"Line Up" Tedium

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

Its one of my issues with the Beeb coverage. Bands cant take risks with bringing on special guests/doing something funky, because if something goes wrong, a mic or whatever, they look a right tit on the telly. Glasto has become more of a vehicle for sales as a result.

Get the Beeb out I say. Show a single highlights package on the Sunday.

Edited November 16, 2012 by thesecretingredientiscrime

[neilloggie]

Its one of my issues with the Beeb coverage. Bands cant take risks with bringing on special guests/doing something funky, because if something goes wrong, a mic or whatever, they look a right tit on the telly. Glasto has become more of a vehicle for sales as a result.

Get the Beeb out I say. Show a single highlights package on the Sunday.

[grumpyhack]

I'm quite happy with the way it is. I've found a few new gems every year, some surprise performances from rising bands, an enjoyable oldies slot, interesting busking and the odd 'special unannounced.' I think the mix is there - it's just a matter of hunting it out. If you don't go beyond the three or four main stages yes you can complain about it getting stale.

TV coverage helps the festival by pulling some big names at reduced rates. What's the problem with that?

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

JP tent curated by Sub Pop

Dance Village East curated by Ed Banger (Friday) and Hospitality (Saturday)

Put what you want on the Pyramid

The sooner they announce something, the better. Too much anger on these forums right now

[DJL]

I think there is a line-up tedium and some of the things suggested here could help alleviate that but think it would probably be a mistake to start messing around with the pyramid. Big acts on the main stage brings many people to the festival but it's often the smaller stages that make people go back year after year. The acts on them should be (and are) diverse and creative in what they offer and can be themed from time to time or something beyond the ordinary band playing their hits. I think the op just suggests more of that in slightly different ways.

While the concept and line-up of the pyramid needs to be fairly tried and tested most of the rest of the festival has space for innovation and when done well (eg. the se corner) something slightly different makes a real contribution to the festival.

Personally i'd like to play with the timetable a bit so the biggest artists on most stages don't necessarily all play at 9pm.

Having the likes of jarvis, dave grohl, jack white or thom yorke curating somewhere (not filmed for tv) and playing solo or with a side project at some stage could work. The (park) special guests idea was a victim of its own success but should be changed rather than scrapped imo. I like the idea (at bestival) of decent sized dance acts (2manydjs, justice and orbital this year) playing other places after the main stage headliner. I think acts like orbital playing arcadia is a good idea and (if late night sound is an issue across the site) silent discos can beimproved upon with decent djs playing them or big screens

playing legendary glasto performances etc.

Getting off the point but yeah developing quality and innovative alternatives to camping out at the main stage watching a tired line-up is what glasto does better than any other fest and long may it continue.

Edited November 17, 2012 by DJL

[Wooderson]

Ive been to see stuff at every stage over the years. Bar the Leftfield (now sadly departed) there was no sense of uniqueness or celebration. Its a festival FFS. People need to get back to this concept. Celebration of culture.

Whilst I agree with Ollan (chuck out the Beeb) and Paul (tear up the fucking lineup - the tickets are sold out anyway) I don't want to put people off. But this festival sold out in 100 minutes. Its more popular now than ever before. Why not take some chances with the entertainment? Big risks. Brave moves.

Those of you "happy" with the way it is arent saying "Africa Express killed Glasto" or "Theres no fucking place for Opera in Michael's field". Come on... lets think creatively about the performance. Every other aspect of the festival (infrastructure, environmental awareness, late night area etc) are changing and developing each year. But on the main 10 performance areas - bar one or two exceptions - things are getting repetitive and dull.

We'll see who they announce in a few months time. As Ollan brilliantly put it, I won't be surprised to see "Why not Coldplay lads?" threads on here shortly.

[Wooderson]

*cough*

[The Nal]

*cough*

[Mardy]

so, logically, what are the constraints?

The license means that a) There's a curfew on most of the popular stages and the most popular acts will appear on the Pyramid as it's got the biggest capacity

Other than that, everything is up for grabs, I think.

I've been thinking about this over breakfast. The only potential problem is that the festival now *needs* to sell out every year, look at ME's comments after 2008, sleepless nights etc. This means there's less room for experimentation. That said, the Gorillaz performance didn't put anybody off coming back again, did it? It's still selling out faster and faster.

Wooderson mentions the Leftfield, one of the things I've loved there over the last few years are the bits when 3 or 4 snger songwriters share the stage and take it turns to play a song, works really well. Bit of exchange between the singers. Something you'll never see when they're on their own individual tours.

I don't think anybody is saying the Pyramid shouldn't be about well known songs, big performances and a coomunal feeling. But it shouldn't just be oe more stop for the tour buses and the same setlist that they've rolled out for the last 3 months or whatever. Wooderson's comment about a celebration is bang on.

[G1T]

Agree with all of this. It's the same sort of point I was making with my 'When did Glastonbury gets so many slots' thread a short while back.

If the festival's stages have really become so predictable as to have that many set times when the same sorts of music are guaranteed to be played, then the festival as a whole has lost something imho.

[The Nal]

Wooderson's comment about a celebration is bang on.

Edited November 17, 2012 by The Nal

[fatyeti24]

JP tent curated by Sub Pop

Dance Village East curated by Ed Banger (Friday) and Hospitality (Saturday)

Put what you want on the Pyramid

The sooner they announce something, the better. Too much anger on these forums right now

[Red Day]

I'm not specifically talking about the main stages here chief. If the festival is brave enough (celebration of Bowie's career over the course of an evening for example then fine) but I think Jack White is a good example. Park stage, a loose collection of artists with no time limits or line up pressures.

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

Ive been to see stuff at every stage over the years. Bar the Leftfield (now sadly departed) there was no sense of uniqueness or celebration. Its a festival FFS. People need to get back to this concept. Celebration of culture.

Whilst I agree with Ollan (chuck out the Beeb) and Paul (tear up the fucking lineup - the tickets are sold out anyway) I don't want to put people off. But this festival sold out in 100 minutes. Its more popular now than ever before. Why not take some chances with the entertainment? Big risks. Brave moves.

Those of you "happy" with the way it is arent saying "Africa Express killed Glasto" or "Theres no fucking place for Opera in Michael's field". Come on... lets think creatively about the performance. Every other aspect of the festival (infrastructure, environmental awareness, late night area etc) are changing and developing each year. But on the main 10 performance areas - bar one or two exceptions - things are getting repetitive and dull.

We'll see who they announce in a few months time. As Ollan brilliantly put it, I won't be surprised to see "Why not Coldplay lads?" threads on here shortly.

Edited November 17, 2012 by thesecretingredientiscrime

[whisty]

Just a thought and maybe off center of your original comment but didn't the Gorillaz offer something of this on the Pyramid as stand ins for U2. loads of different guests, music that the masses were not familiar with etc. Didn't go down too well from comments I read in another post here. Had they played on a smaller stage however, I imagine it would have been far more appreciated. Like i tried to say earlier in the post, it's a horses for courses thing. That's not to say I disagree with your ideas.

Edited November 17, 2012 by whisty

[Essex Orange]

So would I, It's a shithole.

[rexclark]

Ed Banger tent in the Dance Village with Justice headlining.

[ICGenie]

Just a thought and maybe off center of your original comment but didn't the Gorillaz offer something of this on the Pyramid as stand ins for U2. loads of different guests, music that the masses were not familiar with etc. Didn't go down too well from comments I read in another post here. Had they played on a smaller stage however, I imagine it would have been far more appreciated. Like i tried to say earlier in the post, it's a horses for courses thing. That's not to say I disagree with your ideas.

[Essex_George]

Err scuse me, whats wrong with Romford exactly. You're an Essex snob or something?

[mandolin]

I've held off from commenting on this thread for a while but there are some things that I can't leave unsaid. I think the OP has a point.

I understand that at Glasto there are many, many options but they are all dictated pretty much by the same not-particularly-well-known through to fairly-well-known through to very-well-known format each day. This means that the chances of actually being able to see two equally known artists are reduced. It also means that many of the audience will be completely out of it by the time the headliners come on.

While Gorillaz have had a huge amount of flack on this forum, I think much of it is unfair. I am not a Gorillaz fan. I didn't particularly enjoy much of the set (my OH loved every second of it) but I got to see them play with a range of different artists (including the god that is Lou Reed) that made it interesting to me. And memorable. That's what I go to festivals for, otherwise I'd listen to cds.

I think that much of this thread really misrepresents musicians. Yes, there are some who are in it mainly for the money (*cough* STONES *cough") but more got into it due to their real love for music, often struggling for years before finally being able to make a living out of it. And that's ignoring the years of practice they had to put in before they could even dream of playing in public (some artists excluded, obviously). They could all have had the job/career/other path that us less-driven or less-musically-talented people have. The musicians I know would rather play with other real musicians than get a huge audience though they may sometimes/often need large audiences to pay the bills. (Large being a relative term obviously)

If we accept the figure of 90% of people wanting to go to see the main acts - which I don't - it still means that, at Glasto, 13,500 people want to be elsewhere. Not a bad sized audience if you could capture it.

I agree that if Glasto or any other festival were to try something different like the OP's suggestion it should not be televised until it was a tried and tested method. Neither should it be on the pyramid stage or Other stage until it was proven to be successful, if indeed it was. There are much loved areas of Glasto that rarely hit the TV screens. I've never noticed them being empty of artists or fans.

[Wooderson]

I've held off from commenting on this thread for a while but there are some things that I can't leave unsaid. I think the OP has a point.

I understand that at Glasto there are many, many options but they are all dictated pretty much by the same not-particularly-well-known through to fairly-well-known through to very-well-known format each day. This means that the chances of actually being able to see two equally known artists are reduced. It also means that many of the audience will be completely out of it by the time the headliners come on.

While Gorillaz have had a huge amount of flack on this forum, I think much of it is unfair. I am not a Gorillaz fan. I didn't particularly enjoy much of the set (my OH loved every second of it) but I got to see them play with a range of different artists (including the god that is Lou Reed) that made it interesting to me. And memorable. That's what I go to festivals for, otherwise I'd listen to cds.

I think that much of this thread really misrepresents musicians. Yes, there are some who are in it mainly for the money (*cough* STONES *cough") but more got into it due to their real love for music, often struggling for years before finally being able to make a living out of it. And that's ignoring the years of practice they had to put in before they could even dream of playing in public (some artists excluded, obviously). They could all have had the job/career/other path that us less-driven or less-musically-talented people have. The musicians I know would rather play with other real musicians than get a huge audience though they may sometimes/often need large audiences to pay the bills. (Large being a relative term obviously)

If we accept the figure of 90% of people wanting to go to see the main acts - which I don't - it still means that, at Glasto, 13,500 people want to be elsewhere. Not a bad sized audience if you could capture it.

I agree that if Glasto or any other festival were to try something different like the OP's suggestion it should not be televised until it was a tried and tested method. Neither should it be on the pyramid stage or Other stage until it was proven to be successful, if indeed it was. There are much loved areas of Glasto that rarely hit the TV screens. I've never noticed them being empty of artists or fans.

[Avalon_Fields]

I kind of hope there's not 3 headliners I can't miss, so I get time to explore the more unique and offbeat stages.

I for one will be completely happy no matter what is on the Pyramid

[dingbat2]

What's right with it??

[grumpyhack]

If we accept the figure of 90% of people wanting to go to see the main acts - which I don't - it still means that, at Glasto, 13,500 people want to be elsewhere. Not a bad sized audience if you could capture it.

[dingbat2]

I don't know but I would imagine the Prrmaid gets between 60000-80000 (100000 as a rare absolute max) If you have 80000 at the Pyramid en that still eaves nearly 60000 paying punters to play for at the other stages. That still more than the main stage at most of the 'major' festivals, so I think the headliners at the the 'other' stages will still be rubbing their hands whoever the Pyramid headliner is