WFD

Not sure what it would achieve anyway - the idea is usually that punters would have to pay a deposit which they only get back if their patch is clean when they leave, but as you suggest it would take so many people to run it properly and anyway there would be nothing stopping people just shoving their cans and leftover equipment into another patch and saying it wasn't theirs.

The rubbish is always bad, though I did think it was worse this year. I expect it is just easier for them to let the litter accumulate over the weekend and then blitz it at the end, rather than do much about it during the festival. Smaller festivals do more to deal with litter over the weekend but then if Leeds did that it would backfire because people would do the whole "they pay people to pick it up, why should I put it in the bin" They could still help matters by having more bins out though, and actually emptying the ones they did have. The tent thing will never change, they might be happy about the success of eco camping but doing something like that across the whole site would involve more admin/cost than they (the festival) are willing to put in.

Haha again you got there first while I was clumsily typing the same thing. I said it on the lost thread but it was comical at Halsey, they closed the front section and then people were leaving in droves from three songs in, to get spots fro 1975. But then they wouldn't let anyone new in to take their spaces, with stewards standing saying "we can't let you in, it's full" as people streamed out behind them. The front section was nearly empty by the end.

Read this after my post above but yeah that seems to be the case. To the extent that if they are going to continue with the two main stages they may as well programme them to reflect it instead of having massive crowd moves between stages for consecutive acts from similar genres (or the other thing discussed on the lost thread about people leaving the front section of one stage after a few songs to get a good spot on the other stage).

I had texted someone on the Sunday saying less dickheads this year, then realised I'd spoke to soon when coming back through the camps on Sunday. Saw a few incidents of people throwing full cans into crowds and a girl stood next my daughter's group in a crowd got hit on the head by a metal water flask, and they picked up the flask when it landed and it had a dent in it from where it hit her! There did seem to be fewer people charging through crowds seemingly coked up, which I'd got sick of in recent years, and everyone round us in Brown camp seemed sound enough. But then things did seem to go downhill everywhere on the Sunday night.

My thoughts too. I've said it before but I reckon that's my last full weekend (I was at Leeds). Even before last night's park exit fiasco the whole weekend felt like a lot of work (I know the heat and dust contributed to that) and overall it felt like they are getting complacent and taking the punters for granted. The reduced choice on the stages meant it was hard to put a full day together, and gone are the days when there were six stages running headline acts at the same time. On Leeds Friday it was basically the 1975, or Hybrid Minds way over at the other end of the site, and nothing in between. The beer is terrible and over priced, never seen the bars so quiet. As someone mentioned above they are tilting it towards the crowd who are happy to see 2 maybe 3 currently hot acts a day and go back to the camp site in between. People were just constantly on the move, yet crowds at many acts seemed low. Did like the new street feast area, somewhere to sit and eat and in shade (with its own DJ), but even that was up a hill which I swear got steeper as the weekend went on! I saw enough over the weekend to make it worthwhile, the Enter Shikari - Pendulum - BMTH evening was fun but as I said to my daughter after, coming out of Shikari felt like being at an away match, it felt like we were the away following at someone else's home ground. I'll focus on European fests and smaller ones like EOTR from now on, and leave R&L to those it is targeting and let them get on with. They need to have a rethink in places though, their PR has been shockingly bad this year and if their critics start getting their teeth into them about safety and welfare, they need to be able to handle them better than they have done so far.

Mentioned this way back in the thread, but last year on the Foals day they halved the price of VIP upgrades very close to the day (maybe even the day before) but the first level of upgrade only got you into the VIP bars/toilets area, not the actual golden circle. I think the first level was £60 reduced to £30. They were a separate add-on so even if you got a bargain on the normal entry it wouldn't stop you being able to upgrade (as far as I know anyway).

The Netflix one is certainly having an immediate impact, it's currently No. 4 TV show on UK Netflix. As said above, the HBO one has been available here since it came out, and a lot of people have access to it, but it was buried by Now/Sky. I'd been searching for it for ages before I found out, as I'd heard a podcast about it. Turns out Woodstock 99 or similar wasn't recognised by their search function, you had to search on Music Box (which also has other stuff in the series worth watching by the way, like the Alanis Morrisette doc).

It's on Now TV (and presumably Sky's on demand library), and has been since last year. You might need to search on Music Box to find it, it's part of a series of that name. Most HBO stuff is on Now/Sky through a deal they have.

I have to admit I took a photo of the screen with subtitles on when they said in horror that "some people had like three or four beers by like 11am" and put it on our gig/festival-going chat group for everyone to laugh at.

The HBO one is the one that others are referring to as the Now/Sky one, it was produced by The Ringer (podcasting network who do a lot of music / film / TV / sports podcasts) as part of their Music Box series. The Netflix one largely covered the same ground, it just has different interviewees and behind the scenes footage. The HBO one featured a moving "storyline" about someone who died in the crowd, which isn't in the Netflix one. There was (or is, as they keep adding to it) a lengthy podcast series about Woodstock 99 (not by The Ringer, just two guys who are interested), they do a lot of "survivor stories", and people keep discovering it and getting in touch to be interviewed, hence they keep adding to it. They range from stoners who just had the time of their lives, to women talking openly about the constant threat of sexual assault, and in several cases, actually being assaulted.

Jamie T, Finsbury Park, 30 June next year.

Lanterns on the Lake have tweeted that they play at 4.30 on Saturday, someone has replied pointing out the schedule says 3.40, and now Bluedot have replied saying they'll check it because there have been some "tweaks".

For those still standing tonight, Arlo Parks is out.

New schedule for today just come out, and they say "there are some changes" without telling you what they are.....main one I can see is Black Pumas out, and IAMDDB bumped up to replace them on main stage.

We took the shuttle back last night, long long queue but we could see it was moving quickly so just waited it out. We left after the end of Foals and were on a bus around 3.40am. As we got to the front we missed the cut off for the bus that was being loaded, which meant we had the added bonus of being the first on the next one and got seats. We're changing tactics for the next couple of nights and eating just before getting the Metro out there. The food queues were horrendous last night (they were pretty bad the night before but got worse last night) so we want to leave it til much later until we need to eat again.

We got the metro, expecting it to stop only at Nuevos Ministerios but it was making stops on the way so we got out at Colombia and managed to get on another line to Plaza De Castilla. The Metro station platform was very crowded and we didn't make it onto the first one that came when we were waiting, but made the second and it was only a few minutes in between them.

We're in, absolute doddle. Bar prices:

We flew in without drama yesterday, few drinks near the hotel last night, we're doing the Bernabaeu stadium at lunchtime and then getting up there for the wristband exchange opening at 5pm. Feels a bit surreal to actually be on day one at last, after buying the tickets in early December 2019. Have a great time everyone!

In this late flurry of information has anyone seen what time the wristband exchange and/or the gates open on Wednesday? We're "picking up" and can do without a long queue in the sun so willing to go up early to beat the queues.

No shuttles on Sunday at all!

Also a Twitter thread. Metro runs until 2am Wed/Sun, 4am the other nights. Free shuttles to Plaza de Castilla.

There was an email from Festicket yesterday: If you have not received your wristbands before the festival starts, please send an email to pulseras@madcool.es indicating that you have not received the wristbands and that you will pick them up at the festival. This way, we can cancel the wristbands of your shipment and you will be able to access the festival quickly. We inform you that, to collect your wristbands at the festival, you will need to go to the Mad Cool Wristbands/Pulseras box office at the festival entrance and show your e-ticket. You can get your ticket at your Festicket account, Festicket Booking confirmation, or at www.madcoolarea.com. If you cannot find your Festicket e-ticket/s either, please get in contact with us at https://support.festicket.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

So she is, thanks (though clashing anyway so doesn't matter !).

Minor point mayb but Beabadoobee not on the schedule for Thursday? But still listed on the website (Stormzy has been taken off the website).