2013 tickets..

[markeee]

well I hope speed has nothing to do with it, my internet's getting slower and slower since I moved to stoke, 12mbit in my first house, now I've moved I max out at 6mbit

wow so ticket day woulda been next week if it was happening next year?!

[Amii]

We have a group of about 20/25 of us, and all go round one persons house with laptops on ticket day.

Only tip I have is NEVER rely on WiFi. In 2011 I stayed home to do mine, and lost connection half way through my order. Also a laptop out window situation, could have cried.

[Craigston]

That's randomness for you. It throws up results which seem hugely unlikely to be just random, but they are.

[markeee]

I'm not convinced. How many Glastos will I need to successfully book at work before your argument about it being 'totally random' becomes untenable and unrealistic?

I'm not sure you, Neil, or Pinhead are that au fait with the vagaries of the Internet that you know how See's servers work specifically and choose one access attempt over another.

I'll continue the way I'm going and who knows, may run into you at Glasto in years to come!

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

I had a small IT training organisation on the go for mine once. I had 10 of their computers as well as 2 land lines and 2 mobiles. It was my mate in London (who always gets through) who got me a ticket in the end.

[markeee]

I had a small IT training organisation on the go for mine once. I had 10 of their computers as well as 2 land lines and 2 mobiles. It was my mate in London (who always gets through) who got me a ticket in the end.

[eFestivals]

I'm not convinced. How many Glastos will I need to successfully book at work before your argument about it being 'totally random' becomes untenable and unrealistic?

I'm not sure you, Neil, or Pinhead are that au fait with the vagaries of the Internet that you know how See's servers work specifically and choose one access attempt over another.

Any "vagaries of the Internet" have nothing to do with whether See's kit will initially accept your data packet or not. It's just a data packet no different to any other data packet.

And while I don't know See's set-up, there'd be no sane reason why they should prioritise any one packet over another - they're interested only in selling tickets, and they don't care who it is that buys them so would have no need to give anyone preference,

And anyway, it becomes impossible for them to do so if their kit is max'd out and so unable to handle any packet at all at a particular moment - and this is certainly the reason why most if not all people can't access their servers when they try.

I have three high spec servers for the efests set-up, which get max'd out on ticket day just as See's servers do. Many of the people who access efests at those times have no trouble doing so, while many others don't get a sniff - which should sound all a bit familiar to anyone who has tried to get Glasto tickets in the past.

The efests servers act in the exact same way as See's servers do from any human perspective, and I know for certain that no preference is being given by the efests servers outside of that human view. But I guess you'll say that's something different, despite you having no evidence to the contrary, only the random fact that you've always succeeded in getting tickets (and the facts of randomness says: some people will do).

[amfy]

I'm not convinced. How many Glastos will I need to successfully book at work before your argument about it being 'totally random' becomes untenable and unrealistic?

I'm not sure you, Neil, or Pinhead are that au fait with the vagaries of the Internet that you know how See's servers work specifically and choose one access attempt over another.

I'll continue the way I'm going and who knows, may run into you at Glasto in years to come!

[eFestivals]

From 2007 we got tickets on our home computer every year. It was cobbled together from 3-4 other broken computers and was a bit of a beast. It certainly had no great speed. I used to be able to have a short nap whilst turning a page on forums! Couldn't play anything properly on Youtube either. It was rubbish.

Yet, in 2007 I went to work to try for tickets whilst my husband stayed at home trying, and it was him that got through. I also managed to get tickets for others in the resales several times on the home computer.

I am worried now though, because we have a new computer. It is brilliant, everything works as it should, and pages turn instantly. Yet, for the first time last year on resales day, I didn't get a sniff of a ticket page! (Luckily for me I already had mine)

yep - that's how random works - with total randomness.

And because it's so random, it becomes difficult for humans to believe that it's just randomness. There's heaps of research into this side of things of randomness.

My personal theory is that there is something in the computer that recognises past pathways to a ticket page (cookies?), and if your computer has got through before, it will get through again. I am quite scared about my 2013 chances.

that might apply if you've already established a session on See's servers, tho that session would most likely have to be less than an hour old (dependent on what See has set as the session expiry at their end of things. It's normally 30 minutes at most in most implementations of session technology).

[Pinhead]

I do know something about how web applications, their databases and session management work as I've worked in IT for 14 years and have run a number of public web sites and apps during that time. It is possible to place a bias on incoming traffic from one source or another, although as Neil states - why would they want to as they just want to sell tickets and don't care who they go to. However, I wondered at the time whether certain providers such as O2 were given connection priority over others simply because they might have signed deals with See on behalf of their customers . . . .

[AnnaGrant]

Last October we tried from the start (9am?) until all tickets sold out, on 3 computers and didn't get a booking page once. We were also on the landline phone and didn't get through, though since I've not heard of one person who got a ticket by phone in Oct I will not be trying that again.

But in the last resale in May we got a booking page in 4 minutes on one of the same computers. Does that add weight to Neil's 'random' theory?

It was such a monumental task getting our 2 tickets that I will need a whole year to psyche myself up for the battle arena that it T day once more.

[**claire**]

I'm definitely not going to bother with the phonelines again - will take my chances with the work laptop at home... It's been successful the last two years but taken a good few hours.

I'm hoping the demand will be less than last year but agree there's so many factors at play it just can't be predicted.

[eFestivals]

It is possible to place a bias on incoming traffic from one source or another...

it is - but the kit that's doing it has to be 'alive' and not overloaded to be able to do it.

However, I wondered at the time whether certain providers such as O2 were given connection priority over others simply because they might have signed deals with See on behalf of their customers . . . .

I'm not aware of See having any deals like that. It's the promoters and not the ticket agents who do those sorts of deals.

So we're back to "no good reason to do so".

[russycarps]

Don't also forget last year U2 were already 99% confirmed and like or loath them they do have a fanatical following. People will go to new festivals next year and want to go back to that festival the year after. 2012 is a big chance for the other festivals to attract the Glastonbury goers

[markeee]

Problem is though, now Pink Floyd are 99% confirmed for 2013, demand is going to be even greater than it was for U2

[denwyn]

I am certain it will sell out,but have a feeling it may take longer. This is based on the money situation world wide, i don't really think its started to bite here yet,its all doom and gloom and will get far worse,given this i would think it could be difficult for people to lash out on the £200 plus ? for a ticket, plus spends and fuel costs. Could be this wil be the demise of may festivals, doubt it will stop Glastonbury, but may end up with Eavis having a rethink on costs ect.

[eFestivals]

I am certain it will sell out,but have a feeling it may take longer. This is based on the money situation world wide, i don't really think its started to bite here yet,its all doom and gloom and will get far worse,given this i would think it could be difficult for people to lash out on the £200 plus ? for a ticket, plus spends and fuel costs. Could be this wil be the demise of may festivals, doubt it will stop Glastonbury, but may end up with Eavis having a rethink on costs ect.

eFestivals has heard today that the company behind the 'Harvest' festivals (Harvest at Jimmy's, and Alex James' Harvest) - Big Wheel - have gone bust. We've just had it confirmed to us via their office.

It sounds hopeful that the festivals might continue under different ownership, but even as things stand now, with this having gone bust and Truck having gone bust, it's clear that many established festivals are struggling.

And things are only going to get worse. The fact is that despite all the talks of govt cut-backs in this country, few of them have actually hit as yet, so the economic situation for people as a whole is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. And that's going to impact onto many more festivals next year and beyond.

I suspect that Glastonbury will be OK in 2013 because a year off generally means increased demand the year it's back, but I wouldn't be surprised if the sales are very noticeably slower in 2014.

But for other festivals this is bound to be a huge worry, particularly when many are doing nothing to make themselves stand out from the crowd, and with nearly all of the big and expensive ones merely serving up the same acts again and again. Sooner of later people will look for something different, and if festivals aren't giving it then it won't be festivals that get their money.

[russycarps]

eFestivals has heard today that the company behind the 'Harvest' festivals (Harvest at Jimmy's, and Alex James' Harvest) - Big Wheel - have gone bust. We've just had it confirmed to us via their office.

It sounds hopeful that the festivals might continue under different ownership, but even as things stand now, with this having gone bust and Truck having gone bust, it's clear that many established festivals are struggling.

And things are only going to get worse. The fact is that despite all the talks of govt cut-backs in this country, few of them have actually hit as yet, so the economic situation for people as a whole is going to get a lot worse before it gets better. And that's going to impact onto many more festivals next year and beyond.

I suspect that Glastonbury will be OK in 2013 because a year off generally means increased demand the year it's back, but I wouldn't be surprised if the sales are very noticeably slower in 2014.

But for other festivals this is bound to be a huge worry, particularly when many are doing nothing to make themselves stand out from the crowd, and with nearly all of the big and expensive ones merely serving up the same acts again and again. Sooner of later people will look for something different, and if festivals aren't giving it then it won't be festivals that get their money.

[eFestivals]

was Wychwood involved with big wheel too?

Nope. Why do you think it might have been?

simple fact is lots of people jumped on the festival band wagon when they were massively popular. Now popularity is waning, and coupled with people having less disposable income, it will become survival of the fittest. And unfortunately it seems to me a lot of these festivals are organised by the sort of unimaginative people who come on here asking for help with their dissertations.

Glastonbury will be fine - and will probably even benefit by picking up some of the punters who attend the festivlas that are going bust - but I wouldnt be surprised if one of the mega festivals ceased to be in the coming years.

My money would be on reading/leeds....I fear for latitude too.

I'll personally be hugely surprised if one of the longer etablished mega-fests fails - they have all the cards stacked in their favour, as they have exclusive access to the major bands that people will always pay to see. At worst they'd down size some, or perhaps even (in the case of Reading/Leeds, or V) stop the event at one of the sites. I can't see them disappearing completely.

My personal view driven by the history of festivals is that it's the likes of Download &/or Sonisphere that are at most risk from the bigger fests - just on the basis that large dedicated rock fests like these have failed before when the fashion changed, and with two of them in existence now (and both multi-day like the Donington of old wasn't) they'll be trying to steal each other's audiences to present a not-much-different line-up year after year after year.

Going at things another way, I'm unsure if Big Chill is on an up or a down - but if it's a down it could be in big trouble. It's suffered for a long time by its lack of atmosphere but struggled thru because it had such a strong identity. Since Festival Republic have taken over they've tried to change it to bring in more punters, but I felt this summer that it still had no atmosphere but had also now lost its identity too. I'm sure it'll be fine next year tho with no Glastonbury, and that might give it the boost it needs.

I don't much feel qualified to comment on Latitude because I've never been, tho it seemed to suffer from slow sales this year (perhaps off the back of the reported rapes the year before). One major disadvantage it has is being in such a hard-to-get-to part of the country (no motorways close by) but that can be got around if the offering is good enough to encourage people to make the effort. They'll perhaps have to start to beef up their musical line-up over what it's been to date, as the pulling power of the bands on the bill drops away quite quickly after the headliners.

For those bigger fests it's the bands and just the bands that sell the tickets. As long as they're able to keep getting the bands then they'll be fine, tho some might have to downsize a bit (and perhaps lower the price by doing that).

Most at risk I'd say is all of the smaller festivals up and down the land who all end up with a line-up of similar bands to each other (and often to what they've had the year before). Without much of a difference in the bands to differentiate between them they'll have to do something else to attract people that that particular fest. There's some that have a good enough theme in some manner, but there's also many that don't and need to get one quickly!

[zahidf]

I think V should be safe enough. If reading have a good year next year, they'll probably be ok. Even this year, i'm sure they made a profit!

Green Man, Bestival and End of the road are good examples of strong identity festivals with original line ups, and they sell out.

I think Latitude will last a few more years, but they may need to consider getting in a bigger headliner next year.

[russycarps]

Nope. Why do you think it might have been?

I'll personally be hugely surprised if one of the longer etablished mega-fests fails - they have all the cards stacked in their favour, as they have exclusive access to the major bands that people will always pay to see. At worst they'd down size some, or perhaps even (in the case of Reading/Leeds, or V) stop the event at one of the sites. I can't see them disappearing completely.

My personal view driven by the history of festivals is that it's the likes of Download &/or Sonisphere that are at most risk from the bigger fests - just on the basis that large dedicated rock fests like these have failed before when the fashion changed, and with two of them in existence now (and both multi-day like the Donington of old wasn't) they'll be trying to steal each other's audiences to present a not-much-different line-up year after year after year.

Going at things another way, I'm unsure if Big Chill is on an up or a down - but if it's a down it could be in big trouble. It's suffered for a long time by its lack of atmosphere but struggled thru because it had such a strong identity. Since Festival Republic have taken over they've tried to change it to bring in more punters, but I felt this summer that it still had no atmosphere but had also now lost its identity too. I'm sure it'll be fine next year tho with no Glastonbury, and that might give it the boost it needs.

I don't much feel qualified to comment on Latitude because I've never been, tho it seemed to suffer from slow sales this year (perhaps off the back of the reported rapes the year before). One major disadvantage it has is being in such a hard-to-get-to part of the country (no motorways close by) but that can be got around if the offering is good enough to encourage people to make the effort. They'll perhaps have to start to beef up their musical line-up over what it's been to date, as the pulling power of the bands on the bill drops away quite quickly after the headliners.

For those bigger fests it's the bands and just the bands that sell the tickets. As long as they're able to keep getting the bands then they'll be fine, tho some might have to downsize a bit (and perhaps lower the price by doing that).

Most at risk I'd say is all of the smaller festivals up and down the land who all end up with a line-up of similar bands to each other (and often to what they've had the year before). Without much of a difference in the bands to differentiate between them they'll have to do something else to attract people that that particular fest. There's some that have a good enough theme in some manner, but there's also many that don't and need to get one quickly!

Edited October 5, 2011 by russycarps

[Bobs]

All i know is if you get on see tickets at 8:40 and keep refreshing, you are getting tickets at 0849, and thats a fact.

[dingbat2]

I think Latitude will survive for quite a while yet for a few reasons:

1. Its quite a local festival, in terms of it attracts a lot of people from Norfolk (like me!) and Suffolk whose nearest festival would be the wonderful Hylands Park in Chelmsorfd, whiich a lot of people aren't keen on. Its amazing how many 'locals' do go to this festival and still love it (being within a 50 mile radius)

2. It does not rely on its music line-up as much as other festival. I think the muisic part is almost scondary to the other aspects, especially the quaility of its comedy line-up. The literature tents, etc are also always really rammed

3. This years line up could be considered poor by some, (I actually thought it was pretty good) and still they managed to sell out this year, albeit it look longer than previous years

4. Its a very nice site and is very kids friendly so it attracts a lot of familes. Despite the reported issues of the last couple of years, it still 'feels safe'

5. More TV coverage of the festival giving it a higher profile

Saying that, I also wonder if some people will be put off next year's Latitude due to their first experience of mud this year!

[eFestivals]

Saying that, I also wonder if some people will be put off next year's Latitude due to their first experience of mud this year!

I think nearly everyone who went to a festival this summer is going to be put off to some extent due to their experience of rain and mud this year!

(I got rained on at all of the 8 I went to this year ).

[eFestivals]

I would have added the big chill until I read your words above too, and a quick glance at this years line up looks very odd.

yeah, I felt it was all over the place, without having enough of anything (that was strong enough, anyway) of any particular pigeonhole to make it attractive on that basis.

Still, it was amusing watching youngsters get to realise that reggae is nothing like dubstep, and the few looks of shock I saw when Steel Pulse did a verse of 'Klu Klux Klan'.