Matt87

Chilis won’t happen after their previous withdrawal. Michael Eavis said so himself. I imagine Dave Grohl will be there in some form.

Pack a twix and cross my fingers?

I think Arcadia itself is so famous on its own that it makes sense to not have recognisable names, at least to the average non-edm enthusiast, on the lineup. You'll still get huge crowds with any DJ, but if it's Clavin Harris, Chemical Bros., etc. then your creating a massive crowding issue. This isn't anything new, it's happened every year wherever they've placed the spider. I don't really know what you do about it. I wouldn't want it to be placed in a locked down field, queue up for entry-type situation, but it will continue to attract massive crowds who quickly discover that the sound is usually subpar if you're not close to the spider.

Are we still allowed campfires at your tent though? I presume not, since there's no wood put out for them, and to be honest, there's not enough space a lot of the time. Last one I had was in 2013.

I've always wondered whether they should put messages on the screens shortly before acts are due to start saying something like, "The next act is about to begin. Please consider standing up now, if you are not already doing so, to allow more room for your fellow festival goers." Obviously, some wouldn't listen, but it might help?

Really? Were there issues in the past?

I saw several women squat down in the run up to, and during, Paul McCartney. Funny thing is they then refuse to stand in it and cause more issues by pushing to a new position (we were not far behind second barrier). I was really holding it in, and there are options like those gel pack things if you really don't want to leave the crowd.

You should have seen what people were bringing on our my coach - ran out of storage room underneath the coach so people had to sit with their bags in the aisles.

Last time I do the coaches. Have had two bad years in a row. 2019 my bus broke down in Shepton Mallet, took over an hour for a replacement, then the driver drove to the wrong gate depsite the entire bus telling him he needed to go to Gate A. Left Bristol at 8:30 and arrived about midday in the end, and greeting us were massive queues in scorching hot weather. I didn't think it could be that bad again, but this year our bus didn't turn up for nearly 90 minutes. Once again, sat waiting in the hot sun. No comms, no excuse. If I hadn't been waiting with about 300 people I'd have been panicking. Finally it did show, but again, by the time we arrived it was massive queues - took about 90 minutes to get wristbands. Again, no shade in very hot, sunny weather. So, I'm done with the Coach package. I'm sure I've been very unlucky, but it just doesn't seem to be well organised. I'm skipping 2023 and if I do decide to go again in the future I'll either cycle or train.

Wet Leg probably should have been bumped to Other or something. I’m sure they did that for Billie Eilish in 2019 - booked for John Peel but bumped to Other. Bit of a failure to allow it to be so crushed at Wet Leg. If it had been a muddy year it could have been quite a bad situation.

I think I’ll almost certainly skip 2023. The queuing in the heat on Wednesday caused me to feel rubbish for most of the weekend. I stupidly thought I could drink through it. We really struggled with the camping too; barely slept the first few nights. I’m considering camper van or another alternative in the future, but it won’t be in 2023. I’ll see how envious I am this time next year and go on from there.

I had a sore throat from Friday onwards, which peaked yesterday evening coupled with a dodgy stomach. I also started having extreme shivers, so decided to head back home. Did a test, which said negative, so likely a mixture of heatstroke, dehydration, hangovers, singing.

I really missed the cafe in The Wood. That had previously been my hangover cure zone and always had a nice vibe.

Might be a bit random but I would like for them to stop allowing the ice cream vans on site. The entire time they’re operating their engines seem to be on, which is surely against the environmentally friendly attitude of the festival. There’s also ice cream stalls that are far superior, and you can get a can of coke from most stalls.

I think this year they updated the app the morning of each secret set. Not saying it worked, as I was at Jack White and had a girl barge past me, stop and utter, “Oh, guess it’s not Arcade Fire then”. I was also at John Peel for Just Mustard and the compère had to make an announcement at the end of their set along the lines of, “If you’re here waiting for Green Day then you’re going to be disappointed because they’re not playing.”

37 songs! We were totally spoiled. Loved it.

As someone else highlighted in another thread, if it had been a muddy year things could have gotten very bad.

The funny thing is we were in front of the sound desk for Years and Years and there was tons of room.

Some of the urinals were far smaller than normal, which just seemed odd. The obvious effect this had was lines of guys peeing against the urinal fences. Crowds, at times, were a bit too much. It definitely felt that there were an extra ~20k people. Wood chip - More like wood chunks. Nearly twisted my ankle several times. Seems like such an easy thing to get right. Attendees - By increasing capacity you’ll inevitably get more bucket listers who have no interest in the Healing Fields but just want to go from big stage to big stage and expect to see everyone they’ve highlighted in the programme. But I would like to think that this year was especially bad due to it being the first post-pandemic and many people have forgotten how to treat one another in crowded situations. Basically, a lot more selfishness. I spoke to one girl last night who gave me a ‘tip’ to avoid the crowds leaving a stage: “Fake a panic attack. I’ve been doing it all weekend and it’s so much more convenient”. I replied questioning the morality of that and she just laughed and wandered off.

Also, what’s going on with all the flares? Anytime I went to one of the major stages there were multiple flares going off. There was a guy who lit one near me before Wet Leg - they hadn’t even been walked on stage yet. Clearly didn’t know that it’s basically holding an intense fire in your hand, and tried to drop it on the floor when he complained, “it’s burning me!”. Everyone started booing him and he realised he’d made a massive mistake, but still, people around were getting burnt. It’s no laughing matter.

I’m generally in favour of flags, but I would say that this year seemed quite bad for low flags. If you’re going to the effort of making a flag then surely you can get one of those telescopic poles rather than a long wooden pole? I’d also add that if you have more than one flag on your short pole then you’re a selfish ****.

Wet Leg was uncomfortable from a crowd perspective and I just tried to get to Avalon to meet my missus who’s watching Sugababes and been told they’ve closed the field!

Think this may be my last. Personally, this year’s line up is the worst I’ve experienced. Add in another bad experience with having coach tickets and the general mob of Instagram/bucket listers that don’t seem to understand the ethos of the festival, and I’m definitely struggling to enjoy it this time. I saw 4 lads pissing against a fence on Wednesday afternoon, less than 20m to the nearest toilets. I called them out on it and received abuse. Maybe I’m just having some bad luck so far. Williams Green yesterday was a joke, I’ve never seen it that bad. In fact, it just seems way more crowded this time. Has capacity gone up?

I think we’re all in agreement that this is categorically wrong?

Supposed to have an 8:30am from Bristol Weds. No busses arrived until 9:40. Excuse we had was that See had told the drivers it was 9:30. But seems everyone’s having problems so calling bull on that one.