the Glastonbury ticket solution?

The latest issue of Time Out (the London listing's magazine) has a question and answer type interview with Michael Eavis.

He explains that things have been busy since the last Festival in June, clearing up Worthy Farm to make it fit for cows, and booking bands - of which, apparently, around a third are already booked.

He mentions that John Peel's wife Sheila has approved the idea of the New Tent being renamed the John Peel Stage, and that a re-name of this stage with some John Peel connection had been considered several years ago.

And then the all important ticketing. Apparently, tickets are to be sold in a similar way to last year, but with a much bigger call centre and bigger web-server capacity, by which they expect to sell the tickets in two hours. The tickets won't be paper, but will be similar to a credit card, containing a chip, presumably with the chip containing information about the purchaser, to be checked on entry.

Although the article gives the impression that this system is firmly decided, our own enquiries tell us that the ticketing system for next year still hasn't been finally agreed. This is currently the most preferred option, but things may yet change.

If this is how ticketing will work, these changes could be good or bad news for the Glastonbury addicted. With tickets possibly selling in two hours, it will mean that 'casual' buyers will get tickets more easily than they did this year, and so reducing the number that will be bought by those most keen to attend. But it will at least mean that everyone will know whether they have that important ticket within a few hours.

eFestivals expects that the tickets for next year to be sold on a Sunday, as the phone network is least busy that day, avoiding many of the problems that affected this year with calls were being blocked before even reaching the call centre exchange. The date of sale is yet to be confirmed, but we don't currently expect the tickets on sale before 1st April.

There's many rumours of who might be playing flying around, and a major name that has recently appeared is Pink Floyd. The rumours suggest this might be a reformed line-up, with Roger Waters back in the fold, but eFestivals thinks both Pink Floyd and Pink Floyd with Roger Waters extremely unlikely.

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