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WheresMyTent

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  2. Glastonbury 2022 - overcrowding rumours & thoughts

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    11 hours ago, Gnomicide said:

    Was DiRo busier than previous Legends? No. Was Macca busier than the Stones? No.

    All this is just my own experience but I didn't think it was unsafe at any time. I think the busier feeling was down to bigger acts sometimes being up against little opposition, maybe bigger acts taking earlier slots due to everyone wanting to be there after the pandemic. I spent way more time at the Pyramid than any previous visit and I think a lot of others did the same.

    Friends said the same about camping fields being more spacious (but there were more fields and people more conscious of being on top of each other).

    Agree about DiRo and Macca.

    My main reason for writing this was mainly BETWEEN stages at all times. Never before have I been camped more centrally (Greenpeace crew, between West Holts and Glade) and yet never before have I had to leave earlier/choose wiser who I was going to see in order to be able to get there on time (actually 45 mins before) and still have time to eat/use the toilets, etc. All pathways to me felt shoulder to shoulder for 90% of the day. The only time I saw proper space was when we sacked off a Saturday headliner and headed to SE Corner at 9pm for a couple of bar drinks before getting to the Temple when it opened at 10. We chose to do that because our experience of the previous days had been, if you don't get there an hour early, you absolutely shouldn't even bother trying. And once you do get there, good luck going to the loo or the bar, ever. 

    I only visited the Pyramid once though, for Diana Ross, which is VERY unlike me.

  3. Glastonbury 2022 - overcrowding rumours & thoughts

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    Posted

    2 minutes ago, Larraht said:

    This is perhaps the key - having a bit more knowledge of the festival probably helped. You would never find me queuing for a toilet in the morning - I have a pee bottle in the tent and then walk out of the campsite and into the festival for about 9.30/10 and use the empty toilets there. 

    Same for packed out sets - I knew it would be rammed for Sugababes in a tent so arrived 2 songs before the end of Nick Mulvey and was near the front. 

    It felt busy but with a bit of planning and organisation, it could be managed.

    I have lots of Glasto knowledge. I still found that to get a good spot anywhere you had to be there 1 if not 2 hours before. I missed out on a lot because of how slow it was to get anywhere, when I’m normally stomping around able to get between stages if they have a 20/30min gap between set end/beginning. 

    I knew where the quieter toilet/food places were. I still had to opt for food I liked but was not the peak thing I wanted because of queues. Even more usual quieter cut throughs were still crazy busy.

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  4. Glastonbury 2022 - overcrowding rumours & thoughts

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    I started writing this as if it was going to be a blog, but actually felt maybe it was better discussed here with all you experts. I have seen there have been threads about this already, I've just compiled my thoughts and hope it's ok to post them as a new topic.

    I write this having been to Glasto as a 10 time festival Ticket Holder veteran and now also as a 1 year Glasto crew member. So that’s 11 times total I’ve been to Worthy Farm and experienced the behemoth of a festival that it is. If Glasto was a city, I would live there; if Glasto was a belief, I would be a preacher. That's how much I love it. So all the below is coming from a place of love, if also a bit of confusion, and hope that 2023 can be even better.

    The 2022 Glastonbury Festival was different for me in many ways - it was my first on site early (I was there for a full 8 days, Sun-Mon!), and my first time camping in crew and being able to experience those crew areas I never had before. It had also been 3 years since we’d all last been on the farm - the longest gap I’ve had in my Glasto history. I WILL be writing a review of the 2022 Glastonbury festival in my usual style, because I did honestly still have a brilliant time, and I have lots of new stories and pics to share. I just needed to get this out quickly beforehand...

    Now on to the point of this particular post. This festival stood out for me (and lots of others from my online browsings) for a number of more negative reasons, the biggest and most common of these was the overcrowding that was clear to anyone on site.

    I have experienced crazy Glasto crowds before, for example when trying to get from an Other Stage headliner over to the Arcadia spider, or after the Sunday Legends Slot when we all run to the Pyramid toilets/food. There are always huge crowds and specific pinch points, but the difference this year was it felt relentless. 

    For around 12-18 hours a day - the main hours everyone was awake (11am-5am), everywhere you went it was shoulder-to-shoulder busy. It wasn't just huge crowds at stages, again that is to be expected... it was massive heaving crowds going in different directions on all the pathways at all times, and 50+ people in queues for individual toilets or food stalls, despite having more traders/toilets than ever before.

    So why did it feel like this?

    I want to clearly state that ALMOST EVERYTHING I WRITE IN THIS BLOG IS OPINION, RUMOURS, or HEARSAY, apart from the first four points I will make which are facts. I will make this clear as we go along, but for most of the below list of possibilities, I have no evidence or facts to back it up. It was things I heard on site, before, during, and after the festival.

    Why did Glastonbury Festival feel so overcrowded? 

    What were the factors involved?

    1. FACT: On 5th November 2021, Melvin Benn was appointed Festival Director and Event Controller for Glastonbury Festival Events Limited

    Melvin Benn is also the Managing Director of Festival Republic, one of the largest festival companies in the world. He was originally appointed as Director of Glastonbury from 2002-2012, to help the festival through some difficult financial years. In 2021 he was offered and accepted the position again, replacing Paul Latham, after the festival reported a £3m loss between 2019 and 2021. - The assumption is he was brought in to help the festival cuts costs because of his management experience of large festival events - however these events are all very corporate and different to Glastonbury. A new person in charge means lots of new logistics/management/companies behind the scenes.

    2. FACT: The festival officially announced the capacity had increased. 2% more tickets were sold, and 3% more crew were on site. Meaning the official total licensed numbers on site went from 203,000 to 210,000 

    This is the only official numbers increase that was announced by the festival. It doesn't sound like much, but it will have made a difference. The reason given was they were able to secure new campsite fields to accommodate the extra attendees. However, most Glasto veterans will say that it felt like it was much more than 'just' 7,000 more people on site. 

    3. FACT: COVID was peaking before, during, and after the festival - meaning high levels of staff turnover and changes

    During the festival site build, COVID was still strong, and if someone on site tested positive, they had to leave the site. This meant lots of last minute staffing to replace people - security, build professionals, even volunteers to staff the gates. High staff turnover means more inexperienced people (or even the odd 'bad egg' would have gotten through) brought in to fill numbers last minute. 

    4. FACT: Legacy Events staff who had worked in Events all their life with years of experience have all moved on during COVID because of necessity (no work for 2.5 years) so almost all staffing has been filled by 'green'/inexperienced staff

    We all know that during the pandemic, everyone in the Events industry was essentially abandoned by the government. They received next to zero help from the government, and were literally the very last industry to start coming back to life. Even Hospitality got help such as Eat Out To Help Out. There was almost no furlough for event staff unless they worked for a few very fortunate companies who were barely able to keep them afloat. Many incredible staff held on as long as possible, but eventually had to reskill and leave the industry, leaving gaping holes behind them. And though we're now on the path back to normal, those roles have been filled by newer staff that don't have the years and years of experience of their predecessors.

    So now we move on to theories, rumours and hearsay...

    5. THEORY: It has been 3 years since the last Glastonbury. We have forgotten what it was like/we mentally feel different in huge crowds now

    None (or very very few) of us can say we have attended events of over 200,000 since at least 2019. This will mentally affect our feelings when we are in a big crowd for the first time. As much as I can say "I know there were more people on site because I've never felt so consistently crowded the whole time" - there is a huge bias that I must appreciate - it has been a long time and memories change/adjust due to experience. Plus we are all so much more spatially aware after 2.5 years of social distancing. 

    6. THEORY: Signage / crowd management weren't up to scratch

    Probably because of some of the reasons added above (new people in charge, less experienced staff, and less staff in general) - they weren't properly prepared for certain areas/pinch points to help manage crowds. There were of course the usual one way systems etc, but lots of people were wandering confused where the nearest amenities were, or how to get somewhere. And apart from the SE Corner, there was no foot traffic system to ease overcrowding (see Arcadia Fri/Sat/Sun night).

    7. RUMOUR: "There are at least 20k plus more people on site this year" - mentioned by multiple crew members

    Right so now we get into hearsay. While I was on site and in crew areas, I heard/spoke to a number of people that said that somehow, there were a large number of extra people on site this year, and that they were aware, and that everyone was finding it difficult to manage.

    8. RUMOUR: People were being smuggled in in large numbers/extra tickets were sold/counterfeit tickets were created and sold

    Again HUGE rumour probably originating from the inexperienced/temporary/last minute staff points above - many rumours about easy bribery of the security/gate staff, as well as ticket/tout sellers themselves. Glastonbury Festival 2022 was the hottest ticket in the entire world, everyone wanted to be there and was willing to do/pay anything. Plus with the cost of living crisis, if someone offered £500 for you to get them into the gates, many more inexperienced staff would be tempted. I heard from one person that they knew of lorry loads of people being smuggled in with money changing hands.

     

     

    I'm a bit worried about writing/posting this, but I wanted to get all my thoughts in one place. Some of the points above may have no relevance, some only make sense when paired with others, and as I stated a lot is just rumours or whispers heard around site. But even if all of the above is true, firstly I still had a wonderful time, and secondly all of these can and likely will be rectified before the next festival.

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  5. Glastocast

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    Posted

    On 10/6/2019 at 2:46 PM, fatyeti24 said:

    I'm allowing myself to listen to the latest installment now I know I'm going in 2020! Good to have you back guys, I hope you were successful this T-Day.  Podcasting about Glastonbury might be somewhat different in you weren't.

    I think a lot of people were waiting too! So glad you got tickets. As @Lubic87 said we were all three very lucky! Imagine if two of us were and one wasn't! I don't think I'd cope! ? 

  6. Glastocast

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    Posted

    On 10/3/2019 at 4:05 PM, Hotchilidog said:

    Listening to this now. It's fabulous. The downside is that my anxiety levels for this evening are at chronically high levels, I just want to be back down on the farm soooo bad!!!

    How did you do? Fingers crossed we'll see you in the fields! Thanks for the feedback :)

  10. Glastocast

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    Posted

    23 minutes ago, Mr.Tease said:

    I see nothing listed on my google podcasts! Where have you hidden it?

    Oh I've just checked, you're not wrong! I'll message Miguel and see what's going on there... (as I freely admit, I'm not as involved with the tech/editing/backend!)

  11. Glastocast

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    Hi all, sorry for the radio silence all summer, hope you had an incredible festival. Letting you know we’ve released a new episode today! Good luck for ticket day! ☺️

    • Upvote 1

  12. How Big Is Your Team?

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    On 10/1/2019 at 4:37 PM, dotdash79 said:

    With groups this large what’s your success percentage and how involved is everyone at resale day?

    Success percentage last year for the first main sale was around 60%, and we got another 30% ish on resale day. 
     

    I’m very strict and mean when it comes to my group! If you don’t participate and help then that’s it, you’re out, never again. I give every new member a lecture about what is expected of them and what happens if you take advantage. ?

  13. How Big Is Your Team?

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    Posted

    14 hours ago, mike46 said:

    28 for us, definitely going to be those who miss out but we prioritise those who’ve been going the longest... if you can live through the rough years (2011 and 2016 since I started going) and keep coming back you’re high up the list. 
     

    It’s a brutal process no matter how you do it though. If you’re not lucky come Thursday/Sunday, I can’t recommend working it enough. I’ve had some incredible memories working the festival and will be signing up straight away if Lady Luck doesn’t shine on the weekend

    We have the same criteria. If you've survived the rough years you get prioritised! 

    Also looking at your signature, we have a similar festival past! Well Glasto and Bestival anyway we've done the same years! Hello fellow festival addict :)

  14. How Big Is Your Team?

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    Posted

    21 hours ago, Nobody Interesting said:

    Just the 72 of us........................ living in many places all over the UK and the rest of the world and with helpers galore outside of the 72 people too ?

    Lots of hard work making sure it all works well and smoothly but worth all the effort.

    Another large one!

    Our group was at 84 last year! But I've narrowed it down a bit this year to be 72. Twelve groups of six. I shaved off the ones that didn't participate / didn't wake up in time / caused issues etc. It's difficult but manageable. Everyone in my group knows I'm the boss! Haha. And I've very strict rules as I'm sure you do too.

  15. Glastocast

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    Posted

    2 minutes ago, JoeyT said:

    As if my last day at work could get any more unproductive you do this to me!

    I've loved all of them and all 3 of you deserve the praise you're inevitably going to receive from everyone.

    Hope you have a wicked festival x 

    Awww thank you @JoeyT!! So nice of you to say! It's been such a passion project, it's amazing that it's grown wings! Have an amazing festival, and hope you get more done at work than I will today ;)

  16. Glastocast

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    Posted

    On 6/17/2019 at 12:19 PM, WheresMyTent said:

    Hi all, I know a few of you were waiting to see what season 2 would bring. We just put out our first episode today, interviewing the Media Manager for Avalon and Glade (two of my favourite areas! :D) Links below, would love to know your thoughts!

    iTunes

    Google Podcasts

    Spotify

    Soundcloud

    Stitcher

    Pocket Casts

     

     

    Hi all, thought you'd like to know we manage to squeeze one more episode together which went live this morning! (links above) We have recordings from David (a Worthy Warrior), Theo from the Green Info Tent, and Claire from Pennard Property Lockups! As always would love to know what you think. See you all on Wednesday!

    • Upvote 1

  17. Glastocast

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    Posted

    Just now, jow95 said:

    Will there be more out before next week?

    We're recording again tonight, so we HOPE so, but can't guarantee. We all have a lot of things to get sorted in 7 days! Will do our best though :)

  20. Cabaret Field bar, Wednesday 6pm: eFestivals meet (2019 edition)

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    Posted

    58 minutes ago, DareToDibble said:

    A Glastonbury podcast you say? Assuming they’re still up I’d love to listen to them. Any idea what they’re called?

    Hello! Yes I'm one of the presenters on GlastoCast - a (most definitely unofficial) Glastonbury podcast. Search GlastoCast on any podcast player and you should find us! Hope you enjoy :) They're a labour of love!

  21. Cabaret Field bar, Wednesday 6pm: eFestivals meet (2019 edition)

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    Posted

    1 hour ago, Losing my hair said:

    I think they're referring to the purple line in your signature.

    Loved the podcasts - holding out for another one, it will be great to meet you.

    Ah yes of course... wow I can be dense sometimes. My blog is just a place for me to spill out my thoughts. No rehashing anything found on efests. It does feel a little like walking on eggshells here sometimes! I don't have an agenda, I promise! ? 

    Will be great to meet you too! I am too excited... I keep getting so distracted at work!

  22. Cabaret Field bar, Wednesday 6pm: eFestivals meet (2019 edition)

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    Posted

    On 5/31/2019 at 7:14 PM, crazyfool1 said:

    I  believe the bit in purple is quite relevant to the Efest meet ... hope you won't be gathering too much info for future broadcasts :) 

    Sorry if I’m being super ignorant, but I can’t find the “bit in purple” you’re referring to? Could you point me in the right direction? Wouldn’t want to step on any toes.

     

  24. Cabaret Field bar, Wednesday 6pm: eFestivals meet (2019 edition)

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    Posted

    On 5/31/2019 at 9:46 PM, Zoo Music Girl said:

    You guys doing another podcast before the festival? Raced through the first series! Appreciate there's not long now...

    We’re trying our best! Have finally got our remote recording system set up to Miguel’s standards (he’s quite the audiophile). But pinning people down for interviews is proving more difficult than we thought! Almost there though :)

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