Guardian Lounge to go

[Mrs Peanuttie]

Hope they're not scaling back on the freebie cotton bag as well.

[J1mbo]

Of for f**ks sake. Playstation? PLAY-f**kING-STATION?!?

[Paul ™]

Of for f**ks sake. Playstation? PLAY-f**kING-STATION?!?

[LondonTom]

Yup, apparently the XBox fanbois are less than impressed

[gooner1990]

Wicked - so I still get to feed my Modern Warfare 2 addiction when at Glasto? Awesome news.

I'm hoping they'll show the footy in there too, and hopefully they'll have an internet cafe on so I can update Facebook several times a day.

Stevie and co can f**k off - I know where I'm spending the majority of my time.

[20/20]

I went to exit festival in Serbia 2008 - we were camped about 200 yrds from the shop bit and there was a tent with about 20 computers, I kid you not at 4am off our trees me and my mate walked past with a couple of girls we'd met and every computer was being used with all of them apart from 2 people on f**king facebook.

[Memory Man]

i dont really see the difference. it will be the same tent with the same kind of thing just "presented" by a different company.

the snug last year had bands and fun stuff on it, in fact we saw slow club in there and it was ace, but that was at williams green.

fair enough there doesnt need to be playstations at glasto, i agree that, but i dont really see how this is so bad.... there's plenty of other stages/chill out areas/food vendors

[Misspelt Yoof]

To be fair, The Snug was a pretty cool venue last year... and not a PlayStation in sight.

[Nixy]

Like the article said the newspaper industry is in serious decline, I'm not surprised The Guardian is pulling out of some of its activities - it did say scaling back didn't it or am I imagining that? (have closed the link) It lost £36.8m year to July 09 (apparently), I suppose it's one of the ways Glastonbury is going to be hit both by the recession and by that particular supporter's industry problems.

And then, if they go, if you're the organisers, where do you go? Do you leave a big hole there? What business sectors are thriving that hit some of your demographic? Who has money to throw around? And who is willing to throw it around for really minimal sponsorship opportunities as compared to other major festivals? Who will do it for the 'cool' points as opposed to how many times they cvan get their logo all over the shop?

You can only imagine that the T*Cs Playstation are working under have been thought out long and hard by everyone involved - I doubt anyone on G's side wants to reverse a policy of trying to keep sponsorship to a minimum

[Langdale Wolf]

Yup, apparently the XBox fanbois are less than impressed

[denwyn]

Never really did the Guardian Lounge, it was always so busy i could never get in the place..so i won't miss it, but to replace it with what is in essence an amusement arcade is not good....they will be putting in a casino next

Edited March 26, 2010 by denwyn

[sifi]

This isn't good. It's not so much the loss of the Gruniad but the arrival of Sony.

[lord stradmor]

Guitar Hero on the Pyramid, anyone?

[robith]

I don't get it -

venue with newspaper flagrantly promoting itself - ok

venue with a games console covertly branded - not ok

I have no qualms with corporates at Glastonbury. They provide free content like bands in intimate settings, they aren't allowed to overtly brand themselves and the money they pay contributes to the festival's charitable donation and its raising awareness of global issues.

[Langdale Wolf]

How is it any different to the Orange tent which has been there for years?

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather neither were on the site, but it's not that much of a new thing, surely?

[robith]

How is it any different to the Orange tent which has been there for years?

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather neither were on the site, but it's not that much of a new thing, surely?

[ramragon]

the guardian lounge was good to relax in with proper settee's an chairs to sit and read your paper. the free backpacks were a must as well, i've got one for each of the last 2 year. each backpack contains programmes, q daily's, q review an nme review.

gutted if they stop doing them this year !

[5co77ie]

I wonder if Leftfield will go where the Guardian was?

[sifi]

How is it any different to the Orange tent which has been there for years?

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather neither were on the site, but it's not that much of a new thing, surely?

[Buddhafish]

It's creeping commercialisation. Salami tactics, see. Little by little by little. Until one year you look at it and it's not Glasto anymore at all, but V-Festival with more stages.

[PabloCoke]

How is it any different to the Orange tent which has been there for years?

Don't get me wrong, I'd rather neither were on the site, but it's not that much of a new thing, surely?

[PabloCoke]

Also the Guardian tent must be just moving because a friend of mine has been booked to play at it this year.

[Langdale Wolf]

Personally I'd like to see all phones banned as it creates a better vibe when you've just to have fun with whoever your with rather always trying to find your chums, like in the good old days.....

[staggerlee]

Sorry but where on that article does it say anything about Playstation running the tent? I read it as being a Kareoke themed bar.

Bad news that of course if the festival needed to have any corporate sponsorship I was always happy it was from a great newspaper, however if that article can be taken as truth it sounds more like the Guardian couldn't afford to keep a space at the festival.

[ethereal]

The Guardian has done a great job of covering the lesser-known Arts over the years e.g. outside of what major record labels happen to be drip-feeding us for music.

Playstations, sat-nav, karaoke, Orange etc seems another step in the wrong direction, though are no-doubt depressingly popular. Don't even get me started on mobile phones

Edited March 26, 2010 by ethereal