The good and the bad…

[irnkrtn]

4 hours ago, The Nal said:

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.

 

 

Agree with all of this. My favourite Glastonbury in a long long time and definitely my best as a fully fledged adult. 
 

I think SE Corner is tired now. Yes lots of good acts if you are into the vibes there but it’s the same design for the past god knows how many years.

 

Think the transformation of the dance village as was has been outstanding. 
 

I know people love the retro acts. Got stuck in the Avril crush which was a real shame as I was trying to get to Janelle Monae. But I saw some great new bands, people new to me.

 

Sublime vibes, can’t believe I am home! 

[4AssedMonkey]

GOOD

 

Had some random encounters and lost evenings with strangers for the first fest in a while.  This included binning my plan and seeing stuff I didn’t know, but really enjoyed.

 

Liked the Dragonfly.

 

Food was excellent and queues were small.

 

Greenpeace may be my new favourite area.

 

BAD

 

Woodchip overload (especially Holts).

 

SE Corner. To be avoided unless you’re a serious dance fan. Nothing else to do/see anymore.

 

Dust. My throat/eyes were wrecked.

[CaledonianGonzo]

8 hours ago, fingers_mark said:

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.

 

They were strapping in for a wet one.  And after the summer we've had who could blame them.

[Suprefan]

1 hour ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

 

They were strapping in for a wet one.  And after the summer we've had who could blame them.

I dont see why they cant hold off on that til tuesday and make a judgement on wether to use them or not. Same happened in 22. They thought it would rain a lot and it only did twice overnight which had zero effect and kept the dust down. Just made walking more difficult.

[CaledonianGonzo]

I dunno. I guess someone could ask John K.

 

Maybe it was first come first served on the woodchip and they just went a bit OTT with it.

 

I sat on it at a few points and it was OK if you had a jumper to sit on.

[Colorblindjames]

The Good

 

Lineup better than last year for me especially Sunday in Woodsies.

Everything much cleaner than before.

 

The Bad

 

Assholes doing drugs on the main stages in front of kids.

[AdrianH]

The Good

 

The festival as usual is an amazing place to be. Always so much going on

 

Woodsies area is definitely a big improvement

 

Dua Lipa and Coldplay both nailed it. Great visual experience

 

The Bad

 

Weak Pyramid lineup meant the other stages were busier than they should have

 

SE corner has just become an over busy chore in the evening. A slow trudge round to see anything.

 

Park has lost its sparkle - felt over busy with constant spillover from Stonebridge

[Thunderstruck]

35 minutes ago, Colorblindjames said:

The Good

 

Lineup better than last year for me especially Sunday in Woodsies.

Everything much cleaner than before.

 

The Bad

 

Assholes doing drugs on the main stages in front of kids.

 

I know it's a liberal festival and taking drugs is kind of accepted, and I'm fine with that to some extent - but it's got to the point where it's damaging the experience for people not mashed off their face.

 

Someone needs to invent some sort of portal where anyone taking coke is immediately sucked in and held there with all the other d*ck head coke heads until the festival is over.

[-TLR-]

good:

 

Channel One opening the Temple, and Sasha Steppa on Firmly Rooted.

Keane - playing one of the best shows probably ever.

hearing "Green & Grey" live for the first time in probably 14 years, definite tear in the eye moment.

Pam Ayres getting a standing ovation

thinking i had missed BlackSkyWhite but actually just making it on time (and it was awesome)

Skindred

Woodsies area

the coach journey there was great - the driver was amazing

good vibes in the campsite (big ground)

 

 

bad:

 

the combined "service" of Great Western, and Great Northern rail on the way home - f**k them both (well, ok, can't really blame the festival for that! 😀)

the slow death of the Avalon field

f**king stupid scheduling

almost getting into a fight with some absolute prick by one of the long drop blocks on the railway line in the crush after Avril Lavigne

Dubkasm on Firmly Rooted - for some bizarre reason they seemed to turn down the volume and switch off the bass

general feeling of, sort of... i don't really know... just sort of "meh"ness of it all.

 

 

i don't think, really, i have anything properly negative to say about the festival this year, but then i also don't have anything amazing to say about the festival this year.

 

everyone who has asked me so far how it was - the best answer i can come up with is "it was nice".

 

as i walked past the pyramid on the way to the gate on monday i couldn't help but have a feeling it might be the last time i see it.

 

i think the balance of extreme cost / effort Vs fun may have finally tipped in the wrong direction.

 

i have no doubt that in november i shall be mashing the F5 just like everyone else - but right now, as i sit here and type this, i think i will be at peace with it if it should turn out that this was my last one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

Good

 

Livelier, more up-for-it crowds. There was a time a few years back when it felt like the audience was pretty static. Certainly not this year.

 

General atmosphere was on point. Everyone I interacted with was friendly and fun. 

 

Arcadia was a success. I think they have a platform to really expand around the dragonfly. Maybe not the exact same wow factor as the spider's first outing, but still very cool.

 

The Temple still reigns supreme as the best micro venue of any festival I've attended. 

 

Improved, more organised crowd control measures.

 

The weather. Maybe not as warm and sunny throughout but it was dry and comfortable. 

 

 

Bad

 

No lanyards. Been collecting them for years. Would have been happy to pay for one if they produced a limited run.

 

Some of the artist scheduling this year was baffling. Almost as if it was planned by an intern with no previous experience of the festival.

 

The Brothers cider tasted watered down. Grim, actually.

 

It might finally be time for Shangri-La to get the boot and introduce some new ideas there. Overcrowded, style over substance. The same bottlenecks every year. 

 

 

 

[CaledonianGonzo]

Shangri-La's theme being the same as last year was, I assume, a budgetary thing.

[CaledonianGonzo]

6 minutes ago, -TLR- said:

good:

 

Channel One opening the Temple

 

Was good, this.  First time I've been in The Temple in the daylight - well, not for sunrise.

[The Nal]

3 hours ago, Suprefan said:

I dont see why they cant hold off on that til tuesday and make a judgement on wether to use them or not. Same happened in 22. They thought it would rain a lot and it only did twice overnight which had zero effect and kept the dust down. Just made walking more difficult.

 

I think it was more for the trucks etc during the setup. Ground was still fairly soft in the build up. 

 

Whole site had tractor wheel marks imbedded into the ground. 

 

Edited Wednesday at 09:49 AM by The Nal

[The Nal]

1 hour ago, Supernintendo Chalmers said:

Good

 

Livelier, more up-for-it crowds. There was a time a few years back when it felt like the audience was pretty static. Certainly not this year.

 

The weak lineup made everyone work a little and move about a bit more to find fun stuff imo. 

 

Actually made for a better festival away from the big stages. 

[LeFreak]

Copying and pasting from another forum I use, much of this has been said already here anyway.

 

Wow. 6 days, 140km, about 35 gigs later - finally got back home around midnight last night from what was an unbelievable few days at my first Glastonbury. It certainly lived up to the hype! A truly amazing place where everyone including artists, DJs, punters and staff all brought their A game. Before going I did worry I'd set my expectations dangerously high but it did indeed justify those expectations, no small part down to the perfect weather we had the entire time. Having said that it wasn't all smooth sailing and not an 'easy' festival either - I'll get to some of the challenges below for anyone going first time in future. I've been to a lot of festivals over the past 15 years or so and generally find I know what to do at new ones but this weekend I really found myself having to relearn how you do things and adapting as you go. It is a different ball game from anything else.

 

The Good

• Festival site and scale. Just incredible. It was so enjoyable just wandering around taking it all in, such thought and detail has gone into every area of the festival and each area had it's own unique feel and aesthetic. I probably only scratched the surface but could not believe how special it was.
• Performers bringing their best. At almost every gig it really felt like you were witnessing a special performance that meant a lot to the band. Definitely going to watch a lot of them back over the coming days.
• The weather. Man of the match really. It was scorching hot at least 3 of the 5 days and even the other 2 were bone dry. Perfect conditions.
• Food was of a really high standard and it seemed like every stall had an option for £6.50 which was great. I'm not a huge foodie at festivals as I often just go for something convenient, but the range of options were brilliant. I'm sure if I was arsed queuing a bit more I'd have eaten every better!
• Crowd behaviour - it was a very civil affair aside from a small % pushing through crowds, no bad behaviour, no arguments or aggro heads, very little people completely out of their heads on drugs/drink - quite a difference from festivals at home! Couldn't believe how well respected the no peeing on the farm rule was observed.
• Campsite crew - essentially volunteers in each campsite dedicated to helping out - they were so friendly and positive, helpful with telling you where to camp, went around the campsite giving out bin bags, timetables, tote bags, LED bands for Coldplay, offering advice and generally having the craic. If you forgot something I'm sure they had it with them to make your experience as smooth as possible! Lovely touch.
• The Park area was deadly. The views from the Glastonbury sign/hill, the food and quirky bar options, late night areas such as Scissors and HMS Sweet Charity were probably my favourite of the whole site.
• Variety and depth - at so many points over the weekend you stumble across things you just would not get anywhere else. Bands, DJs, comedy, theatre, circus, food, spoken word, cinema, storytelling, art… you name it and it's there. I remarked on the first night all it's missing is a post office and low and behold we walk by one the following morning. It truly has something for everyone and the attention to detail and depth of what is on offer is hard to comprehend. I would say it is for this reason more so than the strength of it's lineups that people continue to go for such a long time.

The Bad

• Traffic getting in wasn't pretty. We arrived in Bristol airport around 9am and were back from Tesco with our booze and supplies with well over an hour to spare for our bus leaving from the airport at midday. However the bus was almost 2 hours late, then it took 3.5 hours for what should have been a one hour journey. So we probably arrived close to 6 hours later than we had planned and it was realistically about 9pm by the time we were set up, had some food and set off to explore the arena.
• The drone show. Just a complete waste of time. It dragged thousands of people up to the pyramid field for an incredibly underwhelming and totally silent drone show and then it took ages to get out due to everyone leaving after 10 mins. The fireworks display looked much better in the distance. Backed the wrong horse here but really would have been better off just continuing our wander.
• Stage scheduling/placement - many gigs could not handle the crowds that turned up, but what made it worse was some of these seemed very predictable before hand. Barry Can't Swim, Sugababes, Avril Lavigne the main 3 I attended. BCS we were so far back we could more so hear the Stonebridge bar, Sugababes the field got shut down before hand but thankfully we arrived early enough to get in and enjoy it, Avril Lavigne was just an insane amount of people - opted to go towards the back of the crowd as I felt so uncomfortable and squashed on the way in. Should have definitely been on the pyramid.
• Overcrowding - It did overwhelm me a bit how busy the place was. I don't think I've ever been anywhere as busy as Glastonbury. There were numerous points over the weekend where entire areas or fields were shut off due to being full (South East Corner, Silver Hayes, other gigs mentioned above). The foot traffic after these gigs or late at night made it very unpleasant getting around at times, again numerous times where you are stuck in traffic and just not moving either direction - although in fairness to the stewards they were good at redirecting you and trying to close off paths or make them one way. But this was definitely the thing that took me by surprise the most and at times took from the enjoyment.
• Toilets - kept relatively clean in fairness but there just didn't feel like enough in some areas, particularly around the Pyramid and Silver Hayes. Also some just didn't have any urinals which felt like a poor mistake. I've never encountered the same queues at toilets at a camping festival in Ireland.
• Crowd friendliness - OK, this is a very minor and personal one, but I kind of expected to have more chats and craic with strangers over the weekend, but compared to the likes of ATN, B&S, EP before it got very young, BTP I felt the crowd kept to themselves much more and weren't as open to random interactions. Maybe it's not as much of a done thing in the UK? Also a lot of people barging past you into space that wasn't there and big groups of people turning up to gigs 15 mins late then linking hands to squeeze by - a bit annoying and not the etiquette I was expecting.

 

Apologies if any of that sounds negative but just wanted to elaborate on some of the issues if anyone's going in future. Would I go again? Absolutely a no brainer and I hope to visit again. I would have slight concerns about going on a year where it lashed all weekend and became a mudbath - I think the muck combined with some of those issues and travelling over from Ireland would make it a real challenge. But thankfully that was far from the case this time around and the juice was certainly worth the squeeze!

[tjchittt86]

The Bad

 

- Queueing to get back in to the main festival area from the camper fields was a bit of nightmare this year. Needing a wristband, original ticket and your pass out seemed excessive and time consuming. Leaving the site for the night was also a bit of a debacle depending on what time you left - why do they need to check your main ticket again when you're already in!? 

 

- As many have said, some of the clashes were terrible and didn't help at all with crowd control. 

 

- Nitrous balloons. Was watching Black Pumas and ended up moving because of a group of idiots "Sssssssss"-ing through quiet moments in the set. Just stop it or have a drink instead you morons. 

 

The Good

 

- The atmosphere felt better this year. Everyone generally just seemed happy to be there - as they should be!

 

- Woodsies area is a lovely, much calmer quieter area away from Silver Hayes, San Remo etc. Greenpeace gets better every year. 

 

- Never had an issue with the line-up and thought it was varied with plenty to suit all. Some brilliant 'Glasto goosebump moments' throughout the weekend. You can really see how much it means to some of the artists performing. 

 

- Food was fantastic with loads of different options. Taste Tibet at West Holts a personal highlight. 

 

- The app was brilliant! 

 

- Just the best place on earth! 

[incident]

10 minutes ago, tjchittt86 said:

Leaving the site for the night was also a bit of a debacle depending on what time you left - why do they need to check your main ticket again when you're already in!?

 

So that they know you can successfully get back in when you return.

 

Yes, you might well get it right every time - but enough people have failed to do so in the past that it's now baked into the procedures.

[VicAtreides]

The good 

 

+ Despite the obvious stage missteps that have been widely covered (Avril) this year was a mark up for me in terms of crowd control, one way systems and screens informing you that an area was at capacity, even if it meant missing out on Charli xcx after Dua. 
 

+ food choice was so great and I was rarely disappointed with anything I ate, as a veggie the choice is amazing and I appreciated an Anna Mae’s at 2am after not eating for hours and hours 

 

+ The immersive feel to the place is almost surreal in its attention to detail and overall vibe. It’s like walking through a massive moving exhibit and drifting through areas such as unfairground late at night is something you won’t experience at many other places. 
 

+ the weather. I stressed so much in the run up - even caved in and bought some wellies with just 2 days to go - and, yeah it was chilly at times, but I much preferred it to 2023, except for the Wednesday which was a killer when dragging a trolley in what felt like 30 degree heat.

 

+ the festival staff and merch stall guys I spoke to were all so friendly and just matched the great vibe of the place 
 

 

The bad 

 

- People talking through sets. Much worse than last year. Why people can’t shut up for 5 mins is beyond me - one group stood there shoving shite up their nose every 20 seconds in the middle of a chocker Avril crowd just to yap all

over it. Whats the point? Go to a bar. 
 

- Maybe niche but camped in Paines Ground and the lack of space with people literally camping an inch next to and in front of your tent is unhinged. Some guy’s tent was so close to ours this year I had to lift his up when taking mine down to get the guy ropes out. If there’s no space l find somewhere else. 
 

- sound mix felt slightly off on the pyramid and if you’re standing at the back of the other stage, and it’s slightly windy, then forget about hearing much of the set you’re watching but I guess that’s one for the elements.

 

- Ket. It sh*t and turns everyone into zombies and sucks the absolute life out of every single crowd. 
 

- Stonebridge. If there’s no one in there and the Park is in full swing just turn it down? The sound bleed is such a huge issue that concerns pretty much everyone I talked to and yet it’s never addressed. 
 

- The lack of shade (still). Despite the new Woodsies the lack of real shelter when it’s scorching as it was on the Wed and Sat is a real problem, it’s so draining and you can see people physically rejoicing when there’s a passing cloud.
 

- Men pissing on the land. Why do it? You don’t need to at all. There’s urinals everywhere. Stop being scruffy,

show some respect and use the facilities. 
 

- two really arrogant fellas setting up chairs and sitting down in the middle of Avril while 80k people are pouring in. So unnecessary and dangerous. Maybe when it’s that busy there should be the the chair announcement they had for

elton last year. 

[Parched]

The Good

 

Performances - Bombay and Jungle standouts for me.

Glade - Not really spent much time in there before, loved it.

Sauna - Very crazy experience.

Coffee - (London standard) near the Greenpeace field and the veggie sausage sarnie!

Kids - Our kids joined us on the Sunday for the first time and they absolutely loved it and opened my eyes to what an amazing family friendly place it is.

 

 

The Bad

 

Hedonism - Maybe this is me and my perspectives changing over the years but the open drug use was on another scale since I last went (2018). At least try and do your baggies discreetly. My four year old doesn't want to hear how much ket you've had by 1pm.

Vibe - Met some lovely people way outnumbering the less so lovely but still found a fair few who were just grade a pricks tbh. Some group sneering at us for having a sit down whilst we were having a bit of a low moment - kind of kills your mood.

 

[cgall]

 

Good

Weather  - Near perfect festival weather! scorcher on the wednesday and a little chilly on a couple of nights but overall, it was super comfortable! 

 

Food - Dont think i had a bad meal meal once! generally felt the value was pretty good too (for a festival, at least)

Woodsies - Definitely evolving into one of the best parts of the fest for me. Tree stage was great, also the wooded area nearby makes for a nice calm space away from the chaos of san remo, silver hayes etc.

 

The Dragonfly - This blew me away! not quite the same scale as the spider, but the lighting and sound were on point! also felt the lineup for Arcadia was considerably stronger this year, which helped!

 

Genosys - Lovely to see this stage back! the bus was a bit boring by block9 standards. Hopefully it's here to stay for the foreseeable!

 

Bad

 

Cider - Had a few from different places and it always tasted a bit off! all other drinks were fine.

 

Pyramid stage - Possibly the weakest line up of any main stage (in my opinion). Think most people thought this too as it had a knock-on impact of making everywhere else feel more rammed! Nonetheless, i still loved seeing Dua Lipa, Keane and Coldplay! Also really enjoyed the lighting in the field this year, particularly the projections on the pyramid during Coldplay.

 

Stonebridge - Oh my god, the sound bleed. 

 

Shangri La - Feel like this place was cool maybe 10 years ago , but honestly i dont understand the appeal when there's so much more offered elsewhere. Besides unfairground, its the weakest area of the late night entertainment for me. Feels old and tired now! Wouldn't be surprised if it's the next part of the festival to get a major overhaul.

 

[eatingglitter]

6 hours ago, Colorblindjames said:

The Good

 

Lineup better than last year for me especially Sunday in Woodsies.

Everything much cleaner than before.

 

The Bad

 

Assholes doing drugs on the main stages in front of kids.

I spotted someone on the BBC footage of Avril, I think where someone is passing someone a drink, where someone is quite blatantly doing some coke.

[tickleyt]

Good 

My favourite thing every year is that the artist's enthusiasm almost always matches the crowds. They all seem so excited to be playing and bring their A game. Romy was a perfect example of this.

Food was brilliant as always, fritter shack was my fave. I do wish they could try and control the prices a bit more though, I paid £1 for a cup of tea at one vendor and then £3.50 at another. 

Campsite stewards are always a lovely bunch. 

The weather was fantastic.

The majority of the people there were lovely. 

The simple feeling of being at Glastonbury is absolutely unrivalled. If they could bottle it they'd make a fortune. 

 

Bad
Overcrowding/poor scheduling. The only time I had problems with the crowd was for events like Charli XCX where the security simply couldn't manage the crowd and contributed to the situation becoming more dangerous. Also felt this lead to worse behaviour from attendees too, a bit more "loutish" behaviour than previously with chanting and pushing in more prevalent.
Rubbish seemed to be more prevalent and bins didn't seem to be emptied as often.

Late night programming - SEC is just a bit of a nightmare to get to, to navigate, to be in and the crowd there is always absolutely f**ked (nothing wrong with this) which makes everything more difficult. Silver hayes closes early so everyone just heads to SEC and everything becomes gridlocked. 
A really really minor one, but I wish the stewards would be a bit more chill once you've passed the security/wristband gate! Every year they force you to move on immediately which obviously needs to happen, but when you've carried stuff in the boiling sun for 2 hours and are finally through, you then get given your programme and tote when you have no hands free and people are obviously going to want to take a breather. I know they need to keep people moving but just a bit more understanding would be great. 

 

As always, the good outweighs the bad tremendously and I had an amazing weekend. Better programming (crowd wise) and a late night rethink needs to happen at some stage though as it's clear a lot of peoples primary reason for attending the festival is the late night action.

 

[Gnomicide]

The Good:

Almost every act I saw was amazing, just a few that I would describe as "fine", no-one below par.

 

The atmosphere was brilliant almost everywhere I went. I talked beforehand about everyone just being so happy to be there, and it was evident throughout. 

 

Meeting up with Glastonbury mates. Always a joy.

 

The smaller areas continuing to deliver some of the best experiences. Glastonbury on Sea, Glasto Latino, Strummerville, Peace Stage etc.

 

The Bad

People pissing on the land. SE Corner particularly bad, just loads of them. I'm not defending them but there needs to be more toilets in that area.

 

The odd inconsiderate dickhead. One bloke at Squeeze was stood on something by the 2nd barrier, blocking loads of peoples' view, whilst watching the performance on the big screens? It didn't actually impact me but it still pissed me off.

 

Getting rid of my favourite longdrops for a morning constitutional. Bastards. 

 

Not meeting some Glastonbury mates.

 

The queue for Gate A (none bus/coach side). They closed PGD, sent loads to PGA. Later they reopened PGD and people who got there 2 hours after us, got in before us.

 

Directing people arriving Tuesday night to Pink car parks, then filling up Orange car parks on Wednesday morning. 

 

In Summary

Apart from the pissing on the land bit and not meeting everyone, none of my gripes actually had a big negative impact on what was a fabulous festival. The place never ceases to amaze me. Roll on 2025 (tickets permitting etc.)

 

[CaledonianGonzo]

4 minutes ago, Gnomicide said:

The smaller areas continuing to deliver some of the best experiences. Glastonbury on Sea, Glasto Latino, Strummerville, Peace Stage etc.

 

 

 

Was popping off in there on Friday night after Dua 

[dulcificum]

del

Edited Wednesday at 03:29 PM by dulcificum