SE Corner - time for a refresh?

[FuzzyDunlop]

5 minutes ago, tom22 said:

Shouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility to have something like

- a jazz club 

 

Nice

[CaledonianGonzo]

They had one in The Park but ran out of cash for it.

[The Nal]

Its been stale for a decade. Was great at first, Unfairground, Rocket Lounge etc and then when they had all the micro venues which was defo in line with the *cough* "spirit of the festival" (trademark pending) but theres nothing really to explore now. Just a big dance village basically. Shite.

[danbailey80]

I can't see myself going again unless they have a big change and/ or there is a very favourite DJ playing somewhere. 

I'm actually already looking forward to not going and enjoying the other areas without the stress of queues and constant feeling of  "what's around the corner - what are we missing?" - usually not much but more crowds and drum n bass)

Silver Hayes and Greenpeace and Glade all have a much better community. It's all about building an atmosphere and sense of community when I watch a DJ set and you just don't get that in SE with so much passing through. 

I'm also so tried of the negative themes/ comments on society. They say they change the theme each year but I don't see any difference. 

 

 

 

[Xeph1995]

The biggest problem for me is how narrow the Shangri-la walk way is from the temple to nowhere, it's a huge bottleneck.

Edited July 3, 2023 by Xeph1995

[Skip997]

2 minutes ago, danbailey80 said:

Silver Hayes and Greenpeace and Glade all have a much better community. It's all about building an atmosphere and sense of community when I watch a DJ set and you just don't get that in SE with so much passing through. 
 

Overall I agree, with the exception of The Common, esp The Temple and The Mez Bar, both of which had a tremendous sense of community this year.

[danbailey80]

4 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

Overall I agree, with the exception of The Common, esp The Temple and The Mez Bar, both of which had a tremendous sense of community this year.

Yes agree, they are the exception. The Common is my favourite bit. 

[CaledonianGonzo]

Had a right old knees up with a ska band called The Downsetters in the Rocket Lounge in the early hours of Thursday morning.

[Gashead86]

My main issue with the SE corner in general is that it feels like unless you are off your tits it isn't really for you. Almost as if you aren't really welcome unless you are gurning your jaw off. 

When I first went in 2013 it felt much more like an extension of the festival as a whole. There were actors on plinths interacting with the crowds, there were alleyways that took you into odd little mini clubs almost. The whole thing just felt more interactive and inclusive. 
Almost feels now like it is just a huge creche for anyone who has had a pill or 3 to mong in after the music. If that sort of thing is not really your cup of tea (it is not mine) then you feel pretty alienated. I am sure it never used to be like that. 

Also, I know they are not everyone's cup of tea.. But why on earth did they get rid of the silent disco that used to be in the Silver Hayes tent?? That was always packed, so cannot imagine it was a case of it losing popularity.. I felt that was a nice alternative to the constant house music of SE corner. 

[Skip997]

1 minute ago, Gashead86 said:

Almost feels now like it is just a huge creche for anyone who has had a pill or 3 to mong in after the music. If that sort of thing is not really your cup of tea (it is not mine) then you feel pretty alienated. I am sure it never used to be like that. 
 

"who has had a pill or 3 to mong in"

Should be "who has had too much coke or ketamine", with the exception of The Common, which should read "has had a pill or 3 to keep them dancing, happy and friendly"

[gfa]

1 hour ago, Harry3 said:

This.

Instead of 5 billion stages playing the same subgenre of D&B at the same time can we please get some more hard music.

The key issue is theres not a big DNB arena except when arcadia is on sundays, which means that they really do need all these venues playing similar dnb.

There needs to be like a 10k dnb arena going all the time i think, theres currently no 'IICON of dnb' to suck up the crowds

1 hour ago, tom22 said:

Shouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility to have something like

- a jazz club 

- a cheesy indie tent (like WG) 

- a metal/rock tent 

- classical music / chillout area

- late night comedy/cabaret

And still 3 zillion other places for drum n bass around the site. 

These are all good suggestions but should be put outside the SE corner, theres already not enough space.

1 hour ago, northernangel said:

I think the salon carousel is great personally for what it is.

We had a blast there sunday night - will defo go back next year

31 minutes ago, Xeph1995 said:

The biggest problem for me is how narrow the Shangri-la walk way is from the temple to nowhere, it's a huge bottleneck.

It wouldn't be a bottleneck if they didn't have to close shangri-la every night, its definitely wide enough to handle the traffic

[CaledonianGonzo]

13 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

"who has had a pill or 3 to mong in"

Should be "who has had too much coke or ketamine", with the exception of The Common, which should read "has had a pill or 3 to keep them dancing, happy and friendly"

Imma bet there's plenty of people in all areas on all three.

[Jon F]

51 minutes ago, Xeph1995 said:

The biggest problem for me is how narrow the Shangri-la walk way is from the temple to nowhere, it's a huge bottleneck.

This.   First year we went we avoided the Truth stage because we assumed from struggling to get through the pathway at the top it would be rammed. but once you get off the path and into the stage area there's usually lots of space.    Doing that walk to get to Skindred this year was probably the only time the crowds felt uncomfortable for us 

[Xeph1995]

5 minutes ago, Jon F said:

This.   First year we went we avoided the Truth stage because we assumed from struggling to get through the pathway at the top it would be rammed. but once you get off the path and into the stage area there's usually lots of space.    Doing that walk to get to Skindred this year was probably the only time the crowds felt uncomfortable for us 

Yeah we gave up on Skindred, couldn't get through. 

[Boilingtent]

Id be interested to know if there is scope to reduce the artist budget to improve the overall SE corner. While it is a world class line up ultimately I rarely see anyone I'm interested in seeing down to the logistics of getting there. 

The Northwest corner plan seems a good solution, especially if they can run to 4/5am as no one is walking from Levels to Icon unless very committed! 

[CaledonianGonzo]

Skindred initiating the mother of all Taps Aff aka the Newport Helicopter was very much my kind of fun.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Albeit had something in my shirt pocket that I could have done without losing and it went flying away into oblivion.

[HotChipWillBreakYourLegs]

41 minutes ago, gfa said:

The key issue is theres not a big DNB arena except when arcadia is on sundays, which means that they really do need all these venues playing similar dnb.

There needs to be like a 10k dnb arena going all the time i think, theres currently no 'IICON of dnb' to suck up the crowds

These are all good suggestions but should be put outside the SE corner, theres already not enough space.

We had a blast there sunday night - will defo go back next year

It wouldn't be a bottleneck if they didn't have to close shangri-la every night, its definitely wide enough to handle the traffic

Didn't get there this year.  But last year when I went to IICON for Hercules and Love Affair the sound was terrible.  It was all bass and I couldn't hear the music at all.

Edited July 3, 2023 by HotChipWillBreakYourLegs

[gfa]

14 minutes ago, Boilingtent said:

Id be interested to know if there is scope to reduce the artist budget to improve the overall SE corner. While it is a world class line up ultimately I rarely see anyone I'm interested in seeing down to the logistics of getting there. 

The Northwest corner plan seems a good solution, especially if they can run to 4/5am as no one is walking from Levels to Icon unless very committed! 

If they reduced the scope other areas would be busier, SH was pretty busy this year, arcadia can't take too much more either. The SEC needs to be bigger in general or elsewhere needs to, dance in general at the fest is clearly at capacity, SEC is the most popular sure, but SH was near packed too most nights

If they could run it later they would, its clearly not possible at present.

Hordes of people walk from SH to SE corner at 3am when SH shuts off currently.

[gooner1990]

For the first time since 2008 when SL/SEC appeared, this year I didn't have one of the main (Fri-Sun) nights in there......at nearly 42 I'm starting to feel a bit old for it, but when we tried even at 3.30am on the Saturday there was still a big queue so sacked it off.

I also agree that unless you are off your chops on class-a's then you feel a bit of the odd one out, on the Sunday I wasn't on anything and just ended up going to bed after EJ as there were no 'band' alternatives for me to enjoy.

[frostypaw]

1 hour ago, danbailey80 said:

I can't see myself going again unless they have a big change and/ or there is a very favourite DJ playing somewhere. 

I'm actually already looking forward to not going and enjoying the other areas without the stress of queues and constant feeling of  "what's around the corner - what are we missing?" - usually not much but more crowds and drum n bass)

Silver Hayes and Greenpeace and Glade all have a much better community. It's all about building an atmosphere and sense of community when I watch a DJ set and you just don't get that in SE with so much passing through. 

I'm also so tried of the negative themes/ comments on society. They say they change the theme each year but I don't see any difference. 

All of this. I did that this last year - just straight up ignored it and didn't even try to go past a first wander on Thursday. Had an absolutely lovely time in the random chaos of the rest of the site without the wrecked crowds and it felt leaps and bounds more "Glastonbury" - green, friendly and open and full of all sorts.

Agree with most of the criticisms here, plus still bugs me that Block9 ends up seen as "the safe space" when as a gay guy one of Glastonbury's great joys these last 20 years has been that it's all safe space. Still cringing at seeing someone ask if NYCD had a coat check... all feels too much like town.

[rwoo]

I disagree with a lot of the comments on here. Yes it is a bit samey if you've been going every year for the last 10 years. But if they did change it it would be hard to beat. Taking newbies around it always seems special to me. I didn't think the crowds were as bad this year personally when I was there, I'm guessing the improvements in Silva Hayes spread out the crowd a bit?! I did think Now/here was a bit of a downgrade though. If I went to any other festival and they had an area like the SEC I'd lose my mind.

[HotChipWillBreakYourLegs]

32 minutes ago, gooner1990 said:

For the first time since 2008 when SL/SEC appeared, this year I didn't have one of the main (Fri-Sun) nights in there......at nearly 42 I'm starting to feel a bit old for it, but when we tried even at 3.30am on the Saturday there was still a big queue so sacked it off.

I also agree that unless you are off your chops on class-a's then you feel a bit of the odd one out, on the Sunday I wasn't on anything and just ended up going to bed after EJ as there were no 'band' alternatives for me to enjoy.

It's probably because everything else shuts down at 3am there's a rush on the SEC entrance at that time.

[Slugy]

1 hour ago, Jon F said:

This.   First year we went we avoided the Truth stage because we assumed from struggling to get through the pathway at the top it would be rammed. but once you get off the path and into the stage area there's usually lots of space.    Doing that walk to get to Skindred this year was probably the only time the crowds felt uncomfortable for us 

Yea the crowds getting into Skindred were bad but that was mainly because people latch onto the back of venue crowd to get away from the queue and make no attempt getting further forward. We ended up in the moshpit and I would say I got more battered and bruised standing at the edge as people pushed passed us. There was quite of space by the front for sure.

I will say though the crowds last year for Fat Boy Slim at the Gas Tower felt 10x worse. We were trying to get through for Brass Against on Truth and we were penguin stepping from way over the tracks into The Common. Everyone had just stopped at Gas Tower and left like a meter wide gap for everyone else if they were not there for FBS.

[gooner1990]

16 minutes ago, HotChipWillBreakYourLegs said:

It's probably because everything else shuts down at 3am there's a rush on the SEC entrance at that time.

Yep, I think we did make a mistake in hindsight trying to go in at that time!