Increase in scum this year

[benissright]

Lack of camping space was a big issue this year. Thanks to the group idiots who pulled out our guy ropes and rammed two 6 man tents ontop of the sides of our tunnel tent on Wednesday night. They then got very aggressive and threatened to pull our tent down in the night.

We ended up moving out to gate D for peace of mind, then had a great time.

Edited June 30, 2009 by benissright

[StevieF]

Why on earth did you have guy ropes up?! Its a festival, not the top of a bleeding mountain. Sensible tent pitching in these circumstances means the guy ropes are irrelevant.

[VCK]

I didn't notice anyone behaving paticularly "scummy" and the atmosphere on the whole was alright (especially compared to Leeds) but I was amazed at the amount of loud-mouthed, shouty idiots, considering how I'd always thought the Glasto lot were laid back and not really into the hooligan-esque shouting that you'd expect from people at Leeds and the like.

[Andrew24620]

Only hassle I saw was near to Other Stage during Ting Tings. Family next to us were minding their own, boogie-ing away in loads of space when a drunken twallop stagged into them and nearly took a youngster out.

The dad asked the bloke to be careful & watch out and got a slurred reply of "feckin kids shouldn't be allowed into festivals". The dad was build like a proverbial - not suprisingly the knob didn't take up his invite to pop back for a chat!

Otherwise - fantastic festi for us once again.

[Phil_S]

Flags I don't see the problem. Most who take flags do so, so that their group can find each other. They add to the atmosphere, & don't generally obstruct the view of the screens.

Litter, I saw loads of litter pickers heroically performing a thankless task. My biggest gripe is the food chucked on the floor rather than cans & paper cups, which soon get flattened, but are relatively easy to pick up. Of course ideally everything goes into the bin, but it isn't an ideal world.

Chairs always seemed to increse on the sunday, when most of the locals come in, but they tend to sit at the back of the pyramid field with their picnics etc. We had chairs but kept them at the camp site, (bought two from millets that broke after a few hours use so the comment on the quality is bang on)

I must admit to leaving my tent. We left at 6.00 am & it was an integral part of our neighbours shelter (some were sleeping under an "awning" between my tent & their mates tent, they were asleep, & the awning had water on it.

We got on well with all of our neighbours , some of whom, were youngsters at their first festival, but as friendly as those who are glasto veterans.

Felt sorry for the lot from Liverpool who we spoke two on Wednesday night. They had spent 14 hours getting in the festival & were about to pitch up a large tent by the pylon to the left of the pyramid stage. there were I think 4 of them waiting for the others who had the tent poles to pitch a fairly large but not over sized tent between all of them. Saw them in the morning again, & saw they had managed to pitch the tent, so stopped for a chat.

Next time we saw them on Friday morning their tent was in a bout a foot of water, & they had had to buy a bunch of 2 man tents & move. On reflection if we should have realised & warned them that that area does flood with rain.

Back to the behaviour of some, I would just say that I feel safer at Glasto, than in my local high street at midnight.

The antics of a few though are a bit OTT with my pet hates being throwing urine over the crowd, pissing on the toilets floor (meaning you are wading through sewage when going for a pee) & the bringing of glass onto the site. On the later point the security in past years is that stewards checked bags at random as you came in. This year you could just walk through a checking area where stewards were already checking some one else (Gate A Wed am). Glass can rip a cows insides to shreds, so is an absolute no no as far as I am concerned.

I do wonder if the possible increase in "Chavs" is because tickets have been easier to get in the last two years. This may mean that those who would normally go to say Reading/ Leeds etc, are coming to Glasto too in larger numbers. I believe those who make more effort to get tickests are more likely to uphold the ethos.

Two points that have been bought up that I do agree with. The siting of the hospitality campiong WAS a mistake for the reasons stated. The other is the good suggestion that chairs be kept out of the areas in front of the stages.

[denwyn]

Mainly the rudness of people using chairs by Pyramid and Other stages,every were else was ok. Although should we be lucky to get tickets for next years Glasto we have vowed to stay away from the both of these stages for the big acts,as to be honest there are not many more i can think i want to see, most are now dead or passed there sell by date anyway,and this year we had a far better time at places like Avalon,and suprisingly for me The Park stage. Still do not get the Shangrila area at all though ???.

So all being well we will return to the smaller stages.

[micawber]

Just for the record, there seem to be a lot of comments on here about Reading goers coming to Glastonbury and driving down standards. I can assure you that is not true. Sure, at Reading you get lots of high spirited youngsters and some (a minority) are pretty immature. But I have never been accosted at Reading in three years of going. I'm sure that it was an isolated experience but I had to intervene to stop one of the drugged up louts at the Other Stage having an unprovoked go at my lad. I saw many more of these types at Glastonbury than I typically see at Reading.

[planetcat]

Sorry, no - it was Pyramid on Saturday.

I hope you're son's OK now?

[johnmcga]

Annoyances.

3) The silent disco. Its shit and pointless. Anyone who thinks they are cool is an idiot. The only good thing about them is turning off the music and listening to said idiots be idiots.

[Laura_Babs]

totally unfair.

we should of been on site at midday but didnt actually get in till 10pm due to traffic from a few miles back from junction 23 of the m5

as such there was little to no space a all virtually anywhere half decent on site, we managed to squeeze in with being practically on top of other tents, i would say there was about a 2 inch gap.

[MIXFEST]

My experience in the pit for Kasabian is very similar to yours. Groups of yobs who think it is more fun to jump into people as aggresively as they can, including my wife and daughters.

[oafc0000]

Agree with most points....

Some people seem to be 100% anti chair but it should be pointed out that some people actually need a chair and unless we want Glasto to become 100% for the young then chair need to stay. I went with two friends in their 40's who needed chairs due to back problems. That said we always sat towards the back....

The flags are over the top now... I just dont see why people need them... Its got to be the rudiest thing in the world...

£2 for a bottle of water... Total rip off... Years gone by you could get a "meal" for aroud £5/6... This year it had jumped to £7/8... I really wish ME would look at this issue... Its just getting so dam expensive...

135,000 is far too much... Knocking 10 to 20 % off the attendance would make a big difference... I have left on Sunday last two years mainly due to over crowding / not being able to get in anywhere...

[oafc0000]

From my experience of festivals and Gigs is this is what you should expect.

It's called the Mosh pit for good reason.

Edited June 30, 2009 by oafc0000

[Budweiser]

Quote TheseventhOne

While we're moaning then;

People with chairs in front of the D barrier whilst people are trying to get good spots for their favourite acts who are up next.

f**kING f**k OFF BEHIND THE BARRIER YOU DICKS.

Priceless.

[Hotmustard]

Why on earth did you have guy ropes up?! Its a festival, not the top of a bleeding mountain. Sensible tent pitching in these circumstances means the guy ropes are irrelevant. I was casually pulling out guy ropes the whole weekend as they kept tripping me up.

[puppetmode]

I still can't believe there are tents sold with black guy ropes!!. And they are put out to the full extention and then you hear cursing from the tent when you fall over them.

You need guy ropes to pull the outer canvas away from the inner. otherwise it rains in like it did to ours whne next door pulled ours out so they could pitch their tent. I wouldnt mind, Our guy ropes were florescent yellow and only about 3 inches from the canvas, not 3 yards!

But I can't agree with the large tents being a pain unless it was for 1 person. We had a 4 bedroom tent that used up less room than 4 two man tents.

But flags and litter I agree with.

Went up to the stone cricle on Thursday night/friday morning and it was just disgusting. Somewhere that should be the most beautiful place on the site was treated like a council tip. People go up there to watch the sunrise and the great views but are quite happy to toss any crap all over the floor. Having said this there was a distinct lack of bins on all the green fields but still doesnt stop you carrying your rubbish for a couple of minutes, no matter how pissed you are.

[puppetmode]

oh and one last thing. Talking. Now I know we all do this but one particular selfish bitch at the back of Badly Drawn Boy's show gets the medal.

Spent the whole show with her back to the stage except for the odd 10 seconds where she turned round and jumped up and down....to a slow acoustic number!!!! When the band came on she just decided to shout over them to make herself heard to the 50 or so people that could easily hear her.

[Rufus Gwertigan]

I was going to say that I did notice an increase in twats, but to quite frank I do not give a flying f**k. Sod all the balls about too many young goers and non-Glasto behaviour. Yes there were times that I was slightly uncomfortable, but all that faded into insignificance when I got to Manchester Picadilly after midnight to get my bus home, and all hell had broken out and there was a massive fight at the bus stop. Even on the bus home there was a strange air, and I did not feel happy until I got in my house.

[lovestospoon]

May be lynched for this and, I do share some of the same gripes as others in terms of chairs IN the crowds and that but WHO GIVES A f**k, you all still had an amazing time right?

The more people that complain the more policed it's gonna become and therefore the less enjoyable it'll be.

Edited June 30, 2009 by lovestospoon

[flibbitybob]

I've only been twice, but I definitely noticed an increase in rudeness and anti-social behaviour compared to last year.

The taping off thing really irritates me, just down from our camp there was a massive area taped off with England bunting. The group sat under a gazebo on the edge of the path, and just made snide comments as we all walked past. The always seemed to be there, and there was a boy who looked about 8 trying to sell cans of stella. Argh.

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned but I also thought there was an increase in sleaziness, with more men either making comments or being genuinely threatening. There were a lot of girls in my group (we're all 17/18) and all of us had at least one bad experience of this. I was groped while queuing for cider, and noticed a lot of leering and quite offensive remarks. There were several times when I felt I really had to keep an eye on my drunker friends and there was even a situation where I had to ask a kinder member of the crowd to help when a sober-looking middle aged man tried to lead my almost passwd-out friend away. I genuinely don't remember anything like this happening last year.

Saying that, I think that it massively depends on where you are on the site. For me it seemed that in areas like the Pyramid and Other field people didn't really understand the whole sharing and friends-with-everyone atmosphere. For example in the crowd for the Specials, someone asked their friend for chewing gum and when they didn't have any, I offered him some, and he just looked me up and down and sais "Nah I'm alright mate", and then they both spent ages giggling about how it was weird. Compare this to areas like Stone Circle and Green Fields and even places like Dance Village and Trash City... I do think that it's far worse on and around the main stages.

Sorry for the essay. I think that the niceness of most people fully outweighs the negatives, but there ae certain things that are very saddening.

[Chimps in Balaclavas]

My only problem was with a group of young teens in Row Mead who didn't move from their tent all weekend and caused sh1t. (a few people had problems with them) On the last day when we were packing up 1 of them threw a metal bar towards our tent and tore 2 holes in it (I found out which 1 it was and made him tape up the holes) It was only their age that stopped me from giving them a clip around the ear.

The chairs in the middle of the crowd I thought was annoying, it's hard enough trying to navigate through the crowd at the best of times without tripping over chairs in a room where 4 people are sat, that could easily accommodate about 10 people standing.

Also the looks from some people when you stepped on their picnic blanket when you are something daft like 5 rows from the front grrrr selfish bastards.

I agree with another poster & did notice that some .. but not all of the Green police turned a blind eye to litter dropping/p1ssing and were more interested in trying to sell me their little ciggie putter outer things (even though I don't smoke).

Other than that it was a great festival. :angry:

[emmmmma]

I totally agree with peoples comments in this thread. I encountered far more rude people than I did last year. I was actually really shocked. I met quite a few lovely people too and still had a lovely time. But the atmosphere did seem slightly off at times.

[miss star]

i think glastonbury was split in 2 this year the seemed to be the people who went to glastonbury for the glastonbury experience. the people who respected the farm, who tried to leave no trace, who were disgusted by the lack of respect shown by other with the p*ssing against fences/urinal walls

and there seemed to be the other half which reminded me of the crowd i see more often at leeds festival, more hedonistic, who are there to have a good time in any way they could wether that meant p*ssing when and where they needed to, to not being inconvienced by having to hold your rubbish

from what i noticed it was the main stages and dance area which led the way for the hedonistic crowd and the green fields / avalon / cabaret circus which led they way for the earth respect people.

i agree with what most people say on here. i do see the point in gazebo's if there are a group of you all with small tents though, esp if you all pitch your tents so there entrances are under the gazebo but if there is one of you with a giant tent sureley if it rains you can all in that rather than a gazebo?

i really got quite upset by seeing everyone p*ssing where they wanted, espcially since everyone knows its a bad thing to do, a few years back when they really pushed the dont pee in the hedges campaign if you saw someone do it everyone walking past would shout dont pee in the hedges at them and they put there tackle away somewhat ashamed, this year when you noticed someone it seemed most people put there heads down and looked away angrily.. and one person who was peeing up on the rail track when shouted at even turned round and shouted back i paid 180 quid to be here ill p*ss where the f*ck i want too.

there should be more people power to stop these ppl, i did think it would be a good idea to photo everyone you saw do it and publish it on a website.. like a name and shame. or i know its a bit extreme but if you were caught peeing in the hedge then you were banned from coming to the next few festivals.

glastonbury for me is about learning about the alternatives that are out there, helping charities and seeing some amazing live acts while im there, it makes me respect and understand what is happening to the world. and from this years festival i understand while there are a lot of people out there trying to help the world there are an awful lot of people out there who dont seem to care about it, there more concerned with having fun in the here and now.

[crimsonking]

Phew I'm actually relieved to hear others Glasto goers talking about the increased level of tossers this year. I got sick to death of being barged from behind by spaced out sixth formers crashing the crowds to get nearer the front. I witnessed some quite nasty moments of downright dangerous let alone inconsiderate behaviour from wasted festy goers of all ages! Sometimes the place resembled any old generic town/city up and down the country on a Friday and Saturday night, just the thing I come to Glasto to get away from, and sometimes I wondered whether I was actually at Glasto or Benidorm.

Even the quiter areas such as Shangri La, Avalon, the viewing area at the top of the hill did not escape it, as gangs of young Tobys, Jocastas and Isobels descended to sniff lines of coke and get trashed and then proceed to wreck the peaceful ambience of these areas thinking that Glasto is just another Jolly annual social event to tick off the list including Henley, Ascot and Wimbledon and to spend Daddies money on drugs and booze and be scruffy with the commoners for a few days. There was a complete lack of dacorum from these people and no sense of there surroundings and no affording of dignity to the people around them.

There were too many uber tents, and the famed Glasto spirit of hospitality, friendlyness and getting on with your neighbours was pretty much non existant as people put up cordon tape around their enclosures and shut others out.

Flags, 'kin flags! like the man says, I want to the see the band performing not which footy team you support, way too many this year, but how can you ban them, perhaps people will see sense one day and then we'll be able to see the stage again.

The people who go to Glasto you can love or hate in equal measures, but this year there was definately an increased level of tossers about the place.

Dont get me wrong I had a blistering time, but I sense the slow march of general rowdy, selfish, bourish, idiotic, drunken behaviour that is becoming endemic in this country is beginning to creep into and infect one of the last bastions of happy go lucky, friendly, easy going atmospheres that is Glastonbury. Next year I fully expect to see hen parties and Stag nights around the place and that will spell the death knell for the Festival, Mr and Miss Eavis take note.

Edited June 30, 2009 by crimsonking

[pie_and_a_pint]

I agree with another poster & did notice that some .. but not all of the Green police turned a blind eye to litter dropping/p1ssing and were more interested in trying to sell me their little ciggie putter outer things (even though I don't smoke).

Other than that it was a great festival.