dirtysteve

Queues for the showers were very short/non-existent until about 7am/8am and then absolutely insane until late morning, but then no queues at all for the rest of the day. If you're an early riser or you don't mind waiting to wash until the afternoon, you won't queue.

This might be better for the Changes for 2024 thread but is relevant here; I've had an idea about how the issue of ticket day payment failures could be minimised. They open a window months in advance, say the whole of July, for pre-payment to be made against our registrations. That's not pre-payment to guarantee a ticket, but pre-payment so that if you get to the booking form on ticket day, enter your reg number and postcode and click submit, your ticket is then confirmed as paid for already. If you don't get to the booking form, then your pre-payment is refunded a few days later. I reckon tens of thousands of people would happily squirrel that money away with the festival, which'd earn interest for them sitting in their bank account so it's win all around!

Something I'd love to see is a Thursday evening disco at the Pyramid. Doesn't even need a name DJ, just play a load of CDs through the PA from, say, 5pm to 11pm. It'd be mint, sitting in the sun enjoying a drink and listening to records!

I've been checking my saved URLs every day for the last couple of week more out of habit than anything else and this one, which I amended to 2024 from 2023, is now live-ish whereas before it was saying "Event Not Found": https://glastonbury.seetickets.com/Tour/Glastonbury-2024 They're getting ready, folks... 😄

Has it been confirmed by any official festival channel that this is deffo the way they're doing the main sale this year? I've not seen it and the website doesn't mention it...

I am shiteing it tbh, same as I am every year in the months between the festival and ticket day...

I was sat under the ancient oak tree (I think it’s oak, anyway) in Green Kids when the Red Arrows went over. Lovely noise they made. I remember many times in years past when non-Red Arrows jets have buzzed the festival site, one year a fighter jet roared in and did what looked a bit like a handbrake turn in the sky as he went over us. Was really loud that one, scared my little boy! The RAF pilots must just do it for a laugh while they’re out and about in their planes.

The absolute best music book I've ever read is Playing The Bass With Three Left Hands by Will Carruthers. It's his memoir of being in Spacemen 3 and then the early days of Spiritualized and it is a phenomenally good book, highly recommend. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Playing-Bass-Three-Left-Hands/dp/0571329977 Here's an extract to give you a taste: https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/sep/26/spacemen-3-will-carruthers-playing-the-bass-extract He also has an earlier book available for purchase as PDF on his website, Book Of Jobs. It's very amusing and very bleak. After reading both of these I felt very fortunate that I'd never been involved with the music industry.

I’ve seen a few sets of OAPs camp in Cockmill family camping over the years, tbh I don’t think it hurts if a few doddery old folks that don’t relish the idea of camping in one of the shitshow campsites seek out some guaranteed calm and relative comfort instead.

I’ve taken both my boys since they were 4 years old. Eldest is now 14 and has done 8 festivals, youngest is 8 yrs and has 3 under his belt. Most times it’s just been me and them, went with friends and their kids a few times but it’s only us that’s stuck it out. We mostly do Kidz Field and Green Kids and watch a few bands and random DJ sets at small stages, but this year and last we’ve spent a lot of time in the circus and theatre area; this year we did several multi-hour stints in the Big Top and enjoyed some incredible entertainment. Eldest also went off on his own to watch Arctic Monkeys, first time he’s done that and he had a blast. With 8 festivals experience he knows the lay of the land well enough now that it didn’t phase him to go and get stuck in and I wasn’t worried about cutting him loose for a few hours. When he got back to the tent he said he’d had an amazing time. I’ve done more Glastonburys with the kids now than without and I don’t miss the good old bad old days of non-stop caning drugs at all. It’s a different experience entirely and, for me, a much better one. I hope we get tickets for many more years to come!

I think that I wouldn’t think twice until the tickets went higher than £750. If they put a monthly direct debit payment option in place to spread cost I could probably convince myself to go higher, too. I just f**king love the place.

Just out of interest, how much is the cheapest accomodation at Windinglake? And when do they go on sale??

Me and my boys decided to not bother with Elton because from the hordes of people moving to Pyramid from all directions when we came out of Bootleg Beatles, it was obvious that it'd be a shitshow and jam-packed right up to the top of the field, which would be no fun for my 8-year-old and my (short...) 14-year-old. We went to the circus and outside circus instead and watched some great shows, then the older son toddled off on his own for a ramble while me and my little boy sat on edge of Greenpeace field and ate some grub and had a drink while enjoying the general ambience and the dance music/techno or whatever it was that was blaring there. I still think we made the right choice, it was a good night out.

My first time at Worthy View this year, and it was money well spent. The car park being so close and having a tent already erected just removed all of the pain of getting into and leaving the festival. An absolute game changer imo, I can't imagine doing normal camping again now... The winding hill is pretty brutal, first time I went back up it I went at a fair old pace and nearly puked by the time I got to the top. Went more slowly each time after that and it was fine, if still pretty knackering. Need at least double the amount of toilets to cope better with the morning rush. Shower queues were insane but I dealt with that by simply not having a shower until late afternoon when the place was deserted. Quality and cleanliness of the showers and toilets was fantastic. Could do with a few more food shops there to give a bit more choice but I doubt it'd be especially economically viable given the nature of the place and it being empty of people most of the time. Stewards and gate staff were a little less joyous than I'm used to, don't know if that was the case on other gates this year but my general perception from many years of coming through gate B was quite different to the crew working WV. Slept like a baby each night even though our tent was next to a main path and there'd be flocks of wreck heads marching past all night, they barely disturbed me so I must have been well exhausted. The trek into the festival each morning was quite nice, beautiful views to enjoy and was surprisingly quick to get across the place. A slow amble back to tent in the evening via the Green fields just tied a nice and relaxing bow onto each day. Loved it, will deffo camp there again.

Unpopular opinion; the ticket price is too low. They could charge £500 a ticket and it'd still be excellent value for money. It'd still sell out, too, and give an extra £20Million or so for the organisers to sink into the festival.

I just listened back. I cried, too... lol Congratulations!

I’ve camped in Cockmill seven times now, always got a decent enough spot. Latest I’ve joined the Gate B queue would have been around 6am but was still plenty of space by the time I got in. Earlier you join the queue the better, tbh. The bottom of the field fills up first, if you head for the top towards the pylon line you’ll have plenty of space until early afternoon. There is a short cut to the top of the field that avoids having to walk down Muddy Lane and then back up through Cockmill; once you’re through Gate B, there’s a wide road you have to cross to get onto Muddy Lane. Don’t cross the road, turn left and walk along it for about 50 metres or so till you see a pathway on your right. Go down that and you’re at the very top, flat part of Cockmill. Last year I got hollered at by a steward when I turned left but ignored them and marched on… You may get bollocked but it is a great short cut. 🙂

That is a fantastic video. Cheers!

Got festival tickets last week, and the Worthy View bar-code email too, but no sign of Worthy View car park sticker. I presume there is a WV car park sticker to come? I paid for one, anyway!

Yours is hands down the best, I'm very happy to vote for it 🙂

2007 was just horrible, on the Monday morning going home I swore to myself that I'd never be back... lol

I sent them a DM asking if they could sort my mate out with a pair of tickets. Got a reply saying "Sorry, no, only tickets we have to distribute are in the competitions", so I went back and said "what about that rando you dished tickets out to, then?". Got no further reply lol.

I've used one of these bike buggy things every festival since 2013 and simply can't imagine doing without it now: https://www.amazon.co.uk/HOMCOM-Collapsible-2-Seater-Stroller-Trailer/dp/B078W1W9J5 Seriously, these are the absolute best solution for lugging stuff from car to camp and back again and you'll not likely need to make two trips, they can take a hell of a load. You can collapse it down to stash it in your camp, too. They're petty robust, had one that snapped its front wheel off one year but that was heading back to the car to go home anyway so wasn't bothered.

Take the kids to the festival, it’s awesome.

What a fantastic pay-off to a downbeat post. You won't believe the shit-eating grin I broke into when I read that line. 🙂 Lovely story, cheers.