Site quieter?

[Tiesto13]

If Charlie XCX is playing the levels, I think it’s fair to say that it doesn’t require much foresight to say that you have to plan specifically to bin off a headliner to see that or at the least leave midway through a headline set and be prepared to be disappointed.

 

With Bicep, our group agreed to meet at iicon. Various people had different strategies depending on where they were but all involved getting there well before bicep started. We also agreed to go in the right hand side of the field as be left hand side was crazy (I got there straight after jungle and the toilets in between iicon and block 9 was already carnage).

 

We moved right down to the front right of the stage at the back of the crowd and had a huge slice of empty field behind us for the rest of the set. 

 

In front/to the left of us seemed busy but not crazy and behind us/to the right remained empty. My guess is that the choke points between the sound stage and the bars were turning into crushes though. About half an hour in though (1.45 is when I messaged someone about it), they stop the music and ask everyone to take three steps back, and after a short while ask everyone to do this again and announce they are stopping the music (can’t quite remember the exact order of these things). Where we were it remained busy and not many people left the field (the two of our friends who did leave said it was chaos getting out of the SEC). 
 

By about 2.15 they then announced that they were about to restart and that there was more space further forwards so people could slowly make their way to the front if they wanted, then restarted and bicep ended up playing their full set I think (went on longer than scheduled from vague memory).

Guesses are that a) they continued letting people into SEC for longer than they should have done as SEC capacity is higher than what was in, however everyone was trying to get into iicon rather than Shangri-La/Block 9 and b) because the field wasn’t full at the front they hadn’t closed the stage but things got too crushed too quickly at the sound stage. 

[Toilet Duck]

10 minutes ago, The Nal said:

 

Joyous stuff. Tears from the band, best gig theyve ever done etc. And they are tight. Sounded great.

Good stuff! 

[Nduja]

It's pretty noticeable now that the core demographic of the festival right now is probably around my age (35).

 

Amongst that age group there is a massive appetite for the late night scene, which has grown considerably since they started going to the festival a few years back. The success of acts like Bloc Party, The Streets & London Grammar plus of course Justice and Avril demonstrates how this group was serviced by the line up.

 

Plus there's a whole lot of youngers who see the nighttime elements as the core draw and barely bother with the day stuff.  

 

Nobody I know can really hack 3 nights out on the trot any more, so I think there's an element of attrition from when you compare Friday to Sunday. 

 

So the situation seems to be a monster demand for electronic music which peaks on Friday and does nose dive by Sunday. Saturday might be the sweet spot. The Levels looked absolutely rammed all day on Friday but the rest of the weekend, not so much.

 

There is a fundamental problem where all the night time venues are much smaller than the big daytime stages. Even though the crowd were quite clearly split on Friday between Charli and Bicep, plus other smaller attractions, it still was a bit of a sh*t show all over the place.

 

I think on Saturday everything worked a lot better, Prydz was very busy but accessible - maybe because it was a later slot, that also helped?

 

Peggy Gou might be the set that offered a glimpse into the future, she'd have surely shut down any of the big night time stages if placed after a headliner, but did just do a DJ set on a main stage as a headliner with a large crowd. I feel like a Friday night big DJ set at the Park would probably help get over the hump of the massive demand on Friday without needing to add another huge dance venue that is then dormant during large parts of the day.

Edited Tuesday at 08:37 AM by Nduja

[Crazyfool01]

1 hour ago, M42 said:

Sorry if this has already been said - something my group chatted about.

 

did a f**k load of people genuinely leave on the Saturday during the day?

 

Thurs and Friday nights were utter chaos. Friday night nearly one of the worst nights I’ve ever had at Glasto until we managed to get settled and enjoy some of the late night stuff.

 

But Saturday and Sunday crowds were completely fine and I didn’t even have much of a problem navigating the site.

 

Felt like the opposite happened to previous years where numbers dropped gradually over the weekend. 

Lockup crew said they had been much busier for people leaving Sunday than ever 

[The Nal]

Easiest exit for me maybe ever yesterday. Left Hitchin Hill at midday and was home in Dublin at 6pm. 

 

Didn't hit any traffic really. 

[Tiesto13]

20 minutes ago, Dave_c said:

 

They 100% realise though. Twice this weekend I saw security well in advance blocking off entrances to certain areas (Park for Barry and other for Avril). They knew it would be chaos and were prepared for it. I'm half wondering whether they do it on purpose for the media hits and attention. 'Hey Avril, we'll give you a slot on the other stage in the afternoon, it'll be rammo and it'll be all over the news and your name will be everywhere as we'll have to close off the field. I know we're only paying you 50 quid but that media buzz will pay off dividends. Deal?'

 

Obviously that's not what happens (I hope) but I can't fathom some of the scheduling decisions.

I can forgive Barry can’t swim at the Park, when they booked him it’s likely that most people wouldn’t have known who he was given his stratospheric rise.

 

Avril on the other is understandable as well, the other stage is vast and can accommodate huge acts, but they needed something big on the pyramid at the same time. Unfortunately they had someone absolutely incredible on the pyramid stage, but without a huge uk draw.
 

What I do think was stupid was doing Avril on the other an hour after Shania on the pyramid as the cross over between fans was so high.

[NotAnInsider]

Plenty of camper vans left Sunday morning; when I popped back to the van mid afternoon maybe 25% and gone at that point.

[CaledonianGonzo]

2 minutes ago, Tiesto13 said:

What I do think was stupid was doing Avril on the other an hour after Shania on the pyramid as the cross over between fans was so high.

 

Staying in the pit after Shania for Janelle we could see the crowd streaming off in the distance to the Other Stage as far as they could see. An absolute flood of people.

[Mark E. Spliff]

This is a 'curated' thread, i.e. the OP is a time-served member of the forum who has asked a question for which they already believe they know the answer and will have little respect for anyone who disagrees.  The OP has 'form' here, e.g. in weather discussions, they regularly display the three classic eFestivals delusions: (1) if your subjective preference on weather fails to coincide with mine, it's objectively wrong, (2) if you express a preference for slightly different weather in one direction, i.e. slightly cooler, that must mean you wish for a complete change in the weather, i.e. a freezing monsoon.  (3) if you express an opinion on weather, it will somehow magically affect what the actual weather will be, and you can therefore be admonished for typing stuff on a forum.  Threads like this always go the same way - in group/out group, cliched  in-jokes, intolerance of dissenting opinions etc, and this one is no different.

 

Two facts to bear in mind:

 

1.  We attendees of the festival are individual data points moving round in a very large population of data points.  From the ground, we're unable to see the bigger picture.  The only people who're in a position to make authoritative pronouncements on attendance figures are those who've got that bigger picture, i.e. those who're able to review aerial footage of the site.  As with any other population, you could also derive a reasonably accurate understanding of the attendance figures via the 'wisdom of crowds', i.e. a large, random sample of us giving our own subjective views and taking the mean of those, but that won't come from a curated thread like this - it's too skewed by normative social influence.

 

2. This year, there was a change in security measures which could easily be exploited.  I know, because I did it - but only doing a favour for someone who only wanted to be on the site for a brief period before the public arrived.  I won't say more, for obvious reasons, but anyone working on pedestrian gates up until 10pm on the Tuesday before the festival should be able to work out what I am referring to.

 

I work with one large group on site, and have friends who work on another large crew - there was strong agreement amongst both that this year seemed much busier generally until later on Sunday.

[HotChipWillBreakYourLegs]

Maybe I'm out of touch, but I did not expect that kind of draw for Avril.

 

Janelle was great but unfortunately the atmosphere was a bit lost in a not very full Pyramid Field.

[SighMo]

26 minutes ago, The Nal said:

Easiest exit for me maybe ever yesterday. Left Hitchin Hill at midday and was home in Dublin at 6pm. 

 

Didn't hit any traffic really. 

Took us over 5 hours to get from the bottom of the hill to the top from PG 5 through Purple. Worst exit experience ever. 

[MEGABOWL]

47 minutes ago, mjfromthelane said:

 

Was said slightly in jest, but I don't think people's crappy or even scary experiences (by the sounds of it) should be downplayed, particularly if it was there first experience of Glasto, just because they had a line up of acts they wanted to see which differ from some people on here. I don't think it's normal to go to a festival with the approach that you strike off popular acts because it might be too crowded - that's on the bookers. 

 

It's said most years on here but I do think the late night agenda needs a big rethink, as the appeal is seemingly growing and the efforts to spread/manage crowds hasn't aligned.

This is my 11th Glastonbury and I’ve always made decisions based on whether something will be crowded and what stage they were on. In 2009 we tried to get to Rolf Harris on WH and he was on by the time we got there. It was mega crowded all the way back onto the path and the toilets on the other side at the back. So we went to watch something else.

 

My other half wanted to see Sugababes and so she planned to leave half way through Confidence Man to get in but enjoyed the latter so much she forgot. When the signs went up saying it was full she went to watch something else (came with me down to the Glade for D:REAM and K-Klass and we had a great time). We never bothered trying for TLC in 2022 because we only a short gap after the end of what we were at before. It’s always been part of the thinking for me.
 

 

[Colorblindjames]

1 hour ago, M42 said:

Avril should have been where Janelle was tbh. I knew from the start it would get a turnout similar to Miley.

Big danger that the pyramid loses all of its artistic integrity by doing things like this just to satisfy punters with little musical taste. The Pyramid schedules enough legacy acts as it is. 

[MEGABOWL]

1 hour ago, M42 said:

Avril should have been where Janelle was tbh. I knew from the start it would get a turnout similar to Miley.

It isn’t as easy as that. Janelle may have wanted the Pyramid after being stuck out on WH last couple of times. The Pyramid bookers seem to have focussed more on credibility than just filling the field and I can’t criticise them for that. The only possible fix was Lavigne being sub on the Other, with more time for the Shania crowd to move making it easier to manage.

[M42]

9 minutes ago, Colorblindjames said:

Big danger that the pyramid loses all of its artistic integrity by doing things like this just to satisfy punters with little musical taste. The Pyramid schedules enough legacy acts as it is. 

Avril has been playing as either a sub or third down at most festivals though so it’s not like they are over inflating her slot.

[The Nal]

31 minutes ago, SighMo said:

Took us over 5 hours to get from the bottom of the hill to the top from PG 5 through Purple. Worst exit experience ever. 

 

Ouch. We got a taxi from behind Gate A and drove straight out.

 

I had the 5 hour thing in 16. Missed our flight.

[SighMo]

Just now, The Nal said:

 

Ouch. We got a taxi from behind Gate A and drove straight out.

 

I had the 5 hour thing in 16. Missed our flight.

At least you had mud reasons that year. I have no idea why; just didn’t move for 5 hours. 

[The Nal]

Just now, SighMo said:

At least you had mud reasons that year. I have no idea why; just didn’t move for 5 hours. 

 

Yeah a van broke down in a lane that year.

 

They had a stop/go auromated light thing on the main roads, which knackered us getting in via Shepton on Wednesday. Huge queues.

[Talcroft]

2 minutes ago, SighMo said:

At least you had mud reasons that year. I have no idea why; just didn’t move for 5 hours. 

 

Dunno what went wrong at purple yesterday mid-late morning - we left about 8.30am and were straight out of purple 4. Only thing I can think is there weren't any stewards in the field itself, or maybe oxfield was getting priority emptying. 

[Dusk1983]

17 hours ago, dougal1 said:

Sunday aside, it felt as busy as 2022 to me, which was way too overcrowded compared to the 6 festivals I've been to before then. I was hoping '22 was a post covid blip but it still feels so oversold. There's no way to hop between acts anymore but instead have to plan/leave so much time to avoid crushes and fields closing. Jayda G's set in Greenpeace getting cancelled halfway through due to overcrowding was a real shame.

thank you, completely agree. Can’t speak for 2022 as this was first year since 19, but the difference was shocking

 

Essentially it’s now 1 hour to get out of areas or between any popular acts and people are just accepting of it

 

1 hour to get out of pyramid after LCD, over an hour to get out of the other stage towards West Holts after James, an hour queuing to get into the Park for literally anything half decent at Stonebridge, even an hour of solid pushing to get OUT of the big glade tent and 50 meters down the railway track

 

There is absolutely zero doubt it’s oversold

Edited Tuesday at 09:53 AM by Dusk1983

[Alex DeLarge]

I think what people complain about with the increase in crowds, isn't just the size, but also the attitudes.

Bigger crowds with friendlier people aren't as bad. Bigger crowds where people are annoyed at you for stepping on their blanket (which wasn't as bad this year - maybe less draw to the Pyramid?) and aggressive, nasty people on all-sorts pushing is an issue.

[LoraMaze]

They should have a public vote on where acts should be placed when the lineup is confirmed, clearly they don’t get it…still! 

[SighMo]

42 minutes ago, Talcroft said:

 

Dunno what went wrong at purple yesterday mid-late morning - we left about 8.30am and were straight out of purple 4. Only thing I can think is there weren't any stewards in the field itself, or maybe oxfield was getting priority emptying. 

Was weird. Nothing moving out of the lower field at all. I’d moved my car down from the top to save two trolley loads up the hill. Wish I’d left it there. 

[mr flow]

It was my first time since 2016 and it was noticeable busier. I'm unsure if that is more people or a balance of the line to split crowds but far too many acts booked for stages that were too small for them. Also, it seemed like the toilets were a lot more congested this year. I don't think I've ever had to queue to use a urinal before, but had to queue every time this year. I still had an amazing time, but the crowd seemed a lot more aggressive this year, and seemed to get annoyed with you trying to squeeze past. I've never experienced that at Glastonbury before (this was my 13th visit....).

Hopefully this all gets sorted as it did seem to lose a little of it's magic this year.

[clarkete]

54 minutes ago, Dusk1983 said:

thank you, completely agree. Can’t speak for 2022 as this was first year since 19, but the difference was shocking

 

2022 was worse than this year from what I saw personally, but I do choose routes to avoid the worst if possible.