The good and the bad…

[Keithy]

Glasto ‘24. Not a vintage one for me.

 

Bad

Stage identities

 

As already mentioned on another thread, the demise of Avalon is very sad. More broadly I’d say it’s a trend across the whole site. Park and West Holts have lost their unique identities and become just another stage. Park used to be a festival in itself and I don’t think that’s the case anymore.

 

Wishing Well was bang average. Just another tent. Nothing particularly interesting about it.

 

SE Corner Crowd Management

They’ve still not cracked this and the traffic flow management just reinforces a one way march around the area. Was at Peace and wanted to go back over to IICON and had to go round a torturously long route through Shangri La, Unfairground and back round which is just soul sapping in the slow shuffling crowds.

 

Stage Placements/Bookings

One easy way to fix the crowd issues for acts like Sugababes is to stop booking them. Not sure what it says about Glastonbury demographics when acts like that draw huge crowds and others like Kim Gordon don’t. Some odd stage placements over the weekend which just adds to crowd flow issues. 

 

Long drops

Where have they all gone? None at Arcadia, less round the camping areas. The long drop pits are still there but just metal plates over them. Huge queues for the small quantity of compost loos. And some laughably small urinals in key areas which inevitably ends up with hedge pissing.

Drone Show

Get everyone to troop over to the Pyramid for a pretty crap 10 minutes of silently watching some lights followed by a crap view of the fireworks

 

Good

 

Woodsies

It is a wonderful area now and the Tree stage a nice addition. The whole area including the woodland walk area is a huge success in creating a new area and moving on from the John Peel Tent in a field era. If they can find room for a small bands tent like Williams Green used to be then it would definitely takeover the mantle of The Park of being a festival in a festival.

 

SE Corner

Really good this year (until after 2am when it becomes hell on earth for me) and the crowds were not too bad. Peace Stage was my second favourite area.

 

Silver Hayes

In terms of stage build, visually one of the best areas at Glastonbury now.

 

Bus links

My Castle Cary shuttle to bus station to Gate A to ‘in’ was astonishing this year. Left Castle Cary at 7:30am, was pitched in Paines by 9:20am. 

Edited Tuesday at 03:42 PM by Keithy

[Sitruc97]

The drone show would of been way more impressive with music or at least some narrating.

[CaledonianGonzo]

29 minutes ago, Keithy said:

Long drops

Where have they all gone? None at Arcadia, less round the camping areas. The long drop pits are still there but just metal plates over them. Huge queues for the small quantity of compost loos. And some laughably small urinals in key areas which inevitably ends up with hedge pissing.

 

 

Were there genuinely banks of long drops missing?  Given that they require permanent infrastructure it must create more problems than it solves by not installing them.

[The Nal]

Glasto ‘24. It was a vintage one for me. After an ok 2022. Loved it this year. The lack of acts really makes you explore the place a bit more and Glastonbury rewards you for that. Kind of like playing Zelda or Red Dead Redemption. 

 

Bad

 

Whatever about the lineup, they made a f**king balls at times with the schedule. Sleafords/Streets/Orbital clash, Shania/Avril, Idles/Fontaines etc. Absolute madness really.

 

The pop nostalgia thing has been in full swing for 15 years now. Until then all the food stalls used to play dub reggae almost exclusively. I heard Bewitched a few times this year. And people singing along.

 

Big event whores. A lot of people seem to just go to whatever they think is going to be the big thing. You know the fest has gone batshit when theres 100k people scrambling over each other to hear Sk8er Boi.

 

SE Corner. Yeah its still sh*t unless youre into really loud dance music, which I never have been. Love some of the smaller areas and the Rocket Lounge but you have to go through hell to get there and out. Dunno what drugs people are doing but its messy. Dribbling morons everywhere. I guess thats ketamine. What a sh*t drug. Loads of people folded up in pissy corners of the site half conscious. Whatever happened to pills and acid?

 

Good

 

Woodsies, BBC Introducing area. Great additions/changes there. 

 

Lonely Hearts Stage. Fantastic addition and I can see some strong lineups from now on. Hak Baker was great on Sunday. 

 

The Park. Changing ever so slightly and a few more little places to keep you hanging around. 

 

Toilets. Quite clean, queues were fine. Much better than EOTR last year for example.

 

Food. As above. Loads of options. No huge queues. The pizza fro the place across from Proper Coffee was one of the nicest Ive ever had anywhere. 

 

Random people. Felt there was a bit more of that about. Met some lovely people this year out and about. I was busy and mobile which helped.

 

IMO the best way to enjoy it is to stay busy. Spending an entire afternoon battling to see 1 average act purely out of FOMO is just frustrating and you'll miss so much elsewhere.

 

 

Defo feels like theres a shift happening similar to the end of the Lost Vagueness era/pre SE Corner. I love the way it keeps changing.

 

 

[incident]

2 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

 

Were there genuinely banks of long drops missing?  Given that they require permanent infrastructure it must create more problems than it solves by not installing them.

 

The ones at Arcadia, next to the entrance to the Park, were. They had alternative toilets in that location instead (can't remember which variety).

 

Don't think there was any others.

 

No idea why those weren't used, but it could easily be something logistical like the tank was leaky.

[Skip997]

31 minutes ago, Keithy said:

SE Corner Crowd Management

They’ve still not cracked this and the traffic flow management just reinforces a one way march around the area. Was at Peace and wanted to go back over to IICON and had to go round a torturously long route through Shangri La, Unfairground and back round which is just soul sapping in the slow shuffling crowds.

 

 

Totally agree, it was a disgrace.

 

My tactic was to stay in Block 9 and the common. 
 

Shangri La is boring and overcrowded 

[CaledonianGonzo]

3 minutes ago, incident said:

 

The ones at Arcadia, next to the entrance to the Park, were. They had alternative toilets in that location instead (can't remember which variety).

 

Don't think there was any others.

 

No idea why those weren't used, but it could easily be something logistical like the tank was leaky.

 

Maybe a crowd flow thing?  The pinch point there had been significantly widened.

[dotdash79]

Bad

 

The run up to the festival it felt like every brand had a partnership with the festival, and one of the worst was the none EV land rover defenders being driven round with the festival logo on them. Not great for a environmental festival, single plastic no, heavy polluting vehicles yes.

 

However the above really got in my head on Saturday night when I was watching coldplay and it didn't feel like a set being broadcast, more of a broadcast that was set at a festival. It made me feel used like a marketing prop, but I have to pay a lot of money for it. Ended up leaving Coldplay after 20 min.

 

Good

 

The festival still has enough soul left in it, which helped me fill my cup on the Sunday

[Keithy]

40 minutes ago, incident said:

 

The ones at Arcadia, next to the entrance to the Park, were. They had alternative toilets in that location instead (can't remember which variety).

 

Don't think there was any others.

 

No idea why those weren't used, but it could easily be something logistical like the tank was leaky.

Dairy was missing long drops; the tank was there but covered. There were 2 others I spotted but can’t recall where now.

[Keithy]

13 minutes ago, dotdash79 said:

when I was watching coldplay and it didn't feel like a set being broadcast, more of a broadcast that was set at a festival. It made me feel used like a marketing prop, but I have to pay a lot of money for it. Ended up leaving Coldplay after 20 min.

 

Prof Alice Roberts said something similar on Twitter. That it was a bit dehumanising and the crowd were just props for the TV broadcast…think she referred to people as lampstands

[dotdash79]

5 minutes ago, Keithy said:

Prof Alice Roberts said something similar on Twitter. That it was a bit dehumanising and the crowd were just props for the TV broadcast…think she referred to people as lampstands

 

I don't think it was the wristbands more the show started late and had a broadcast countdown before it started.

[incident]

46 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Maybe a crowd flow thing?  The pinch point there had been significantly widened.

 

Yeah, that'd make sense. The alternatives were located a shade further from the paths.

[Deviceing]

12 minutes ago, Keithy said:

Prof Alice Roberts said something similar on Twitter. That it was a bit dehumanising and the crowd were just props for the TV broadcast…think she referred to people as lampstands

 

Felt like the barrier at all the big stages was twice as far back as usual to make room for the 2 cameras on train tracks in front of the stage (I'm pretty sure they weren't there last year?).

 

Also had it a few times where I was at the barrier and some c**t with a massive TV camera on their shoulder walks up and points it directly at me less than a metre from my face. And honestly I got off lightly, some of the good looking people were getting this treatment for every song.

 

I like having the BBC footage to look back at after but it needs dialling back hugely.

[steviewevie]

8 minutes ago, Deviceing said:

 

Felt like the barrier at all the big stages was twice as far back as usual to make room for the 2 cameras on train tracks in front of the stage (I'm pretty sure they weren't there last year?).

 

Also had it a few times where I was at the barrier and some c**t with a massive TV camera on their shoulder walks up and points it directly at me less than a metre from my face. And honestly I got off lightly, some of the good looking people were getting this treatment for every song.

 

I like having the BBC footage to look back at after but it needs dialling back hugely.

I was watching at home and I got sick of camera shots of people singling along in the crowd or whatever. Just show the band.

[Pinhead]

31 minutes ago, Keithy said:

Prof Alice Roberts said something similar on Twitter. That it was a bit dehumanising and the crowd were just props for the TV broadcast…think she referred to people as lampstands

This. I posted something on the Sunday I think it was, saying something similar that we've crossed a bridge into a fully orchestrated and choreographed promotional broadcast from a festival where the fans are now more like spectators.

 

Disappointed that Shangri-la had not changed more than slightly from last years theme and design / concept either. I agree it's become a ball ache to get to now as well all the way through the crowd just for a gig at the Rocket Lounge.

 

[CaledonianGonzo]

Thought the BBC nailed it (again).  There may have been a slightly wider barrier to accommodate the second stages, but it's been plenty wide in past years. 

 

Was the accessible viewing platform a lot bigger this year?  Seemed likeitt.

[Spindles]

The bad:

The fricking campbed I bought.  Worst sleep I've ever had at a festival, and I've been going since before we got all fancy with things like sleeping mats and inflatable beds. 

The woodchip at West holts didn't need to cover the entire field.  I guess they saw some variable weather possibilities in the run up and were being proactive but the lack of grass to sit on made it less of a place to spend time chilling.  

 

The good:

Basically everything else.  The crowds, the organisation, the performances, additions like the tree stage.  Food was quality (especially the coconut chicken curry from Good Thai Dins, massive portion that was more than I could finish that tasted great).  People were nice wherever I went, barely encountered a single mardy bum.  This year was, beyond all doubt, the best organised glastonbury I've ever attended.  Some obvious booking decisions aside, of course, and if they'd stuck Avril on the pyramid the biggest crowd issue of the weekend would have gone away.

[Tiesto13]

Will start this off by saying this was my third festival (22, 23 and 24) and it was probably the best so far for me, I had such an incredible time and it remains one of the best things I've ever done. So the 'bads' are pretty minor quibbles with what was otherwise an incredible time.

 

Good

 

The fact so many artists showed up big time - Barely a set that didn't exceed expectations or meet already very high expectations. And from speaking to others, it seems that with a very small number of exceptions this was consistent throughout the festival for everyone. This is the main reason this was an outstanding festival for me.

 

The weather - pretty much perfect festival weather barring Wednesday which was a bit of a nightmare to be walking across site in fully laden.

 

Indonesian coconut curry - Really glad I found this place absolutely god tier festival food

 

Terminal 1 - Really enjoyed this, thought they absolutely nailed the dystopian manchester airport vibe.

 

99% of the people I encountered - Despite some quite trying situations the vast vast majority of people that I encountered were good natured and friendly throughout. There are a tiny number of dicks, but they really are the tiny minority.

 

General stage design - Stages like the Levels, Scissors, Wishing Well, iicon, peace, nowhere etc remain incredibly well designed and great fun.

 

The dragon fly - Liked the change up from the spider

 

Avalon tent - First time seeing a band there, went to two and both had a great atmosphere

 

Bad

 

Some of the scheduling - Shania into Avril the main one that was bonkers. Lets get over half the festival to get up and move from the pyramid to the other stage at the same time.

 

Night time crowd management - Victim of its own success here, but having Charlie XCX and Bicep on as after midnight headliners both made for an incredible line up for the lucky few who could get there in time but also a disaster for the huge numbers who were trying to but couldn't. Did nothing to alleviate the issues they've had since I started going with the whole SEC crowd management. Not sure what more they can do though. Opening up new late night areas/putting bigger acts on them just seems to be a self fulfilling problem as more people see the late night options as a huge draw of the festival.  

 

Water points in campsites - Queues in the campsites are utter carnage and mean you have to head down to the stages before you can get water. Which is fine if you're reasonably disciplined about filling up on water but can see how it could increase the chances of people dehydrating and getting heatstroke on a day like Saturday.

[cidermonkey]

02 July 2024

18:52

 

 

The Bad

 

The Glade has 2 main stages right next to each other which just bleed all over each other. Watched Korupt FM and where I was standing you heard more of the adjacent stage. Just have 1 larger stage in the Glade.

 

The Stonebridge bar bleeding all over the Park stage. Watched London Grammar on Sunday night which got bled all over by the Stonebridge bar which at the time was nearly empty. Reduce the volume in the Stoneridge bar while bands are on the Park stage, when Park stage finishes they can fill their boots with decibels and crank it up to 11….

 

As mentioned numerous times by others the lineup / stage assignment was poor. Bands on big stages with a small crowd and bands on smaller stages which couldnt cope with the crowd. More interested in promoting some bands to bigger stages to tick boxes than crowd safety.

 

Secret sets in Woodsies, what is the point… drags people to the area which is never going to be able to handle the crowds. If Kasabian were going to play announce and give them a suitably sized area to play.

 

Flags obstructing stage/ screen view from the disabled viewing platform

 

 

The Good

 

I thought the crowd was quite chilled and friendly this year (based on my interactions).

 

Seen loads of brilliant acts on smaller stages (Kneecap, The Us, Fat Dog, Moonchild Sanelly, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets). More than made up for the mediocre at best line up on the main stages.

 

Woodsies area is good, might need another  bar option though as always seemed to be busy

 

The Fat White Family sandwich, unlike the joker dressed as a mixer attachment before PJ Harvey this was true performance art. They brought piece….  (iplayer 13 - 15 mins in if anyone missed it….)

[Talcroft]

The bad:

 

Friday night crowd for Jamie XX was people expecting entertainment to be done to them rather than something they participate in. Someone else described dribbling morons and that's exactly right - looking forward to ket going out of fashion again. 

 

Having to work for my ticket. I've moaned about this since October, but I work 48-60 hours in a public sector high stakes job and I just want my holiday to be a holiday. Don't get me wrong, it's still a break - no-one dies if I get their drink wrong - but I am so bloody desperate for Glasto to be my time off.

 

I never enjoy the legend slot but often feel like I should go for the group experience. This year confirmed that is a stupid decision and I'm not doing it again. 

 

The good:

 

Improvements to Silver Hayes, Woodsies, Arcadia and the addition of Terminal One were outstanding. Incredible, immersive art. 

 

Tons of 6 music acts during the day time largely meant I'd no interest in the zietgeist and got to see loads of things in my time off. 

 

Bumped into a girl I last saw while travelling in Mexico 20 years ago and have reconnected. 

 

Got to meet some efesters - nice to be free to do what I want but have the option of people to catch up with if I want it! 

 

Romy on Sunday evening was an absolute joy and totally revived my tired soul. 

 

As always, the food. Only ate one meal a day but the quality is better than most of my local restaurants! 

 

Still working out the ranking... Glastonbury #10 was probably not a classic year for me, but still left me wanting more. And I reckon if it leaves you feeling that way then you've done it right. 

Edited Tuesday at 07:21 PM by Talcroft
Sentence structure... Tired and ill

[Olshansky]

The Good 

- loved the new areas.  stage design, as someone else said, was incredible.  I went to the ambient Plaid set on the new tree stage, and I just loved the surround screens and speakers.  really stunning.  

- I didnt have any bad experiences with crowd control.  maybe that was down to my choices, as I heard the Avril experience was not good.  but I was at the front of the pyramid for both PJ, Cyndi, Shania and Seventeen without ever once feeling squished.  I was also able to leave after those sets without issue.  

- Lost Horizons.  Wow. having a sauna in the morning was life changing. 

- No re-entry at the downlow. I thought it would make the queues worse, and it didnt.  I never waited more than 25 minutes to get in. 

- For the first time in forever, there was actually some space around my tent at Big Ground. 

- it felt to me like the toilets were cleaner this year, as a whole. 

 

The Bad 

- Some really brutal clashes.  they've all been named so I wont drag on, but yeah that was tough.  

- The dust.  Would have appreciated a spray down actually.  

- Food prices.  Damn. Costs of things have gone up for sure, but some of it is greed. Cheesy chips shouldnt be 7 pounds. a black americano shouldnt be 4.25.  Had a breakfast at Henry's Beard which I normally love, and it was maybe the smallest portion of anything I'd had all weekend for 12 quid. 

- Junk food.  There seems to be more and more junk food options and less "healthy" food. That's a matter of taste, i know, but I can't spend 5 days eating everything deep fried.  I'm not even a vegetarian - but this year it felt way easier to find a hot dog or a donut than ever before. 

- I dont think it makes sense to continue doing stonebridge the way they have. they should put it somewhere else, and make it open air.  maybe where cinemarrmageddon or used to be. In it's place they could do something to replace williams green, or expand on the new areas they've built there up in the park. 

 

 

overall I had a really amazing time. actually got teary a few times thinking about how lucky we all were to have been there.  

Edited Tuesday at 08:28 PM by Olshansky
more to add

[Iphigenia]

Good: they conquered a lot of crowding issues on the main days

Bad: they did it by putting on a very average lineup across the board and clashing all the decent bands. SZA took the brunt of it.

[Olshansky]

Just now, Iphigenia said:

Good: they conquered a lot of crowding issues on the main days

Bad: they did it by putting on a very average lineup across the board and clashing all the decent bands. SZA took the brunt of it.

 

Yeah, she kinda got done dirty. that coupled with really not having the recognition in the UK that she does elsewhere, they kinda set her up to fail. 

 

Janelle too - put on an incredible show for not as many people who should have seen it. 

[Pipine]

The bad

Queuing for the SE corner Friday night and giving up after 20 mins because some people had been there an hour and there was no sign of movement.. should’ve stayed at Arcadia.

 

Some of the scheduling issues which meant epic crowds or no crowd.  I wish they could get it more balanced but I’m sure it’s not easy.

That’s all I can think of.. it really was a brilliant year.

 

The good

The stunning stage design everywhere - love the levels, genosys, IICON, finally made it into the temple which was well impressive.

The dragonfly totally exceeded my expectations.. so cool.

The wonderful tree stage which was our last stop each night as we were camped in Limekiln, perfect way to end the evening. 
Seeing big headliners - Dua and Coldplay were ace even though I’m not a Coldplay fan I really loved the atmosphere and lighting / projection.. 

The crowd - everyone was so friendly and happy, didn’t see any agro or encounter any people too off their heads, everyone just seemed happy and on one.

The weather was perfect!

Found a lot of great dance music this year.. just wish my legs and back weren’t so bloody tired and sore.. by 2am each day I was ready to lie down.. maybe more sofas at the main dance venues so we can armchair rave for another hour or so when our legs give up!

Speaking of the which - there did seem to be more seating and more interesting seating all over the place.. lots of cool places to rest up.  I could sit under those big umbrellas at the park by the lands end bar all day watching bands. 
New areas like scissors were really good, I wish I’d had more time to see everything.. you just can’t be everywhere can you! Too much to do and see. 
 

 

Edited Tuesday at 08:49 PM by Pipine

[fingers_mark]

Good

 

 - Getting in and out of the car parks. You can always be unlucky with traffic outside, but car parks increasingly smooth. Shame to hear of van thefts, though.

 

- Wider variety of choice on the Thursday. With no major stages open always going to be busy spots, but choice meant you could head elsewhere. Greenpeace and Tree Stage good here.

 

- Other Stage. Loved the size of the stage now and sound and screen perfect. Avoided Avril fearing the inevitable. Done with overcrowded stages now, time consuming.

 

Bad

 

- Wood chipping at West Holts. Must of affected traders and Brothers Bar on that side. Be interested to know why they felt grass needed to be covered so much.

 

- Drone show. If there's no sound, music or introduction then it loses some of the magic. Felt a wasted trip to a busy place.

 

- No real bad sets, but caught the Primary School nursery rhyme thing on Thursday and thought it was Posh school tosh.