Reduction of attendees vs cost of ticket

[Simsy]

Hate to be the 1 to say it, but is the crowd getting younger or are we just getting older? I was 20 at my 1st glasto in 2004 and don't remember feeling out of place. And now I'm somewhat older and there are all these sickeningly young people everywhere 😂

[Pinhead]

1 hour ago, gooner1990 said:

The end in sight?

At 51 my age will become an issue soon enough I expect. I'm not 21 anymore like when I first went.

[stuie]

1 hour ago, gooner1990 said:

Did anyone go to the Stone Circle this year?

 

For the first time ever I think I didn’t go….

yes on Monday morning until about 11am 🤦🏻‍♂️ someone had got hold of a mobility scooter and people were taking it in turns riding around. I was tempted, in my mangled state… but sensible stu got involved 😂

 

had words with some prick who had a piss up one of the stones a few feet away from a sitting couple… toilets 100m away 🙁

 

no noticeable nos in the few hours we were there. 

[MindTheLongdrop]

1 hour ago, Simsy said:

Hate to be the 1 to say it, but is the crowd getting younger or are we just getting older? I was 20 at my 1st glasto in 2004 and don't remember feeling out of place. And now I'm somewhat older and there are all these sickeningly young people everywhere 😂

 

From looking around last two years I'd assumed the median age is somewhere around 30. Even with social media I feel it's not until their mid 20s that people have enough disposible income, organisation and luck to grab a ticket.

 

Did it use to skew older? I can't image all the people attending (and sneaking in) the 90s were pushing 40

 

I wonder if they have kept stats over the years, I'm sure they'd make an interesting read.

[northernangel]

4 hours ago, august1 said:

Noone is blaming the ticket holders but the festival has a shifting demographic problem that's slowly crept in over many years. 

TO BE HONEST THE PROBLEM THERE IS EMILY WAS DETERMINED TO BOOK DIFFERENT ACTS AND ADD MORE EQUAL AND DIVERSITY THAT SHE FELT WAS NEEDED. No would would have really cared if the net around was just booked. It's in caps because I shortened the reply window.

4 hours ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

 

I don't know the exact number but I got my figures from Somerset Live, prob not the most reliable, but they said 139k tickets, 69k crew and performers etc or something like that.

It might well we the crew is higher, too much either way.

[max98]

Saw someone say earlire (maybe not this thread) that these overcrowded stages for acts is done on purpose.

 

https://x.com/Northernechoes/status/1808944078832152709?t=shdax5393S_r9ciPX0Ot7Q&s=19

 

Leaves a bit of a sour taste considering the overcrowding over the weekend I think...

[Suprefan]

4 hours ago, Simsy said:

Hate to be the 1 to say it, but is the crowd getting younger or are we just getting older? I was 20 at my 1st glasto in 2004 and don't remember feeling out of place. And now I'm somewhat older and there are all these sickeningly young people everywhere 😂

finally younger I assume cause the technology gap has overtaken. And youre not that old. Also, music tastes change

[august1]

i'm only 33 and the amount of times I looked around and couldnt see anyone older than me during the weekend was quite mad 

[Suprefan]

2 hours ago, max98 said:

Saw someone say earlire (maybe not this thread) that these overcrowded stages for acts is done on purpose.

 

https://x.com/Northernechoes/status/1808944078832152709?t=shdax5393S_r9ciPX0Ot7Q&s=19

 

Leaves a bit of a sour taste considering the overcrowding over the weekend I think...

that is true to an extent. Agents know their artist is going to be a draw so they will purposefully try to get a stage thats smaller than whats required so they can use that as bargaining power for the future. So Sugababes agent can show other festivals that they should get a higher billing and slot cause look how insane glasto was for example. And just stage placement in general. If you can get on the Pyramid it can mean a greater deal than just being like on Other later in the day.

[Alex DeLarge]

7 hours ago, august1 said:

i'm only 33 and the amount of times I looked around and couldnt see anyone older than me during the weekend was quite mad 

 

I'm 27 and it felt way younger to me this year. People around 20-late 30s seemed to be everywhere. 

[GoonerRob]

I wonder how much effect the "IP hack" had on the demographics. Reports of people getting hundreds at a time using it, i'm assuming they would skew younger as it spread via discord and telegram.... i also have zero evidence this is true.

Edited July 5 by GoonerRob
spelling

[northernangel]

To be fair you wouldn't look at this year's lineup and on the whole feel it worth going if you were too much over 35 I don't think, definitely 40 pushing it.

[Claire0406]

I definitely think there was an increased amount of people out at 3am onwards, not sure if that’s age related per se but definitely partly down to the rave scene having a resurgence….i remember walking through west holts at 3am and it could’ve passed for daytime easily 

[Nice hymer]

MDMA has made a big comeback this year, no surprise that folk are out all night.

 

I thought the vibe was much better, more smiley happy people, less coked-up, paranoid creatures lurking about.

 

That's how I found it at least...

[efcfanwirral]

42 minutes ago, northernangel said:

To be fair you wouldn't look at this year's lineup and on the whole feel it worth going if you were too much over 35 I don't think, definitely 40 pushing it.

do that many people stop listening to new music at 35?

[efcfanwirral]

1 hour ago, GoonerRob said:

I wonder how much effect the "IP hack" had on the demographics. Reports of people getting hundreds at a time using it, i'm assuming they would skew younger as it spread via discord and telegram.... i also have zero evidence this is true.

We know for sure that lots of the "regular" attendees who normally get a ticket every year failed to this time, and a lot of Oxfam people I talked to were in the same boat. Whatever happened on ticket day, it definitely changed the demographics a bit.

 

For me, it made the atmosphere in the crowds amazing, even for smaller bands. Everyone singing along and on shoulders, and this stretched to the back even. There were less chairs and blankets to go through on the Pyramid field I thought too. 

 

On the downside, there was a lot more chatting and facing away from the stage, especially as soon as a lesser known song came on. 

[gooner1990]

1 hour ago, Claire0406 said:

I definitely think there was an increased amount of people out at 3am onwards, not sure if that’s age related per se but definitely partly down to the rave scene having a resurgence….i remember walking through west holts at 3am and it could’ve passed for daytime easily 

 

the dry conditions will have also helped too.

[clarkete]

1 hour ago, northernangel said:

To be fair you wouldn't look at this year's lineup and on the whole feel it worth going if you were too much over 35 I don't think, definitely 40 pushing it.

 

I'm in my fifties and saw 34 acts, all of which I enjoyed and a good proportion of which I'd say were fantastic. 

 

Thankfully it's the perfect festival for crowds with a very wide range of ages and tastes. 

[philipsteak]

1 hour ago, Nice hymer said:

MDMA has made a big comeback this year, no surprise that folk are out all night.

 

I thought the vibe was much better, more smiley happy people, less coked-up, paranoid creatures lurking about.

 

That's how I found it at least...

 

That's good to hear. 

I don't do either but I know who I'd rather be around 

[Helsbels]

17 hours ago, Simsy said:

Hate to be the 1 to say it, but is the crowd getting younger or are we just getting older? I was 20 at my 1st glasto in 2004 and don't remember feeling out of place. And now I'm somewhat older and there are all these sickeningly young people everywhere 😂

Both me and my much younger other half commented on how much younger a good percentage of the crowd were this year. That's no bad thing, the festival needs to evolve. I was chatting with some 19 year old lads on Sunday night in The Glade who were loving life and they are just starting their Glasto journey and will hopefully still be going when I'm long gone

[Skip997]

1 hour ago, Nice hymer said:

MDMA has made a big comeback this year, no surprise that folk are out all night.

 

I thought the vibe was much better, more smiley happy people, less coked-up, paranoid creatures lurking about.

 

That's how I found it at least...

Interesting, I found it exactly the opposite, with the notable exception of the Temple.

 

Far too many coked-up idiots, too much alcohol, not many smiley happy people and too little MDMA. IICON was particularly "dark", but it usually is.

 

Last year the post midnight SE corner vibe was loads better in my experience.

[gooner1990]

3 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

Interesting, I found it exactly the opposite, with the notable exception of the Temple.

 

Far too many coked-up idiots, too much alcohol, not many smiley happy people and too little MDMA. IICON was particularly "dark", but it usually is.

 

Last year the post midnight SE corner vibe was loads better in my experience.

 

I've noticed in recent years that even if people are on 'mdma' that they'll  spend their 'spare' time on their phone rather than talking to randoms. 

[Long Drop]

3 hours ago, GoonerRob said:

I wonder how much effect the "IP hack" had on the demographics. Reports of people getting hundreds at a time using it, i'm assuming they would skew younger as it spread via discord and telegram.... i also have zero evidence this is true.

I've been wondering this too, I feel it must have added to the younger crowd.

Was the ip hack around in 22/23?

Will be interesting to see whats its like in 25 (fingers crossed)

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

Perhaps the skew to a younger crowd is due to something else entirely though.

 

I spoke to quite a few Info point people getting my free sunscreen last year, or random older types who approached me as I was having my brekkie, as well as people in their 60s or 70s who have been to many Glastonburys before and they all said the same thing, that the festival is just too busy for them moving around site and they didn't find it worth it anymore going because of the constant throng of people between stages and at the daytime gigs.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if that's a big factor as well. 

Edited July 5 by MEGATRONICMEATWAGON

[gooner1990]

58 minutes ago, clarkete said:

 

I'm in my fifties and saw 34 acts, all of which I enjoyed and a good proportion of which I'd say were fantastic. 

 

Thankfully it's the perfect festival for crowds with a very wide range of ages and tastes. 

 

Think you saw about 3 times as much as me!

 

Although I was also out late watching faceless DJs till 4am each night........