Thursday Music Crowding

[A Particular Grey Chihuahu]

Will everywhere playing music be rammed on the Thursday? I was looking at the Thursday Genosys lineup for example. Will that be chocka? I see a lot of people saying they just don't bother with the live music on Thursday because it's so uncomfortable.

 

Is anywhere likely to be sparse?

[Lucy92]

Honestly, all the years I’ve been anywhere with live music on a Thursday is usually packed. 

[A Particular Grey Chihuahu]

Thanks for the info 👍🏻

[bexj]

Everywhere is rammed on Thursday!  

[DareToDibble]

I would say it was dangerous last year, not just busy. Walked by Example on Glade to (naively) see if we could get anywhere near and it was horrendous. I  saw a girl having a panic attack up against a fence as she was so overwhelmed. My friend took her by the hand and walked her out of the crowd which she was very grateful for but should never have been in that situation in the first place.

[Lycra]

22 hours ago, DareToDibble said:

I would say it was dangerous last year, not just busy. Walked by Example on Glade to (naively) see if we could get anywhere near and it was horrendous. I  saw a girl having a panic attack up against a fence as she was so overwhelmed. My friend took her by the hand and walked her out of the crowd which she was very grateful for but should never have been in that situation in the first place.

 

Often people are not aware they have an issue which brings on a panic attack until it happens. 

[The Orgazoid]

99% of people are on site, but the 5 main stages that would otherwise hold the majority of that are all shut. Anything remotely recognisable will be rammed. It Isn't an issue if there is an act you really want to see, just plan ahead and get there for the act before, otherwise you wont get anywhere near anything for it to be worthwhile bothering. or, you can pick a stage, get a good spot and then not leave, otherwise just stick to bars a lot of which play music anyway.

[A Particular Grey Chihuahu]

14 hours ago, The Orgazoid said:

99% of people are on site, but the 5 main stages that would otherwise hold the majority of that are all shut. Anything remotely recognisable will be rammed. It Isn't an issue if there is an act you really want to see, just plan ahead and get there for the act before, otherwise you wont get anywhere near anything for it to be worthwhile bothering. or, you can pick a stage, get a good spot and then not leave, otherwise just stick to bars a lot of which play music anyway.

 

I think I'll be going to bars 👍🏻

[bexj]

The weather also has an influence - on a Thursday with dry warm weather, everyone bar none is out and about.  In wet years, you'll get a bigger % that decide to stay put in their tent for a while

[Nuthugger]

unless you stand in front of your stage of choice an hour before anything comes on i wouldnt bother with anything on thurs. memories of standing outside williams green for the smyths - couldnt see or hear anything and loads of people were just taking up space having conversations with each other not even bothered about the music. you can f**kin chat anywhere!! stop taking up space 😡😡😡😡

[Chris_R]

Is there much going on in SEC on a Thursday night? Or am I in for a very dull overnight shift 😄

[HotChipWillBreakYourLegs]

13 hours ago, Chris_R said:

Is there much going on in SEC on a Thursday night? Or am I in for a very dull overnight shift 😄

 

Yes.  It'll be heaving!

[Chris_R]

4 hours ago, HotChipWillBreakYourLegs said:

 

Yes.  It'll be heaving!

 

Ah good! I am doing an overnight from Thursday to early hours of Friday and was worried I would just be standing there.

Very much looking forward to seeing all the people coming through the gates!

[A Particular Grey Chihuahu]

Do you think they'd ever open one of the main stages on the Thursday to ease crowd issues? I get that there are rules, but maybe they could open the one with the least chance of noise pollution?

[Crazyfool01]

57 minutes ago, A Particular Grey Chihuahu said:

Do you think they'd ever open one of the main stages on the Thursday to ease crowd issues? I get that there are rules, but maybe they could open the one with the least chance of noise pollution?

Not with current licence 

[Iphigenia]

8 hours ago, Crazyfool01 said:

Not with current licence 

Does the licence get updated once every few years or is there wriggle room each year to change things?

[incident]

50 minutes ago, Iphigenia said:

Does the licence get updated once every few years or is there wriggle room each year to change things?

 

There's wriggle room to change things, but not to the extent that'd be necessary to run music on a main stage.

 

Likewise the licence does get updated, but something as substantial as that would be difficult enough to agree that they're unlikely to even try.

 

There's a whole heap of considerations - there's a list of exactly when the various stages and areas are allowed to operate, how big each individual sound system is allowed to be, and separate to that there's also very strict volume limits defined for each of the off-site monitoring points. So for example running the Pyramid on a Thursday would (in normal weather conditions) cause them to massively exceed the Thursday evening off-site noise limits even if you turned off every other sound system on site.

 

The most they can realistically do is get individual permission for the special things, like getting permission to run The Park last year so Michael could do his turn - but that was for a limited time, in the afternoon, and I suspect it was reduced volume levels. It's still a long way off running a proper band.

[A Particular Grey Chihuahu]

Is the noise from the main stages really that bad for surrounding houses? In my mind the festival is quite isolated. I can imagine people would hear it, but would it cause a nuisance? Especially in the afternoon/evening because there aren't any normal day to day sound limits for that time of day. I mean, someone can fire up a pneumatic drill outside your house at that time.

 

Or is it really bad for the villagers? I really don't know.

[CanWeRest]

If I was living there I wouldn't mind it 🤟🏼 bet there are some right fuddy duddies though.

[balti-pie]

Other festivals are getting some concessions to smaller stuff on other nights - download was properly four days last year, Bearded Theory had wednesday and thursday things happening this year, so there is a bit of a precedent from other councils allowing stuff to be spread a bit thinner over more days - id love a bit of a diversion or two perhaps with the pyramid field showing videos etc on the thursday til 10pm or something similar, great sets from back in the day could be a really good watch 

[The Orgazoid]

You always get the licence excuse from the jobsworths, but i think that could be overcome, it isn't beyond the ability of man for a scenario where what happens on friday can happen for one extra day the day before. I think the main issue is if it was just one stage that opened you couldn't book anyone remotely known, as the whole site would descend upon it and create as many issues as it solves. So it would have to be some unknown musicians and DJ's, which means the effort required to change the licence, and the extra cost involved in running a main stage for an extra day, probably isn't worth it, which is why it probably hasn't happened.