SZA

[Rose-Colored Boy]

Emily just needs to accept that the demographic has changed and stop clinging on to this idea that the Pyramid needs to be a jumbotron version of the 6 Music festival.
 

Make the Pyramid a Butlins weekender with nostalgia acts like Keane, Avril, Kasabian and the Sugababes and leave critically acclaimed stuff like Janelle, PJ, Paul Heaton and SZA on stages where they’ll get appropriately sized crowds for the fields they’re playing to. Not hard. 

[K2SO]

Has anyone got a decent photo of just how dead her crowd was? I am still absolutely baffled as to why the festival thought it was a good booking. It seemed like, and still does, that the festival were terrified of male headliners outweighing female headliners after 3 male headliners last year... But when this is your outcome, does the box-ticking exercise not seem like it wasn't worth it? By the sounds if it, people were more interested in seeing the Kasabian secret set than SZA.

 

The festival has taken a bit of a battering this year, from all sides, with arguably the worst line-up in history... I think we may well get an incredibly safe crowd pleasing lineup in 2025.

[Old_Johno]

5 hours ago, Metal Monkey said:

Where was the crowd then? The National was half empty as well. 

Everyone left after Shania, car park queues were reported as being longer than normal for a Sunday 

[sildante]

   removed

Edited July 1 by sildante

[Rose-Colored Boy]

30 minutes ago, sildante said:

😂 best post I have seen in this thread

it’s true!!!! She seems to have missed the part where the monoculture died. With the rare exception of a Dua or Taylor, nostalgia wins the day now. 
 

think it was 2017 where Busted needed the Avalon field to be closed. That should’ve been the moment they realised things were shifting, but they’ve been stubbornly persisting with the TLC and Sugababes type bookings, like the festival equivalent of Theresa May shouting “nothing has changed”. 

Edited July 1 by Rose-Colored Boy

[Jacko45]

13 minutes ago, Old_Johno said:

Everyone left after Shania, car park queues were reported as being longer than normal for a Sunday 

 

Yep had to leave after Avril Lavigne, took 45 minutes to get off site. Loads packing up and leaving as I left and loads already on the way out.

[Mr Boo]

Two Door Cinema Club had a big crowd - not dangerously big like Avril Lavigne, but still a good number of people.
Small but enthusiastic crowd for the National, who did a good set in the wrong setting.

Going back to Avril I have never seen the Other stage so busy , I was worried someone would end up hurt. 

Edited July 1 by Mr Boo

[Drums Please Fab]

2 hours ago, FuzzyDunlop said:

 

No, the BBC were doing their job. Their job was to make the TV show & entertainment package look as good as possible for the viewing audience.

 

Clever camera shots, hiding a sparse crowd - that's all part of it.

 

Out of curiosity, were you so annoyed when they made QOTSA crowd look a lot larger last year? Or is it just pyramid headliners you think should have that treatment?

 

A guardian review of the performance is subjective. What you or I consider to be 5*, someone else could think is a load of old shite... but if they are reporting it as "news" then they should be bringing up the low crowd IMO.

Not just the crowd. There was clearly mic/sound issues which were widely reported elsewhere.

 

But no….Gold medals for everyone .

 

i just don’t appreciate being treated like a fool by the media. Reddit and the socials exist. We know what is really going on. Just report what happened.l instead of giving me a varnished reality.

[dirtysteve]

42 minutes ago, Rose-Colored Boy said:

Make the Pyramid a Butlins weekender

 

Cannot agree with this enough. Wall to wall cheese and nostalgia, it'd be mint tbh. Maybe have one or two "serious" headliners, but yeah I'd be all in for giving the Pyramid over to feel-good fun for the whole weekend. And have the licence changed to allow for a Pyramid School Disco on the Thursday evening, too! Am not even joking, if they want to find a way to ease crowding on the Thursday then have DJs playing pop records from the 80s and 90s on the Pyramid, it would draw tens of thousands of people!

[Lycra]

Watching from home, both of us found Sza uninspiring and boring. She didn't bring any excitement that you expect of a headliner.

 

Based solely on what we were presented with from the 5 stages covered by the Beeb, this fest was distinctly below average. 

[Rose-Colored Boy]

4 minutes ago, dirtysteve said:

 

Cannot agree with this enough. Wall to wall cheese and nostalgia, it'd be mint tbh. Maybe have one or two "serious" headliners, but yeah I'd be all in for giving the Pyramid over to feel-good fun for the whole weekend. And have the licence changed to allow for a Pyramid School Disco on the Thursday evening, too! Am not even joking, if they want to find a way to ease crowding on the Thursday then have DJs playing pop records from the 80s and 90s on the Pyramid, it would draw tens of thousands of people!

Yep. Understand that a decade or so ago the Pyramid dwelling had become too extreme - even Rita Ora drew a big crowd in 2013(?) - and had started to damage the fest’s ecosystem which relies on people moving around the site. but it’s clearly gone too far in the opposite direction now. 

[maelzoid]

Did not go this year but did go to IOW. That fest has leant right into the nostalgia market and the place was packed with happy punters of all ages. Imagine if Green Day had closed Glastonbury last night…

[kpins]

2 hours ago, FuzzyDunlop said:

 

No, the BBC were doing their job. Their job was to make the TV show & entertainment package look as good as possible for the viewing audience.

 

Clever camera shots, hiding a sparse crowd - that's all part of it.

 

Out of curiosity, were you so annoyed when they made QOTSA crowd look a lot larger last year? Or is it just pyramid headliners you think should have that treatment?

 

A guardian review of the performance is subjective. What you or I consider to be 5*, someone else could think is a load of old shite... but if they are reporting it as "news" then they should be bringing up the low crowd IMO.

They did mention the crowd size in the words.

[SpencerF]

Personally do not think that nostaliga acts is the answer and acts like SZA are the problem, very much an isolated incident. Thinking back to other 'riskier' headliners that are usually tailored for a much younger crowd (Billie Eilish, Kendrick, Stormzy etc.) and the crowd has NEVER been that empty before, think it's SZA herself unfortunately. I like SZA and really enjoyed her 2 albums but she just doesn't have 'festival hits' (like Coldplay), any big dance tunes (like Dua Lipa) or commonly known songs (as most other headliners). Also think it's a draw to the personality and the statement of it too, she didn't feel like a big 'Kendrick' or 'Stormzy' statement where you know they could make a real defining moment, but she also didn't have the 'fun' draw of other young headliners in years past. No one is really excited to see 'Kiss Me More' live because it's just a generic pop song that you can't really lose your sh*t and dance to, either

Edited July 1 by SpencerF

[Aeroplane Over the Sea]

5 minutes ago, maelzoid said:

Did not go this year but did go to IOW. That fest has leant right into the nostalgia market and the place was packed with happy punters of all ages. Imagine if Green Day had closed Glastonbury last night…

On the flip side, they have leant right out of trying to do anything meaningful on diversity; what we’re seeing is that where we’re at, there are unfortunate trade offs and getting the balance right is impossible because everyone has different priorities

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

57 minutes ago, Rose-Colored Boy said:

Emily just needs to accept that the demographic has changed and stop clinging on to this idea that the Pyramid needs to be a jumbotron version of the 6 Music festival.
 

Make the Pyramid a Butlins weekender with nostalgia acts like Keane, Avril, Kasabian and the Sugababes and leave critically acclaimed stuff like Janelle, PJ, Paul Heaton and SZA on stages where they’ll get appropriately sized crowds for the fields they’re playing to. Not hard. 

 

100% agree with this and tbh, usually, they get it right. Last year Blondie, Texas, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Lewis Capaldi, all did very very well. 

 

I kinda thought that was the whole point of the Pyramid anyway. Have the most accessible, most liked stuff on there, no matter if it's critically acclaimed or not.

 

Janelle Monae should've done WH, PJ Harvey should've headlined on the Park or Woodsies, Kasabian could've headlined the Other or subbed Pyramid...

 

[TheNewUnion]

Can we agree that SZA was a good booking for the festival and a bad booking as a Pyramid headline act? It feels like that's how it's gone.

 

Yesterday just seemed a bit messy. Janelle may have been better at West Holts. Avril better placed on the Pyramid.

 

I have no insider knowledge at all, but it certainly feels like the festival missed out on, or were let down by, a huge name who'd have saved Sunday. 

[kpins]

Agree that Sza was a mistake for headliner but please don't turn Glastonbury into a nostalgia snoozefest for the older generation. There are plenty of festivals for that including the Isle of Wight. Glastonbury has to maintain some relevance. 

[kpins]

2 minutes ago, SpencerF said:

Personally do not think that nostaliga acts is the answer and acts like SZA are the problem, very much an isolated incident. Thinking back to other 'riskier' headliners that are usually tailored for a much younger crowd (Billie Eilish, Kendrick, Stormzy etc.) and the crowd has NEVER been that empty before, think it's SZA herself unfortunately. I like SZA and really enjoyed her 2 albums but she just doesn't have 'festival hits' (like Coldplay), any big dance tunes (like Dua Lipa) or commonly known songs (as most other headliners). Also think it's a draw to the personality and the statement of it too, she didn't feel like a big 'Kendrick' or 'Stormzy' statement where you know they could make a real defining moment, but she also didn't have the 'fun' draw of other young headliners in years past. No one is really excited to see 'Kiss Me More' live because it's just a generic pop song that you can't really lose your sh*t and dance to, either

Spot on this 👏 

[st dan]

Who has come out well with this booking? I don’t see any winners at all - the festival itself, the bookers, Emily, SZA have all been unanimously panned for it … but it was so obvious it was going to end this way. Did any of them genuinely expect this to go well? Was the intention to win over the neutrals and for them to applaud the risk? It was just madness.

And the fact it was closing the festival too makes it even worse. If it had been a Friday night, then they probably get away with it and Coldplay save the day - but that was the dampest of damp squibs. 

Edited July 1 by st dan

[kpins]

1 minute ago, TheNewUnion said:

Can we agree that SZA was a good booking for the festival and a bad booking as a Pyramid headline act? It feels like that's how it's gone.

 

Yesterday just seemed a bit messy. Janelle may have been better at West Holts. Avril better placed on the Pyramid.

 

I have no insider knowledge at all, but it certainly feels like the festival missed out on, or were let down by, a huge name who'd have saved Sunday. 

Yes agreed that Shania Twain and Avril Lavigne should have both been on the Pyramid, for crowd control more than anything. Not my thing, but it cleanly made getting around very hard. 

[DeanoL]

3 minutes ago, st dan said:

Who has come out well with this booking? I don’t see any winners at all - the festival itself, the bookers, Emily, SZA have all been unanimously panned for it … but it was so obvious it was going to end this way. Did any of them genuinely expect this to go well? Was the intention to win over the neutrals and for them to applaud the risk? 

I mean, that is generally what happens. People will say "this will be a disaster and the field will be dead" and it never is. Seen that for Jay-Z, Stormzy, Metallica... generally by making them the headliner, that in itself pulls people in. This is the first time I've seen that not work. (Though I wonder if a significant number of people left the site Sunday early afternoon to be homefor the England match).

 

Same with the small crowd for Paul Heaton. Bet if he'd been put on Sunday afternoon as the "Legend" it'd been a full field. People generally go where the festival tell them to. 

[DTichborne]

Think this is being overplayed a bit. The festival sells out in a blink so taking risks is the right thing to do. There has been a handful of instances where the estimate of an act's popularity is wildly wrong, as there is every year. It's a crying shame that so few people saw Janelle Monáe to give one example. And I still think they should give wildcards a go at headlining the Pyramid. Where I definitely do agree with the above is that "legacy" acts clearly need to all go in the Pyramid field too.

 

If SZA had headlined West Holts and Justice had headlined the Pyramid, I suspect there'd have been only a fraction of the conversations that are currently being had, but live and learn. I liked what I watched of her set and am going to watch the rest today. 

[steviewevie]

27 minutes ago, dirtysteve said:

 

Cannot agree with this enough. Wall to wall cheese and nostalgia, it'd be mint tbh. Maybe have one or two "serious" headliners, but yeah I'd be all in for giving the Pyramid over to feel-good fun for the whole weekend. And have the licence changed to allow for a Pyramid School Disco on the Thursday evening, too! Am not even joking, if they want to find a way to ease crowding on the Thursday then have DJs playing pop records from the 80s and 90s on the Pyramid, it would draw tens of thousands of people!

that sounds terrible

[Yokel Again]

Wouldn't care if it's old or new, any genre, as long as it's good. 

I think for Janelle Monae, normally at that time you'd get a build up of people starting to get a spot for X (well, Dua Lipa, Coldplay or whatever)... but not sure many were bothered about SZA which knocked on to the acts before. (I have no idea if Burna Boy had a big crowd, I'm guessing not but happy to be corrected).