there

[Skip997]

4 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

The other possibility is that perhaps the programming at the SE Corner or West Holts or Silver Hayes is properly world-class like The Pyramid is, and I just don't know as I have no clue, not really being interested in those genres.

West Holts programming is way ahead of The Pyramid. It's the only big stage that consistently gets it right across the board and understands the importance of building up during the day to a proper party act as headliner.

 

Edited February 22, 2023 by Skip997

[kalifire]

1 minute ago, Skip997 said:

West Holts programming is way ahead of The Pyramid. It's the only big stage that consistently gets it right across the board and understands the importance of building up during the day to a proper party act as headliner.

I’ve always seen it as the biggest stage that doesn’t trade in prestige. It’s more important that there’s the right vibe and feel to that field. The larger two stages don’t ignore that completely, but it’s not the priority it is at West Holts. 

[Skip997]

1 minute ago, kalifire said:

I’ve always seen it as the biggest stage that doesn’t trade in prestige. It’s more important that there’s the right vibe and feel to that field. The larger two stages don’t ignore that completely, but it’s not the priority it is at West Holts. 

Spot on and well put. As a generalization the vibe is usually better at WH than at the other two.

[balti-pie]

If i'm wandering around and have nothing on my schedule, West Holts is typically where i'll find myself. Its a nip round the corner to t+c, tends to have interesting music, has reliably good food stalls, and tends to be much lower on the knobhead count