List your "frustrations" here

[bob323]

39 minutes ago, dg.bandol said:

Was debating whether to post on here as the festival, for a first timer, was absolutely brilliant and I would love to do it annually but this post struck a chord with my only "panic" moment of the weekend as the chairs debacle wasn't just during Elton.

We managed to get down the front for Sophie Ellis-Bextor and stayed through the end of Cat Stevens.  We left immediately after his set and couldn't find a way out of the front pit, left or right.  Ironically, there was (comparatively) lots of room right at the front but the further back you went there were people in camping chairs for the last 25% or so of the front pit refusing to move for anybody.  To the extent that I actually lost my balance in the crush of people that was building up behind me, also trying to leave the pit.  Tried to reason with a few of them, saying we were trying to get out, not trying to nick their spot etc and they steadfastly refused to move- even got called an ar*ehole as we were attempting to leave!

As a tall guy, 6'6, I managed to shout across to the security guys in between the crush barriers and he said if we were leaving just to come up and he would lift us over.  Amazingly, even after hearing this entire conversation, one person whose camping chair was set up right at the back barrier refused to get up to let us over the fence until the security guard told her where to go.

 

So, yeah, I would absolutely ban camping chairs from the front pit.  less of an issue with people sitting down on the ground- they were all fine as they would shuffle out the way to let people past but the chairs were downright dangerous despite the relative serenity right at the front and in the centre.

Final gripe, which is more bemusing than anything, was the sheer volume of litter strewn around the fields (particularly the Pyramid) which was just incredibly lazy.  99% of people had a backpack.  Just put your empty tins in there are find a bin when you leave!

the front pit needs some minor changes eg maybe an exit area like other festivals

 

I left the area after Royal Blood (awesome set!) but a fair number of us leaving just couldn't leave because people wanting to watch the Artic Monkeys was pushing to get in. at one stage I was being pushed back in to the pit

 

It took a huge collective push outwards to break the dead log, which to me could have gone seriously wrong with people getting crushed - people was screaming stop pushing - I'm over 1.8m and over 100kg and I felt a little danger

 

edit: I forgot to add, that in the pit (mainly near the rear) there where at least 4-5 groups of people - despite them having a fair amount of space to move and based on me trying to get out of the area, they was getting very territorial and actively stopping people walking past them. My feelings was that these people had never attended a festival before, had no clue what was happening and fed up of any movement near them - sigh

 

Edited June 28, 2023 by bob323

[BookAngel]

17 hours ago, Crazyfool01 said:

Completely new to me this … was this the first time this has happened ? 

The screen announcement was a good idea in theory, but in practice it didn't have much effect because the people sitting down couldn't see it! 😆

As soon as the audio announcement was made though, a whole load of people near me got up immediately. I'm sure there were a lot of people new to festival etiquette on Sunday.

[Supermerv]

13 hours ago, rebeccac said:

Glastonbury pushing normal festival goers to travel by eco friendly routes and encouraging Green behaviour on site (which I totally agree with and support) but allowing hundreds of no marks to fly in and out by helicopter. I’m talking about the likes of cara delevigne and holly willoughby plus others I know of who are not famous but very wealthy. They don’t add anything to the festival, the Eavis could easily ban helicopter travel for anyone other than headliners 

Couldn't agree more with this, unbelievable that a festival that preaches sustainability and environmental responsibility would allow a service like this to use their facilities (I assume its the on-site helipad that was used). Not to mention the public display of elitism and total lack of inclusivity that this type of service promotes.

 

That being said, I'll definitely be trying for a ticket next year!!!

[Clouds]

7 minutes ago, Supermerv said:

Couldn't agree more with this, unbelievable that a festival that preaches sustainability and environmental responsibility would allow a service like this to use their facilities (I assume its the on-site helipad that was used). Not to mention the public display of elitism and total lack of inclusivity that this type of service promotes.

 

That being said, I'll definitely be trying for a ticket next year!!!

There are several other helicopter landing zones nearby. The festival have no more rights to say how artists should arrive than they do regular punters (i.e none).

They are also very careful not to piss off nearby landowners by telling them what they can/can’t do with their own land.

Edited June 28, 2023 by Clouds

[Alvoram]

17 minutes ago, BookAngel said:

The screen announcement was a good idea in theory, but in practice it didn't have much effect because the people sitting down couldn't see it! 😆

As soon as the audio announcement was made though, a whole load of people near me got up immediately. I'm sure there were a lot of people new to festival etiquette on Sunday.

Didn't see the screen announcement, was stood up talking between sets, but had a small chair. As soon as I heard the audio announcement I knew things were 'iffy' and it needed to go away. 

Not new to festival etiquette, the chairs were going to go away before the start of Elton anyway, we'd already discussed this as a group. But the time in which the situation went from plenty of space to 'iffy' did catch me off guard a bit, and the announcement was a nice reminder / nudge. 

[Gacheezbo]

Biggest frustration was at myself. Saw a longdrop cordoned off with tape at 6am when walking back, thought it would be funny to take a peak. 

Curiosity killed the cat my friends.

[balti-pie]

1 minute ago, Gacheezbo said:

Biggest frustration was at myself. Saw a longdrop cordoned off with tape at 6am when walking back, thought it would be funny to take a peak. 

Curiosity killed the cat my friends.

hmmm, im curious now! i presume someone went for the stand and squat method, and missed? 

[Supermerv]

5 hours ago, Suprefan said:

Oh no, somebody is scared about a handful of famous people who flew in just to watch music. I bet some of your favorite artists hanging out flew in by jet which was worse than helicopter. Should we just ban celebrities? And the Eavii do not govern the skies.

Hardly the point, it's just not sustainable and the festival could influence it if they wanted to but they don't seem interested.

[steviewevie]

3 minutes ago, Gacheezbo said:

Biggest frustration was at myself. Saw a longdrop cordoned off with tape at 6am when walking back, thought it would be funny to take a peak. 

Curiosity killed the cat my friends.

???

[Gacheezbo]

Just now, balti-pie said:

hmmm, im curious now! i presume someone went for the stand and squat method, and missed? 

Was like peering inside the Chernobyl reactor, but more messy

[-TLR-]

9 minutes ago, Gacheezbo said:

Was like peering inside the Chernobyl reactor, but more messy

i thought the toilet facilities over the weekend were of a high standard.

until i took a visit to the long drops in Silver Hayes on Sunday afternoon.

f**king hell.

fuuuuuuckkiiiiiiiinnnng helllllllll

[Alvoram]

2 minutes ago, -TLR- said:

i thought the toilet facilities over the weekend were of a high standard.

until i took a visit to the long drops in Silver Hayes on Sunday afternoon.

f**king hell.

fuuuuuuckkiiiiiiiinnnng helllllllll

We said the same, much cleaner than last year, I'm either getting used to the smell, or it wasn't as bad and I didn't queue once!!!

But then we didn't do Silver Hayes from Saturdays onwards. 

[tjfish]

I'll join the 'its too busy' crowd. 

5 or 10% less would be ideal. I'm happier going once every few years if it meant I could enjoy it more! 

[BBC7BBCHEAVEN]

1 minute ago, tjfish said:

I'll join the 'its too busy' crowd. 

5 or 10% less would be ideal. I'm happier going once every few years if it meant I could enjoy it more! 

It's 100% too busy

Crowd management made this year much, much better than last year (every path was a total shitshow at all times of the day last year)

As others have pointed out though, this is only just manageable because of near perfect weather. 

This crowd + 2016 (or just slightly muddy) weather and it's going to be a serious problem.

[clarkete]

21 minutes ago, Supermerv said:

Hardly the point, it's just not sustainable and the festival could influence it if they wanted to but they don't seem interested.

They couldn't.

There are sites next door offering it and if the festival upset the neighbours they could very quickly put the future of the event in doubt. 

https://www.windinglake.co.uk/helicopters/

[CaledonianGonzo]

1 minute ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

This crowd + 2016 (or just slightly muddy) weather and it's going to be a serious problem.

Whilst the capacity has eked up a wee bit since then, the reality is that even 2 or 3% of Glastonbury's overall attendance could turn a pinch point into a trouble area.

But wet / muddy years alter the dynamics in other ways and there are fewer people moving around - either cos they're in their tents or they're rooted to one spot.

[Supermerv]

1 minute ago, clarkete said:

They couldn't.

There are sites next door offering it and if the festival upset the neighbours they could very quickly put the future of the event in doubt. 

https://www.windinglake.co.uk/helicopters/

You're telling me that a commercial & cultural behemoth on the scale of Glastonbury Festivals Ltd can have no influence on some tin-pot helicopter operator?

The fact remains that travelling by helicopter is not even close to being a sustainable form of transport, admittedly car transport isn't ideal, but it is the only option for the masses, and if Glastonbury is keen to promote sustainability then that needs to apply to everybody who attends, not just us proles.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Yet that's how the likes of Macca and Elton probably got there.

[The Nal]

6 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Yet that's how the likes of Macca and Elton probably got there.

 

Edited June 28, 2023 by The Nal

[BBC7BBCHEAVEN]

18 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Whilst the capacity has eked up a wee bit since then

 

If this is right and tickets have gone from 135k to 210k, that's a bit more than "eked up" (plus all crew / staff to cover those bigger numbers

 

https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/glastonbury-2016-tickets-sell-out-in-30-minutes/

[CaledonianGonzo]

13 minutes ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

If this is right and tickets have gone from 135k to 210k, that's a bit more than "eked up" (plus all crew / staff to cover those bigger numbers

 

https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/glastonbury-2016-tickets-sell-out-in-30-minutes/

Doesn't the 210k cover crew / staff?  I think the number sold to punters is closer to that 130k figure 

[gooner1990]

16 minutes ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

If this is right and tickets have gone from 135k to 210k, that's a bit more than "eked up" (plus all crew / staff to cover those bigger numbers

 

https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/glastonbury-2016-tickets-sell-out-in-30-minutes/

It’s 142k punters and 68k artists/crew/volunteers

[clarkete]

18 minutes ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

If this is right and tickets have gone from 135k to 210k, that's a bit more than "eked up" (plus all crew / staff to cover those bigger numbers

 

https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/glastonbury-2016-tickets-sell-out-in-30-minutes/

Why do you think they sell 210k,rather than it including others? 

[clarkete]

36 minutes ago, Supermerv said:

You're telling me that a commercial & cultural behemoth on the scale of Glastonbury Festivals Ltd can have no influence on some tin-pot helicopter operator?

Do you know much about the sensitive nature of the relationship between the festival and their neighbours over the years?  I'm guessing not - they certainly can't stop them running a legal and licensed service on their own land

ME has spent fifty odd years working on these relationships.

If they upset the wrong neighbours then no more behemoth, no more fun for hundreds of thousands of people and no more millions to charity.   

 

[Pinhead]

This is true - and the relationship between Michael and the farmer at Windinglake already has a history of tension. However he also cannot reasonably allow him to dictate his terms if in too stark a contrast with the festival ethos or message as it will undermine its credability.