Ticket tips and Tricks for 2025 festival

[paulshane]

Just now, Crazyfool01 said:

We streamed it on here via zoom to @squirrelarmy tv. 😂 where he was able to get it . I had to ask people to be silent when they joined the zoom call 🙂 

 

ace 😄

[LOWERCASE GUY]

I've been lurking here for a while now, but have noticed something that I don’t think has been mentioned in this thread yet which may suggest a queue is likely to be used this year.

 

www.seetickets.com and glastonbury.seetickets.com normally use the See Tickets native servers: either the 5 ‘main’ servers 31.221.2.88/89/90/91/92; or the 3 ‘other’ servers 167.98.233.88/89/90 (those of you who remember the hosts file hack from last year should be familiar). However, if you open a command line and run either ‘ping glastonbury.seetickets.com’ or ‘nslookup glastonbury.seetickets.com’ the IP addresses returned will not be any of those servers. I can’t tell you exactly what servers you’ll get returned as that’ll depend on exactly where you are located. This happens because glastonbury.seetickets.com is now hosted on Akamai edge servers, which means you connect to an Akamai server close to your location and that server in turn connects to the native See Tickets servers. You can verify the location of the server you’re connecting to by searching for the IP location using e.g.: https://dnschecker.org/ip-location.php

 

This change, as far as I can tell, happened on Tuesday last week. More interestingly, while the main See Tickets webpage www.seetickets.com remains on the 5 main servers, the dedicated subpage for the Sam Fender ticket sale samfender.seetickets.com was also put onto these Akamai edge servers, which ended up using the Queue-it system. So as the Glastonbury subpage was put onto these Akamai edge servers around the same time as the Sam Fender subpage was also put onto them, and as Akamai are in partnership with Queue-it (see https://www.akamai.com/resources/partner-story/queue-it) I’m currently considering the use of a queue as likely.

 

A further option they could utilise to make the queue “fairer” would be to tokenise access to the queue. This would probably work by emailing each registrant (after registration closes) a unique code to access the queue, this would limit each registrant to one place in the queue and prevent the use of multiple browser sessions to get multiple places in the queue. They didn’t do this for Sam Fender, so it would be a first for See Tickets, which makes it perhaps unlikely, but something to be aware of.

[balti-pie]

i love it, but i have absolutely idea what any of it means really. Im going to try and memorise bits of it so i can say it to other people when they talk to me about glasto tickets, and then i can appear smarter and more in the know 

[Crazyfool01]

I’m confused … have just slept on it but things are no clearer … sounds good as an early post though 

[parsonjack]

2 hours ago, LOWERCASE GUY said:

I've been lurking here for a while now, but have noticed something that I don’t think has been mentioned in this thread yet which may suggest a queue is likely to be used this year.

 

www.seetickets.com and glastonbury.seetickets.com normally use the See Tickets native servers: either the 5 ‘main’ servers 31.221.2.88/89/90/91/92; or the 3 ‘other’ servers 167.98.233.88/89/90 (those of you who remember the hosts file hack from last year should be familiar). However, if you open a command line and run either ‘ping glastonbury.seetickets.com’ or ‘nslookup glastonbury.seetickets.com’ the IP addresses returned will not be any of those servers. I can’t tell you exactly what servers you’ll get returned as that’ll depend on exactly where you are located. This happens because glastonbury.seetickets.com is now hosted on Akamai edge servers, which means you connect to an Akamai server close to your location and that server in turn connects to the native See Tickets servers. You can verify the location of the server you’re connecting to by searching for the IP location using e.g.: https://dnschecker.org/ip-location.php

 

This change, as far as I can tell, happened on Tuesday last week. More interestingly, while the main See Tickets webpage www.seetickets.com remains on the 5 main servers, the dedicated subpage for the Sam Fender ticket sale samfender.seetickets.com was also put onto these Akamai edge servers, which ended up using the Queue-it system. So as the Glastonbury subpage was put onto these Akamai edge servers around the same time as the Sam Fender subpage was also put onto them, and as Akamai are in partnership with Queue-it (see https://www.akamai.com/resources/partner-story/queue-it) I’m currently considering the use of a queue as likely.

 

A further option they could utilise to make the queue “fairer” would be to tokenise access to the queue. This would probably work by emailing each registrant (after registration closes) a unique code to access the queue, this would limit each registrant to one place in the queue and prevent the use of multiple browser sessions to get multiple places in the queue. They didn’t do this for Sam Fender, so it would be a first for See Tickets, which makes it perhaps unlikely, but something to be aware of.

The only flaw in the logic is that the new See set up was in place from at least 14th October, when I spotted it myself.  Otherwise the hypothesis could be sound.

[incident]

16 minutes ago, parsonjack said:

The only flaw in the logic is that the new See set up was in place from at least 14th October, when I spotted it myself.  Otherwise the hypothesis could be sound.

 

Yeah, looking at this thread, my post on the subject was on Oct 14th so the change would have been on or probably before then. I wouldn't like to guess how much before as it's not like I was looking at this daily.

Edited October 28, 2024 by incident

[Avalon_Fields]

2 hours ago, LOWERCASE GUY said:

A further option they could utilise to make the queue “fairer” would be to tokenise access to the queue. This would probably work by emailing each registrant (after registration closes) a unique code to access the queue, this would limit each registrant to one place in the queue and prevent the use of multiple browser sessions to get multiple places in the queue. They didn’t do this for Sam Fender, so it would be a first for See Tickets, which makes it perhaps unlikely, but something to be aware of.

That would certainly be a significant change. I feel they’re going to have to flag up any such changes soon, or run the risk of many complaints on the day with people not hearing or misunderstanding any new system. I’m not convinced it’ll happen, surely the time to announce changes would have been when the sale date, and supporting details, was released?

[efcfanwirral]

2 hours ago, LOWERCASE GUY said:

I've been lurking here for a while now, but have noticed something that I don’t think has been mentioned in this thread yet which may suggest a queue is likely to be used this year.

 

www.seetickets.com and glastonbury.seetickets.com normally use the See Tickets native servers: either the 5 ‘main’ servers 31.221.2.88/89/90/91/92; or the 3 ‘other’ servers 167.98.233.88/89/90 (those of you who remember the hosts file hack from last year should be familiar). However, if you open a command line and run either ‘ping glastonbury.seetickets.com’ or ‘nslookup glastonbury.seetickets.com’ the IP addresses returned will not be any of those servers. I can’t tell you exactly what servers you’ll get returned as that’ll depend on exactly where you are located. This happens because glastonbury.seetickets.com is now hosted on Akamai edge servers, which means you connect to an Akamai server close to your location and that server in turn connects to the native See Tickets servers. You can verify the location of the server you’re connecting to by searching for the IP location using e.g.: https://dnschecker.org/ip-location.php

 

This change, as far as I can tell, happened on Tuesday last week. More interestingly, while the main See Tickets webpage www.seetickets.com remains on the 5 main servers, the dedicated subpage for the Sam Fender ticket sale samfender.seetickets.com was also put onto these Akamai edge servers, which ended up using the Queue-it system. So as the Glastonbury subpage was put onto these Akamai edge servers around the same time as the Sam Fender subpage was also put onto them, and as Akamai are in partnership with Queue-it (see https://www.akamai.com/resources/partner-story/queue-it) I’m currently considering the use of a queue as likely.

 

A further option they could utilise to make the queue “fairer” would be to tokenise access to the queue. This would probably work by emailing each registrant (after registration closes) a unique code to access the queue, this would limit each registrant to one place in the queue and prevent the use of multiple browser sessions to get multiple places in the queue. They didn’t do this for Sam Fender, so it would be a first for See Tickets, which makes it perhaps unlikely, but something to be aware of.

Great info!

 

And on the last bit... I can see "sorry, bot!" happening as you click on the email link...

[incident]

Just now, Avalon_Fields said:

That would certainly be a significant change. I feel they’re going to have to flag up any such changes soon, or run the risk of many complaints on the day with people not hearing or misunderstanding any new system. I’m not convinced it’ll happen, surely the time to announce changes would have been when the sale date, and supporting details, was released?

 

The change described there (tokenising) is something See now have the capability to do, but personally would be surprised to see deployed just because of how much it diverges from what has gone before and how much scope for issues it creates. Same for any kind of system that requires authentication.

 

Basically I reckon that any changes which result in a need for extra knowledge or steps outside of the ticket system should definitely be published well in advance, as that's something people really need to know if they're going to encounter it.

 

I don't think a straight "waiting room / click here to join the queue" change by itself would need flagging though, as (from a user perspective) it simply be one more waiting page on the same site and would be broadly consistent with the existing published information - the process would still ultimately boil down to visit the site, click to try and buy tickets until you get through, and once you do enter the registration number + postcode then proceed to purchase.

[LOWERCASE GUY]

 

9 minutes ago, incident said:

 

The change described there (tokenising) is something See now have the capability to do, but personally would be surprised to see deployed just because of how much it diverges from what has gone before and how much scope for issues it creates. Same for any kind of system that requires authentication.

 

Basically I reckon that any changes which result in a need for extra knowledge or steps outside of the ticket system should definitely be published well in advance, as that's something people really need to know if they're going to encounter it.

 

I don't think a straight "waiting room / click here to join the queue" change by itself would need flagging though, as (from a user perspective) it simply be one more waiting page on the same site and would be broadly consistent with the existing published information - the process would still ultimately boil down to visit the site, click to try and buy tickets until you get through, and once you do enter the registration number + postcode then proceed to purchase.

  

23 minutes ago, Avalon_Fields said:

That would certainly be a significant change. I feel they’re going to have to flag up any such changes soon, or run the risk of many complaints on the day with people not hearing or misunderstanding any new system. I’m not convinced it’ll happen, surely the time to announce changes would have been when the sale date, and supporting details, was released?

I agree that the best argument against a queue system (and by extension a tokenised access queue system) is the lack of communication from the festival that the ticket buying process is changing. I've had a look in the Wayback Machine at the relevant section of the Ticket Info page:

https://web.archive.org/web/20241007051708/https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/info/#tickets--how-to-book which is from October 7th, and compared it to the current version on the site. The comparison shows that there has been some updates to this section of the guide since October 7th. Mostly minor textual changes for clarity, perhaps the most substantive change is that your registration is now locked for 10 minutes rather than 5 minutes if an attempt to book is already held against your registration number, or if your 5 minutes on the booking page ends. So given this section of the site was updated around the announcement of the sale date, then why keep in the part about the 20s auto refresh if a queue system was to be implemented? Perhaps See Tickets haven't told the festival they're changing the booking system, or perhaps it's because the booking method isn't changing and it is the correct information. 

 

Last year the festival published a ticket buying FAQ exactly two weeks before the intended date of the coach sale (which was then pushed back by two weeks): https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/news/2024-ticket-sale-faq/. If they publish a guide to the ticket buying process when it isn't changing, then you'd imagine they'd definitley publish one when it is changing. Two weeks before this year's coach sale is this Thursday, so perhaps by the end of this week we'll have a bit more clarity.

 

Edited October 28, 2024 by LOWERCASE GUY

[parsonjack]

10 minutes ago, LOWERCASE GUY said:

So given this section of the site was updated around the announcement of the sale date, then why keep in the part about the 20s auto refresh if a queue system was to be implemented?

The queue system wouldn't negate the 20s refresh functionality.  I got it, albeit not Glastonbury branded, during the Fender pre-sale at one point after the sale had started and I attempted to join the queue.

 

I think See could quite easily tack on the queue, and argue that the GFL ticket blurb still covers the change.

[StoneCircle]

1 hour ago, LOWERCASE GUY said:

The comparison shows that there has been some updates to this section of the guide since October 7th. Mostly minor textual changes for clarity, perhaps the most substantive change is that your registration is now locked for 10 minutes rather than 5 minutes if an attempt to book is already held against your registration number, or if your 5 minutes on the booking page ends. So given this section of the site was updated around the announcement of the sale date, then why keep in the part about the 20s auto refresh if a queue system was to be implemented? 

 

The lock has been 10 minutes for many years as I can remember, here is a link to the information from 2022 for 2023 tickets.

https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/news/glastonbury-2023-tickets-on-sale-in-november/

 

Struggling to get my head around your first post but it looks like excellent information so many thanks for sharing with us! 😊

[belfast]

So apart from trying in a group of 6, using a few different devices with one tab, hitting F5 like mad it really is pure luck?

[SilverLining]

Cannot imagine a single person that wants a queuing system put in place - they always seem very unfair and totally ruin the fun and spontaneity of landing on the ticket page 

[paulshane]

57 minutes ago, belfast said:

So apart from trying in a group of 6, using a few different devices with one tab, hitting F5 like mad it really is pure luck?

 

basically, yes.

 

the ticket servers only have so much capacity to sell tickets, so for the sake of argument, say it can do 100 at a time

 

at bang on 9.00am a lucky 100 people will have hit F5 at the exact microsecond the server takes requests - everyone else gets the busy page

 

some minutes later , one person finishes getting tickets, a slot opens, some other lucky person hits F5 at the same microsecond, and they get to buy tickets.

 

and so on until it sells out.

 

 

[balti-pie]

1 hour ago, SilverLining said:

Cannot imagine a single person that wants a queuing system put in place - they always seem very unfair and totally ruin the fun and spontaneity of landing on the ticket page 

I've only had a queuing thing a few times so i'm very low in terms of experiencing it - the NFL tickets initially seemed to be a nightmare as my 'place in the queue' was 65,000, but my mate who was also applying was 180,000, so i thought i'd wait it out and see how it goes - 15 mins later i'd selected seats and it was all surprisingly smooth.

The other times have been hugely oversubscribed big gigs in tiny venues (Blur last year) so as soon as i got 20k i knew it was a waste of time. Its all numbers in the air but i'd say if there's approx 135k tickets for Glastonbury going up, if you're in the top 100k you're more than possibly alright, and if you're 100 - 200k then you're in with a chance given how many pages will fail, connections will drop out, duplicate tickets will bounce people out of the purchasing stage, all that kind of nonsense. wonder how big the numbers will go? can easily see 500k going for it . . . 

[fraybentos1]

2 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

wonder how big the numbers will go? can easily see 500k going for it . . . 

500k people but millions of devices usually. Unless they lock the queue to one slot per registration via a code

[incident]

4 minutes ago, fraybentos1 said:

500k people but millions of devices usually. Unless they lock the queue to one slot per registration via a code

 

Not convinced the number of people is anywhere near that high. Anecdotally it feels like the success rate is around or slightly over the 50% mark - somewhere around that for randoms moaning on twitter etc, and substantially higher than that on here. Certainly doesn't feel like a majority of people are being locked out.

 

Devices, yeah well into the millions.

Edited October 29, 2024 by incident

[balti-pie]

8 minutes ago, incident said:

 

Not convinced the number of people is anywhere near that high. Anecdotally it feels like the success rate is around or slightly over the 50% mark - somewhere around that for randoms moaning on twitter etc, and substantially higher than that on here. Certainly doesn't feel like a majority of people are being locked out.

 

Devices, yeah well into the millions.

Kind of impossible to tell - the anecdotal success rate of 50% may well be true on here and among your mates, because you have particularly clued up and dedicated people trying very hard - instead of a disinterested mate clicking F5 in between sips of tea and farting around with the tv at 9.10am on that sunday morning. I'd love to know how they'd look at average numbers of people trying, and who is trying on how many different devices.

I've had five or six on the go, and it wasnt any more successful than concentrating properly on two devices. I came into work one year and set up four PC's while also trying on two mobiles, it didnt work and that was the first time i struck out entirely (which forced me into volunteering, so i only have to join the scrum for other people nowadays). It never fails to fascinate me though, i want to know the numbers! 

[incident]

6 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

Kind of impossible to tell - the anecdotal success rate of 50% may well be true on here and among your mates

 

As I said - that's my estimate for the "wider audience" ie the ones who aren't going all out. 50% seems about right for them - it seems fairly evenly split between "oh my god I can't believe I got tickets after everyone said it'd be so hard" and "failed again, even after I woke up early at 9:15 and refreshed twice".

 

On here it's much much higher than that. I'd guess at 80%+. Amongst my crew, it's been 100% the last few years but we're proper militant about it.

 

I can't see any evidence that significant numbers of people are getting left out - there's always a few, including amongst those who put a proper effort in, but it feels like a minority.

[fraybentos1]

32 minutes ago, incident said:

I can't see any evidence that significant numbers of people are getting left out - there's always a few, including amongst those who put a proper effort in, but it feels like a minority.

I would disagree personally. From my point of view I have tried 3x and only got in once, rest of the group got 0. 

 

A brief google suggests over 2 million people are registered so it doesn't take a big percentage trying to make 500k

[dotdash79]

We don’t know the number of registrations after the cull. Also number of people will have 2 or more registrations. I know I have 2 in case my primary code is locked out in the sale. 
 

I would say for every general admission ticket you have about 3 wanting that ticket and 5 people trying to buy it, but some trying more than others.

 

the demand is a lot lower than the oasis gig and also the Coldplay shows. But until you have to enter the reg number, or log in to try no one will ever know the true numbers. 

[doogie]

13 minutes ago, dotdash79 said:

We don’t know the number of registrations after the cull. Also number of people will have 2 or more registrations. I know I have 2 in case my primary code is locked out in the sale. 
 

I would say for every general admission ticket you have about 3 wanting that ticket and 5 people trying to buy it, but some trying more than others.

 

the demand is a lot lower than the oasis gig and also the Coldplay shows. But until you have to enter the reg number, or log in to try no one will ever know the true numbers. 

 

Even for the Oasis and Coldplay shows it's difficult to gauge actual demand once you strip out the touts and speculators. 

 

Also the number of tickets available for Glastonbury is a lot lower.

[Toilet Duck]

Anecdotal evidence (ie, take with a pinch of salt!)...we have 2 core groups of 6 that always try and a 3rd or sometimes even a 4th group of those that come occasionally. Up to 2019, our record was 100% for all (core and occasionals), going right back to the start of the century. For 2019, my group of 6 got in, but the other core group didn't. For 2020, my group again got in and the other core group didn't but we sorted everyone out in the resales in 2022. For 2023, the other core group got in and mine didn't. For 2024, my group got in and the other core group didn't. So, in main sales for the last 4 sales, we have a 50% success rate (going up to 100% in 2022 after the resales but not budging in 3 out of 4). We too are pretty militant in the 2 core groups, no dead weight. 

[dotdash79]

3 minutes ago, doogie said:

 

Even for the Oasis and Coldplay shows it's difficult to gauge actual demand once you strip out the touts and speculators. 

 

Also the number of tickets available for Glastonbury is a lot lower.

Agree, oasis was massive numbers, I know people that never go to gigs but wanted tickets for those shows, plus at that point it was worldwide interest. 
 

Coldplay again was the only shows in Europe so had a big demand.