Should flags be banned ?

[Skip997]

1 minute ago, strummer77 said:

But that's sort of my point, I don't think the festival is more sanitised if flag numbers go down. It's not related.

The West Holts has hardly any flags - enough further back for visuals but not enough to block sight lines - and the atmospheres are great.

Consistently the best atmosphere of any of the big stages. The type of punter who goes to West Holts is not the type of punter who, in general, has any interest in flags.

[Hugh Jass II]

18 minutes ago, strummer77 said:

Hear this sort of thing a lot, but is it really true? If anything the festival has become more sanitised as flags appeared.

Was David Bowie's set in 2000 worse because everyone could see him? Did Radiohead 97 fall flat because they saw Thom Yorke instead of a bloke with a 6 foot 'Nando's Medium Spice' flag.

There are a few flags in the photo below, but hardly any and not forming a wall down the front. 

Given the number of people who broke in that year I'd be surprised if anyone could see him.

[El Slido]

I'll set my stall out. I like the flag vibes, and find them useful navigation waypoints.

One question tho...how far back from the stage do you need to be before the teeny tiny people on the stage could be literally anyone?
Or to put it another way, at what distance from the stage do you stop looking at the screens?

When will we start banning tall people?

Can we bring in restrictions on hats?

etc

[Skip997]

Just now, El Slido said:

I'll set my stall out. I like the flag vibes, and find them useful navigation waypoints.

"Flag vibes"?

Flags don't bring vibes, people do.

As has already been noted West Holts generally has the best vibes of the big stages and has very few flags. I'd also add The Park Stage to that.

Granted they are useful nav points though.

[Cleetus]

Make the screens bigger. The tech is here.

Also copy the screens attached to the speaker columns through the field they have at Download. They look excellent. 

 

[strummer77]

9 minutes ago, El Slido said:

I'll set my stall out. I like the flag vibes, and find them useful navigation waypoints.

One question tho...how far back from the stage do you need to be before the teeny tiny people on the stage could be literally anyone?
Or to put it another way, at what distance from the stage do you stop looking at the screens?

When will we start banning tall people?

Can we bring in restrictions on hats?

etc

But even if they're small you can still see them and their interactions. Take Kendrick's set last year - wonderful show choreography that would mean something half way back - especially with the screen's to supplement it. But half of people couldn't see it. Lil Nas this year. 

And the comparison to tall people is disingenuous but... surely the slope should help negate that.

Also I get some people like yourself don't mind flags, but shouldn't we really be letting people who are paying £500+ to watch artists actually see the bands/singers if they want to? There should be room for flags/decorations/hats - but only if you don't make a significant amount of people's experiences worse.

Edited July 4, 2023 by strummer77

[DTichborne]

5 minutes ago, El Slido said:

I'll set my stall out. I like the flag vibes, and find them useful navigation waypoints.

One question tho...how far back from the stage do you need to be before the teeny tiny people on the stage could be literally anyone?
Or to put it another way, at what distance from the stage do you stop looking at the screens?

When will we start banning tall people?

Can we bring in restrictions on hats?

etc

If you're any distance back from the Pyramid Stage (as in, more than 10000 or so people back which is most people), you don't see the teeny tiny people. You see flags. 

And obviously the tall people/hats thing is not an equivalent answer for many reasons but to start with... 1) if a tall person is directly in front of you, a little shift to the left or right means you can see, which doesn't work with flags and 2) same applies for hats, plus very few people buy those anymore. 

[strummer77]

Just now, DTichborne said:

If you're any distance back from the Pyramid Stage (as in, more than 10000 or so people back which is most people), you don't see the teeny tiny people. You see flags. 

 

Yep, this photo here from the disabled stage where you see flags, when they occasionally had a gap you could see Elton. You knew who he was, could see his guest walk by and it was cool. But I reckon that happened for approximately two songs if that.

Yes you couldn't see his exact facial expressions, but the screens are there to help compliment that - not to be your whole viewing experience (although as you see, those are beginning to be covered now too)

[Xeph1995]

12 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

"Flag vibes"?

Flags don't bring vibes, people do.

As has already been noted West Holts generally has the best vibes of the big stages and has very few flags. I'd also add The Park Stage to that.

Granted they are useful nav points though.

I don't agree with WH having the best vibes tbh, it all depends on the act playing and the crowd it brings, Other, Park and WH all equal vibes imo. 

Not to mention WH seems to have loads of sound issues. 

Edited July 4, 2023 by Xeph1995

[El Slido]

7 minutes ago, DTichborne said:

If you're any distance back from the Pyramid Stage (as in, more than 10000 or so people back which is most people), you don't see the teeny tiny people. You see flags. 

yeah so I would suggest that once you're that far back then you are most likely looking at the screens 98% of the time, so the flags maybe not that big a deal? I know that's the case for me when pretty much any further back that the desks on Pyramid, but I've got tired old eyes.

[strummer77]

1 minute ago, Xeph1995 said:

I don't agree with WH having the best vibes tbh, it all depends on the act playing and the crowd it brings, Other, Park and WH all equal vibes imo. 

Not to mention WH seems to have loads of sound issues. 

Regardless, all these stages also have a far more sensible distribution of flags than the Pyramid.

[strummer77]

5 minutes ago, El Slido said:

yeah so I would suggest that once you're that far back then you are most likely looking at the screens 98% of the time, so the flags maybe not that big a deal? I know that's the case for me when pretty much any further back that the desks on Pyramid, but I've got tired old eyes.

Not the case for me at all. I look at the screens to supplement, but have good eyesight and could watch a band if there weren't a load of flags in the way. Same for most of my group - some who could not for whatever reason deal with the crush down the front so on their chosen Pyramid acts, could not see them.

Small tweaks could allow flags and sight lines to exist.

Edited July 4, 2023 by strummer77

[El Slido]

20 minutes ago, DTichborne said:

1) if a tall person is directly in front of you, a little shift to the left or right means you can see

If you're shoulder to shoulder down the front then the little shift lef tor right may not be possible tbh.

So we're agreed? ban flags , tall people and overly elaborate hats from the area between the stage and the sound desk?

Oh and umbrellas too...don't get me started on umbrellas.

Let me know when the poll opens on "should we ban people walking slowly in front of me when I've got 5 minutes to get to Park?"

[strummer77]

2 minutes ago, El Slido said:

If you're shoulder to shoulder down the front then the little shift lef tor right may not be possible tbh.

So we're agreed? ban flags , tall people and overly elaborate hats from the area between the stage and the sound desk?

Oh and umbrellas too...don't get me started on umbrellas.

Let me know when the poll opens on "should we ban people walking slowly in front of me when I've got 5 minutes to get to Park?"

Such disingenuous shite from the flag shaggers

Edited July 4, 2023 by strummer77

[Crazyfool01]

with regards to hats .... i let people in front of me a couple of smaller Girls for Elton who's boyfriends asked if it would be ok .... was no bother but they immediately could see buggar all because of the tall people in front of me . Gained absolutely nowt .... most of the time I wore the frame hat however 

[strummer77]

12 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

with regards to hats .... i let people in front of me a couple of smaller Girls for Elton who's boyfriends asked if it would be ok .... was no bother but they immediately could see buggar all because of the tall people in front of me . Gained absolutely nowt .... most of the time I wore the frame hat however 

Yeah the hat isn't comparable to flags. 

The point is, tall people you can move away from. You could go a bit to the left or right, or slightly up the hill so you can see over them. But with the mass of flags at the front, there is no escape.

[Skip997]

Apart from the inconvenience to others and the fact that 99% of them are crap, who the hell can be bothered with carrying one around or holding one up for an hour or two.

[Ayrshire Chris]

1 minute ago, strummer77 said:

Yeah the hat isn't comparable to flags. 

The point is, tall people you can move away from. You could go a bit to the left or right, or slightly up the hill so you can see over them. But with the mass of flags at the front, there is no escape.

Yes, I find very tall folk in the main quite cooperative when asked to move a little bit, me and Mrs c ain’t the tallest! Gives us a better view of all the flags on the screen 😊😉

[Crazyfool01]

1 minute ago, strummer77 said:

Yeah the hat isn't comparable to flags. 

The point is, tall people you can move away from. You could go a bit to the left or right, or slightly up the hill so you can see over them. But with the mass of flags at the front, there is no escape.

yeah indeed .... ive moved from liking flags to now disliking them after seeing that sh*t show from the disabled platform ( whats the point in a platform if they still can't see ) the minimum expectation is to see the screens from the back of the field and the performer from the front . 

[Xeph1995]

4 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

Apart from the inconvenience to others and the fact that 99% of them are crap, who the hell can be bothered with carrying one around or holding one up for an hour or two.

Most flag poles are lightweight and are telescopic so you can put them away at basically no inconvenience. 

My dad gave me one but I never ended using it because I couldn't find a flag that was good enough, but it was 6m and carbon fibre. 

Edited July 4, 2023 by Xeph1995

[El Slido]

5 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

whats the point in a platform if they still can't see 

My guess would be the point is that they can see exactly what everyone else can see be that the stage, flags, the excellent tall people, flags, the screens, flags, or the elaborate hats, and flags

[Crazyfool01]

10 minutes ago, El Slido said:

My guess would be the point is that they can see exactly what everyone else can see be that the stage, flags, the excellent tall people, flags, the screens, flags, or the elaborate hats, and flags

no they cant and they dont have any option of shifting about like the more able bodied .... the platform is raised and is a tiny portion of a massive field 

Edited July 4, 2023 by Crazyfool01

[gooner1990]

Has anyone on this forum admitted to being a flag waver at the front of stages yet? 😄 

[themunn]

You can have your flags or you can moan when I push my way to the front, but you can't have both.

[clarkete]

1 hour ago, El Slido said:

I'll set my stall out. I like the flag vibes, and find them useful navigation waypoints.

One question tho...how far back from the stage do you need to be before the teeny tiny people on the stage could be literally anyone?
Or to put it another way, at what distance from the stage do you stop looking at the screens?

When will we start banning tall people?

Can we bring in restrictions on hats?

etc

I believe there were 4 or 5 screens, I was always in front of the track, but for a lot of time from yusuf onwards was lucky to see one screen fully.  In which case...shoehorning in a contentious issue... I may as well have sat down. 

Edited July 4, 2023 by clarkete