Williams Green

[Alvoram]

1 hour ago, Joshuwarr said:

I think it would be a hard sell to cut out the aspect that is actually popular at William's Green in favour of, as you've pointed out, the daytime gigs which clearly don't bring in much of a crowd.

I actually think the Thursday night was fine post Mel C last year, not too busy and we had a good night at Guilty Pleasures with it being quite easy to get in and out of the tent.

Problem with WG is it lacks a coherent identity beyond just being another stage with music. Great for the occasional great act but it could benefit from having some kind of theme and I'd argue its the perfect spot to do something new at the festival without compromising more popular areas.

Do you mean post Bastille? It was as busy if not busier for Bastille than it was for Mel C. It was bliss for Elvana though, had a great time watching them. We stayed there for almost the entire Thursday. 

Edited February 1, 2023 by Alvoram

[DeanoL]

1 hour ago, dotdash79 said:

I wonder where Guilty Pleasures will end up?

Back to Stonebridge Bar?

[gfa]

1 hour ago, Skip997 said:

Never been to Williams Green but knowing the location it's more open than Croissant Neuf, moving it there would cause worse congestion.

Somewhere in Silver Hayes may be better.

SH just kicked out the silent disco didn't they? wouldn't make much sense for like a festival later to get guilty pleasures in

[CaledonianGonzo]

49 minutes ago, Jose Pose said:

The Thursday stuff was idiotic, which is why I never bothered going there on a Thursday, but at the same time a lot of other places were very busy on Thursday as well, so all those people at WG who thought they could rock up and see Bastille were being kept away from other areas. Getting rid of it/the stupid Thursday stuff will only help that immediate area be less busy, but it won’t help the rest of the site.

My thoughts exactly

[dingbat2]

Williams Green has been my favourite stage for years and the Queens Head before that (and I think one of the Dance stages before that, I cant remember if it was East or West) - the line up was always one I look forwarded to seeing so I could check out the new upcoming bands, lots of new electronic stuff, and have seen some absolute gems in there, most recently WH Lung last year, but also the likes of Holy F&ck, Ulrich Schnauss and Snapped Ankles. There always seemed either a small crowd in there or it was totally rammed, so I think they needed to look at whether to have the bigger bands in there, I think part of the problem is some of the bands seemed to get a lot bigger between the line-up announcement and when the festival was on in June, Snapped Ankles for example

It would be a sad loss, I think the festival needs a new and upcoming bands stage, I assume they will have another stage somewhere else for these types of acts

[cloudbusting]

1 hour ago, Hutchmaster said:

Would be absolutely gutted if this is true. Had an excellent run one day in 2019 of Sunflower Beam >> Haelos >> Let's Eat Grandma; honestly one of the highlights of my three Glastonburys. Also saw Porridge Radio with a handful of people last year and it was excellent. 

Was a great place to go to get away from the crowds, too (Thursday the exception of course!). Will be a huge miss for me.

That Let's Eat Grandma set was one of the best I've ever seen at a festival. Pure joy end to end.

[idb]

I once had a chat with a guy sat next to me at the meeting point in Williams Green. He told me a story of how he was related to whoever the area was named after (William!?), and this person who had nearby land which the festival was held on had split it up into many shared plots of ownership so it covered all the family to be able to get free tickets to the festival. Don’t know how true it was or whether he was spinning me a tale.

[gigpusher]

17 minutes ago, idb said:

I once had a chat with a guy sat next to me at the meeting point in Williams Green. He told me a story of how he was related to whoever the area was named after (William!?), and this person who had nearby land which the festival was held on had split it up into many shared plots of ownership so it covered all the family to be able to get free tickets to the festival. Don’t know how true it was or whether he was spinning me a tale.

Isn't William, Michael's father or grandfather??

[BackpackFullOfWarmBeer]

Oh no, hope it's not true.  If so, I hope another stage can fill the void and take on a similar line up.  I'm part of the overseas contingent, and every year WG would offer a chance to see bands I liked, and who would probably never play in Canada. Was very excited to see Bill Ryder Jones there in 2019.  Halloweens and Caroline this past year.  Loads more from previous years....

[4AssedMonkey]

I can't see them just not having a venue of some sort on that spot though - even if it's just for late night stuff and smaller acts through the day.  Unless it's evidence of cost cutting and something had to give?

Maybe moving Leftfield back and rehashing the Glade/Leftfield area?

[Jose Pose]

I don’t see it being cost cutting and there being nothing there, I know we’re talking about Glasto here, but they aren’t completely immune from what can affect every other festival on the planet. Making cut backs like that really is a slippery slope and can very quickly become the beginning of the end.

[Joshuwarr]

2 hours ago, Skip997 said:

Never been to Williams Green but knowing the location it's more open than Croissant Neuf, moving it there would cause worse congestion.

Somewhere in Silver Hayes may be better.

I did think about Silver Hayes but I'm not sure a pop night like that goes quite with the serious vibe SH has in terms of curating line ups with credible DJs and dance acts. Could just be lost entirely!

[cdm22]

This is a shame if true as it always has one of the best line-ups of any of the stages over the weekend 😞

[wro_lap]

I seem to recall Emily once saying in an interview that she was planning a stage exclusively for upcoming bands from outside the UK, but she couldn't find the appropriate place on the site for it. Wonder if that might be the replacement?

[faymondo]

I stumbled over Confidence Man here in 2017 and been there many times since.

Sad news if true. 

[assorted]

This is really upsetting to me. I made it there once last year but I loved the lineup and was really counting on it this year to be a place for me and my partner to get away from crowds - that lineup (not Bastille or Mel C everything else) is always the closest to my music taste - I just only made it once last year because I was trying to get to and see so much other stuff. This would really, really, suck it's dispiriting if two years in a row it's just more and more tiny, unique stuff getting taken away.

[Neil]

never bothered with it, cos i knew it would just be rammed, and a rammed hoit tent isn't my favourite thing.

 

[leath02]

15 minutes ago, wro_lap said:

I seem to recall Emily once saying in an interview that she was planning a stage exclusively for upcoming bands from outside the UK, but she couldn't find the appropriate place on the site for it. Wonder if that might be the replacement?

that would be a cool thing 

[sisco]

4 minutes ago, Neil said:

never bothered with it, cos i knew it would just be rammed, and a rammed hoit tent isn't my favourite thing.

 

It was hardly ever rammed during the day tbf 

[Neil]

4 minutes ago, sisco said:

It was hardly ever rammed during the day tbf 

was never stuff i fancied in there on the main festival days, were other stges to visit then.

[Justcalledtosay]

The area didn't really feature for me last year, other than being a busy thorough way both on Thursday and most other times i was passing through. Maybe it's had its time. They should re-brand it as the Glastonbury Emerging Talent tent and ramp up that competition.

[Gnomicide]

Maybe they could go mad and call it the New Bands Tent.

[Gnomicide]

The Mary Anne Hobbs Something Very Special Stage.

The Lammo Stage!

 

[Alex DeLarge]

Just now, Gnomicide said:

The Lammo Stage!

Lineup:

Viva Brother
Menswe@r
Kenickie
Salad
Kula Shaker

[Avalon_Fields]

5 hours ago, gigpusher said:

Probably because they closed off all access to it which stopped people even going to other stages on the way to it like the bandstand. The Thursday hype acts definitely need rethinking. I've enjoyed many an act in there so would be sad to see it go but hopefully it's just a rethink and maybe a stage that can handle better the volumes of people. 

Yes, it got out of hand. There was lots of frustrated people as they blocked off the route from the bottom of the Acoustic field. I can’t see they’d have enough space in the existing area to accommodate more people.