Reduction of attendees vs cost of ticket

[Northtim]

2 hours 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.

 

Seriously?  We don't just give up and listen to classical music from 40 you know 😆

 

I'm 52 and saw more acts this year than I ever have.  Some I hadn't heard of before (Voice of Baceprot, Mannequin Pussy) and lots of my current favourites like The National, Fontaines, Lottery Winners, LCD, Alvvays plus several others that were all good.  Didn't see a disappointing performance all weekened, Coldpay was my only Pyramid headliner - loved the big singalongs and got a bit lost with the gaps and new stuff so I guess that was my least favourite of the weekend but I still enjoyed it and have never seen them before and won't again I don't expect.

 

I only started coming in 2017 so don't have years to go off but this year was one of the best for me, and much better than 2023.  I didn't get caught up in any crushes and found getting around the site OK.  I wasn't at Avril or Sugarbabes or Bicep or Charlie by choice as I had other places I wanted to be, but managed to wander around the site from 11am until 3/4am each day and had the best time.  Not ready to be give it up yet and for me, not much needs to change.  Avril should have been on Pyramid and for the other acts that were obviously going to be busy just get there early.  I skipped The Streets to get a good spot for Coldplay, thought I might regret that but it was my one night at Pyramid and Little Sims was excellent so no regrets at all.

[Suprefan]

5 hours 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.

Plenty to go see even if overall I personally felt it wasnt that "good" as is the consensus. I mean its comforting knowing that the bulk of the main stages acts I have seen so I dont gotta worry too much. Its just finding new stuff and fitting in rarer acts ( that do t tour u.s ) to mix in there and my weekend is sorted. Same goes for the dance stuff too.

 

the thing is the bulk of attendees dont do as much research as you think. There might be one person in the group thats pushing certain acts. Music iq of the average glasto punter aint that high

Edited July 5 by Suprefan

[Pipine]

5 hours 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.

What? I’m nearly 51 and had 97 acts I wanted to see, a lot of them newer artists.. really enjoyed a lot of the dance stages.. we don’t just get old and boring at 35 you know.. 

[Nice hymer]

2 hours 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 guess to some extent it's just luck of the draw.

 

Temple was exceptional and I found it even more friendly than last year (which was great). People were so lush, we even wondered if we were being chatted up on a couple of occasions.

Good vibes at Arcadia, Glade, West Holts, pretty much everywhere we went.

 

Interesting that you mention IICON.

We made our first visit on Sunday night which isn't really the best time to judge but I do hear what you're saying.

Deffo less friendly and I did have a couple of uncomfortable moments in there. 

I put it down to being Sunday night and people reaching the end of their festival...

[clarkete]

3 hours ago, gooner1990 said:

 

Think you saw about 3 times as much as me!

 

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

 

Aye, I'm not that much of a night owl at the festival these days, but thankfully these days it's not because I'm flaked out face down somewhere.  It meant for a change I was able to get up and function before midday, which I didn't manage for several recent years.

 

As with @Northtim and @Pipine I had far more on my clashfinder, which I'd been fortunate in many cases to expand by listening to @gigpusher's great playlist

I found my legs and feet were getting a bit weary come the end of the weekend so chose to reduce the amount of bold striding from distant stage to stage, so for example Sunday night I did a nice little run of three Leftfield acts.

Edited July 5 by clarkete

[clarkete]

dupe

Edited July 5 by clarkete

[MEGABOWL]

5 hours 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.

Eh? I’m 47 and my line up was absolutely stacked l. You don’t have to stop listening to new music when you reach 40. Had a ball at Sofia Kourtesis, Confidence Man, Newdad, Blondshell, Dua Lipa, Last Dinner Party etc 

[Pipine]

20 minutes ago, MEGABOWL said:

Eh? I’m 47 and my line up was absolutely stacked l. You don’t have to stop listening to new music when you reach 40. Had a ball at Sofia Kourtesis, Confidence Man, Newdad, Blondshell, Dua Lipa, Last Dinner Party etc 

Loved Newdad, Confidence Man and Dua was my top set of the weekend, Romy a close second.. also discovered Porij and Moonchild Sanelly (via self esteem). 

[Suprefan]

5 hours ago, Long Drop said:

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)

For the 23 sale there wasnt anything that seemed to have come about. I think it just might push for people to pay somebody with a bot to snatch up their tickets and not worry. Cause there def are zero measures in place to prevent that. And somebody is bound to write a script to figure out a diff IP addy ( which obviously got changed ) and then use that. But the thing is for most regular folk they wont ever be privvy to those methods anyway. They just think 20 people hitting refresh will get you in. 

[Suprefan]

On 7/4/2024 at 9:25 AM, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

I've seen a few ppl mention QR codes for wristbands? Is that for the car parks or caravan fields or something?

limited as mentioned but it should be used for the future on everything. The fest is 10 years behind in using technology for certain things. Its been commonplace to use RFID wristbands and passes for festival things in north america since the early 2010's. Its not a bad thing and should be embraced for security purposes. It obviously adds a layer for the EPO stuff but yeah, the fear is if scanners stop working or they dont work at all. And its not like there arent companies that do this to such a scale anyway. Qr ones look too bulky. Just would be nice if they use RFID cause what if the Qr gets slightly scratched off or it fades over the weekend and it wont work? No way to totally confirm its still real and such. Unless you have your physical ticket and Id on you which isnt everyone. But who knows. They either try it next year or save it for 27. I think its wiser to try it next year and then have the extra time to make improvements during the fallow instead of pondering what to di. 

[gigpusher]

2 hours ago, MEGABOWL said:

Eh? I’m 47 and my line up was absolutely stacked l. You don’t have to stop listening to new music when you reach 40. Had a ball at Sofia Kourtesis, Confidence Man, Newdad, Blondshell, Dua Lipa, Last Dinner Party etc 

Yes I am 47 next week and went to the festival with over 400 things ticked that I would have been happy to watch. 

[clarkete]

3 hours ago, gigpusher said:

Yes I am 47 next week and went to the festival with over 400 things ticked that I would have been happy to watch. 

 

I'm impressed that you've totalled that up

[northernangel]

19 hours ago, Pipine said:

What? I’m nearly 51 and had 97 acts I wanted to see, a lot of them newer artists.. really enjoyed a lot of the dance stages.. we don’t just get old and boring at 35 you know.. 

I know, I just agreed with the crowd age looking range of people. I'm 38 and if say the majority I wanted to see was of nostalgia value. I had about 5 newer acts probably on the lineup I'd say....yeah they are worth bothering with for me

[efcfanwirral]

17 hours ago, Suprefan said:

limited as mentioned but it should be used for the future on everything. The fest is 10 years behind in using technology for certain things. Its been commonplace to use RFID wristbands and passes for festival things in north america since the early 2010's. Its not a bad thing and should be embraced for security purposes. It obviously adds a layer for the EPO stuff but yeah, the fear is if scanners stop working or they dont work at all. And its not like there arent companies that do this to such a scale anyway. Qr ones look too bulky. Just would be nice if they use RFID cause what if the Qr gets slightly scratched off or it fades over the weekend and it wont work? No way to totally confirm its still real and such. Unless you have your physical ticket and Id on you which isnt everyone. But who knows. They either try it next year or save it for 27. I think its wiser to try it next year and then have the extra time to make improvements during the fallow instead of pondering what to di. 

I spent a day scanning EPOs and they held up really well actually. No issues with them being unreadable at all, though it being a dry year helps. Putting it on the person to make sure they get scanned on the way out, otherwise they're not getting back in without massive hassle, is a good move which meant people asked to get it done. Took the responsibility away from stewards to make sure they got it scanned. .

 

I didn't find it too bulky myself, barely noticed it was there. 

 

I agree such technology should be used for all. The pass outs are hilariously old fashioned. 

Edited July 6 by efcfanwirral

[Suprefan]

2 hours ago, efcfanwirral said:

I spent a day scanning EPOs and they held up really well actually. No issues with them being unreadable at all, though it being a dry year helps. Putting it on the person to make sure they get scanned on the way out, otherwise they're not getting back in without massive hassle, is a good move which meant people asked to get it done. Took the responsibility away from stewards to make sure they got it scanned. .

 

I didn't find it too bulky myself, barely noticed it was there. 

 

I agree such technology should be used for all. The pass outs are hilariously old fashioned. 

 

nice. Well its good you didnt have issues and such. Funny thing is they should switch to the newer wristbands because they dont have to create different ones for ins and outs which is wasteful?. You just have to scan them  When they leave and scan when they return cause thatll be a way to figure out if somethings afoot. 

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

On 7/5/2024 at 8:29 PM, Suprefan said:

limited as mentioned but it should be used for the future on everything. The fest is 10 years behind in using technology for certain things. Its been commonplace to use RFID wristbands and passes for festival things in north america since the early 2010's. Its not a bad thing and should be embraced for security purposes. It obviously adds a layer for the EPO stuff but yeah, the fear is if scanners stop working or they dont work at all. And its not like there arent companies that do this to such a scale anyway. Qr ones look too bulky. Just would be nice if they use RFID cause what if the Qr gets slightly scratched off or it fades over the weekend and it wont work? No way to totally confirm its still real and such. Unless you have your physical ticket and Id on you which isnt everyone. But who knows. They either try it next year or save it for 27. I think its wiser to try it next year and then have the extra time to make improvements during the fallow instead of pondering what to di. 

 

This is quite an interesting article on RFID wristbands.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-49002496.amp

 

I'm kinda torn on it. If the site is cashless anyway, why need to load funds onto a wristband? You just tap a card or your phone anyway. 

 

The site could become more interactive but then, I don't think I'd want GFL to know which bands I've seen etc and when and my movements the whole time. Or need some kind of mission statement sent to my phone telling me about the gig afterwards.

 

I don't know how they use it in the US?

 

The idea of attendees playing games during the festival in places like the SEC or the Park does sound kinda fun, but in the same way, if there's 150k ppl playing some kind of augmented reality game during the festival, it might also be really f**king annoying.

[Skip997]

2 minutes ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

.if there's 150k ppl playing some kind of augmented reality game during the festival, it might also be really f**king annoying.

There’s no might about it, it would be f**king annoying.

 

As for the site going “cashless”, are people really not seeing just how dangerous this rush for a little bit of convenience is. Folks are willingly handing over another area of freedom. It was refreshing to see a good few stalls going cash only.

[gizmoman]

On 7/5/2024 at 2:04 PM, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

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. 

Yep. this is us, we had decided by Friday we were not going to go next year, it's getting too much of a chore to walk miles every day and deal with the large crowds for what are, for us, diminishing returns, what we saw we enjoyed but we can go to smaller, cheaper festivals and have just as good a time without struggling with large crowds and poor visability. Not saying never again, but missed out on tickets last year for the first time and it wasn't the disaster I'd feared, we just went to other festivals instead. Quite happy to leave Glastonbury to the younger ones now.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

50 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

There’s no might about it, it would be f**king annoying.

 

As for the site going “cashless”, are people really not seeing just how dangerous this rush for a little bit of convenience is. Folks are willingly handing over another area of freedom. It was refreshing to see a good few stalls going cash only.

 

Yeah, I kinda agree with the rush for a bit of convenience, esp with the talk of apps showing crowd sizes, drones, mission statements, etc.

 

I like Glastonbury because it's not like any other festival. The craft fields, the healing fields, places like that, it's so much nicer being detached for a few days from everything.

 

Augmented reality, I mean, do I really need that when the festival is already a sight to behold already?

 

I'd much rather stay in the analogue world.

[Simsy]

1 hour ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

I'm kinda torn on it. If the site is cashless anyway, why need to load funds onto a wristband? You just tap a card or your phone anyway. 

Been to a couple of festivals that let you pay with your wristband (fortunately they still allowed card payments too, so we just did that), and it did seem to be a bit of a scam. They don't make it easy to get your funds back at the end, presumably hoping that enough people forget or don't bother.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

2 minutes ago, Simsy said:

Been to a couple of festivals that let you pay with your wristband (fortunately they still allowed card payments too, so we just did that), and it did seem to be a bit of a scam. They don't make it easy to get your funds back at the end, presumably hoping that enough people forget or don't bother.

 

Yeah, read that too. Thought as the article was a few years old they'd of easily fixed that by now.

 

Imagine a tenner and change being left in your balance and multiply that by 100k. 

 

Absolutely insane profit.

[Spindles]

1 hour ago, Skip997 said:

As for the site going “cashless”, are people really not seeing just how dangerous this rush for a little bit of convenience is. Folks are willingly handing over another area of freedom. It was refreshing to see a good few stalls going cash only.

There was a post on reddit from someone who bought 3 drinks at a bar and was charged nearly £300, didn't notice til after the festival.  That's my big fear with cashless, that through malice or error you get overcharged and don't notice.  I took cash with me this year as ever, ended up spending about £60 in cash and double that on card.

[Skip997]

5 minutes ago, Spindles said:

There was a post on reddit from someone who bought 3 drinks at a bar and was charged nearly £300, didn't notice til after the festival.  That's my big fear with cashless, that through malice or error you get overcharged and don't notice.  I took cash with me this year as ever, ended up spending about £60 in cash and double that on card.

This prompted me to check. Spent exactly £6 on card over the festival. The rest in cash 

[Jackmypie]

I’m not sure the amount of people was the issue, more the poor choice of stages for the big acts. People obviously want to see these big nostalgic bands like sugababes and avril, so put them on the main stage and problem solved. 

[Alvoram]

1 hour ago, Spindles said:

There was a post on reddit from someone who bought 3 drinks at a bar and was charged nearly £300, didn't notice til after the festival.  That's my big fear with cashless, that through malice or error you get overcharged and don't notice.  I took cash with me this year as ever, ended up spending about £60 in cash and double that on card.

Bread and Roses tried to charge me £150 on card for 3 drinks... I was extremely drunk (And I do mean extremely) but still clocked it... Apologies were made, benefit of the doubt given, accidents happen. 

Didn't spend a penny in cash this year (despite having some with me) as everybody was taking card without issue.

(correction, that's a lie actually, had to use cash for the Gte C lockup tip, as for some reason they didn't even have a card machine this year, after having them in previous years. Hope they didn't miss out on too many tips because of that.)