BST Hyde Park 2015

[dentalplan]

Had a pretty great day overall. Kudos to Beck for majorly overshadowing The Strokes, best act of the day I felt. A lot of dickheads in the crowd but they seemed to calm down after the first few Strokes songs, or maybe it was just that I ended up further back in the crowd. Complaints about sound seemed massively exaggerated. I'm no expert but it was loud enough for me. Looking forward to going back there on Saturday.

 

Hard to compare the two acts really. Beck is a showman and aims to get the whole crowd dancing whereas The Strokes just play their songs well with no frills and get people singing along. They both did excellently at that; and the weather was top too so it was a good day,

 

I don't think it was under populated either - seemed plenty of folk inside the front pit and outside.

 

I agree with Zac about the decent sound and the sound mix. I think each act suffered a little at a point with it but then it was sorted out. Devil's Haircut was a bit of a horror show because of it actually. Really as a festival on the whole it seemed fine considering the amount of bad press it's received and I'd go again with a decent lineup; whether it'll happen again is another thing.

[shoebox]

Got there for the last 3/4 Future Islands songs and made my way into that front GA section. The bottleneck getting out was a nonsense, so elected to avoid that area for later in the day. So got a prime spot by the barrier at the back of the cordoned off GA/VIP areas. Fine for Beck (who was magnificent), but by the time The Strokes came on, a second mosh pit had formed there. I'm too old for that shit! The Stokes were still great, but there were a hell of a lot of pissed up knobheads there.

 

Just do not understand why they need a barrier running around the GA area. It doesn't make sense and seemed to cause more problems than it solved.

[michaelsmith1992]

To anyone who went last night? Was there plenty of people selling tickets outside? Hoping to score some Blur tickets on the cheap

[rawaudioinput]

I had no problems with the crowd at all; I stood to the right of the audio tower in the golden circle and had plenty of room to dance and have fun

Had a really great time and endured no real issues, only complaint I'd make is the bar was painfully slow; honestly, it was like they were receiving the pints by fax

Managed to get some sales figures from a reputable source and those of you who thought The Strokes was undersold would be very right indeed; apparently they only managed to shift 18,000 tickets

Blur is also less than half sold, around the 28k mark I think

[aidenlangan95]

I think it was much better than it was last year. Sound was definitely louder (better? Maybe). Crowd was decent enough once the first few songs were done. It was busy at the front but I've seen busier to be honest. It was 'comfortably busy'.

Not surprised it undersold though, the tickets are a ridiculous price!

[No Cars Go]

Massive thanks to London Tom on here who kindly gave me a complimentary ticket for last night.

 

First time seeing the Strokes and I'd forgot how many big songs they have, for me it was a perfect setlist, they really should have headlined the pyramid by now. 

 

Hyde Park need to sort out the access to certain areas before their next set of gigs, it was dangerously packed near the barriers and then so much space in the front section. Sound quality also quite poor. That being the said, the weather and crowd made for a splendid Thursday evening.

[retromoz]

Managed to get some sales figures from a reputable source and those of you who thought The Strokes was undersold would be very right indeed; apparently they only managed to shift 18,000 tickets

Blur is also less than half sold, around the 28k mark I think

 

What is the actual capacity of Hyde Park. And i dont suppose how many of the 18000 or 28000 for Blur were the cut price fiver tickets?

[the wonderwhy]

Between 50,000 and 65,000 is the official capacity. Supposedly three gigs will have the former and three the later, but I don't know if they've ever even reached a high enough attendance for that to matter

[retromoz]

apropos of nothing, whilst searching for an email address to complain, i found this....

 

http://companycheck.co.uk/company/05452230

 

Im OBVIOUSLY not sure how legit this is. Obviously. But....if it IS legit....having a net worth of -£16,000,000 SURELY isnt the best way to run yourselves?!?

[Rose-Colored Boy]

To anyone who went last night? Was there plenty of people selling tickets outside? Hoping to score some Blur tickets on the cheap

Yeah the usual number of touts. Didn't give them a second's attention tho so can't tell you the price they were asking for I'm afraid.

[Matt - Ed Banger Records]

They may well just load the UK arm of the company with liabilities in order to never make profit in the UK and therefore be able to offset losses against the tax (my basic understanding) to get a true picture you would need to look at the parent company in the US, who I suspect prop up the UK arm with an intercompany loan arrangement.

[atomised]

I was going to suggest much the same matt. I would imagine AEG as a whole is a very profitable business

[Rose-Colored Boy]

What's this about spotting Chris Martin etc? Are celebrities mingling amongst the crowd?

Most of them like Chris M and Grimmy stick to the hospitality areas so you can easily avoid them. And even those few who dare 'mingle' with the common man, like Alex Turner, are only one person in thousands. So you should be fine.

[the wonderwhy]

Alex Turner was in the premium section anyway  

[Rose-Colored Boy]

Alex Turner was in the premium section anyway

I thought it looked a bit spacious around him on the video!

[Matt42]

About to catch the train up to my mates in London

 

BLUR TIME

[LondonTom]

Is there anyone selling cheap tickets outside tonight and how much? Just wondered because I'm in London Saturday as was meant to be seeing Foo's so might try my luck with blur instead but don't want to pay 80 quid for a ticket!

Was a few touts outside, not sure what they was selling but they didn't seem to be doing brisk business

 

Yeah they said the pit had to be closed off but in terms of when they have been before the crowd seemed much smaller!

There was plenty of room when they close it off tbh but yeah beyond that and initial ring of people around the barrier it was very spacious. (Pretty glad of it though, I don't think the site is set up well enough for full capacity!

 

Had a really great time and endured no real issues, only complaint I'd make is the bar was painfully slow; honestly, it was like they were receiving the pints by fax

Oh jesus, the bars! The thing that got me, there seemed to be plenty of them this year....just so so long to serve a pint! Then loads of people paying with card, and the machines took forever. (Why they couldn't have the staff serve someone else with cash I don't know!). I blame the punters to, no one seemed to have their money /card ready for the staff!

 

 

 

Massive thanks to London Tom on here who kindly gave me a complimentary ticket for last night.

Glad you enjoyed it!

 

I thought it was decent night, good weather for drinking and listening to music! Got there just in time for Public Service Broadcasting, who I've not really got before but they are really decent live (and they didn't have any of the video set up that people say they normally have!). Beck was amazing even if the mix was a bit shit at times, Temples were decent as well. Strokes surprised me, they actually looked like they gave a damn this time, still think they suit smaller venues but enjoyed them

 

BST itself, they have at least added urinal troughs for guys compared to last time I was there for the last Blur show, and I liked the the theme for the bars. I didn't see any bars doing "craft beer" which was disappointing really, I thought with the recent trend they would have least had one out of the way bar doing it. Didn't have nothing to eat, but they did seem to at least have a decent selection of food rather than usual burger vans.

 

Sound was still amazingly shit in places I thought, unless you got in front of the barrier. Also why the hell do they have bits of 6ft fence around the GA barrier?! Very odd decision! For the Strokes at first I was stood on the concrete path just outside the barrier, seemed a decent atmosphere but cause of the random bits of fence I couldn't see anything and I am fairly sure I have louder music at home. So I went and stood behind a relay, which was decent really, could still see the stage and had plenty of room to get to the bar and toilets and the sound was alot better

 

So yeah unless you want to get in the pit by getting there early, set yourself behind one of the relays is my advice!

 

Its decent enough with the cheap tickets, but I think I would have been well disappointed if I had paid full price!

 

AND OH! the Barclay card view thing, looked every bit as shit as it seemed on the map

Edited June 19, 2015 by LondonTom

[thewayiam]

Its decent enough with the cheap tickets, but I think I would have been well disappointed if I had paid full price!

I'm fully expecting it to feel this way, decent enough for what I paid. I'd never pay full price for Hyde Park again unless it was Bowie.

[DarthSaul]

Managed to buy two blur tickets for 40 pounds but now close to accidentally winning two more on ebay that I don't want

[johnl]

I paid full price and I enjoyed it. Yak, Future Islands, Beck, Temples and The Strokes all very good. Too quiet for Yak but otherwise I thought the sound was fine. Can't understand why people make the effort to get down the front bit and then ignore the act and talk loudly to their mates Grrrr! That has to be my biggest festival gripe and it seems to be getting more and more prevalent.

Bar and food queues were weird, some times massive other times none. No probs with the bogs here - I suppose that's the advantage of being a bloke and having the urinals.

Back for Blur on Saturday - bit worried as supports not great for me and weather beginning to look a bit pony.

[rawaudioinput]

Managed to buy two blur tickets for 40 pounds but now close to accidentally winning two more on ebay that I don't want

How much are the ones you may be winning on eBay? I have a couple of friends who may be interested if you do

[DarthSaul]

How much are the ones you may be winning on eBay? I have a couple of friends who may be interested if you do

[DarthSaul]

20minutes away from getting two blur tickets for 65pounds- 70 maximum. If anyone wants them let me know asap, and I will either ask for the money to pay the guy through paypal or put you in correspondence with him

[Rose-Colored Boy]

About to catch the train up to my mates in London

 

BLUR TIME

 

 

Enjoy

 

 

So yeah unless you want to get in the pit by getting there early, set yourself behind one of the relays is my advice! 

 

Not necessary to be too early tho. I got a good spot for Beck arriving only during his first song and the same for TS arriving about 15 minutes before they started.

 

[Mash011]

Forecasts only getting worse for tomorrow Will be worth it for Blur though.