Should the festival end on Sunday morning?

[majormajormajor]

A few years back, Roskilde changed their days to have the music schedule running a day earlier, and the festival ends overnight on Saturday/Sunday morning rather than Monday, and everyone leaves Sunday latest.

 

Anyone else think this could work for Glastonbury? Ie. Open on Tuesday, run the main stages Thurs-Sat?

 

I always find Sundays really melancholy - a lot of stuff ends up starting to close down on Sunday afternoon, and half the place empties by the time the headliners are done. I wonder if it's a mental thing with the existential dread of Monday looming?

 

Thoughts?

[Gnomicide]

I think it just moves everything a day earlier and would make no difference. 

[gordong]

Just now, Gnomicide said:

I think it just moves everything a day earlier and would make no difference. 

Agree, it would just make Saturday the same vibe as Sunday. 

[irnkrtn]

No thank you!

[stuie]

No.

 

Had the best day Sunday and I worked until 9pm. Justice, Andy C, Guerrilla Bar, up the stones until 11am.  Perfect end to the week.

[Furq]

Yes, yes, yes.

 

Lower-key headliner on Thursday, building to biggest headliner on Saturday.

Casual exit on Sunday, instead of mixing it with commuters.

[Deviceing]

Would make no difference to me (though I'd never leave early anyway). For those who can't get time off work (teachers etc) and are forced to turn up Friday afternoon and leave Sunday evening you take away nearly half their festival. Makes no sense.

[EFC1996]

No Sunday is my favourite day 

[august1]

Don't think BBC would be happy losing weekend programming.

 

Trains/road works often not great on a Sunday.

 

Would require lots of police/road staff to work the Sunday rather than Monday.

 

I think it could make the line up slightly better with acts having their own weekend gigs but still being able to play

 

[henry bear]

No

[FuzzyDunlop]

No. Wouldnt work for the telly.

Any "benefits" would be minimal (not sure there would be any)

[-TLR-]

when i woke up sunday morning, i was absolutely convinced it was actually monday and it was time to pack up and go.

 

and i was fine with that.

 

but then i ended up having a really lovely day on the sunday... so... well... i guess my answer is maybe?

[El Matador]

8 hours ago, EFC1996 said:

No Sunday is my favourite day 

I'm so intrigued by this. As has been said elsewhere, I always find the Sunday tinged with sadness. Seeing tents being taken down, hearing discussions about journeys home, plus the general sense of fatigue, all combine to make Sunday a bit of a downer for me. 

 

Be interested to hear how others overcome this and fully embrace Sunday. 

[Alvoram]

I loved Sunday, saw some great sets. As a teenager during her best years, and not the kind of teen who was ‘too cool for her music’ I grew up loving her music. So I was also one of the sad acts that enjoyed Avril, a lot. Venbee was fantastic in the Rum Shack. Nothing but Thieves and Justice were good too. 
 

I admit it is bittersweet in some ways. But as we never intended to leave site until early Monday evening, due to not wanting to endure the blue route exit queues of last year, it wasn’t as saddening as I guess it is for some. We even popped down and got breakfast on the Monday morning. Lots of people still around, lots of motorhomes hadn’t even begun packing down awning etc, even by the time we left at 4:30pm. And the traffic queues were basically none existent by that time. 🙂 (a few small queues at temporary traffic lights is all.) 

[LoraMaze]

Nah Sunday is always my day to have a “oh f**k I might not be here next year” cry at some point 🤣

[CaledonianGonzo]

What if it started on a Monday and finished on a Friday - then we could get the weekend off afterwards to recover.

[pie_and_a_pint]

I like the idea in principle but remember that many thousands of people travel by public transport, and unfortunately the service provision on Sundays just isn't good enough (even if GWR do put on 'festival specials')

[Nobody Interesting]

How about starting it on a Sunday so the incoming traffic does not mix with commuters.......................

 

or even better, leave it as it is cos it ain't broke and don't need fixing.

[EFC1996]

4 hours ago, El Matador said:

I'm so intrigued by this. As has been said elsewhere, I always find the Sunday tinged with sadness. Seeing tents being taken down, hearing discussions about journeys home, plus the general sense of fatigue, all combine to make Sunday a bit of a downer for me. 

 

Be interested to hear how others overcome this and fully embrace Sunday. 

Me and my group are normally absolutely knackered so we tend to just go and chill at the pyramid all day (if there’s a decent Sunday night headliner on and providing we don’t desperately want to see someone elsewhere) or wander between pyramid and other, we take all the alcohol and food we’ve got left and just have a really nice chilled day, reflect on the festival and then by the time the night comes we’re ready to go off and have one last knees up somewhere and up to the stones for sunrise, It’s bittersweet but has a really nice slow feel to the day after 4 days of madness. I love it 😁

[DeanoL]

I wouldn't go quite that far, but I do wonder if there'd be grounds for tweaking the license to have the main stages run from 6pm-11pm on Thursday but then end at 6pm on Sunday.

 

Friday arrivals seem sparse these days, indeed this year at least it seems like more people left between 6pm-11pm on Sunday than arrived between 6pm and 11pm on Thursday.

 

Would be a big change and cause some production challenges but could be worthwhile.

 

(Interestingly the Circus tent and maybe the Astrolabe both switched to this schedule at some point in the past few years).

[Superscally]

No

[gigpusher]

You're sad because it's ending not because it's Sunday so if you change the day it ends you just feel sad on a different day.

[MilkyJoe]

32 minutes ago, gigpusher said:

You're sad because it's ending not because it's Sunday so if you change the day it ends you just feel sad on a different day.

👆🏼This. It’s the last day of the festival, everybody is exhausted and emotional and you know you have to go back to the real world the next day. Moving it back a day wouldn’t change anything.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Not really so sure about that.  After all, they're called the Sunday Scaries for a reason - the fact that they're on a Sunday.

[dulcificum]

No. It just needs to be longer. There's a reason why all the 7 day festivals work so well.