List your "frustrations" here

[Chicken Bob]

2 hours ago, steviewevie said:

can't they do two tickets, one from weds, and another a bit cheaper from thurs onwards? and they keep some fields (further out) free for those arriving on thurs/fri? or is that stupid and unworkable. Just that not everyone wants or can go for the full 5 days, but if you go any later then weds you're going to struggle to find anywhere to camp. Would also mean maybe fewer crowd issues on the thursday?

Don’t be silly. No one would leave after their wed/thurs ticket expired 

[lukemack]

3 minutes ago, Chicken Bob said:

Don’t be silly. No one would leave after their wed/thurs ticket expired 

😂they mean a Wednesday entry & Thursday entry ticket.

Something the festival may look at, at one point I guess. When paying your balance extra £20 for Wednesday, £10 for Thursday. Likely too much hassle at the gates though

[Memory Man]

I like the idea of reserving a campsite for thursday arrivals - surely doable. Everyone knows where they stand there & nobody disadvantaged etc

in our campsite a group got annoyed as someone put a fairy sized tent in the middle of their group late weds / early thurs. Obvious answer being if you want a communal space the size of a 4 man tent, expect someone to camp in it!

[BBC7BBCHEAVEN]

On 6/25/2023 at 1:31 PM, eddie_corrigan said:

Genuinely think Elton might be peak picnic this year and blood could be spilled….

Just seen on the family group a few people ended in blows because of idiots falling into prams / children 

There needs to be a dedicated family area. We went out of way to be far back, in behind some bins near other families and made a line around kids/prams - still we had coked up / pissed up arseholes cutting through the crowd hitting the bins, then trying to climb over literal children.

I said it last year, but I think there's been a huge demographic shift over the last decade, and it's towards absolute dicks. (Either that or it's just the cheap coke that's flooding the country turning people into them)

[DeanoL]

27 minutes ago, Memory Man said:

I like the idea of reserving a campsite for thursday arrivals - surely doable. Everyone knows where they stand there & nobody disadvantaged etc

This should be Backhouse that does that already? Did it this year?

Honestly we've camped in Rivermead until this year and there's always been plenty of space there even on a Thursday. There and Pylon were always the "unofficial" late arrivals fields. Giving over that space to staff camping was not well thought through.

And when the staff and hospitality campsites are in the middle of the festival, it's also clear that they didn't need all that space either.

A radical solution would be to change hospitality and staff camping to entirely pre-erected sites, thus ensuring the precise amount of space needed is used and not any excess. Fit more staff on site that way, and have some offsite camping for staff available as an option if folks don't want to do that. (And for god's sake make sure the pre-erected staff camping has blackout linings).

I suspect what we'll actually see is more of the campervan space eaten into and more campervans pushed to Bath and West, although I'm assuming there's room to expand there? Not see it myself. But it seems it's the only reasonable way the festival can get more space, in the face of rising numbers and bigger tents.

[phillyfaddle]

O2 signal was absolutely abysmal. WhatsApp got better as the festival went on, but social media was a total no-go. Hated the Pyramid. Saw Foos and Sophie Ellis-Bextor (don’t judge me) and couldn’t wait to get away. Although I enjoyed both sets, the vibe was not good. Resets needed at Avalon and West Holts 😊 Also LOADS of open coke snorting going on everywhere, including next to Goan Fish Curries at 6pm FGS 😕

On the positive food stall queues were much better this year than last, and loads of compost loos at Other get a big thumbs up 👍 

[Tartan_Glasto]

Wasn't there this year, so can't pass comment on it specifically, but in general the number of people that take tents that are much larger than they need is surely a factor with space. I've seen plenty using a the likes of a 6 man tent for two people, others taking a seperate tent just to store drink etc

There's not really anything they can do to stop this but it must have an impact on the space available. 

[deepkittycaz]

That the every 30 mins shuttle bus service back to Bristol has basically disappeared since 2pm 🤬

[MEGABOWL]

Most of my frustrations are with the attendees TBH. Only thing I can think of that’s the festivals issue to fix is the lack of variety in the music after hours. Maybe more coach tickets with some dedicated camping near Gate A.

[DeanoL]

4 minutes ago, Tartan_Glasto said:

Wasn't there this year, so can't pass comment on it specifically, but in general the number of people that take tents that are much larger than they need is surely a factor with space. I've seen plenty using a the likes of a 6 man tent for two people, others taking a seperate tent just to store drink etc

There's not really anything they can do to stop this but it must have an impact on the space available. 

Yup - no one ever goes "I think I'll take a smaller tent next year, I had too much space".

And as the price increases, fewer young people going (who are more likely to at least bring a small tent their first year) so average tent size gets bigger. Camping fields get busier every year despite no theoretical change in numbers.

2022 was the first time since it opened Rivermead ever felt busy - it still had space but the back used to be near empty. Weirdly the festival planned really well for this with opening up all the West camping fields in one go in 2014 and letting things grow organically, and the popular campsites and the quieter ones basically pick themselves. Then just as they start approaching capacity, in 2022, the first time they should have been thinking "we may need a bit more space at some point in the next couple of festivals" they just delete a whole bunch of public camping space instead. 

[steviewevie]

1 hour ago, lukemack said:

😂they mean a Wednesday entry & Thursday entry ticket.

Something the festival may look at, at one point I guess. When paying your balance extra £20 for Wednesday, £10 for Thursday. Likely too much hassle at the gates though

would probably complicate the ticket buying thing as such a high demand...

[she bangs the drums]

46 minutes ago, Memory Man said:

I like the idea of reserving a campsite for thursday arrivals - surely doable. Everyone knows where they stand there & nobody disadvantaged etc

in our campsite a group got annoyed as someone put a fairy sized tent in the middle of their group late weds / early thurs. Obvious answer being if you want a communal space the size of a 4 man tent, expect someone to camp in it!

People turn noses up at people arriving on Thursday, however a lot of people cannot make it on Wednesday because of other commitments (mine is children as cannot set off until I've dropped them off at school), though then again a lot of the people turn up on Wednesday fire off on Sunday evening instead of Monday when i leave. 

I've never had any issues before finding a spot on Thursday coming in from Pedestrian gate A, however there was no spots even for a two man tent on Thursday at 2pm.

Wicket ground is now family camping only (it was only 3/4s kids up to this year). 

Lots more hospitality, and Access camper vans now have their own field.

I'm fine with all of the above as it is important to have inclusion and money coming in to keep the festival running, however they need to create more camping for general public and/or provide information for where people on Thursday should head as not one steward i spoke to  had any idea, though they were really helpful and started radioing around the camp site at the north end (Lime Kiln area) trying to help us. 

[Rose-Colored Boy]

17 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

would probably complicate the ticket buying thing as such a high demand...

They do it for the coach tickets. Not hard to add one extra page to the booking process especially now the payment page is a separate thing. If they really can’t add anything for people to do on Wednesday evening other than sit on the hill and then go to the fireworks then limiting Wednesday arrivals can’t be off limits.

Would also help with planning resources, staffing requirements etc if they knew a more equal number of people were going to arrive on each day. Currently it’s a free for all which usually leads to the stewards and gate teams being overworked on the Wednesday and then having nothing to do on the Thursday. Don’t want to call Glastonbury disorganised because they do a phenomenal job with such a small core team, but no other major fest has 80% of their attendees arrive 48 hours before the music starts rather than running a staggered system. 

Edited June 26, 2023 by Rose-Colored Boy

[steviewevie]

Just now, Rose-Colored Boy said:

They do it for the coach tickets. Not hard to add one extra page to the booking process especially now the payment page is a separate thing. If they really can’t add anything for people to do on Wednesday evening other than sit on the hill and then go to the fireworks then limiting Wednesday arrivals can’t be off limits.

Would also help with planning resources, staffing requirements etc if they knew how many people were going to arrive on any given day. Currently it’s a free for all which usually leads to the stewards and gate teams being overworked on the Wednesday and then having nothing to do on the Thursday. 

Yeah..ok...Michael if you're reading this..do it!

I mean it kind of takes the piss a bit you pay all that money and turn up on the Thursday, and only place to  camp is right next to a toilet or something (unless you want to camp right next to a toilet).

[Guest]

43 minutes ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

Just seen on the family group a few people ended in blows because of idiots falling into prams / children 

There needs to be a dedicated family area. We went out of way to be far back, in behind some bins near other families and made a line around kids/prams - still we had coked up / pissed up arseholes cutting through the crowd hitting the bins, then trying to climb over literal children.

I said it last year, but I think there's been a huge demographic shift over the last decade, and it's towards absolute dicks. (Either that or it's just the cheap coke that's flooding the country turning people into them)

Family Group?

[steviewevie]

...also 5 nights is a bit much for delicate old farts like me.

[nikkic]

Cheery old thread this!

[DeanoL]

13 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

would probably complicate the ticket buying thing as such a high demand...

Nah you can do it as an add-on with balance payment. So base price then a Wednesday arrival add-on. Maybe a Tuesday one too. I don't think we are at the point where they need to limit arrivals to X on Wednesday and Y on Thursday, just a significant price difference (£50+) will make people self select enough to help.

[katgem]

3 hours ago, 09matthewsw said:

Seems to be a bit of an elephant in the room on efests this but there are clearly 20k or so people on site each year who have gotten in without a ticket. I’m obviously not talking about workers or anything here but people who have been snuck in or got in by other means. 

it’s one of the main causes of the overcrowding issues the fest are experiencing, which is causes issues throughout the site listed previously (lack of camping space, long queues, lack of shaded areas) needs sorting ASAP or is going to lead to a disaster at the next muddy festival. 
 

I am no grass and got no issues with people who jib it Saw a couple runners at gate D on weds and wanted them to make it. Ultimately it’s on the festival to sort it out and I do think the overcrowding is diluting the festival experience we all love and all paid a lot of money for  

I was at Darble on Thursday night and heard six people scurrying in past our tent after jumping the fence - they'd used the metal gates from the snake line from Weds to clamber up there and we heard a crash; the mad thing being that the formally Pylon field (now the security field) was right next to it. 

I believe that turning the Pylon field into a purely security field led to a lot more bottlenecks at the Other Stage and Silver Hayes; there were some insane points when the crowd were just halted/blocked on areas that I'd never seen before (and this was my 14th time). Really dangerous and not a steward in sight.

[MEGABOWL]

I like these ideas of reducing numbers on the Wednesday and allowing people to go on Thursday. I think there are some who only go on Wednesday because they’re worried they’ll get a sh*t camping spot  I wonder how it would affect what they charge the traders though. Less business for them if numbers take a big drop one day.

[lukemack]

16 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

would probably complicate the ticket buying thing as such a high demand...

Not if they only done it when you paid off your balance. 

Couldn't be done on the initial ticket sales, as you say, just overly complicates things. The resale aswell, would just have to be full tickets.

Did find Wednesday & Thursday to be alot quiter than 2022 this year, the Stone Circle was dead Wednesday night, normally packed.

[MEGABOWL]

30 minutes ago, Tartan_Glasto said:

Wasn't there this year, so can't pass comment on it specifically, but in general the number of people that take tents that are much larger than they need is surely a factor with space. I've seen plenty using a the likes of a 6 man tent for two people, others taking a seperate tent just to store drink etc

There's not really anything they can do to stop this but it must have an impact on the space available. 

This is something that a great increase in the number of coach tickets might also help. No ‘5 trips to the car.’

[dingbat2]

I like the idea of having separate tickets for Wednesday and Thursday, and also keeping some camping fields closed until Thursday (Rivermead and Pylon would be good!). I am not sure if the prices need to be much different between they two days either. I think there are a lot of people, including me, who feel they now have to get there on Wednesday to bag a camping spot, I know that was the only reason we went on the Wednesday last year, normally we go on Thursday but were finding it it more and more difficult to find a camping spot, and it was becoming more stressful each year. 4 days (Thurs to Sunday) is enough for me, I am getting old so dont really want to spend Wednesday and Thursday getting bladdered, before the music starts, not least because that's a long time to be away from the family

[st dan]

I really don’t get the general light hearted take on people bunking in and them essentially having the same access and enjoyment as somebody who has spent £350+ to be there. Whilst at the same time they are swelling the numbers and the extra bodies are negatively impacting the whole experience for many. 

Regardless of how the festival used to be decades ago when this was the norm, it’s a different beast now. For me, it’s not ‘funny’ or ‘a laugh’, you’re actually effectively committing a crime and are being an inconsiderate, selfish (insert swear word) if you’re attempting it. 

Edited June 26, 2023 by st dan

[Stoney43]

People leaving their rubbish all over the site, it seemed a lot worse this year

People still pissing on the floor. I saw one guy getting a telling off for pissing in the bushes next to a urinal- must suffer from stage fright