Headliner crowd sizes over the years

[FKA SOSOTWS]

17 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Was that before or after yer man was outed as a wrong 'un?

What did the Dirty Projectors guy do?

[stuartbert two hats]

On 11/6/2024 at 1:57 PM, Avalon_Fields said:

AI tells me: The Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival has a capacity of around 120,000 people.

 

I'm guessing that's for normal headliners, not the expanded area for the likes of Elton, so may well be 150,000.

To be fair, AI probably got that number by scraping this forum.

[tarw]

25 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

To be fair, AI probably got that number by scraping this forum.

There was a thread a few years ago about different stages capacities. I think most of it was pulled from the festival license that states maximum capacities. 
Probably changed now with the loss of camping 

[stuie]

56 minutes ago, tarw said:

There was a thread a few years ago about different stages capacities. I think most of it was pulled from the festival license that states maximum capacities. 
Probably changed now with the loss of camping 

indeed. @stuartbert two hats was actually the curator of that thread! 
 

I’ve just noticed we didn’t include Arcadia (any version) and it could probably do with an update in general! 
 

 

[MEGABOWL]

6 hours ago, Little Thief said:

Just had a random memory from 2010 when thinking about this thread. Smallest crowd I‘ve ever seen on one of the main stages - Dirty Projectors on The Park. I wanted to catch their first few songs before legging it over for the start of Stevie on the Pyramid. Think I was one of 15 people there, was tragic haha!

I didn’t go but I saw photos of Calexico crowd on The Park before the Stones and it was absolutely tiny.

[bloodandbutter]

what about lanas crowd in 2023 on the other stage? does anyone has an ideia of how it was?

[tarw]

3 minutes ago, bloodandbutter said:

what about lanas crowd in 2023 on the other stage? does anyone has an ideia of how it was?

I was at the front so hard to judge. Left early to catch the end of Chris’s set and there were loads of spaces - almost sparse behind the desks

[incident]

11 minutes ago, bloodandbutter said:

what about lanas crowd in 2023 on the other stage? does anyone has an ideia of how it was?

 

Do you mean the crowd size at the stated start time, or the actual start time? Because from what I heard there was a fair bit of difference there.

[stuie]

2 hours ago, bloodandbutter said:

what about lanas crowd in 2023 on the other stage? does anyone has an ideia of how it was?

 

I walked through the back with ease.  No dense crowd between the sound tent and the trackway. 

[Little Thief]

10 hours ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Was that before or after yer man was outed as a wrong 'un?

Don’t recall anything about the Dirty Projectors guy, unless I missed something. I know his girlfriend was originally in the band and she left when they broke up, but think that was quite a few years after 2010.

[tarw]

17 hours ago, stuie said:

indeed. @stuartbert two hats was actually the curator of that thread! 
 

I’ve just noticed we didn’t include Arcadia (any version) and it could probably do with an update in general! 
 

 

I think that Avalon is significantly larger now as well

[Ben7amin_]

On 11/9/2024 at 5:37 PM, bloodandbutter said:

what about lanas crowd in 2023 on the other stage? does anyone has an ideia of how it was?

 

Absolutely massive at the agreed start time.    About 60-70% of that by the time she came on stage. An own goal for many reasons from Lana 

[K2SO]

I feel like I remember hearing some weird stat at the time that Kasabian were estimated to have had something like the 4th biggest Pyramid crowd of all time (I think it was behind The Stones, Dolly and Bowie)

 

I find it hard to believe but it has always stuck in my head

[bloodandbutter]

1 hour ago, Ben7amin_ said:

 

Absolutely massive at the agreed start time.    About 60-70% of that by the time she came on stage. An own goal for many reasons from Lana 

yeah i heard she had a massive crowd before the show started but ofc her being late 30 minutes wasnt on her favour. I wonder if she will ever headline glast some day after the fiasco...

[Ben7amin_]

1 minute ago, bloodandbutter said:

yeah i heard she had a massive crowd before the show started but ofc her being late 30 minutes wasnt on her favour. I wonder if she will ever headline glast some day after the fiasco...

 

Annoyingly I thought that given Guns N Roses apparently were a replacement act I kind of always felt that they should have probably just promoted her -  Having caught some of both - she was definitely a better act (IMO).   

 

But yeah I doubt they will every book her again let alone headliner slot.  

 

Personally I was gutted she wasted so much of my time as the line up for Lonely Hearts Club that evening was as good as anywear on site. 

[bloodandbutter]

6 minutes ago, Ben7amin_ said:

 

Annoyingly I thought that given Guns N Roses apparently were a replacement act I kind of always felt that they should have probably just promoted her -  Having caught some of both - she was definitely a better act (IMO).   

 

But yeah I doubt they will every book her again let alone headliner slot.  

 

Personally I was gutted she wasted so much of my time as the line up for Lonely Hearts Club that evening was as good as anywear on site. 

Well i have the same opinion, i always thought that if she played pyramid headlining slot on her day it would move a lot of people especially during that time since she was having her new revival id say.

 

I really hope some day we see her again on glasto, i think she deserves a second chance lmao but yeah that set was an hell of a mess and she kinda messed it up again on reading so idk emily seemed to like her a lot tho

[Johndenis]

On 11/6/2024 at 3:40 PM, 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.

Boy Better Know had the benefit of darkness headlining the Other in 2017 but I was passing through and it felt like there was nobody there. 

 

Bowie must have been a bit of an unfashionable headliner booking in 2000, and the set he played was much more accessible than would have been anticipated.  I doubt he had that big a crowd but with hindsight and given that he stopped touring a few years after, it goes down as one of the great Glastonbury shows.

 

If I was petty I would go back a few years and ID the folk who thought Elton was only popular enough for a Legends slot.  Madness.

[Wooderson]

~ Unknown but probably largest as fence was down Bowie / Levs
~130k+ Elton / Coldplay 24
~110k Stones
~100k Macca 22 / Dolly / Lionel
~90k Stevie / Dellzer / Churnups / Kylie

[Justcalledtosay]

12 minutes ago, Wooderson said:

~ Unknown but probably largest as fence was down Bowie / Levs
~130k+ Elton / Coldplay 24
~110k Stones
~100k Macca 22 / Dolly / Lionel
~90k Stevie / Dellzer / Churnups / Kylie

Coldplay 130k?! The same as Elton....you sure about that?!

[rwoo]

I was at the back of the field for Kyle and it felt bigger than 90k. Although I find it so hard to guess these kind of things. 

[ogriff]

2 hours ago, Johndenis said:

Boy Better Know had the benefit of darkness headlining the Other in 2017 but I was passing through and it felt like there was nobody there. 

 

 

 

The stage dj was playing Ghost Town less than 15mins before they came on.  We walked straight to the very front. It was very odd

[efcfanwirral]

1 hour ago, Justcalledtosay said:

Coldplay 130k?! The same as Elton....you sure about that?!

not even close, we got there after finishing our shift just before they were supposed to come on, and in the 15 mins it took for them to actually come on quite easily worked our way in from the back middle to a reasonable spot. Not mega far forward, but compared to the back of the field it was some distance. Then when they stopped playing the hits, huge gaps appeared and we moved even further forward. 

 

I've had tougher times moving forward in the middle of the day

Edited November 11 by efcfanwirral

[CaledonianGonzo]

The BBC flew drones up before Elton and Coldplay, so it's easy to compare the crowd sizes.  Coldplay drew an enormous crowd, but Elton still f**ked them up.

[Wooderson]

23 minutes ago, efcfanwirral said:

not even close, we got there after finishing our shift just before they were supposed to come on, and in the 15 mins it took for them to actually come on quite easily worked our way in from the back middle to a reasonable spot. Not mega far forward, but compared to the back of the field it was some distance. Then when they stopped playing the hits, huge gaps appeared and we moved even further forward. 

 

I've had tougher times moving forward in the middle of the day

 

Thats 130k. Elton may be more however. That was covered by the "+" in my summary.