List your "frustrations" here

[irnkrtn]

I would like to air my frustration at the man in the West Brom top who turned his back on me when I BOING BOINGed at him. 

I later saw two Sunderland fans embrace each other and felt an extra wave of frustration at my fellow sh*t football team fan. 

[KingoStarr]

3 minutes ago, irnkrtn said:

I would like to air my frustration at the man in the West Brom top who turned his back on me when I BOING BOINGed at him. 

I later saw two Sunderland fans embrace each other and felt an extra wave of frustration at my fellow sh*t football team fan. 

As a Coventry City fan my frustration was the handful of Luton Town fans I bumped into, all great friendly interactions and I of course wished them the best for the season ahead.

Every time I think I am beginning to get over that play off final defeat I seemed to bump into one 😂

[irnkrtn]

Just now, KingoStarr said:

As a Coventry City fan my frustration was the handful of Luton Town fans I bumped into, all great friendly interactions and I of course wished them the best for the season ahead.

Every time I think I am beginning to get over that play off final defeat I seemed to bump into one 😂

Was the whole of Coventry there?! I have never seen so many Cov tops in my life!! Was lovely TBF. 

[Neil]

9 hours ago, p.pete said:

o2 network was atrocious, massive headache trying to coordinate with people 

i have an ee sim and had great data access all week (including all night radio streaming).

[Derby_Dave]

On 6/24/2023 at 7:14 PM, airwaves said:

All the prelaid woodchip

Awkward to walk on uncomfortable to sit on

Got a proper jab in my ankle from one also.

[wro_lap]

My two frustrations were Lana being a twat and the pure claustrophobia for Elton. That caused a few issues

[LSTx]

I had a blast this festival, this was my first since 2019, but one thing I picked up on this year is that it seemed a lot more overcrowded this year in areas, especially in the south east corner. Getting almost very dangerous at points & completely not under control.

Another one was the amount of smart whips going off / balloons being sold seemed to be an epidemic this year. For me killed the vibe in some areas with some of the shifty people selling in the raves.

Fair enough maybe at the campsite but it just felt like every minute you would hear 2/3 balloons going off.

 

Edited June 26, 2023 by LSTx

[DMCJ2]

Only a few issues

lack of shaded areas

felt overcrowded at times 

Lack of alternative to dance music late 

people who sat down or in camping chairs in packed audiences near the front

 

as mentioned before lots of people doing coke, but not sure the fest can do much else 

[Mr_Grump]

One of the biggest frustrations for me was people (both men & women) pi$$ing in 'non-toilets'.

Men stood openly against hedges & fences.

Women squating over cups from the bars and then pouring it onto the ground when people 'weren't looking'.

So much for the "I will only use the toilets provided and not pee on the land" pledge.

Not only does it put the festival at risk, but it's just disgusting. 

[spg]

My frustration is a simple one, I'd like a decent ale on each of the bars that is suitable for vegetarians/vegans, Otter ales aren't.

[katgem]

1 hour ago, Derby_Dave said:

My main gripe is worth the public really.  You hear talk of the Glastonbury spirit etc and I’m sure loads of us are fine, right thinking individuals.

The general lack of respect and manners towards others shown by some is staggering.  I know it’s tough at times and you have to be focused but loads of folk are so self absorbed and ignorant that they would quite happily walk straight through you without a look or an apology. The worse thing is it kind of makes me a little like it after a while.

 Flags

It is too full now but I appreciate we all want a ticket but as others have said some of the the pinch points are avoidable.  Why they put an act on directly opposite the exits from the pier?  That was horrid Thursday afternoon.

 Lana Del Rey I was so looking forward to her and while she was on it was near perfect.  I don’t know the full story so won’t judge but I hope at least this may teach her she isn’t the center of the universe.  (My cat Mrs Hollie holds that title)

Had a blast though. 😁

Completely agree RE: people walking 'through' you - there were so many times that I was actually moving in a different direction to walk out of people's way and they still seemed to walk into me! Thank god that when I was with my heavily pregnant mate, people actually seemed to give a wider berth..

People pissing everywhere was absolutely disgusting.

Parents taking their massive buggies (and kids under 3 in general) to Shanghri La at night - absolute madness and (IMO) quite selfish. Take a year off.

People huffing balloons and leaving their sh*t everywhere.

Edited June 26, 2023 by katgem

[bob323]

 had a fanstatic festival, the only huge major downsides I saw was:

 

the number of water points around camping areas - around gate D was seriously bad, all with massive queues. the best option was to go off site and use the water points there

 

the late night music options was truely horrific and abismal, even strummervile was playing the crappy techno crap that gets played for hours upon hours in SE corner. any area that played something different was very small (like the bread and roses/ taphouse) and was extremely full - surely theres a massive business case for 'non' techno, edm / DnB type dance, late night area?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 26, 2023 by bob323

[Reckoner]

58 minutes ago, bob323 said:

surely theres a massive business case for 'non' techno, edm / DnB type dance, late night area?

They should set up a stage for this, possibly in a tent and during the day they can book smaller indie bands who would otherwise not be able to fill the woodies stage.

To avoid it getting too crowded at times they could avoid booking bands who had played the pyramid in previous years as “secret” acts on days when there weren’t many other options. 
 

 

[Alvoram]

10 hours 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)

Exactly this... 

It's 'supposed' to be a family friendly festival. Our friends took a child, and sat near the path, way way further up than the sound tents. They had chairs and a blanket on the floor. But not for the reasons people might think. They didn't 'want' to use them during the sets, they'd prefer to stand and dance. The rest of us put any chairs etc away 10 - 15 minutes before any busy set. But those 2 parents are terrified of doing that. They leave them there to screen the buggy. All because people who can't handle their sh*t are constantly falling into the push chair in their coked up / boozed up state as they arrive 15 minutes late to a busy set and are rushing to get to their mates. 

I stand to watch music, always have, only time I use a chair is between sets (or very occasionally if I've been dragged to a set I don't really want to see, there's space, and we're far enough back, I'll have a little cat nap, I think this has happened maybe twice.) Last year the barriers of chairs pissed me off. But I never understood why people do it. After experiencing the festival with a child in tow, I fully understand why people with a child, a disability or anybody else at risk in the group, create themselves a protective barrier from the coked up / boozed up twats. 

I think we were near you @BBC7BBCHEAVEN left hand side way after the second ice cream truck near the bins??? They had at least 3 people either nearly fall into the push chair, or literally try to move the pushchair, in the run up to the Elton (and beyond it starting.) There was no way I could persuade the two parents to put their chairs away, they were terrified and even had to ask their cousin and her other half to stand away from group on the other side to protect the kid from that side too. 

I know some are going to say, 'why take a kid?' Maybe you're right, maybe this isn't a family friendly festival after all, maybe it's just another glorified Leeds Fest full of tanked up morons? Honestly the attitude towards families, older folks, and other disadvantaged folk, both in here and at the festival, is shocking, and is totally not what I thought Glastonbury was about.

Safe family viewing areas are a fantastic idea. But I reckon you'd still get the f**kheads who don't want to walk an extra ten feet up the path (or ten feet less) cutting across it tearing up pushchairs as they go. 
 

[Neil]

you don't need a kid to experience most of that . i don't have choice about my own powered wheel, which are my alternative legs, a mobility scooter is big and gets in the way but that doesn't give aright to crawl over it (and me), like it's not there.

[clarkete]

In terms of frustrations how about "bloody hell that was over quickly" 

[Splodge]

Can’t comment on issues raised by people with accessibility needs or with young children, and there are other valid complaints in here, but there’s also so much stuff the festival just can’t win with.

A lot of these gripes can be mitigated by taking a mindset that there are always going to be compromises and challenging moments when a couple hundred thousand people attend a pop up city in the countryside for a massive party.

Can’t help but feel that a lot of this is also driven by people chasing the impossible ideal of their perfect festival, or by unfairly comparing it against rose tinted Glasto’s of yore.

Crowds are always going to be busy entering/leaving big acts or entering/leaving popular areas at peak times. Simply wait for crowds to disperse before moving, or visit areas during less busy times.

Facilities are always going to become stretched at peak times during a massive festival in a heatwave. This was hardly Woodstock 99. Vast majority of the time if there’s a big queue for toilets or water points, you can walk 5 mins and find others completely free.

You could put in hundreds more toilets around the site, but it’s an inevitability that if people are drinking all day in big crowds, some will piss in cups, or find a hedgerow. I wish everyone would use the facilities, but let’s be realistic. It’s a million miles better than at the majority of other festivals.

Again, as much as it would be brilliant if no one littered and took everything home, there’s always going to be some people that don’t. As long as things are trending in the right direction then it’s hard to complain too much, even if it feels incredibly disappointing when you take everything home and the group next to you just abandon their stuff.

On overcrowding. Yes things can feel very busy at times, but in my experience it very rarely feels unsafe, especially if you stay patient and plan things out. There’s also a certain irony that people complain that it’s impossible to get a ticket, but when they do get one complain that there’s too many people here.

I know it comes from a good place but baffled that people are going round the site taking photos of gazebos as if to build a file of evidence. In my mind there’s too much fun to be had at the festival to lose sweat over largely inconsequential things.

It also didn’t take a crystal ball to figure out that the camping chair and picnic blanket brigade at the back of pyramid would be out in full force for Elton, so hard to get upset about it. Kudos to the festival for the standing room only announcements too.

People were rejoicing about Camden replacing Carlsberg, now there’s people complaining about wanting Carlsberg back. It’s festival house lager, it’s never going to be the nectar of the gods.

Sound bleed is inevitable at a festival with 100+ stages.

Also, people do drugs at festivals - shock horror. 

It’s certainly not flawless but Glastonbury is a very well planned and managed event. You can almost always rely on them recognise and adapt to issues both at the time (eg announcing busy areas to avoid on screens, introducing queuing lanes) or factoring issues into their planning for next year. Even stuff like keeping part of big ground clear from camping to allow for the bumper Elton crowd was an excellent decision. They don’t always get it right, but you can tell they put a huge amount of careful thought into everything.

As with all festivals, Glasto is always going to have to be endured at times, but that is a small trade off for the magic it delivers.

Edited June 27, 2023 by Splodge

[steviewevie]

maybe they just need to sell fewer tickets and spend a bit less on mega expensive headline acts.

[clarkete]

12 minutes ago, steviewevie said:

maybe they just need to sell fewer tickets and spend a bit less on mega expensive headline acts.

Err...surely they don't pay for expensive headline acts. 

 

[jonnyisRFC]

Didn’t go this year but from this thread and a couple of other threads it looks like it’s slowly changing from the classic Glastonbury vibe to more of a Reading/Leeds vibe… 

[Crazyfool01]

8 hours ago, Aragorn said:

Just walked round pyramid camping areas 

Just for comparison… hawk well … it can be done !! All the tents in the photo are occupied still 

[Crazyfool01]

1 hour ago, Splodge said:

Can’t comment on issues raised by people with accessibility needs or with young children, and there are other valid complaints in here, but there’s also so much stuff the festival just can’t win with.

A lot of these gripes can be mitigated by taking a mindset that there are always going to be compromises and challenging moments when a couple hundred thousand people attend a pop up city in the countryside for a massive party.

Can’t help but feel that a lot of this is also driven by people chasing the impossible ideal of their perfect festival, or by unfairly comparing it against rose tinted Glasto’s of yore.

Crowds are always going to be busy entering/leaving big acts or entering/leaving popular areas at peak times. Simply wait for crowds to disperse before moving, or visit areas during less busy times.

Facilities are always going to become stretched at peak times during a massive festival in a heatwave. This was hardly Woodstock 99. Vast majority of the time if there’s a big queue for toilets or water points, you can walk 5 mins and find others completely free.

You could put in hundreds more toilets around the site, but it’s an inevitability that if people are drinking all day in big crowds, some will piss in cups, or find a hedgerow. I wish everyone would use the facilities, but let’s be realistic. It’s a million miles better than at the majority of other festivals.

Again, as much as it would be brilliant if no one littered and took everything home, there’s always going to be some people that don’t. As long as things are trending in the right direction then it’s hard to complain too much, even if it feels incredibly disappointing when you take everything home and the group next to you just abandon their stuff.

On overcrowding. Yes things can feel very busy at times, but in my experience it very rarely feels unsafe, especially if you stay patient and plan things out. There’s also a certain irony that people complain that it’s impossible to get a ticket, but when they do get one complain that there’s too many people here.

I know it comes from a good place but baffled that people are going round the site taking photos of gazebos as if to build a file of evidence. In my mind there’s too much fun to be had at the festival to lose sweat over largely inconsequential things.

It also didn’t take a crystal ball to figure out that the camping chair and picnic blanket brigade at the back of pyramid would be out in full force for Elton, so hard to get upset about it. Kudos to the festival for the standing room only announcements too.

People were rejoicing about Camden replacing Carlsberg, now there’s people complaining about wanting Carlsberg back. It’s festival house lager, it’s never going to be the nectar of the gods.

Sound bleed is inevitable at a festival with 100+ stages.

Also, people do drugs at festivals - shock horror. 

It’s certainly not flawless but Glastonbury is a very well planned and managed event. You can almost always rely on them recognise and adapt to issues both at the time (eg announcing busy areas to avoid on screens, introducing queuing lanes) or factoring issues into their planning for next year. Even stuff like keeping part of big ground clear from camping to allow for the bumper Elton crowd was an excellent decision. They don’t always get it right, but you can tell they put a huge amount of careful thought into everything.

As with all festivals, Glasto is always going to have to be endured at times, but that is a small trade off for the magic it delivers.

100% agree . Although the removal of the worthy warrior scheme this year was a curious decision when it was done on a voluntary basis and cost them the price of a tshirt print , myself and others asked if it was hAppenning and didn’t even get a reply 

[MEGABOWL]

13 hours ago, essjay2009 said:

I was chatting to one of the security guards and he said it wasn't just the quantity this year but also the quality. Anecdotally he said a lot of the security staff they had last year were inexperienced (pretty much anyone they could get their hands on) where this year it was much better. It felt as busy this year as last, but I didn't feel like it ever became unsafe where I did last year. I actually saw people getting tackled and busted this year.

I know why it's the way it is, but they need to rethink the local tickets in some way. In the run up to Elton there were full on encampments of local ticket holders with inflatable sofas, chairs, blankets and all sorts of crap. And they refused to take them down even when asked, even when the public announcement was made. There's a sense of entitlement with them, I think, and it was causing aggro.

One group had actually run industrial tape between two sets of bins at the path running across the top of the Pyramid field, completely blocking off access into the field. That path gets busy at the best of times so this was outright dangerous.

[fightoffyour]

8 hours ago, glastobird said:

Down with Brooklyn lager. 

 

8 hours ago, Spencer23 said:

Thought that Brooklyn lager was absolutely horrible. Don’t know why they changed it from carlesberg to be honest not the best I know but doesn’t have a horrible twang like Brooklyn 

If it was actually Brooklyn Lager I'm not sure there'd be complaining...

If it was actually even Brooklyn Pilsner there might not be so much complaining...

They served rebranded Carlsberg.

[fightoffyour]

I didn't stay late at all and I wasn't camping. Somehow I didn't even witness any pissing on the land.

I had an amazing time. My only gripe is overcrowding and the possible connection with the anecdotal evidence of people bunking in / connected with the queue for ticket issues.

Re-entering every day at Gate A, it seems almost inevitable that once on Sunday yes I had lost my pass out. The queue for ticket issues, to be issued a letter to replace this little pass out (given I still have wristband and my original ticket) was over an hour to serve the 6 people in front of me - honestly 10 minutes per person to fill out an online form, a paper form, phone call to another central office somewhere...how can this be the case when other people are just apparently entering freely without wristbands? Such an antiquated system.

And I don't really have a massive gripe about it because I missed The Big Moon but did get to meet my captain Tyrone Mings because of this queue, but I can easily see how it could have been much longer and much more annoying because of reliance on some old outdated system which doesn't even seem to be working as intended.