Site quieter?

[M42]

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. 

[CaledonianGonzo]

It had definitely dropped a large amount by Sunday night.

[compactdisc]

Agreed that it generally felt quieter, but was caught in some of the larger busy sets. 
 

Adding to the show stop list that Confidence Man DJ at Greenpeace was pulled about 2:20am because of overcrowding at the back, which seems crazy considering the big events elsewhere at the time. 

[The Nal]

8 minutes ago, M42 said:

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.

 

You must have been at a different festival. 

 

Friday we saw Voice of Baceprot, Squeeze, Asha Puthli, Squid, Paul Heaton, D:Ream, some of LCD, Heilung, few tunes from Billy Bragg, all of Idles, last 40 mins of Fontaines, Sleaze in the Bimble Inn.

 

Friday was one of the all time great days at the fest. Just stay clear of the nonsense overcrowding acts. It robs you of half your day.

[M42]

7 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

It had definitely dropped a large amount by Sunday night.

Such a reversal as the Friday night busy crowds was so bad at one point I nearly had a strop. If we didn’t find a solution and ended up actually seeing some good slots (Midland) it would have gone down as my least fave night out at Glasto.

 

Charli being rammed. Bicep having the plug pulled and everything being too busy. Friday was dangerously close to being a nightmare.

 

Saturday and Sunday night outs way way way better.

[Mardy]

Hard to reconcile all these reports of the site being quieter when there was very nearly a major incident with BICEP on the IICON stage. A hair's breadth away from being very nasty indeed. Imagine there will be some significant changes for next year as a result.

[M42]

Just now, The Nal said:

 

You must have been at a different festival. 

 

Friday we saw Voice of Baceprot, Squeeze, Asha Puthli, Squid, Paul Heaton, D:Ream, some of LCD, Heilung, few tunes from Billy Bragg, all of Idles, last 40 mins of Fontaines, Sleaze in the Bimble Inn.

 

Friday was one of the all time great days at the fest. Just stay clear of the nonsense overcrowding acts. It robs you of half your day.

I wasn’t at a different festival I was just seeing different acts. None of these acts appeal to me other than LCD.

[M42]

1 minute ago, Mardy said:

Hard to reconcile all these reports of the site being quieter when there was very nearly a major incident with BICEP on the IICON stage. A hair's breadth away from being very nasty indeed. Imagine there will be some significant changes for next year as a result.

I was talking about Saturday and Sunday. See above about Friday.

**sorry just noticed you may not have been replying to me. If so soz 

Edited July 2 by M42

[CaledonianGonzo]

3 minutes ago, Mardy said:

Hard to reconcile all these reports of the site being quieter when there was very nearly a major incident with BICEP on the IICON stage. A hair's breadth away from being very nasty indeed. Imagine there will be some significant changes for next year as a result.

 

20 people trying to squeeze into a phone box is still too busy.

 

The IICON thing surprises me a little as I would have assumed it's a fairly straightforward forward field to close once it's full.

[The Nal]

8 minutes ago, Mardy said:

Hard to reconcile all these reports of the site being quieter when there was very nearly a major incident with BICEP on the IICON stage. A hair's breadth away from being very nasty indeed. Imagine there will be some significant changes for next year as a result.

 

There were 3 or 4 major f**k ups from the festival. Quite baffling really.

 

Sugababes, Shania/Avril, Bicep being the main ones.

 

100k rushed from the Shania at the Pyramid to Avril. Both Canadian and Avril even got her record deal after appearing on stage with Shania whe she was 14. We were heading back to the tent via the railway and there were people trampling through tents in Oxylers to get to the Other. Thousands on the railway watching, total chaos.

 

The Sugababes thing knackered half the site for about 3 hours. 

 

Lessons to be learned. 

 

But in general, no real queues for food, toilets etc. Much much easier to get about the place. 

Edited July 2 by The Nal

[M42]

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

[The Nal]

1 minute ago, M42 said:

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

 

Yeah. A genuinely odd decision. 

 

It also meant Avril couldnt come on and do a tune with Shania.

 

Same for Jason from Sleaford Mods and Orbital. Hes on one of Orbitals recent tunes. What clown put Sleaford Mods, The Streets and Orbital on at the same time?!

[mjfromthelane]

So what actually happened with Bicep? How long did they play?

[M42]

2 minutes ago, The Nal said:

 

Yeah. A genuinely odd decision. 

 

It also meant Avril couldnt come on and do a tune with Shania.

 

Same for Jason from Sleaford Mods and Orbital. Hes on one of Orbitals recent tunes. What clown put Sleaford Mods, The Streets and Orbital on at the same time?!

It does feel a bit like the people doing the programming are either a bit naive, or genuinely don’t realise the size and pull of some of the acts they’ve booked.

 

Did no one stop WH bookers and say, “you know you’re probably going to have to close the field for Sugababes right?”

 

It’s almost as if the festival itself has become blinded by the clear generational shift. Any booking which is a “throwback” for the mid 20s to 40 yr old crowd is going to get a showing. Still feels like the festival doesn’t quite foresee it. This has happened three years in a row now.

[nikkic]

47 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Yup.  The three or four main small stage acts who would draw ginormo-crowds (Avril, Barry Can't Swim, Sugababes, Justice) could be seen coming a mile off. Anyone showing up 5 minutes beforehand and expecting to stroll stage-front was kidding themselves.

Exactly this. 
 

If you really want to see an act you know is going to draw a big crowd, you have to sacrifice something and get there early. 
 

Or be at the back.

 

Yes there were some acts who had ginormous crowds and could have been bumped up a stage, but across the whole weekend with thousands of acts there will always be some errors, the schedulers aren’t going to get everything spot on every year. 

[kemosabe]

Honestly the overcrowding is a massive issue imo. The festival has to learn from it's repeated f**k ups since COVID. 

 

I love the place, and have been enough times I know how to avoid crowds. I know to miss Thursday acts, secret sets unless I'm there already, and there's certain acts on smaller stages I'll go no where near (the worst thing is these are pretty glaring) 

 

But in the last few festivals I've met so many people who went to their first Glasto and won't be coming back due to the crowds. Three in our group this year absolutely hated it. 

 

The pervasive attitude of people on here that blames punters for wanting to see the bigger acts, rather then the festival itself for f**king up bookings is completely wrong. It is nobody's fault that they want to see Avril, Charlie XCX, Bicep etc. it's a music festival and we're all paying a lot to be there. 

 

I think they really should consider reducing attendees by 10% imo. Put up the prices if you have to. 

[M42]

1 minute ago, mjfromthelane said:

So what actually happened with Bicep? How long did they play?

For about half their set. I left because I was off my bounce and there was no sign they were coming back on.

 

Terrible idea as it meant the railway line was completely jammed for about an hour. Not great when you’re gillispied.

[CaledonianGonzo]

11 minutes ago, M42 said:

It does feel a bit like the people doing the programming are either a bit naive, or genuinely don’t realise the size and pull of some of the acts they’ve booked.

 

Did no one stop WH bookers and say, “you know you’re probably going to have to close the field for Sugababes right?”

 

It’s almost as if the festival itself has become blinded by the clear generational shift. Any booking which is a “throwback” for the mid 20s to 40 yr old crowd is going to get a showing. Still feels like the festival doesn’t quite foresee it. This has happened three years in a row now.

 

But the response to that could just be "So what? No biggie"

 

Edit: To expand, John Kerridge has been posting Sugababes on his socials.  As the field organiser (as opposed to the booker, who he must liaise with) he must have been pleased enough with how it panned out.

Edited July 2 by CaledonianGonzo

[mjfromthelane]

6 minutes ago, kemosabe said:

Honestly the overcrowding is a massive issue imo. The festival has to learn from it's repeated f**k ups since COVID. 

 

I love the place, and have been enough times I know how to avoid crowds. I know to miss Thursday acts, secret sets unless I'm there already, and there's certain acts on smaller stages I'll go no where near (the worst thing is these are pretty glaring) 

 

But in the last few festivals I've met so many people who went to their first Glasto and won't be coming back due to the crowds. Three in our group this year absolutely hated it. 

 

The pervasive attitude of people on here that blames punters for wanting to see the bigger acts, rather then the festival itself for f**king up bookings is completely wrong. It is nobody's fault that they want to see Avril, Charlie XCX, Bicep etc. it's a music festival and we're all paying a lot to be there. 

 

I think they really should consider reducing attendees by 10% imo. Put up the prices if you have to. 

 

Spot on. It's like victim blaming.

[CaledonianGonzo]

1 minute ago, mjfromthelane said:

 

Spot on. It's like victim blaming.

 

Let's get some perspective here. Someone not getting to see Charli XCX becuase they didnt plan well is in no way a victim.

[Toilet Duck]

31 minutes ago, The Nal said:

 

You must have been at a different festival. 

 

Friday we saw Voice of Baceprot, Squeeze, Asha Puthli, Squid, Paul Heaton, D:Ream, some of LCD, Heilung, few tunes from Billy Bragg, all of Idles, last 40 mins of Fontaines, Sleaze in the Bimble Inn.

 

Friday was one of the all time great days at the fest. Just stay clear of the nonsense overcrowding acts. It robs you of half your day.

How were voice of baceprot? Wanted to see them and heard a bit as we passed Woodsies, but based on the recent Squeeze set lists we decided to head straight for the pyramid to catch them starting…

[mjfromthelane]

Just now, CaledonianGonzo said:

 

Let's get some perspective here. Someone not getting to see Charli XCX becuase they didnt plan well is in no way a victim.

 

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.

[Dave_c]

17 minutes ago, M42 said:

It does feel a bit like the people doing the programming are either a bit naive, or genuinely don’t realise the size and pull of some of the acts they’ve booked.

 

Did no one stop WH bookers and say, “you know you’re probably going to have to close the field for Sugababes right?”

 

It’s almost as if the festival itself has become blinded by the clear generational shift. Any booking which is a “throwback” for the mid 20s to 40 yr old crowd is going to get a showing. Still feels like the festival doesn’t quite foresee it. This has happened three years in a row now.

 

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.

[The Nal]

11 minutes ago, Toilet Duck said:

How were voice of baceprot? Wanted to see them and heard a bit as we passed Woodsies, but based on the recent Squeeze set lists we decided to head straight for the pyramid to catch them starting…

 

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

[A Particular Grey Chihuahu]

On 6/28/2024 at 8:16 PM, ProperTea said:

Haven't seen West Holts that busy since they shut it down for Rolf Harris in 2009.

 

Just returning the favour with the downvote. What did I say that offended you, just out of interest?