Flags

[Tugger2k]

Give the flag wavers an area away from the centre of the stage where they can have their fun but not completely spoil it for everyone else. Some flags are smart but when it gets to the stage where the majority are having their enjoyment of watching a performance obscured by a sea of cloth then maybe it is time to ban them from the centre.

I vote Ban

[ampersand]

....and you like to avoid the fact some people can't move and if everybody did there would be crowd surges etc

Your essentially saying it's not the flag bearers fault people can't see, it's the crowds fault for being behind the flag. How the hell is that fair or justified?

[Tugger2k]

I see your point, it's a lot easier for an artist to connect with the crowd if they can see them, but for me the flags were actually only an issue when it came to the headliner slots. Maybe if people are so desperate to ban them then they could introduce a ban inside the very front part of the Pyramid stage, because that's the bit that will obscure the view the most for others. It's not 'just about the music' either, I didn't say that. In my opinion, you're not going to have a great view of the stage if you're so far away that your view is blocked by the flags anyway. Also, like ampersand said below, if you're so upset with having your view blocked, move somewhere where it isn't. The Pyramid field is pretty damn big don'tcha know?

[CiderFiend]

excellent. except i was level with the mixing desk for kasabian last year (hardly a million miles away dontcha know) and couldnt see a thing - and hey guess what, it was too busy to move without leaving all together to go to the back of the field where guess what, my view would have been impared by flags

how'd you like them apples??

[JodiB]

Much earlier on in this thread a few days ago I asked if anyone had actually complained to Glasto about the flags. I also asked people to send a complaint to Glasto by email and put up an email link.

That day I sent a complaint basically saying please look at this forum (I put a link) and consider some of the sugestions offered. I also listed some of the suggestions offered (fine guide, notices, compare announcments "put your flags down now" etc.) incase they did not bother to look at the link.

At the end of my email I suggested maybe they should do a poll on the website asking peoples opinions.

Hmmmm.

My question is: Did anybody else send an email complaint to Glasto like I did ? Did we bombard the festival office with complaints ?

Or is it just a coincidence ?

Edited February 4, 2010 by JodiB

[Kyelo]

there aren't enough flags and people that can't see because of them to cause a surge. don't be so ridiculous.

there'll be more tall people in the crowd preventing smaller people from seeing. let's create a rule where people over six foot tall can't stand in front of the mixing desk, in case it causes a surge.

[ampersand]

Being tall isn't somebodies choice. By carrying a flag you are choosing to block peoples view.

Anyway what I was meaning was you can't expect everybody that is behind a flag to move, the people with the flags should move or drop the flags.

[bamber]

While this is an interesting debate which I have fairly ambiguous views about, how on earth is any such ban going to be enforced? Are we to accept security marching into the crowd to remove flag wavers, forcefully if they refuse? What will constitute a flag and what definition do you use to differentiate it from an object on stick or someone waving a t-shirt for instance. Do we want rules at Glastonbury?

[JodiB]

I am going to take a huge flag this year.

It will say "THROW SHARP OBJECTS AT FLAG BEARERS"

[Kyelo]

but it's there choice to be close to the stage, blocking the view of those smaller people behind.

[Kyelo]

While this is an interesting debate which I have fairly ambiguous views about, how on earth is any such ban going to be enforced? Are we to accept security marching into the crowd to remove flag wavers, forcefully if they refuse? What will constitute a flag and what definition do you use to differentiate it from an object on stick or someone waving a t-shirt for instance. Do we want rules at Glastonbury?

Edited February 4, 2010 by BenchBuddah

[ampersand]

Not the same and you know it.

Agree but is this possible?

[Kyelo]

Caught in the flashing lights and summer sun, large flags and banners are as much a part of music festivals as mud, tents and hangovers. But they will be banned from the main stage areas at this weekend’s Reading and Leeds festivals so that they do not block the view of the bands.

Melvin Benn, chief executive of Festival Republic, which runs the two events, said that he was discussing a similar ban with Glastonbury after a number of complaints were made at this year’s festival in Somerset.

Mr Benn said: “I’m doing everything I can to ban flags this year. For some reason those that buy a flag want to be closest to the stage.”

Glastonbury’s organisers received complaints that certain sets, including Bruce Springsteen’s 2½-hour epic on the Saturday night, were almost totally obscured by fans near the front holding large flags on tall poles.

Mr Benn, whose company helps to organise Glastonbury, described the situation as a nightmare and said: “You couldn’t see the acts — the flags were everywhere. There have always been flags but not to the level that there has been [recently]. And the flags have become very long and tall.”

He said that some of the banners were being used to advertise goods and services at what is, traditionally, an anti-corporate festival.

A spokesman for Glastonbury said: “This is a liberal festival and flags are an expression of people’s individuality, but there are other ways of doing it — people wear crazy clothes, for example. Flags are becoming very competitive and are getting very big.

“The proposal being considered at the moment is to not allow flags within a roughly triangular area between the mixing desk and the front of the stage. This would ensure that they didn’t get in the way of the sightlines of television cameras covering the event, so people at the back of the crowd would be able to see all the action on the big screens on either side of the stage.”

Flags on sale around the Leeds and Reading festival sites tend to be national flags or the emblems of regions, such as the Cornish crosses and Yorkshire roses seen this year at Glastonbury.

Other flags seen there included hastily drawn tributes to Michael Jackson — who died during the festival — while some simply bore mobile telephone numbers with no suggestion of who should contact them or why. A fake pigeon on a pole pecked at the beach balls that bounced around the crowd, and one festivalgoer bore a large onion on a stick.

Flag-bearers at Reading, Leeds and Glastonbury know that a prominent position in front of the stage will guarantee their home-made banners an appearance on television and this leads to a jostle for the prime spots.

One festivalgoer, Anne McKechnie, welcomed the proposals: “It would be nice if people realised themselves that flags are pointless and antisocial. But as they don’t, banning is logical.”

Tony Withers, who sells flags, disagreed and told the BBC: “People use them as a tent marker and then, as the show goes on, they lift them off the ground and take them to the stage. They want to get on TV — that’s the big thing now. To many people, it makes the event.”

Edited February 4, 2010 by BenchBuddah

[Langdale Wolf]

Tony Withers, who sells flags, disagreed and told the BBC: “People use them as a tent marker and then, as the show goes on, they lift them off the ground and take them to the stage. They want to get on TV — that’s the big thing now. To many people, it makes the event.”

[bamber]

It wouldn't exist if we didn't have rules. Long gone are the days that people can be trusted to respect each other like they did.

[Phil-itfc]

what I dont like is when people buy Eng-er-land flags, we dont really need to know your from esspecially in your home country where 80% of punters will be from.

Flags in the campsite are brilliant flags at the stages is rubbish.

[NeilVJ]

I'm starting to think that the best idea is to ban flags during the performances even if its just for area in front of the stage. A lot of people will go to toilet and stock up on cider in between acts and use the flags in order to find their way back. Then once the acts start the flags go down or in come the green police. A simple message flashing on the big screens would do the trick to tell people that now is the time to put down the flags.

[r0cky]

Watching at home was fine because there is more than one camera, you get close ups etc. The poor sods stood there watching don't have that. Unless they look at the screens. Unless they're blocked as well.

[Glastoboy]

"Put the flags down, selfish c**ts"

"Put the flags down, selfish c**ts"

[ampersand]

yaas, i know where the __ewen boys are

[gooner1990]

I think like many others maybe flags should be just kept to the campsites or when people are wondering around.

Someone else said a page or two back that they were at the mixing desk for Kasabian last year and couldn't see anything. Our group were in a similar position, i'm 6ft2 and couldn't see anything, and neither could any of my friends. So we moved back so we could watch it on the big screen thats in the middle. Which was a lot better till people stood in front of that with flags too.

I have no problem with flags being at the festival, but it's increasinly got worse and worse as the years have gone by, when I pay my money to a festival I want to watch the bands not have to watch on the screen or stare at flags flapping around.

I know it creates a "picturesque" feel and sometiems performers comment on how good they look, but for the thousands behind you, it's spoiling it for them. Just so when you get back you can say "oh look theres my flag for Bruce Springsteen" or whoever.

[laid back in the sun]

OK, I should have said more rules. I would not be happy watching security walking in to the crowd and removing flag wavers whatever my feeling about my view being obscured by them.

[danbailey80]

I think it's clear that whether you like flags or not - there's a lot of people that don't - so for the sake of causing unnecessary unpleasantness don't bring them into the main stage crowds...that simple....if you do, expect some unpleasantness i'm afraid..

Edited February 4, 2010 by danbailey80

[grumpyhack]

Probably have more impact if you vote on the Glastonbury Festival's own website poll.

http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/news...rom-glastonbury

[danbailey80]

Probably have more impact if you vote on the Glastonbury Festival's own website poll.

http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/news...rom-glastonbury