Electronic music on the Pyramid

[Beaver89]

I've been wanting to raise this topic on here for a long time but didn't want it to get lost in the fray of festival season.

 

I cannot be the only one to notice that electronic dance music - in the vein of Chemical Brothers, Daft Punk, Disclosure, Bicep, Orbital etc. etc. - is all but completely absent from the Pyramid and has been for 13-14 years now bar some heavily caveated exceptions like Hacienda Classical.

 

I'm aware that Chemical Brothers choose to play Other as they simply prefer it but I was wondering if this decision by them has caused this exclusion of the genre from the main stage even when notable players have the mainstream appeal to command that stage either as headliner or further down the bill. Do artists in this genre now see Other as the pinnacle rather than the Pyramid? Are the festival in denial of the mainstream appeal of the genre? Is it that the artists prefer playing to smaller crowds or after dark? Am I just delusional that such artists could play on the main stage? Or am I missing something?

 

I'm not even that much of an evangelist for the genre, it has just struck me as very odd that none of them ever play there given, for example, the crowd at Justice this year, the demand for Fred Again.. tickets and the mainstream reach of Disclosure.

 

To save you lineup digging yourself:

2000 - Chems (Headline)

2002 - Faithless (Sunset)

2003 - Moby (Headline)

2004 - Groove Armada

2005 - Basement Jaxx (Headline step in for Kylie)

2010 - Faithless (Sunset)

2011 - Pendulum (Sunset) not quite within definition)

2017 - Hacienda Classical (Open) definitely not within definition)

2024 - LCD Soundsystem (Sunset) and really stretching definitions but putting here in case someone thinks they should be - I don't)

 

Will we ever see EDM of any kind on the Pyramid again?

[CaledonianGonzo]

It's a near certainty Fred Again will headline next year.

[giantkatestacks]

The young 'uns themselves far prefer their EDM to be in a big tent though so that may well be in play.

 

'Its weird' outdoors apparently.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Isn't the main reason that the Pyramid used to run later (at lower volume) so they did a trade off for more volume but an earlier curfew?

 

So subs used to also perform in the dark to a large degree, whereas now it's a daylight slot - and dance music tends to work best in the dark.

 

Which explains the lack of a sub set by say e.g. Bicep - and there just hasn't been a popular enough dance act in the last 20 years to justify a headliner booking.

 

Edited 2 hours ago by CaledonianGonzo

[incident]

5 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Isn't the main reason that the Pyramid used to run later (at lower volume) so they did a trade off for more volume but an earlier curfew?

 

So subs used to also perform in the dark to a large degree, whereas now it's a daylight slot - and dance music tends to work best in the dark.

 

Which explains the lack of a sub set by say e.g. Bicep - and there just hasn't been a popular enough dance act in the last 20 years to justify the booking.

 

They traded half an hour on the (major stages) curfew for a few decibels in the late 00s, yes. They also used to have much shorter changeovers, and now schedule in a 15 minute buffer at the end in case acts overrun. - it used to be pretty normal for subs to start at about 9pm, so starting in the daylight and finishing in the dark, but the combined effect of all those changes means that they're now usually starting a full hour or more earlier than they used to and finishing whilst it's still daylight.

[Beaver89]

12 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

It's a near certainty Fred Again will headline next year.

Seems on brand for me to sit on a topic for years only for it to become redundant almost immediately. Not been following headliner chat - are we hearing reliable rumblings already?

[CaledonianGonzo]

2 minutes ago, Beaver89 said:

Seems on brand for me to sit on a topic for years only for it to become redundant almost immediately. Not been following headliner chat - are we hearing reliable rumblings already?

Maybe 'near certainty' is a bit strong, but it's looking pretty likely.

[CharlotteB]

I think maybe the absence of dancey stuff on the Pyramid Stage is down to the amount of it elsewhere. I do t think Glastonbury has betrayed the genre one bit.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Is it because of Woke?

[Suprefan]

1 hour ago, CharlotteB said:

I think maybe the absence of dancey stuff on the Pyramid Stage is down to the amount of it elsewhere. I do t think Glastonbury has betrayed the genre one bit.

 

except theyve just tried to put it at night time only. Theres been plenty of dance centric artists like Becky Hill last year which would go down well on Pyramid but you just havent had anyone play there proper.

 

Yeah, bring it back. f**k the curfew. You can easily have a dance act go on with the dark and have a headliner follow. Dance act at 8:45 that goes til 10 and a headliner at 10:30 who goes til midnight. Done and done. You could even bring out Calvin Harris to do something that easy and the production wouldnt be insane. 

[Ben7amin_]

For reasons already discussed it obviously can not happen - 

 

But it would be fantastic if they could get an hour or so DJ set on after the headliner.

 

Help that slow shuffle exit from the area if kept some people hanging around. Sure some DJ would be cool with people tidying up the stage around them for a shot on the Pyramid.