Another bloody flag thread

[Spiderden]

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[llcoolphil]

Like that?

[Billy09]

Not a flag in sight and a great view of the stage. Can't see anyone on the stage like, but a great view of the stage. The presence or otherwise of flags does not give me a better view of Dizzee Rascal

[LusciousLucy]

Where will this madness end? It'll be chairs next and then where will we be? Russia, that's where.

[amfy]

Sorry - had to go last night so i couldn't get it done. To work out how to do it I had to find the "Feel good clips" thread and then find the page where KarlPowell showed me how to do it before and that was going to take ages!

Anyway - I am at work now and cannot see Youtube but I gather from the above posts that someone sorted it out for me.

I saw it on the V section and thought how many pictures have being posted from a similar distance at Glastonbury showing how the flags block your view of the stage. I thought this little clip was interesting from the perspective of pointing out that from this distance, there really is nothing to see.

I also think, that without the flags, it looks pretty bland and dull compared to Glastonbury and personally, I would rather have a view of flags than a black box in the distance.

I appreciate that SEEING the band is important to many people but if you are far back enough to have your view blocked by flags, you aren't going to see much anyway.

At Wolverhampton Civic on Monday for Kasabian I was about halfway back which (particularly given the size of the pit at Glastonbury) is about as near the front as I would get at Glastonbury if I had waited in anticipation through the previous 2 acts. I am 5'10" and still saw very little. Still, I think if I want to SEE a band, a local/specific gig is the best place to do it, and at Glastonbury I just relax, enjoy the atmosphere, and the view that is Glastonbury.

[Tugger2k]

I can't help feeling that the pyramid will feel a little blander and more sterile without them.

[Josie's Cat]

That is a really wicked clip, the crowd really looks better when you can see them, and it seems to connect everyone more as well without billions of flags. A sea of hands and faces is way better than loads of bloody silly 'I love cock' flags.

I like the one flag though, gives a bit of movement - is it the Italian one? Probably wrong there it's probably Bolton Wanderers or something.

[Tugger2k]

That is a really wicked clip, the crowd really looks better when you can see them, and it seems to connect everyone more as well without billions of flags. A sea of hands and faces is way better than loads of bloody silly 'I love cock' flags.

I like the one flag though, gives a bit of movement - is it the Italian one? Probably wrong there it's probably Bolton Wanderers or something.

[Billy09]

yep, it certainly was bland & sterile in the bad old days before the middle aged, middle classes got in on the act after the super fence went up!!

may i direct your attention to 2.46 on the following vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mVvMopn2os , just look at how bland and sterile it is when everybody can see the stage

the flags were there in the late 90's, but only a few of them (check the footage of scooby snacks 1999 - theres about 8 - which is aceptable). Its only since the festy became 'safe' ie post 2000 that the massive increase in flags have become an issue.

[tazzyb]

I was at V last weekend. Not been for a couple of years and just walked around thinking what the hell am I doing here, even though I knew what it was like. It is souless, money grabbing and everything else everyone including me says about it.

HOWEVER the lack of chairs and flags in the crowd was bloody great. Personally I like to look at the stage even if the people on it are the size of match sticks if I am quite far back, for example the killers had some cool back stage stuff going on that I would have been unable to appreciate if I was watching the sections of the screen I could see though the flags.

There are hundreds of things that make Glastonbury so special, and while yes back in the day when there were just a few flags I think it added to the atmosphere now it has gone beyond a joke. Whilst I personally think that maybe people could just put them up inbetween bands or limit themselves to waving them about for just one song, therefore limiting the length of time the block the view of 100's of people behind them. I personally do not think that would work. So a total out and out ban of flags at the stages seems the only way to go to me.

Yes that will spoil some peoples enjoyment and it will enhance others. At the end of the day though it is totally selfish to purposely hold something in the air that means the people behind you cannot see. Would it be acceptable at a football match, tennis game, boxing match the cinema??

All of those things people pay money to see. Some are right at the front. Some at the back all entitled to see what they have paid for no matter how small it is.

[mrbenn213]

Ive never posted on this site before despite using it for 3 years but the fury caused by flags at glastonbury has forced me into saying something about them. Ban them or i will take it upon myself to remove the flags from the flag holders and beat them over the face with there own flag. I'm sure that'll still get them on tv. I was unfortunate to be stood next to flagmen at 4 different gigs at this years glastonbury and they spent more time worrying about the flag than enjoying the band. Why bother, put it up in your garden where you can caress and giggle at it there if its so awesome. I dont get it. Is it just me? When i'm heading down to watch a band like blur i like to be carrying pretty much nothing besides some cider. I have never once stopped halfway to see some incredible band and thought, i tell you what may heighten this experience watching the kings of leon, a thirty foot wooden pole with a rag hanging from it reading 'fred's mum is a wild sausage eater', i better go back and make one. No point. BAN THEM!

Edited August 26, 2009 by mrbenn213

[Josie's Cat]

i tell you what may heighten this experience watching the kings of leon, a thirty foot wooden pole with a rag hanging from it reading 'fred's mum is a wild sausage eater', i better go back and make one.

[mikeb]

the flags were there in the late 90's, but only a few of them (check the footage of scooby snacks 1999 - theres about 8 - which is aceptable). Its only since the festy became 'safe' ie post 2000 that the massive increase in flags have become an issue.

[Josie's Cat]

I volunteer for the flag police!

Rubbish ones should be shredded and woven into hammocks or straitjackets.

[cejx]

I quite like the flags... but not in the huge numbers of this year... and I'm always amazed that people can be arsed to carry the things around!

Yep, they should be taken down during sets... I think they're on telescopic poles so not a problem, and get rid of the bloody flag stall on site. The amuzing home made ones should therefore still make an appearance and the other shoite ones shop bought ones should reduce.

They do add to the atmosphere, looking at that Dizzee clip on t'tube... it looks sterile.

[faye-2]

I love flags especially silly ones. They are a great help when trying to locate your mates in the crowd and also finding your tent.

[Tugger2k]

They do add to the atmosphere, looking at that Dizzee clip on t'tube... it looks sterile.

[Kowalski]

This was my first Glastonbury and I saw f**k all of the pyramid stage due to flags, apart from Blur when I made it into the golden circle.

Good idea to ban them IMHO.

Or create a special flag area right at the back

How come the I Love Sausage flag was never spotted outside one sausage stall the whole weekend?

[Tugger2k]

I love flags especially silly ones. They are a great help when trying to locate your mates in the crowd and also finding your tent.

[llcoolphil]

being able to see the band and connect with them on a personal level

[Tugger2k]

How is seeing a shape that may or may not be Dizzee Rascal from 200 yards connecting with him personally?

[llcoolphil]

just because glastos been infested with incontinants (which as far as i can see is the only reason to slope off during a gig) doesnt mean that the VAST majority of people shouldnt be able to see the band simply because some cant a) hold it for another half hour or plan ahead and have a piss before the gig starts!!

[llcoolphil]

apart from of course @ the big stages at glasto!!

[Ringo_Spar]

This has just featured on Victoria Darbyshire's Radio 5 programme.

Firstly Melvin Benn explained the situation regarding Reading/Leeds this coming weekend. He was then questioned about whether this would be in the pipeline for Glastonbury next year and he said they were looking at it, because anybody watching Bruce Springsteen on tv last year wouldn't have seen much! "The problem is that these aren't personal flags, lots now are advertising."

They moved on to a Glastonbury spokesman who said that Glastonbury's proposal for next year would be flags being banned in the central area between the front of the stage and the mixing desk. He praised people's creativity and didn't want to take that away, and in direct conflict with Melvin Benn, said that they generally weren't adverts.

[cejx]

im always fascinated and bemused by this statement whenever its wheeled out.

with regards to the big G........

does that mean that the smaller stages not covered by the tv (and hence very few,or even zero flags) somehow have an inferior atmosphere to the big stages where the selfish w*nkers hang out?

or does it mean that the Glasto's pre flag insanity, were somehow less atmospheric than than they are now?

and outside of glasto

does that mean that gigs are somehow diminished because flag waving twats cant bring their shitty, unimaginative scralings to the gig?

or does it mean that actually being able to see the band and connect with them on a personal level is inferior to listening to a bootleg of the gig while having your mate wave his rag in your face?

Edited August 26, 2009 by cejx