MEGATRONICMEATWAGON

I mean, journalism used to be about leaving your bias at the door and reporting as accurately as possible. But like others have said, the Independent just seemed to want to give a bad review no matter what. With this one sentence, it proves they cared more about the identity of GnR than the actual performance or the music. Heck, there's plenty of rappers with sexist, misogynistic language in their songs who have performed at Glasto, but somehow it's GnR who are the macho dinosaurs playing actual instruments as opposed to just singing to a backing track, blah blah. I don't know if they're actually trying to spark a debate with their review, rather just label them as troublesome to society or some nonsense. I mean seriously, Glasto is a festival of indulgence. From the brioche dough wraps, to the amount of coke-heads, to the day drinkers. Rockists at Glasto - also quite a few including a number on here. Dated? Elton pre-dates GnR. Nah, the Independent aren't trying to spark a debate, they're just being massive snobs.

Really liked that actually. Coming to the Truth Stage Thursday night in Shangri La, 2024.

I didn't turn up until after they'd started so missed that, but I think the biggest problem is I'd come in in the middle of their set cold and I never really warmed to it and they never really seemed to get going.

Even worse were places like the Independent reviewing GnR on everything BUT the music.

Yeah, it was really odd. They had zero interest in being there aside from joking around together. Maybe they didn't like anything else on, but I doubt they were there for some kind of collective feeling while they were just hitting balloons and not moving for the music or anything.

I'm starting to think with the line-up as it was and Foos as the secret set, maybe Pulp and the festival decided to do it next year instead so there's not too much guitar/indie/rock music this year. Surely, SURELY, Pulp will be there next year.

Bobby Friction was epic going into Skindred. Turned up early to get a decent Skindred spot but was so happy to watch the BF (and All Stars) wow the crowd with some really cool covers and dancing, all in Banghra style. Wanted to check them out again on Glade but got the times mixed up and mistook it for 6pm on the Friday, when they were actually on at 9pm and I was already on my way to Hot Chip. One of the best Thursdays ever at the Farm.

Yeah, turned up and didn't feel it at all. By the time I'd stuck about for an hour to see if it got better and then gave up and walked to Other, Pet Shop Boys were just finishing.

Damn, and I thought my bottle for a 5er was a bargain! Haha.

Biggest regret in 2023 - forgetting Fatboy Slim was playing Greenpeace at the time I wanted to take a shower. Had to quickly change plans and head back later. Biggest overall - seeing George Clinton and the Parliament/Funkadelic on WH in 2010 over Pet Shop Boys on Other.

Yeah, in general I agree, altho I lost my water bottle during a sardine moment during Fred Again, and I stumbled across a metal bottle from the Co-op for a 5er. Was a great bargain as a souvenir and can use over and over. Way better than the metal bottles they were selling on the merch stands for three times as much.

I also missed Lizzo and had to wait for the flood of people to leave, but I timed it well enough to get into the pit and be about ten metres back from the barrier. As a big fan of GnR I went in with low expectations in light of vids of Axl's voice, but on the whole I was quite impressed and he seemed to be really up for it. Slash too was epic as always, and all the big hits were present and correct. Bopped around like a loon for a good 90 mins of their whole set. To hear those classic tunes play out over the Pyramid field was just great. So yeah, all in all I thought it was fantastic, had a wicked time. Only confusion is why the kids (aged 16-20) behind to the left of us were there when all they kept doing was blowing up balloons and taking selfies etc, totally disinterested. So strange.

Especially when he changed his guitar every song 😅

Two female headliners next year really would be a realignment from this years. If Rhianna hadn't of dropped out, it would of been something for everyone, surely. If they secure Rhianna and Dua, or Dua and Madonna, that would be fantastic whether you like their music or not. But if they have two popstars, might'nt they counter that with some guitar based? AC/DC, Coldplay (again?!), Blur, or the long-awaited return of Pulp?

Yeah, it's definitely not a list of people with educated guesses. Foos are 100% out. Taylor around 90% out. Coldplay too, I think would be a highly surprising booking.

I genuinely don't understand in what direction you've ran with my comment in.

Not sure if anyone posted the latest odds. These are from OddsChecker:

Foals on Other in 2022 looked amazing (wasn't there). It looked far better than either of Billie's or Macca's sets. Unfortunately, that's not what it's all about. It's about if your face fits as much as anything these days.

Dua has about 72m monthly listeners on Spotify compared to Foals' 4m. So, she's about 17.75 times bigger on listens alone. Foals could just be on a bunch of Costa Coffee playlists for all we know tho. Likewise, Dua might just get lots more air play in your local neighbourhood pilates class, mind you 😆

Oh and tbh, I don't know why they can't put a tonne of shade sails up between the flag poles in all the fields with the mega tall flags. Even the "smaller" shade sails would help and the flag poles are almost exactly the right size for it to work. Would help in rainy and hot years. Sure, the odd one might get flooded if it is flat, but if they're put up at jaunty angles, the water would just roll right off them. They also wouldn't get in the way at a lot of the stages because the flagpoles are miles away from stages anyway. All the people at WH could have been sitting under shade for example and it would never interfere with the crowd.

I think it's fair and in your right to have a moan after you've paid a grand or more per person for a five day holiday. Plus, I see it as a sort of cleansing after getting all the small things off your chest that likely built up over time and you're looking for a release of sorts. Glasto shouldn't be regarded as above criticism and, despite it still being the greatest party on Earth, isn't above improvement or fair criticism/feedback (again, if you've paid 1.5k, you're entitled to share your experience imo). I think it all falls into two categories; festival etiquette (or Glasto Spirit) and logistics/planning. Glasto etiquette - there's not much to do about most of the complaints from people on here. I know, I know, I hate the gazebos, the litterers, the coked-up twats chatting with their backs to the stage during *insert act here*, but that's the nature of the beast isn't it, it's a bloody huge festival with 200k people. People have lamented the changing demographics of Glastonbury for years and they always get ridiculed (rightly and wrongly depending on the scenario), but unfortunately, apart from offering more guidance beforehand or at the time from Glasto announcements (like the one before Elton to get people to stand up - which actually worked where I was, everyone stood up), I don't know what else can be done to teach people not to drop litter aside from constant visuals and nagging from GFL itself. More diverse music, I suppose would encourage a more diverse crowd? The Earache Takeover was successful, it would be cool to see more hard rock on after hours every night somewhere. Or a dedicated hip-hop tent for up and coming artists. Logistics - I went to see quite a variety of acts on a variety of stages and the only time I felt like it was crazy busy was during Elton when they'd already closed off the right hand side central entrance 90 mins before he came on, and all the idiots getting annoyed as people walked through their little picnics etc, and also in Shangri La when Truth and Now/Here were both rammed, then Now/Here finished ten minutes before and everyone tried to leave behind the busy Truth Stage and there was just a flood of people going nowhere fast, pushing past any chance they had, hopping the stewards barricades etc trying to get out. The only gripe I had really with crowds was the difference between 2017 and 2023 was noticeable the most on the walkways and thoroughfares. They were just busy ALL the time. I had to really realign my personal walking clock and had to allow myself more time to get from stage to stage in good time because it became quickly apparent they were always going to be busy and walking in a straight line was just not going to be possible at any time. Less people tho in the future? It'd mean an even smaller chance to go... Hmmm, not sure how to change that unless they moved stuff around. Sound bleed was also sh*t at the Glade. Why they have a massive tent next to a smaller tent like that, I have no idea. I was watching Crazy P Soundsystem and I don't think there was a single time when I couldn't hear what was going on thirty metres behind me. I was right on the cusp of the main tent if that helps. There are others too, Stonebridge and Park for example. Toilets near Other - they need to put in a much bigger urinal toilet next to the composters down the side of the Other. There's plenty of space there for it as well and wouldn't impact sightlines of the stage, so I don't know why they haven't done that. More urinals/toilets in SEC as well. I managed to nip out of Skindred and back in quick time, but I wasn't on the right side of the area. If you're other areas of the SEC, you then have to start walking through A LOT of people just to take a piss and once you get there, there's not enough toilets for that much of a densly packed area. The meal for 6 quid stickers were barely visible for some vendors. Completely forgot about the deal until I finally saw one place participating and displaying their sticker clearly. Oh, and a giant magnet circling magnet needs to be installed in Silver Hayes to collect all the empty canisters 😅

I do take anti-allergy tablets because I'm allergic to dust and dustmites. Luckily, I was alright this year. Hope everyone feels better soon!

I have to admit, the food was generally not that great. I think had some one or two great things the whole weekend and then a lot overpriced average fare, or stuff that was jazzed up with fancy words but failed to deliver. Peacock Curry's actual curry was alright, but the mango lassi was as weak as dishwater. Didn't taste like mango at all. The Burgers place on the far corner of Other had an okay beef burger but their chicken and cheese was basically a chicken nugget with a cold slice of cheese placed on top, not melted or heated up or anything. Wasn't even busy. The cheese toastie with Worcester sauce was average, could've done better myself. The Vegan Bao place with Bao Burgers next to Leftfield was prob the most overpriced of the weekend. Like two fluffy pancakes with four paltry pieces of poultry of vegan chicken on top and some teriyaki sauce for 12 quid. Had to get something shortly after to fill me up. The best I had all weekend was the Indonesian coconut curry on the way to BBC Intro, and the fried chicken place with halloumi fries before the bridge to West Holts coming from CarHenge.

People were sleeping under the cars in CarHenge, down the side of the main tents, sitting against the bins. And I agree with the last part 100%. There are temperatures which are better for excessive exercise of walking great distances/dancing in the full (or lack of) sun. There's always a lot of bravado when it comes to sun and heat tolerance. Every single person I met on site said the same things. "It's too hot at times." "There's no shade."

But are you only walking, or dancing as well in the full sun? And dancing at night too? I clocked up in that timeframe about 100km. If all I was doing is ambling about site, then the heat/sun, isn't that bad. But dancing in 26 degrees/full-sun for 5 days straight. No doctor's gonna recommend that.