clarkete

Not wishing to be harsh, but you don't seem to know very much about the festival... https://www.nme.com/news/music/glastonbury-donated-record-breaking-3-7m-to-good-causes-in-2023-3559447

Is it 6 stages on there? So Pyramid, Other, West Holts, Park, Woodsies and... Acoustic?

Why would they do that again after so many years, when there have been a couple of high profile issues with line up placement in the last few years? Just seems it would make a rod for their own back needlessly, hence I'm intrigued that it's considered so plausible. Mind you I'm an old duffer who knows nowt.

Aye you gonna set an alarm?

Fixed that for you 😊

I'm enjoying this silence

Festival should book extensive and eclectic list of artists across scores of stages...which I'll decry based on the strong rumour of three of them

Yesterday someone on a thread mentioned Beyonce and I was thinking "hang on, where's @Skip997" You been OK? (and I'm not joking, just checking)

You're never gonna be up early at this rate

*shrugs* I'm sure whoever it is they'll give it their level best, do their mum's proud and we'll all have a lovely time

Alexa - wake Stuie at 5am 😇

Far more than just the channels even now, from that link:- "BBC iPlayer will also be broadcasting continuous live streams from the five main festival stages: Pyramid, Other, West Holts, Park and Woodsies... ... Sets from the Pyramid Stage will once again be shown live in Ultra High Definition on BBC iPlayer on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday. There will be continuous presenter-led coverage of every performance live, as well as highlights from the best of the Pyramid Stage performances so far in the highest picture quality. Over 90 sets and key tracks from the five filmed stages, as well as themed performance compilations, will be available to watch on demand on BBC iPlayer throughout the weekend and for 30 days after broadcast - including selected Pyramid Stage performances in Ultra High Definition. For those not wanting the festival to end, The Glastonbury BBC iPlayer Channel will continue through the week after (Monday 26 - Friday 30 June), showing some of the stand-out performances. This 24-hour live stream will allow viewers to reminisce and catch up on the performances they might have missed from the weekend." To be honest it's too much coverage, I don't pay my licence fee so all those lazy gits at home can watch it without having to stand next to someone talking too much 😉

But a phenomenal quantity do... https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2023/bbc-music-glastonbury-2023/

What budget? The last deal with the government left them with a a £2B shortfall, they're grappling with hyperinflation in the content market, as well as competitors putting up prices by as much as 30%. Hence the cuts to local news teams, newsnight, radio teams etc. The people who govern it are effectively doing the government's bidding, their news content (which I've hitherto been a huge fan of) has been neutered during the last two parliaments and even those who claim to value some of the content are often choosing to not pay for it. Of course if it went, or went commercial, it would be exactly what some of their competitors would want.

The artists weren't having a massive increase in sales, the bit you for some reason ignored 😉

So has anyone been to the shop yet?

It's clearly a factor in firstly helping give coverage to up and coming artists and secondly persuading more established artists to play for less than their customary fee - anyone who puts on a great set has massive streaming increases and sells more.

I think as with many things in the last few years where they've had to swallow massive cost reductions it's them either compromising or killing it and on balance I think they made the right choice. They give tons of people access to live music at fair prices, can include loads of up and coming artists amongst the well known ones and give themselves loads of great music to stream or bosh on iplayer.

Apologies, but the reason I'm impassioned about it is that it not being subscription and not being ad funded is exactly:- 1. What ensures it's existence - you can clearly see the many threats to many broadcast or streaming services currently. 2. What makes them special - masses of what they do, including what we value, wouldn't happen with pressure of other commercial forces. Music coverage would merely be the largest commercial artists, as indeed it has been for many other broadcasters.

So your pseudo-Express-comment-pages rant is about a service you choose to use and which hugely backs a music and festival scene that you presumably enjoy? Some talk as though ours is the only public broadcaster, far from it https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_public_broadcasters_by_country Many of those are directly funded by taxes. Ours has got a great global reputation, for phenomenal content and innovation. Plus of course ever since the tories betrayed their manifesto promise the beeb pay to fund free telly for pensioners.

You OK hun?

Course you are guv, in a pint pot in cash, when you meet them in the pub? taps nose

Went to see this today, was fantastic staging and very very funny, totally lived up to all the 5 star reviews. https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/theatre-news/midsummer-nights-dream-rsc-review-28628814