Site quieter?

[CH0161]

Thursday night was a shitshow for us, first tried Jayda G at Greenpeace then Job Jobse at San Remo. Last time I ever try to watch a decent sized DJ on a Thursday night.

Bicep Friday at IICON was bad. Anyone know what happened at the front when they stopped the music? Whatever it was, they played a very serious message on repeat that seemed like a scene off the Hunger Games.

 

Was caught up in the crowd heading right out of the Pyramid after Shania Twain towards Other Stage for Avril Lavigne. We were going to San Remo but it took ages and at one point we didn't move for 5 mins.

 

 

 

[Crazyfool01]

2 minutes ago, Alex DeLarge said:

Fair enough.

Probably the nastiest thing that's happened to me at a festival happened. I was having a lovely time at Todd Edwards, dancing with strangers who were sound. 

Then some guy is at the front filming on his Snapchat live thing. I say to the guy next to me "Todd the God" and the Snapchat fellow starts laughing at me and filming me dancing. What a nasty piece of work. Really upset me.

Thanks to the girl who came up and hugged me and started dancing with me to cheer me up though when she saw it happen.

Bang out of order that..  small things and comments can massively remove a vibe for a set … 😞 hope you managed to get it back quickly 

[Alex DeLarge]

2 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

Bang out of order that..  small things and comments can massively remove a vibe for a set … 😞 hope you managed to get it back quickly 

Journey back was lush thanks mate. I saw you around a bit but didn't want to bother you as it was at Barry Can't Swim and Shania - both busy haha.

Yeah, really took the wind out my sails and I'd been feeling insecure lately because my girlfriend had an injury which meant she couldn't go.

[HotChipWillBreakYourLegs]

Thursday night was at San Remo about midnight, was busy but not uncomfortable.

 

Went to Sensation Seekers for Wheel of Four Tunes at 1am.  Again busy but not rammed.

 

Got to the Park at about 230 and was surprised by how quiet it was.  Went in to the Wishing Well and only about a couple of dozen people dancing in there.

 

Back to my tent about 330.

[Crazyfool01]

5 minutes ago, Alex DeLarge said:

Journey back was lush thanks mate. I saw you around a bit but didn't want to bother you as it was at Barry Can't Swim and Shania - both busy haha.

Yeah, really took the wind out my sails and I'd been feeling insecure lately because my girlfriend had an injury which meant she couldn't go.

Aw mate that’s sh*t please do come say hello next time . And yeah do appreciate not always physically possible 😂

[Nice hymer]

5 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

Aw mate that’s sh*t please do come say hello next time . And yeah do appreciate not always physically possible 😂

I gave you a fist bump in the urinals by West Holts before Justice. Less than five seconds and gone. I should have introduced myself but you know, Sunday evening and all that... I was quite surprised that you still had the Pyramid hat and it was still intact. That's quite a feat, well done!

[Crazyfool01]

6 minutes ago, Nice hymer said:

I gave you a fist bump in the urinals by West Holts before Justice. Less than five seconds and gone. I should have introduced myself but you know, Sunday evening and all that... I was quite surprised that you still had the Pyramid hat and it was still intact. That's quite a feat, well done!

The lighter one faired better than the Coldplay one 🙂 was knocked off during their set by someone climbing on to shoulders just before he came to me … no issues that’s how things go in a packed pit 🙂 thanks for the fist bump 

[DeanoL]

17 hours ago, Ommadawn said:

If they reduced the number of tickets sold by 10000, they could recoup the lost revenue by adding around £17 to a ticket. They could also help by giving people an option to pay installments.

Not just ticket costs to recoup though. Less people means less trade for stallholders, means they will not want to pay as much.

 

14 hours ago, 4AssedMonkey said:

Truth is we will never know. But I’d bet it’s not an accident. After 15 years of secret sets and big acts on smaller stages causing crowd problems, they’ve chosen to persist with it. I just wonder what benefit they gain from it.

An option if Chris Martin breaks his leg a couple of days before the festival. Having an unannounced band on site, that could headline if push came to shove, is eminently desirable, and has been something the festival have had basically every year since 2015 and the Foo Fighters / Florence thing.

[efcfanwirral]

59 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

Aw mate that’s sh*t please do come say hello next time . And yeah do appreciate not always physically possible 😂

I think I spotted you down the front at the Bandstand for Showhawk Duo on the Thursday? Wanted to come and say hi but bad timing as we had to run off to get ready for our shift as soon as they finished. 

1 hour ago, CH0161 said:

Thursday night was a shitshow for us, first tried Jayda G at Greenpeace then Job Jobse at San Remo. Last time I ever try to watch a decent sized DJ on a Thursday night.

Bicep Friday at IICON was bad. Anyone know what happened at the front when they stopped the music? Whatever it was, they played a very serious message on repeat that seemed like a scene off the Hunger Games.

 

Was caught up in the crowd heading right out of the Pyramid after Shania Twain towards Other Stage for Avril Lavigne. We were going to San Remo but it took ages and at one point we didn't move for 5 mins.

 

 

 

We RAN at the end of Shania down the right of the Pyramid, got an amazing spot for Avril right near the green fence at the front on the left. This was more of a "get a good spot" situation, we didn't realise it'd be so crazy going between stages. She was one of the must sees for both of us so I'm glad we did it that way. 

 

On a more general note, I bailed from Barry Can't Swim on my own and went to Frank Turner at Greenpeace (both because The Park was too busy and regrets as I knew I really wanted to be at Frank after getting to Strummerville far too late on the Thusday). Got rewarded with a quiet crowd and Love, Ire and Song in full!

[4AssedMonkey]

10 minutes ago, efcfanwirral said:

On a more general note, I bailed from Barry Can't Swim on my own and went to Frank Turner at Greenpeace (both because The Park was too busy and regrets as I knew I really wanted to be at Frank after getting to Strummerville far too late on the Thusday). Got rewarded with a quiet crowd and Love, Ire and Song in full!

 

I was so close to going for that.  Can't believe I missed it!  He was great at Avalon Friday though.  Top class.

[Parched]

3 hours ago, Alex DeLarge said:

Fair enough.

Probably the nastiest thing that's happened to me at a festival happened. I was having a lovely time at Todd Edwards, dancing with strangers who were sound. 

Then some guy is at the front filming on his Snapchat live thing. I say to the guy next to me "Todd the God" and the Snapchat fellow starts laughing at me and filming me dancing. What a nasty piece of work. Really upset me.

Thanks to the girl who came up and hugged me and started dancing with me to cheer me up though when she saw it happen.

 

Hate stuff like this. Good on the girl for picking you up, shows for every numpty there will be at least one good soul there.

 

 

[Helsbels]

4 hours ago, Alex DeLarge said:

Posted this in the other place but I'll post it here as well.

Anyone feel the crowds were generally a lot less friendly this year?

People seemed more miserable and grumpy, especially with nicer weather.

Not at all, I chatted to so many smiley, friendly people everywhere I went. Everyone was having a great time

[Trunks1993]

Really good read this. I gave up trying to get to the SEC on the Friday after getting stuck in a horde of people on the railway just before Greenpeace turn-off. 

 

https://ra.co/features/4346

 

 

[4AssedMonkey]

6 hours ago, Alex DeLarge said:

Posted this in the other place but I'll post it here as well.

Anyone feel the crowds were generally a lot less friendly this year?

People seemed more miserable and grumpy, especially with nicer weather.

 

Opposite if anything.  Talked and laughed with more random strangers this year than I have for a few years.  I did however deliberately avoid the larger and busier sets and venues, so maybe that's it.

 

Had a completely lost Friday evening as we fell in with some of the medical crew volunteers who had a night off and were hilarious.  7 hours later, staggered home pissed as a fart and sore from laughing.  Meant we saw Skindred though, who were excellent.

[Nobby's Old Boots]

Personally don't really have a problem that some of the places are so crowded. I'll avoid that on purpose sometimes, even binning off some acts I'd like to see as I can't be bothered with the hassle. Other busy sets I got there early for and had a great time, but I can see how the crowds will put people off returning.

 

Clearly though things like Sugababes and Avril shouldn't be happening to those extents, and whereas before it was easy to just stand at a stage and wait for the crowd to die down a bit before you moved away in relative comfort, that seemed a lot more difficult to achieve this year. And moving from stage to stage did seem a lot more effort/crowded, even with concerted efforts to avoid large crowds.

 

All I kept thinking is about how scared I'd be on a muddy year - I think there might be some serious incidents. The increased capacity and clearly busier feel of the site hasn't been tested by bad weather yet and it does worry me.

[Skip997]

6 hours ago, Alex DeLarge said:

Posted this in the other place but I'll post it here as well.

Anyone feel the crowds were generally a lot less friendly this year?

People seemed more miserable and grumpy, especially with nicer weather.

Agree 

[HH46810]

https://ra.co/features/4346?utm_campaign=later-linkinbio-resident_advisor&utm_content=later-44047419&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkin.bio

 

A great article

[Johnnyseven]

Only places I encountered big crowds all weekend were SH on Thurs, so went to Genosys all night and there was loads of space. A bit busy at FBS on Sat and Camelphat on Sun at Glade but nothing too bad. Trying to get into Unfairground 2am Sun was a nightmare so went back to Genosys which was busy but there was room.

[Suprefan]

1 hour ago, Trunks1993 said:

Really good read this. I gave up trying to get to the SEC on the Friday after getting stuck in a horde of people on the railway just before Greenpeace turn-off. 

 

https://ra.co/features/4346

 

 

yeah, was gonna put that up. Might as well give it the thumbnail. They also pinned the tweet which is nice.

Its crazy cause this year for Coachella they expanded the grounds to move the largest tent and added another dance stage which did create a new separation from that part of the festival to the rest of it and made things easier. Granted there were a lot less people attending but its a smart move to make so when its back to full whack the grounds can handle the traffic.

 

 

[NotAnInsider]

That's a good article but I do think part of the problem is the current ticket situation. The stuff you need to do well in the ticket sale (decent tech, big groups) all tend to favour one particularly demographic who take a big chunk of available tickets and all want to do the same set of things once they are there.

 

I certainly don't think the answer is to get rid of the more weird areas like GOS or Carhenge in favour of yet more DJs as they suggest - I spent a fair bit of time in both of those this year and enjoyed them. More they need to rebalance the population of the festival a touch away from the coke n ket crowd.

 

Yeah, a ballot would fix it but I don't think it's the answer. Mostly because I tend to do quite well in the existing system...

[Memory Man]

9 hours ago, rebeccac said:

I was replying to your post which was about hospitality and influencer tickets? Not about staff? Ironic username!

 

9 hours ago, rebeccac said:

I was replying to your post which was about hospitality and influencer tickets? Not about staff? Ironic username!

They are one and the same thing!

 

a ticket is either a public ticket sold on see tickets, or it is not. Its that simple in a way.

 

anything that is not a public ticket sold on see tickets can be shifted around for use by the fest basically however they see fit and hospitality comes under this alongside staff and performers.

 

its this section of tickets that has massively increased whilst paid tickets have barely gone up.

the facts are there are now 210k plus people breaking in on site vs what you are likely remembering from the mid 2010s as 179k or so, so there are 30k more on site plus people being spun in, so probs 35k more on site 

 

and thats before demographic and behavioural changes

 

all of that and more adds to why it feels loads busier

 

 

Edited July 3 by Memory Man

[Paul ™]

19 hours ago, efcfanwirral said:

I'd never heard of the villager tickets before this year. Its a very odd system to say the least and is very much built on "good faith" 

There were changes made to the village tickets this year that stopped most, if not all of the quirks.

 

17 hours ago, balti-pie said:

And then we didn’t see him coming through that gate again. He almost certainly tried through another one, I would guess 

He ended up being evicted off site.

 

9 hours ago, MrZigster said:

Maybe relevant: I re-entered through Gate C about 9pm Sunday night. Nobody scanned my EPO. Mentioned this as it was unusual. Was told. "It's a free festival now man", by the security guy.

This is always the case, the gates teams stand down around 20:00 on the Sunday and just leave security who are meant to do a visual check of the wristbands.

[Pinhead]

22 hours ago, Memory Man said:

This is absolutely spot on

 

those 60 odd k staff tickets are being utilised to the absolute max

Yeah next time they talk about raising staff ticket numbers again, consider it like Quantitative Easing, i.e. printing money...

[Iphigenia]

There were definitely a lot of bodies, but not as many crushes and big queues this year. Hopefully they're learning from their past mistakes.

[giantkatestacks]

I actually got caught in zero crushes this year as opposed to the last couple of festivals but I wasn't at any point moving between Pyramid and Other or trying to get out of the Pyramid pit after a massive act. Even Thursday night we did quite well. I also found people really friendly even if young'uns are slightly taken aback by it.