DeanoL

Less than 50%. There will be more festivals when there isn't one than when there is. My point was you should stop bullying people to be honest. Telling someone who doesn't like the heat that it's bound to be really hot is no different to telling people who don't like the rain that it's going to be a mudbath. The difference is at least The Nal knows he's doing it on purpose.

Yes, it was a freak coincidence. Like I say, in the average year you get 11 days of temperatures over 25C. f**k it, I'll do the maths for you. We're assuming an even distribution of hot days because I don't have the stats to do it by month. So 11 hot days in 92. 12% chance of any given day being that hot. So 48% chance of getting one day above 25C. A coin flip, basically. On the other hand, in June we average 12 days of rain. So a 40% chance of rain on any given day, making a 78% chance that it rains at least once over the five days. Yet somehow the people hoping for no rain are being realistic and the guy hoping for no hot days is being ridiculous.

Average UK high temperature in June is 18C, July is 20C, August 19C. On average, between 1991 and 2020, the UK saw just 11 days per year with max temp at 25C and above. (https://www.preventionweb.net/news/met-office-review-uks-record-breaking-summer-2022) I can't find the stats but I suspect we have just as many summer days of heavy rain. So 25C is abnormally hot. It does happen, but then so do days of heavy rain, they're both just as uncommon.

The only thing unreliable is using some sort of wireless transmission. It can get interference from various sources, varying signal strengths so needing repeaters across the site, overloaded by other wireless networks being set up, or even phones, it's hard to do a real stress test as you can't easily simulate the conditions of 200,000 people on site... that's why you wouldn't use it for something over such a large area if you can help it. But you can wire in. A single ethernet cable is about 10x the bandwidth of the fanciest wireless network. No live current so doesn't have to be buried as deep or shielded in the same way as power cables. You'd need a small (shoebox size) box at every end point/gate as a permanent structure to hold the socket, but then you're sorted. It's not a *simple* task - you'd still be digging up trenches across a load of farmland to bury the stuff which would be disruptive - but it's not like it's something that's never been done before. Hell, I know a fair few people who have done it from their house to their sheds when they converted them into home offices. There might also be better options - I don't know if the gates already have power but if so you can just run the lines overhead in the same way.

Yeah the bottleneck on entry is putting wristbands on, not scanning tickets.

Am sure he will but there's more than one person in Pulp. Could be a simple as a scheduling conflict for one of the others who are not in the habit of keeping Glastonbury weekend free!

The infrastructure required is just burying some ethernet cable. Look, I wouldn't risk doing this on WiFi either, but it's literally just laying 20 cables underground. It's not a piece of cake, but it's not some huge design and infrastructure challenge.

Two very different things. There's already a return window, and it works, I don't think anyone could argue that extending it would be a bad thing. It is only when it is now as that's when the tickets have to be printed. Your suggestion was around being able to pass a ticket on to a *specific person* which is impossible to secure against touting. Being able to return a ticket which then goes into a general pool from which anyone can buy is a very different thing.

Keep an eye out for any companies that may have them that won't be using them. Probably need to ask around, make enquiries all over the place. You're not going to find a website that just outright sells them.

Might still be able to pick up a hospitality ticket but expect to pay the best part of a grand.

As promised a short guide to the circus performances going on at the festival. Note there are acts on at places like Sensation Seekers, Little More Sensation, and the Outdoor Circus stage which are mostly street performers - all good stuff but it's shorter performances and you probably just want to stop when you see something interesting passing by. The Circus Big Top is a bit different as it hosts three different types of shows: First is individual performers doing 10-20 minutes of very impressive circus work. I'm not going to look at these in detail because there's loads and again, it's a bit random. Second is circus/dance artistic performances, these tend to be longer (an hour maybe) and include a variety of different bits by a single circus troop, often telling a story. They can be good but some can be more on the end of serious dance than fun circus. Lastly you have the circus variety shows - in practice these are similar to the folk doing 10-20 minute bits, but it has a single billing on the line up as it's a one troop with their own ringmaster that work together throughout the year - these are generally very accessible and more focused on humour. These are what I'd honestly recommend people go see if they want a good fun hour in the circus. They're sort of the "circus headliners" in a way. (The likes of La Soiree and Cirque Du Soleil have done this slot before) Most of the acts I mention will be on either Thu/Fri/Sat or Fri/Sat/Sun so I won't list times. Circus Funtasia / Cirque Du Vulgar - 70 minute variety shows This is the same circus troop, but Funtasia is the kid-friendly show, Vulgar has nudity and motorbikes. They're very, very good, the shows are funny and have some properly amazing and different performances. Worth noting Vulgar isn't *that* rude. It's cheeky rather than burlesque/sexy. Hot Brown Honey - 75 minute shows Not trad circus, they're more a musical comedy/dance group. Looks interesting, should be pretty accessible. Boom Circus - Balance - 40 minute shows Last year was an Alice in Wonderland story show told through circus performance, was really good. New show this year but can't find any details on it. La Familia Rosso - 35 minute shows A light-hearted Mexican juggling group. High Society - 30 minute shows Amazing trapeze act - not much in terms of story or fancy production, just really impressive aerial circus - they're also often on the outdoor trapeze. The Disappointments - opening act Thursday afternoon. They're a band, not a circus act, don't know if they're good but just worth pointing if you go there for when Thursday starts and get confused. The Black Eagles - 25 minute shows, also at the Astrolabe Dance group that use a lot of fire! Also worth noting this year the first couple of hours at the Big Top 10am-Midday are talks about circus. Could be interesting or maybe it's just the budget being cut even more...

It's not really the sort of place you want to go making major changes to your diet - energy levels already be all over the place, not to mention what it can do to your digestive system...

If they're doing a straight greatest hits then that's them ruled out as headliners for the next 3 festivals at least. Would just be a repeat performance. If it's something different somehow, then it doesn't.

No appearances on the line-up this year, noticed his usual speakers corner slot on Sunday afternoon vanished a few festivals back. He did a spot with a band last festival but nothing at all this year.

Oh yeah there are new ideas from existing groups, none of which have been great hits - the Arcadia crane being an example of that. I think IICON was better last year but a disappointment generally in 2019 if I remember? I dunno, just some stuff Skip said about the next generation of folk doing stuff being existing workers' kids... it kind of made a few things fall into place for me. A few festivals back Shangri-La had SHITV which was a nice idea - basically a small theatre done out as a TV studio with the idea being they were filming over-the-top style TV shows constantly - so in essence sketch comedy. And it was *so* bad. I mean, we spent a good hour in there, jaws on the floor, because it was just so embarrassing. Did they recruit any existing sketch groups to try and put together a programme? Not that we could tell - bunch of fairly big comedy fans didn't recognise a single performer. It's always mystified me how something like that actually happened, but now it makes sense - it was the kids of one of the organisers asking to put on a show with their mates, despite having no experience in comedy. I dunno, maybe that happens elsewhere, maybe many of the DJs in the SE corner are also just kids having a go, but it was so obvious in this case, as I dare say, bad sketch comedy is much more notable than bad DJing.

I don't hold out that much hope to be honest. Last new addition was Rimski's Yard and ... well, I like it, but bloody hell, could we not have given that space to some younger people to make something really new and exciting rather than just somewhere that has most the same acts as the rest of T&C

All three of those were well ahead of their time when they first appeared. I'd say they're all well behind the times as of 2023. As is a lot of Green Futures. For a long time the festival was able to expand the space it had and the capacity to make room for new stuff. It's basically capped out on size for now. There's no space for the next Arcadia, the next Shangri La or the next NYC Downlow. Not without taking a chance to cycle old things out and new things in. There's nothing on site as exciting as Arcadia or Shangri-La were back when they first appeared. And that's not because those things don't exist.

Vehicles and caravans in Bath and West! But yeah, you've hit the nail on the head there with the talk of family and folks. Needs outside blood. Talent over nepotism. Especially, as we've discussed, the way much of the current crew behave is isolating themselves from the festival and moaning about it!

Getting older, getting less mobile, needing live in vehicles rather than camping, which there isn't enough space for, so they get pushed out to Bath and West, getting fed up and pissed off... It's not sustainable long-term, needs new blood. I know we're in agreement the festival needs more younger people but it *really* needs the next generation of these folk, and if they don't exist it needs to create them itself.

I personally don't think that in this economic climate giving people proper, waged work is somehow worse than relying on free labour and donating to Oxfam. It might even open up the festival to even more people who can't otherwise afford if folk were allowed to work it and actually get paid.

I noticed with some interest that this may be the first year that a festival ticket is worth more than 3x8 hours at minimum wage! (Not a good comparison though, as you inevitably miss a whole bunch of the festival within those shifts)

I feel the answer to that is sorting out the minibus infrastructure. I do admit I didn't realise it was that bad. But ultimately crew should be there to do a job. Indeed, Oxfam especially as those volunteers *are* being paid - it's just their wage is directly donated to Oxfam. The festival still pays for you though. Skip's situation is a bit different as there is no cost to the festival for him, other than the free ticket (which could otherwise be sold). He's volunteering directly for the festival itself. But I think the one thing I'd change is overhauling the whole thing - because clearly no-one is happy with the current situation, neither punters nor crew.

While I suspect you may be right in practice, in theory at least the build schedule should allow for some days to be rained off, and they should be able to plan for something like this. It's nowhere near as bad as 2016 when it barely stopped raining in the two weeks leading up to the festival. It was a close call, but they still managed it. Losing two days of prep to heavy rain is a walk in the park in comparison.

Same reason all the places doing any combination of trad english breakfast stuff are really busy in the morning. People like the familiar.

Doesn't work that way. Travelling to work is a thing that happens. You don't get paid for it. It doesn't count under working time regulations. And we're not talking putting people up in hotels in Bristol (though many people do have 1hr+ commutes to work in the real world). We're talking having a half hour walk instead of five minutes. And that's from the camp site, which unless you shift starts first thing in the morning, won't even necessarily be where you are before it anyway, not if you're taking the chance to see the festival. But yeah, you're a case in point: I think you should either be paid or just shouldn't be on staff. You should either be needed or you're not. The fact you're still mentioning "I might not even go" a week before the festival and a few days before you're due on site suggests they might be fine without you! But equally tell me you're crucial to the festival working and I'll be saying you should be waged! This isn't a dig at you, it's just I doubt you're the only one in this position and I think that's a huge part of the issue - expanding crew numbers because it's all reliant on volunteers who (rightly) have demands about where they should be able to camp and how many hours they should have to work because they're not otherwise being compensated.