Headliner crowd sizes over the years

[Skip997]

48 minutes ago, matrainertje said:

That's a bit sad actually, I was not at the festival but Janelle is in my top list of the best performer's I've ever seen at a festival, ever. 

It was absolutely disgraceful behaviour from the attendees. Ignoring a fantastic performer for whatever nonsense was on The Other Stage. Shameful it was.

[Crazyfool01]

Just now, Skip997 said:

It was absolutely disgraceful behaviour from the attendees. Ignoring a fantastic performer for whatever nonsense was on The Other Stage. Shameful it was.

Were you there ? 

[stuie]

3 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

It was absolutely disgraceful behaviour from the attendees. Ignoring a fantastic performer for whatever nonsense was on The Other Stage. Shameful it was.

 

It's on the stage bookers for over-estimating her appeal.

I don't like her, I feel no shame - just the way it is. 

 

[doogie]

3 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

It was absolutely disgraceful behaviour from the attendees. Ignoring a fantastic performer for whatever nonsense was on The Other Stage. Shameful it was.

 

I stayed for Janelle after Shania and was shocked at how quickly the field emptied.  I got right to the barrier with ease.

 

Was Avril Lavigne really that good on the Other Stage or was it just that people had heard of her?

[Skip997]

14 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

Were you there ? 

At Janelle? Yes

[Crazyfool01]

2 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

At Janelle? Yes

I’m a discrace then … much prefer avril over her … sorry 

[Nice hymer]

5 hours ago, Skip997 said:

Levellers 1994 is often said to be the largest Pyramid crowd at 300,000.

 

However, this is much more likely to be the overall festival attendance and everyone wasn’t at the Pyramid that night 

I didn't even see the Pyramid stage that year but can confirm that Orbital on NME was every bit as good as the write ups say, it was also rammed.

 

From memory, David Bowie in 2000 was about the busiest I've seen the Pyramid field and that year was the busiest I've ever known the festival site. AI says estimated 250,000 people.

Elton John was a huge crowd, it's hard to compare since they made the field that much bigger....

[Metal Monkey]

I don’t see how it could possibly be bigger than that Elton crowd. I was stood on the bit which used to be camping and there were people standing close together all the way back to the fence, hard to get through the crowd even back there. 
Levellers 94 was very busy and fun, but it’s 30 years ago and I’m sure the field is bigger now. 
Chemical Brothers in 2000 was meant to be busy. I saw Nine Inch Nails and some of Reprazent on at the same time who were both fairly quiet because everyone was at the Pyramid. 

[Superscally]

5 hours ago, Little Thief said:

Not a headliner, but Janelle Monae had the smallest crowd I think I’ve ever seen on the Pyramid. Walked past on my way from Woodsies to WH and it was eerie! The whole of Sunday was a bit dead to be fair.

Potential evidence that demographic is shifting. Now you could say "let's have a load of dance on the Pyramid", but it wouldn't work. Festival needs to be a bit more sensible, not necessarily with who they book, but where they book for sure. Janelle would have RAMMED WH.

[Skip997]

8 minutes ago, Superscally said:

Festival needs to be a bit more sensible, not necessarily with who they book, but where they book for sure. Janelle would have RAMMED WH.

Totally agree, there have been some shocking placements over the years. To the best of my memory Janelle did fill WH.

[CaledonianGonzo]

11 minutes ago, Superscally said:

Potential evidence that demographic is shifting. Now you could say "let's have a load of dance on the Pyramid", but it wouldn't work. Festival needs to be a bit more sensible, not necessarily with who they book, but where they book for sure. Janelle would have RAMMED WH.

 

She's played WH twice before and didn't ram it either time.

[Little Thief]

Does anyone have any solid info on what % of punters were still around for the Sunday? I think I read somewhere that it was estimated around a third of capacity had left by Sunday headliner time. I was at The National and that also seemed super sparse.

[waltere]

5 hours ago, mufcok said:

Elton biggest I've seen but it was easy to see that due to being so far back + the subsequent TV footage with the drones.

 

I was front pit for McCartney and between the sound desk and pit for the Stones - suspect they weren't far off

 Can't speak to the Stones, but compared to Macca I'm pretty sure Elton was an absolute nother level. Purely anecdotal, but we were up at the very top in what used to be Row Mead by the Pylon for Elton and even up there it was absolute standing room only, Macca on the other hand we were about 75 yards in front of the tree and, whilst by no means empty, it was honestly pretty roomy for each group.

 

Will say though that that MacCartney set suffered from particularly extreme crowd crust, as when I went to the loo it was seriously rammed around the paths, with things "opening out" about 10 yards into the field

[Skip997]

9 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

 

She's played WH twice before and didn't ram it either time.

Okay I’m having a memory failure, but the point about the demographic stands. 

[waltere]

9 minutes ago, Little Thief said:

Does anyone have any solid info on what % of punters were still around for the Sunday? I think I read somewhere that it was estimated around a third of capacity had left by Sunday headliner time. I was at The National and that also seemed super sparse.

I know this discussion isn't new ground (and I have absolutely no idea on numbers), but it definitely felt like a lot of people cleared off early this year.

The Pyramid post-Shania has to have been the most sparsely attended run on that stage possibly ever - we walked past not long after Burna Boy had finished and the crowd was taking up probably a third of the pit - everything I heard from people who were elsewhere was that it was pretty quiet, and even at Justice, where it actually was quite busy, we comfortably managed to get 3 off the barrier in line with the edge of the stage even with rocking up 15-20 mins beforehand

[incident]

40 minutes ago, Metal Monkey said:

Levellers 94 was very busy and fun, but it’s 30 years ago and I’m sure the field is bigger now.

 

Significantly bigger. It's not just all the space freed up by removing the camping (in 1994 there was camping in the Pyramid Field proper below the path, which is unthinkable now). But also an overlooked factor is the repositioning and reorientation of the stage, which freed up more of the field.

 

When you compare an aerial photo from then to now, it's very noticeable how much more space is available. And Elton absolutely did fill all of it.

[Stokesy10]

5 hours ago, mufcok said:

Elton biggest I've seen but it was easy to see that due to being so far back + the subsequent TV footage with the drones.

 

I was front pit for McCartney and between the sound desk and pit for the Stones - suspect they weren't far off. I did jump on a mates shoulders briefly just before the Stones to look back and it was quite the sight - no grass to be seen.

I was as far back as you could possibly get. I got on a mates shoulders to get a better view of the whole crowd and I'll never ever forget the sight, it was tremendous. It dipped down gradually from where I was, but it just looked stunning.

 

The md helped too.

[Pinhead]

1 hour ago, Metal Monkey said:

I don’t see how it could possibly be bigger than that Elton crowd. I was stood on the bit which used to be camping and there were people standing close together all the way back to the fence, hard to get through the crowd even back there. 
Levellers 94 was very busy and fun, but it’s 30 years ago and I’m sure the field is bigger now. 
Chemical Brothers in 2000 was meant to be busy. I saw Nine Inch Nails and some of Reprazent on at the same time who were both fairly quiet because everyone was at the Pyramid. 

Yeah deffo - so Levs was big there 'at the time', but last 15 years have sent bands that excel that imho. Elton was the busiest I've seen to date after 30 years of going to Pyramid headliners.

[internetjef]

6 hours ago, Little Thief said:

Not a headliner, but Janelle Monae had the smallest crowd I think I’ve ever seen on the Pyramid. Walked past on my way from Woodsies to WH and it was eerie! The whole of Sunday was a bit dead to be fair.

this was such a shame. She deserved a middling size crowd at least. She prob would have got it if the other stage clash had been two door cinema club (who played after avril) or similar. The festival clearly underestimated the Avril draw.

 

Ive never seen a smaller pyramid crowd either in my 12 or so festivals attended (with the exception of a few stage openers).

 

the thought that any artist  would peek out an hour before at the shania crowd which I imagine was pretty massive , but then walk out to just a couple of thousand after is pretty heartbreaking 

 

genuinely wonder if that’s the last the festival will see of her. She put on a cracking show but hard to imagine she didn’t take a bit of a ego hit 

 

 

[dotdash79]

To be honest she did 3 Manchester shows the week after and I would say the one I went to was just over half full for a 1500 cap venue. 
 

she deserves a bigger crowd but has never clicked with uk audiences. 

[pc3036]

I was at levellers 94. I can’t say what the crowd was like as I was spangled 

[gigpusher]

6 hours ago, Little Thief said:

Not a headliner, but Janelle Monae had the smallest crowd I think I’ve ever seen on the Pyramid. Walked past on my way from Woodsies to WH and it was eerie! The whole of Sunday was a bit dead to be fair.

Was devastated about that as she’s incredible live and still gave an amazing performance. That’s probably the worst programming I’ve ever seen at Glastonbury though and it’s such a shame because she’s one of those acts that could have won over a whole heap of casuals. 

[Ben7amin_]

I was working of site and finished a shift was just fast walking back in towards West Holts as fast as my broken legs would carry me down the hill past the Pyramid (coming in from B) and has I passed the Pyramid this would have been in the changeover period between sub and headliner I noticed the field was basically empty - weirdly my first thought was that SZA has pulled out and there were a few people who did not get the memo.   

 

On the large crowd front (one I think that has not been mentioned ) I made a silly decision to try and cut across the Pyramid field to get to the beat hotel to catch (Floating Points B2B Four tet) when we got the edge of the field 10 minuets before Adele was due to start we all basically exclaimed we did not realise she was so popular.  Obviously did not have the extra row then but that field was packed. 

 

 

[Ben7amin_]

9 hours ago, gigpusher said:

Was devastated about that as she’s incredible live and still gave an amazing performance. That’s probably the worst programming I’ve ever seen at Glastonbury though and it’s such a shame because she’s one of those acts that could have won over a whole heap of casuals. 

Yeah Jannelle is great - People missed out by not seeing her - would have watched if I was not working. 

[A Particular Grey Chihuahu]

9 hours ago, gigpusher said:

Was devastated about that as she’s incredible live and still gave an amazing performance. That’s probably the worst programming I’ve ever seen at Glastonbury though and it’s such a shame because she’s one of those acts that could have won over a whole heap of casuals. 

 

I would've gone if I knew the crowd was going to be small. It makes it more special for those who are there (maybe not a great feeling for the performer though).