bennyhana22

I've got zero Pyramid acts on my schedule this year, but my oh my I'd be there for Hank in a heartbeat, the gorgeous little hairless wonder! Ben

Helena on Saturday looking like a pretty popular meet-up choice, folks. I'll 💯 be there and looking forward to seeing as many thread people as possible. Ben

Welcome to the nicest thread online, @shorny! Would be smashing to meet you if we can organise something semi-planned. Paranoid London on the Thursday (Levels - it'll be v busy, but v good...) seems to have quite a few takers, as does Helena Hauff (Lonely Hearts, Saturday). I'm always loathe to be someone who 'decides', as we're a very egalitarian bunch in here! But if people maybe want to target those (and any others!) then we'd just need a bit of a plan for where/how to get together. Was I in the WhatsApp group last year? I think I was! If someone want to volunteer to be a hub for DMs for people to give their numbers to and get added, that would be a good start. Ben x

Again - it's a yes from me! Ben

That'll work for me! And nice on a Thursday before it gets really messy! Ben

Open to all and any suggestions, gang. Ben

DMs sent, team Ben x

I should jolly well think so! 😝 Ben

It's absolutely ridiculous! I'm signed up too. Would love the chance to drop in there at some point! See you on the Farm in six days, pal! Ben x

Yup. You in? Ben

Not a clue! I'm on a WhatsApp group from the organisers of the Friday night one, so we'll see what comes of that. Ben

There's another secret rave in Shangri-La on Friday into Saturday, so I wonder if it's the same venue. More likely to hide in there than Silver Hayes, I'd say. Ben

Argh. Lack of accuracy makes my internal Glastonbury scheduler twitch unpleasantly 😂. Ben

Have you managed to find out a time for the TIBASKO set? They're lumped in with a host of artists over a longer time slot on that bit of The Hive's scheduling. Ben

Pretty sure that it's the dome structure going up right now. It's on your right if you take the cut through to the BBC Intro field on the left as you walk south through Silver Hayes. I went past it a couple of times last year. It has a full line-up listed on the big schedule webpage for this year. Ben

The Hive being built. Ben

No more "Milky milky", I'm afraid. 😔 Ben

Presuming you mean Shangri-La itself and not the whole of the SEC, @stuie is right - without the myriad micro venues of years past, S-La is pretty simple to navigate 🙂. Ben

Calling @stuie to thread! 😃 Ben

It's staggering. I know we all have our preferences, our likes and dislikes. But with what they do to give us this Nirvana, I don't understand how anyone mithers on any perceived negatives! Ben

Maybe so, and the BT build is incredible, but look at the line-up comparison. Last year, in particular, the BT line up contained, with respect, no-one that would attract a particularly significant fee - so more money for the build. The live act to DJ ratio at BT is so much smaller than Glastonbury, and so GFL low fees notwithstanding, BT have made a decision to provide an incredible production rather than spend 'too much' of their budget on artists. Ben

It's a tricky one since, unlike quite a few Other openers, he's still in the upward phase of his career (creatively), rather than trading on past glories/being something of a nostalgia act. How many 'big name' Other openers had a new record coming out a week before the set? Ben's is out in 2 days... So, yes, this might feel 'different' to the more recent model of Other opener. Ben* (*not that one)

I spy a spider's legs, I think... Ben

Out of upvotes, but people are gonna start to talk...😆 Ben

Nah - hyperbole aside, the wording on The Common's poster suggests something they see as fairly spectacular. And, with no disrespect, EE ain't that! Ben