Secret Sets. Best way to hear about them on site?

[CaledonianGonzo]

1 hour ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Social media existed in 2009. My memory is getting a little shaky but I'm fairly sure the NME spilled on Gaga in Dada.

My first Glastonbury was 1995 which was genuinely before social media (albeit the internet was alive and kicking) and there was a secret set - The Lemonheads in the Acoustic Tent.

We couldn't get in because of the enormo-crowd. It sucked. Crowd was way worse than anything I've experienced in recent years. Word of mouth did as good a job as the Secret Glasto account.

But as far as I'm aware noone immediately launched a campaign afterwards to stop secret sets.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

Don't think anyone has launched a campaign to stop it?

Like people have said before - quite a few times now - I don't think there was a "campaign", just people emailing GFL about their experiences with overcrowding for secret sets, or acts far too big for a specific stage and shutting the field causing problems, and the flow of people during busy times being poorly managed. Nothing wrong with that. Feedback like that is valuable to the safe running of a site with 200k in attendance.

I certainly hope punters who told tales of panic attacks, or said they were scared for their children's safety, that they got spun around by stewards back into oncoming traffic, had their tents trampled by crowds etc etc, are listened to with care and respect. Not condemned for "speaking out".

 

Edited May 28, 2023 by MEGATRONICMEATWAGON

[Skip997]

2 hours ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

The Lemonheads in the Acoustic Tent.

We couldn't get in because of the enormo-crowd

😂

[FloorFiller]

29 minutes ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

Don't think anyone has launched a campaign to stop it?

Like people have said before - quite a few times now - I don't think there was a "campaign", just people emailing GFL about their experiences with overcrowding for secret sets, or acts far too big for a specific stage and shutting the field causing problems, and the flow of people during busy times being poorly managed. Nothing wrong with that. Feedback like that is valuable to the safe running of a site with 200k in attendance.

I certainly hope punters who told tales of panic attacks, or said they were scared for their children's safety, that they got spun around by stewards back into oncoming traffic, had their tents trampled by crowds etc etc, are listened to with care and respect. Not condemned for "speaking out".

 

To be fair, I don’t think the secret sets were really a problem, or at least they weren’t last year - it was stuff like Sugababes playing Avalon with what seemed like half the festival trying to see them and the staff being completely unprepared to deal with it that caused the real chaos, and judging from all of the poster drops so far, the festival have mostly addressed this with nobody who seems way too big for their respective stages and the general reaction of ‘not as good as last year’ to the Avalon lineup adds up too. Sugababes could’ve easily filled out the Other field so sticking them in Avalon was just a baffling decision. I personally think the Woodsies and Park TBAs will be there come the full lineup drop. 

[stuartbert two hats]

9 hours ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

That just makes them a 'set'.

 

Not if who is playing is a secret. Then it would be a "secret set"

The Libertines in 2015 was a secret set. Just because nobody would have batted an eyelid if the were billed to play that slot, doesn't mean it wasn't a secret set.

[DareToDibble]

On 5/26/2023 at 9:18 AM, blutarsky said:

You can set up text notifications so you get SMS as well as Twitter notifications. 

 

Good point, completely forgot about that.

[clarkete]

9 hours ago, FloorFiller said:

Tbh, I really don’t see the problem with them having massive acts in Woodsies. Sure, the secret will undoubtedly be out long before the act walks on stage, and a bunch of people are gonna miss out - boohoo - but those dedicated enough to get there early and possibly make sacrifices are rewarded, and the stage/surrounding area is easy to close off so no chance of any real overcrowding. 

You may have felt that in the past, however for whatever reason (perhaps there was a reduced quantity of experienced stewards after the pandemic?) they didn't seem as good last year at managing crowds in that vicinity -  not from what I saw anyway. 

[clarkete]

3 hours ago, stuartbert two hats said:

Not if who is playing is a secret. Then it would be a "secret set"

The Libertines in 2015 was a secret set. Just because nobody would have batted an eyelid if the were billed to play that slot, doesn't mean it wasn't a secret set.

Yes I found out about it from here/secret glasto and later found out that the young lads I know who are big fans missed them as they didn't realise.