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Avalon is dying


Steveyett

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  On 1/26/2025 at 11:36 AM, Nobody Interesting said:

and in Avalon they play to packed tents.

 

Avalon was always busy last year - we went mid day, mid afternoon, early evening and later evening and it was always busty.

Even when the Sugarbabes were packing WH Avalon was very very busy.

 

That is not something that is dying it is a place alive and well but just a bit different to how it used to be.

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yeah every time I see the thread title I think it’s a bit dramatic.   The area always seems busy enough to me. 
 

The original Avalon cafe people parted ways with the festival so things changed, but it’s hardly a tumbleweed farm. 

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  On 1/25/2025 at 7:17 PM, Ayrshire Chris said:

Always think the Avalon is best suited to folk/rock bands such as Skinny Lister or that band from Weston SuperMare called the Leylines. A bit of high energy in the tent. Add in some more folksy stuff and a few heritage acts. 
and of course Frank Turner as a headliner. 

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Yeah, was always suited to the folk/punk type thing. Saw some great sets in there from the likes of Peatbog Faeries, Flogging Molly, Show Of Hands, The Damned, Pronghorn, Ozric Tentacles, Levellers, Nik Turner's Space Ritual, Waterboys, King Blues... 

 

Think the first cheesy novelty act was Will Young in 2009? 

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  On 1/26/2025 at 12:31 PM, Dark Star said:

Think the first cheesy novelty act was Will Young in 2009? 

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It's a stretch to call him a novelty act tbh - even at that point he was a credible artist with UK number 1 albums and singles and has had 2 more number 1 albums since then. 

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  On 1/26/2025 at 1:26 PM, stuie said:

It's a stretch to call him a novelty act tbh - even at that point he was a credible artist with UK number 1 albums and singles and has had 2 more number 1 albums since then. 

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By Glastonbury standards, at the time, he 100% was a novelty act. No stage was booking him for any other reason.

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  On 1/26/2025 at 12:20 PM, stuie said:


yeah every time I see the thread title I think it’s a bit dramatic.   The area always seems busy enough to me. 
 

The original Avalon cafe people parted ways with the festival so things changed, but it’s hardly a tumbleweed farm. 

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Yes and no. I'd say that since I started going in 2009 and fell in love with Avalon as my then-favourite area, the character has changed.

 

Calgon says about the helter skelter going, but that is actually a part of it. It previously felt like a little self-contained village fete, somewhere to crash out on the grass as much as in  the cafe or the inn or the stage. But now when I go there it just feels more like a stage that's been plonked somewhere. Almost like Silver Hayes, that feel of a way through to somewhere else with a stage on the way.

 

But maybe just me. Rose tinted glasses and all that

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  On 1/26/2025 at 1:35 PM, Quark said:

Yes and no. I'd say that since I started going in 2009 and fell in love with Avalon as my then-favourite area, the character has changed.

 

Calgon says about the helter skelter going, but that is actually a part of it. It previously felt like a little self-contained village fete, somewhere to crash out on the grass as much as in  the cafe or the inn or the stage. But now when I go there it just feels more like a stage that's been plonked somewhere. Almost like Silver Hayes, that feel of a way through to somewhere else with a stage on the way.

 

But maybe just me. Rose tinted glasses and all that

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This

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  On 1/26/2025 at 1:34 PM, incident said:

 

By Glastonbury standards, at the time, he 100% was a novelty act. No stage was booking him for any other reason.

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He played Bestival and V Festival and released his 4th album the same summer.

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I hope the Avalon has a strong 2025 to dispel the concerns. It’s given me plenty of great memories over the years, not just contemporary bands…. I’d never have experienced 3 classic 60’s acts otherwise, to be at the front for Lulu (her first show there), The Zombies & PP Arnold was for me just about as good as anything I’ve seen on the farm.

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  On 1/26/2025 at 1:35 PM, Quark said:

 It previously felt like a little self-contained village fete, somewhere to crash out on the grass as much as in  the cafe or the inn or the stage. 

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That’s exactly what it’s always felt like to me, which apart from having little of interest (for me) acts wise, it’s not what I want from the UK’s largest event. I can get “village fete” style events elsewhere and bands of that level are affordable should I wish to see them. 
 

  On 1/26/2025 at 1:35 PM, Quark said:

But now when I go there it just feels more like a stage that's been plonked somewhere. 

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That somewhere is extremely annoying from a personal POV, in the way of my quickest route from WH to Dragon Field 

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Last two years ive seen Elvana and Skindred on Avalon, and both have been a right bloody laugh. They wouldnt let us in the staff bar, though, thats my only grumble!

I'm happy to dip in and out, wouldnt spend a lot of time there other than to pop into the Avalon Inn for a pint and a look around generally, but i like that its there and doing something quite different to a lot of the other areas around it. Variety 👍

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  On 1/26/2025 at 7:22 PM, Skip997 said:

That’s exactly what it’s always felt like to me, which apart from having little of interest (for me) acts wise, it’s not what I want from the UK’s largest event. I can get “village fete” style events elsewhere and bands of that level are affordable should I wish to see them. 
 

That somewhere is extremely annoying from a personal POV, in the way of my quickest route from WH to Dragon Field 

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I get that you don't like Avalon for whatever reason Skip, but the first point can be applied to any stage.  You can get the style of a Park or a SH or a Woodsies elsewhere too.  And the bands that play there are probably also affordable, it's not like Avalon are scraping the bargain bin while the other stages are all getting top price acts.  The whole attraction of Glastonbury is that it's got all these different things in one place, and you can move between them as you like.

 

I'm taking the second one as tongue in cheek (please tell me it's tongue in cheek...)

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  On 1/26/2025 at 12:31 PM, Dark Star said:


Yeah, was always suited to the folk/punk type thing. Saw some great sets in there from the likes of Peatbog Faeries, Flogging Molly, Show Of Hands, The Damned, Pronghorn, Ozric Tentacles, Levellers, Nik Turner's Space Ritual, Waterboys, King Blues... 

 

Think the first cheesy novelty act was Will Young in 2009? 

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The first novelty act on Avalon I remember was Rolf Harris in 2000.

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