1 major change

[BBC7BBCHEAVEN]

10 minutes ago, amfy said:

I have my doubts and I think I am now happier at festivals that give me the smaller different bits of Glastonbury now, rather than this monolith that is everything at once. It’s hard to let go though! 

This is where I am now, it could just be being older and less up for the party (not a fan of coke so my days of 6am partying are long gone)

I'm actually much more excited for Greenman this year. There are bands on the line up that I can't wait to see (The Delgados, the Walkmen, Les Savy fav, the Bug Club etc.) that for some reason Glastonbury just don't seem to book (not to sound like a  broken record, but the WG type of band)

It's got the vibe I like from Glastonbury, never feels rammed even on the main stage, and has a cracking beer festival.

I probably am just old.

Edited June 12, 2023 by BBC7BBCHEAVEN

[Xeph1995]

Just now, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

This is where I am now, it could just be being older and less up for the party (not a fan of coke so my days of 6am partying are long gone)

I'm actually much more excited for Greenman this year. There are bands on the line up that I can't wait to see (The Delgados, the Walkmen, Les
Savy fav, the Bug Club etc.) that for some reason Glastonbury just don't seem to book (not to sound like a  broken record, but the WG type of band)

It's got the vibe I like from Glastonbury, never feels rammed even on the main stage, and has a cracking beer festival.

I probably am just old.

It's interesting how we all have different ideals of what we like, I'm in the opposite boat, I actually don't like small festival as much were as some of my mates swear down by them. 

Glastonbury kinda spoilt everything else for me, Ive also never felt over crowded there. 

[Trunks1993]

44 minutes ago, goldfishboy said:

not disputing this (i wasn't there) but what are we basing this on

a fair amount of anecdotal evidence of people being spun in ect. There was a whole thread dedicated to it post festival 

[Alex DeLarge]

I think the problem with the line up this year (and how the festival line-ups are being shaped) is that it's very mixed up with what's popular in The Guardian/ 6Music. As Glasto pays less than other festivals, there are certain acts who would be happy to do it but it means you're missing out on a large chunk of other artists.

It feels like there's a lot of stuff that's just not on Glastonbury's radar at all.

That being said, last years lineup was pretty mad with popular artists from across genres: Paul McCartney, Diana Ross, Kenrick, Billie Eilish, Bicep, Little Simz, Phoebe Bridgers, Jessie Ware, Olivia Rodrigo, Burna Boy, Wet Leg, Bonobo, Sam Fender - a bunch of artists at their peak plus two of the biggest names in musical history.

[chazwwe]

My 1 change that is different from ' less people' a proper in/ out system for the Pyramid stage front pit. Be it in on the right/ out on the left or a in/out gate path. The crush between some sub headline/ headline acts have been anxiety inducing.

[goldfishboy]

'it's not the same as it used to be' - i've been hearing this for 30 years, i understand why people are precious about it but every year it's different and every year it's special. even spread over multiple weeks it would still be glastonbury. remember people said having a monorail would ruin the festival but it has only added to the vibe.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

Doing a side by side of the Pyramid, it looks almost exactly as good/bland as it did last year.

Diana Ross obv being a massive plus for 2022, but there's the ChurnUps this year to counter that. I'd much rather see Foos than Robert Plant. Or Lizzo over Noel as well. 

 

[Xeph1995]

1 minute ago, goldfishboy said:

'it's not the same as it used to be' - i've been hearing this for 30 years, i understand why people are precious about it but every year it's different and every year it's special. even spread over multiple weeks it would still be glastonbury. remember people said having a monorail would ruin the festival but it has only added to the vibe.

Granted I'm not as old as some people here but I've yet to not have the special vibe everytime I go, I think a lot of the 'its not the same as it used to be' is less the festival and more on them as a person and what they enjoy now. 

Edited June 12, 2023 by Xeph1995

[Skip997]

2 minutes ago, chazwwe said:

My 1 change that is different from ' less people' a proper in/ out system for the Pyramid stage front pit. Be it in on the right/ out on the left or a in/out gate path. The crush between some sub headline/ headline acts have been anxiety inducing.

Although it's not on the same scale Shambala tried this in their largest marquee one year. It was a complete disaster and made things worse.

The logistics would be very tricky.

[Skip997]

1 minute ago, Xeph1995 said:

Granted I'm not as old as some people here but I've yet to not have the special vibe everytime I go, I think a lot of the 'its not the same as it used to be' is less the festival and more on them as a person and what they enjoy now. 

Funnily enough "what I enjoy now" has changed, but not in the way you may expect.

My current musical preferences are much more in line with the late night DJ stuff than you might expect for someone of my age.

It's not the entertainment changing that's the issue for me, it's the numbers, the punters and the vibe. The later being almost impossible to articulate. It feels "forced", sanitized and homogenized. The spontaneous creativity just isn't there anymore.

[Leyrulion]

The biggest change I'd make would be more turnover of the stage designs. 

It's great that there's IICON, NYC Downlow etc. But the stages get built and then stay the same for 4 or 5 festivals. 

How great would it be if IICON, temple etc evolved into something that looked different each year.

And I'd add more stages to put effort into design like the SE corner and Shangri-la do. Acoustic, West Holts, even the park I'd love to see change it up with more set dressing. 

 

[maelzoid]

8 minutes ago, goldfishboy said:

'it's not the same as it used to be' - i've been hearing this for 30 years, i understand why people are precious about it but every year it's different and every year it's special. even spread over multiple weeks it would still be glastonbury. remember people said having a monorail would ruin the festival but it has only added to the vibe.

this year will be my 30th anniversary at the fest and it is absolutely NOT the same as it used to be. And that's why I keep coming back, because every year there is something new, something has evolved. If we were still watching Lenny Kravitz headline and then dance with a few tins next to a kebab van before passing out in the cinema tent, I'd have given it up years ago.

[clarkete]

One simple change - stop forcing these pour souls who don't like it from having to attend  😉

1. Crowds - as anyone who was there before the fence knows they were much worse in the past - don't listen to anyone yearning for halcyon days. 

2.  Massively reducing attendees - their reserves have hit rock bottom in the last few years so need replenishing.   Plus we all know that a major driver for ME having the festival has been the massive charity contributions.  

3.  You can't split or extend the dates as the villagers and council would get lary. 

[BBC7BBCHEAVEN]

16 minutes ago, Xeph1995 said:

 'its not the same as it used to be' is less the festival and more on them as a person and what they enjoy now. 

For me I just think it's overcrowded, which can be quantified in that the attendance numbers have increased massively while the space available hasn't really changed.

[DeanoL]

1 hour ago, Skip997 said:

Hopefully

How many "bucket listers" would take the chance that there would be no Elton Johns or Maccas.

Whole point of a bucket list is it's just a thing to tick off, post to Insta about and so on. The bucket-listers don't care about the line-up either. The folk it'd put off are the more discerning music fans who want to make a call on what festival they do based on the bands they like playing. I'm not sure those are the sort of people we want to put off.

40 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

It's not the entertainment changing that's the issue for me, it's the numbers, the punters and the vibe. The later being almost impossible to articulate. It feels "forced", sanitized and homogenized. The spontaneous creativity just isn't there anymore.

It's interesting you bring that up given a few of the earlier comments you made... certainly made me think. Like the vibe you wanted was in Maceos - right, but the reason that vibe isn't elsewhere may be to do with the fact that people in the crew that helped bring it... now have their own places and venture out less. Same with Dragon, it still used to attract the more odd element of the festival, but it was public camping. A hell of a lot of people who used to camp in Dragon every year still camp in Dragon, they were crew or crew-adjacent anyway. But if you were going for the first time and wanted to go camp there, you could arrive early and you very much could and go be a weirdo yourself! Now it's fenced off and those people keep to themselves instead.

 

[Skip997]

1 minute ago, DeanoL said:

It's interesting you bring that up given a few of the earlier comments you made... certainly made me think. Like the vibe you wanted was in Maceos - right, but the reason that vibe isn't elsewhere may be to do with the fact that people in the crew that helped bring it... now have their own places and venture out less.

To a certain extent this is true and is IMO the main, if not sole reason the Guerilla bar (for example) exists.

I leave it at that. It's impossible to go any further without appearing elitist.

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

3 hours ago, fred quimby said:

Give out mushrooms with the programme

Make the programme out of blotting paper

[Sack truck]

The phone signal improving changed the festival as fair bit for me in the time i've been going. A lot less human interaction as now, while milling about or waiting on stuff , instead of striking up conversation, people are on their phones in some capacity

[BBC7BBCHEAVEN]

Just now, Sack truck said:

The phone signal improving changed the festival as fair bit for me in the time i've been going. A lot less human interaction as now, while milling about or waiting on stuff , instead of striking up conversation, people are on their phones in some capacity

100%

this was also (with the advent of things like secret glasto) the downfall of the "secret sets" being an actual enjoyable thing.

Instead of wild rumours flying around the site for days, a twitter account just says who it is and that's that. Totally ruined the fun and mystery around any news that may or may not be true.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

3 minutes ago, Sack truck said:

The phone signal improving changed the festival as fair bit for me in the time i've been going. A lot less human interaction as now, while milling about or waiting on stuff , instead of striking up conversation, people are on their phones in some capacity

They should introduce some kind of traffic light system for (green) openly looking to talk in depth, (amber) open for moderate chit-chat, (red) leave me the f**k alone 😅

[Skip997]

4 minutes ago, Sack truck said:

The phone signal improving changed the festival as fair bit for me in the time i've been going. A lot less human interaction as now, while milling about or waiting on stuff , instead of striking up conversation, people are on their phones in some capacity

Same throughout society

[Sack truck]

Just now, Skip997 said:

Same throughout society

Agreed, Glastonbury was safe haven from it all until very recently though, and is worse off for it imo

[DeanoL]

10 minutes ago, Sack truck said:

The phone signal improving changed the festival as fair bit for me in the time i've been going. A lot less human interaction as now, while milling about or waiting on stuff , instead of striking up conversation, people are on their phones in some capacity

See that's a massive improvement for me.

[Tranquility of Solitude]

21 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

Whole point of a bucket list is it's just a thing to tick off, post to Insta about and so on. The bucket-listers don't care about the line-up either.

Not sure I agree with this, but that probably stems from the use of the term “bucket list” and how it’s now perceived in society.

To me, a bucket list is things you want to do or see before you die, that for whatever reason, you haven’t done yet. It has nothing ( in my opinion) to do with Instagram.

Attending Glastonbury WAS a bucket list item for me. I had watched and followed it avidly my whole life, and always wanted to go, but family circumstances (and geography!) made it very difficult, and I felt I’d left it too late, and that I was too old to enjoy it (I was wrong).

Attended my first one in 2015, purely intending it to be my only one, I.e. a bucket list thing.

Haven’t missed one since. Will go as long as I can physically manage it.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

Personally, perhaps as has been said before, the micro-venues in the SEC would be a welcome re-addition. 

Although, I understand it wouldn't work with how many people are on site, and some people don't like the artistic side or don't like reinventing old concepts (see CarHenge thread), but I loved it.