Smallest crowds on big stages/biggest crowds on small stages?

[BBC7BBCHEAVEN]

4 hours ago, found home in 2009 said:

Was the Frightened Rabbit one when the stages stopped for a while due to thunder and lightning? Think they were on after everything restarted, but it was still pouring with rain and schedules were all a bit off. I was at that, ended up on tv. Must have been about 200 people max. Definitely the smallest crowd I've seen at a main stage, shame as they were a brilliant live act

I'm so confused by this. I'm sure I saw Frightened Rabbit play in Williams Green, it was absolutely rammed and was an unreal gig, Scott was clearly pretty hammered and seemed to be loving it.

When I search now though it says they've played the other stage and John peel.

Can anyone confirm / deny the WG set? I'm worrying I've started creating false gig memories 

[Isaact]

50 minutes ago, gfa said:

calling wizkid now for smallest on big stage

It'll definitely be the smallest crowd that get to watch a Wizkid concert.

Glastonbury is too white for otherwise.

Burna Boy last year was similar - we got an incredibly intimate gig for an Other Stage performance from a performer who would sell out a stadium anywhere else.

[Ashl]

I remember 2016 it must have been walking through The Gully stage area, only to find there was an act on and I was now the only person watching... felt so bad!

Emile Sande and Adam Cohen at very different times of the day spring to mind as two small crowds on the main stages.

[tazbang]

As I work John Peel/Woodsies I get to see some of the biggest and smallest:

Biggest:

• Killers - rammed for act before (Frank Carter) and had to shut the field
• Mumford & Sons - in the old field, spilt out into the tents behind the field
• Ting Tings - before my time, but known for being rammed

Smallest

• Glasvegas - started small, and then people were leaving, can't have been more than 50 people by the end

First act of the day is normally quiet, but never as quiet as Glasvegas headlining. Biggest crowds are generally early evening when not competing against the main headliners.

[catavento]

1 hour ago, Beerqueen said:

This made me incredibly sad.  I only discovered Frightened Rabbit after Scott Hutchison died and it just make me sad to think he will have seen a small crowd when he played Glasto.  I dunno sometimes young men's (well anyone's really) mental health scares me.

If it helps, I recall them playing the Other on another occasion, must have been 2010. The crowd was alright then and it was a sunny early afternoon (basically it never stopped being roasting that weekend from memory?), and Scott was talking about how made up he was to be sharing a stage with the Hold Steady, who were up after them.

[TheNewUnion]

Panic at The Disco headlined Other in 2008, walked past and the crowd was tiny. Rolf Harris was scary busy at Jazz/World and Rag N Bone Man on Other was also scary busy (I think someone got run over by at tractor on the old railway line)

[Barneym]

28 minutes ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

I'm so confused by this. I'm sure I saw Frightened Rabbit play in Williams Green, it was absolutely rammed and was an unreal gig, Scott was clearly pretty hammered and seemed to be loving it.

When I search now though it says they've played the other stage and John peel.

Can anyone confirm / deny the WG set? I'm worrying I've started creating false gig memories 

Yep JP in 13. WG and other in 16

[philipsteak]

4 hours ago, FuzzyDunlop said:

 

I was at the West Holts - Janelle Monae's crowd wasnt that big tbh. 

So then.. where did everyone go?! 

 

4 hours ago, Gacheezbo said:

I believe The Streets was absolutely rammed at John Peel

Yeah, they had to shut the field. 

 

Smallest Pyramid crowd I've seen was Rufus Wainwright last year. Was tiny. I enjoyed it though.

[Badlands]

Newton Faulkner at Other in 08. Still cannot fathom how it was so busy for him. Probably the biggest crowd I’ve seen there

[catavento]

Smallest big stage crowd, come to think of it, probably Bleachers in the John Peel. Just wandered in on my way back to the tent, had no idea who they were. The crowd must have been in double figures, including people milling around at the back, so I wasn't alone in that. 

Of course it turned out it was Jack Antonoff's other band, and he's gone on to be successful enough as a producer to not even remember performing to me and about 60 others.

[BBC7BBCHEAVEN]

2 hours ago, philipsteak said:

 

Yeah, they had to shut the field. 

 

Smallest Pyramid crowd I've seen was Rufus Wainwright last year. Was tiny. I enjoyed it though.

I've definitely seen worse than that.

For me the all time criminal booking was when the Raconteurs got stuck on the pyramid at like 2pm. Hardly anyone there and such an incredible band.

For me they should have been John Peel or the Park very late on

[found home in 2009]

4 hours ago, BackpackFullOfWarmBeer said:

I don't recall that they had to stop the stage due to lightning, but the Other Stage schedule was a bit messed up that day with James starting late due to the mud.  They were trucking in tons of woodchips to put down before the show started, and I think it was almost an hour late.

That FR is one you can find on YouTube, and I still watch it quite a bit.  Regarding the set getting cut short, Scott's got some funny banter along the lines of, "Grant says f*ck it, keep playing.  Usually he's the sensible one...".  Miss those guys.

My memory must have been playing tricks on me. I've combined 2 rainy/muddy days from different years into 1 in my head. Seems it was a 2014 the stages were stopped due to lightning and FR didn't play that year:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-28056363



I think both years I came out of John Peel after rain stopped heading to Other stage with no idea what was happening with times. Now I think of it 1 year I gave up on seeing Foster the People after Crystal Fighters in JP (and stages stopping), and the other I met my mate at the front who told me Frightened Rabbit hadn't started yet, when I thought I'd maybe missed them after seeing Rat Boy in JP (looking back at that lineup I missed Christine and the Queens for Ratboy, what a horrendous decision with hindsight). 

[mario man]

SFA crowd when they headlined Other in 03 was apparently small, up against Radiohead, but I wouldn’t have known as I was down the front & loving it 

On a smaller stage, I saw Madness in Lost Vagueness Ballroom (07?) and it was so packed and hot in there it was raining condensation from the ceiling 

[found home in 2009]

3 hours ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

I'm so confused by this. I'm sure I saw Frightened Rabbit play in Williams Green, it was absolutely rammed and was an unreal gig, Scott was clearly pretty hammered and seemed to be loving it.

When I search now though it says they've played the other stage and John peel.

Can anyone confirm / deny the WG set? I'm worrying I've started creating false gig memories 

I don't remember this, but they have played lots of years, so it's quite plausible they did an extra gig one year. I've seen them in 2010, 2012 and 2016 at Glastonbury, but believe they also played 2013, which I missed. Might be worth checking line ups from those years?

[Watergirl]

4 hours ago, Beerqueen said:

I think that might be a different time, the one that was small was on Other I think.

Ah, I see. I didn't know them terribly well but loved 'Swim...' and went on the strength of that.

[1986]

Remember having plenty of space round us at Public Enemy on WH in 2013. Think everyone was at The Stones. Similar vibe at St Vincent last year as people have said.

Both were great though, particularly the latter.

 

[BBC7BBCHEAVEN]

7 hours ago, found home in 2009 said:

I don't remember this, but they have played lots of years, so it's quite plausible they did an extra gig one year. I've seen them in 2010, 2012 and 2016 at Glastonbury, but believe they also played 2013, which I missed. Might be worth checking line ups from those years?

Yeah they played twice, the other stage set was really early so I assume most people just opted for the Williams Green set, which was incredible, could barely get in the tent and the crowd were loving it

 

https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/line-up/line-up-2016/

 

Can't find any videos of the WG set unfortunately but here's the other stage set (that is a very small crowd!)

https://youtu.be/BQvEjTMQaSk

Edited June 13, 2023 by BBC7BBCHEAVEN

[FuzzyDunlop]

11 hours ago, tazbang said:

As I work John Peel/Woodsies I get to see some of the biggest and smallest:

Biggest:

• Killers - rammed for act before (Frank Carter) and had to shut the field
• Mumford & Sons - in the old field, spilt out into the tents behind the field

It did that for Royal Blood too in 2014. That's the busiest Ive seen there

[Drinky]

We wandered through BBK in 2017 and it wasn’t busy but it also wasn’t embarrassing - it was a honking booking putting them up against Sheeran. Excuse the terrible photo but there are more than a few hundred there

 

[deepkittycaz]

5 minutes ago, Drinky said:

We wandered through BBK in 2017 and it wasn’t busy but it also wasn’t embarrassing - it was a honking booking putting them up against Sheeran. Excuse the terrible photo but there are more than a few hundred there

 

Plus all the cool kids were at Justice.

[gooner1990]

Orbital headlining the Other Stage in 2010 (up against Stevie Wonder) was quite small.

Also LCD in 2016.

[clarkete]

7 minutes ago, gooner1990 said:

Orbital headlining the Other Stage in 2010 (up against Stevie Wonder) was quite small.

Also LCD in 2016.

I would love to have seen the latter, but the combination of weather and terrain meant wherever I was I just concluded "that ain't happening" 

[FuzzyDunlop]

20 minutes ago, Drinky said:

We wandered through BBK in 2017 and it wasn’t busy but it also wasn’t embarrassing - it was a honking booking putting them up against Sheeran. Excuse the terrible photo but there are more than a few hundred there

 

It was probably just as they came on when I walked past. I did hear it got a bit busier

[-TLR-]

14 hours ago, ChemicalBrother said:

5 people were shot in 1994, definitely edgier. 

one of the biggest crowds at a big stage i ever got caught in was Bjork on NME stage in 1994.

i didn't know at the time but the reason was the field had been shut off because of the shooting and everyone was just stuck there.

what was weird was in amongst that whole crowd i looked to my side and i was standing right next to someone i knew from home... no idea he would be at the festival, no plans to meet... and there he was!

i always found that funny about the festival back in the day (no phones) - if you actually planned to meet someone it would never happen.. but the amount of times you just bump into people!

[Drinky]

7 minutes ago, FuzzyDunlop said:

It was probably just as they came on when I walked past. I did hear it got a bit busier

I think we ended up wandering by because Shaggy in the Gully was too packed. Not many people around us were into it and I think they finished very early (barely more than an hour into the slot). Weird booking all round really