People without wristbands / overcrowding

[manateemike]

I noticed a few people without wristbands, indeed Sunday evening i was sat by the Gateway Riser when a bloke sat down with a young lady without anything on his arm. Looked how i imagine a farmer might and thought maybe he was a local land owner.

However i did note that many performers in the Circus tent performed without wristbands and many had lanyards. Maybe these were the people some of us were spotting without wristbands during the weekend.

[Ted Dansons Wig]

We had a fair bit of confusion when we came in Wednesday evening via gate C. Due to level of cider consumption we went in for the first time through the artists gate. They didnt check the tickets particularly thoroughly and let us straight in without wrist bands. We were completely in - but even through the alcoholic haze we knew something wasnt right and we should have them. We therefore went to stewards who after many many sorry sorry sorry's sent us back up to the enquiries hut at the top of the hill to sort it out (which we did).

So if you have a performers ticket - Im not sure you get a wrist band at all.

[tezmc]

We had a tent appear in the middle of our camp on Saturday afternoon. We briefly met the couple staying in it, who asked if we were workers. Seemed a bit odd, then I was woken up by security at 6am Sunday as they were being kicked out for having no wristbands. Apparently security had been chasing a few people that night.

The girl said she'd paid £80 for a wristband outside which was taken off her to be used again once she was through the gates. Not sure how that worked without a ticket and passout though.

[Krazypinkminx]

I saw a few without bands. And it was packed Wednesday. No where to camp. Ended up Walking miles again right across the site even though we were a day Earlier than 2011. Pyramid was much more packed but else where about the same as 2011. Imo. Camped next to total mental pill heads. Who didnt care about anything.

[Vacant0]

I saw a guy getting pinned down quite violently by a security bloke on Saturday night, radioed for "back up" to have the guy removed for not having a wrist band. He seemed co-operative and certainly wasn't resisting. Security bloke definitely seemed a jobsworth but I suppose it's fair enough.

[The60ftOctopus]

I agree on the overcrowding. Everywhere I went seemed far too busy this year, and there were endless bottlenecks trying to get to and from stages.

Also, the new location for Arcadia was both a blessing and a curse. After the Pyramid and Other Stage headliners getting through this area was a nightmare.

Edited July 2, 2013 by The60ftOctopus

[popcornmaster]

I found it overwhelmingly busy at times, more so than any other year I have been.

I got on to Pennards at about 8 maybe 10 to, and it was full within an hour or so. I didn't make it to the pyramid all weekend (bar an attempt to see the stones, but the field was completely full), but the movement around the other and silver hayes was at times pretty intimidating.

[spudgun79]

Myself and my crowd all definitely thought it was more crowded this year. We have a mix of people and were all over the place, yet everyone agreed on this point. We also got asked for our wrist bands walking back to camp site from Shangri La - never had that before!? Bloody thought there was some sort of scam going!

[eFestivals]

it depends were you go

I agree on the overcrowding. Everywhere I went seemed far too busy this year

It depends were you go and when you go. I didn't get stuck in a single crowd at any point this year.

If you go to the popular stuff, rather unsurprisingly ... it's popular.

[rhysieg]

yeah it was really bad this year. must've spent all weekend queuing (at the more popular areas). but i can't complain as there were a few lads camped right next to us without wristbands and i didnt grass them up - its just not in my nature...

[Somersetsun]

No wristbands - chatted to a lass working in a cafe in healing fields who only got her wristband on the sat.

Crowds/bottlenecks - saw them, avoided them. It struck me as much easier to do that than at other festivals.

[Pipine]

I thought it was up to pre super fence levels again, there just seemed to be so many more people everywhere than normal. Thinking back to how chilled / almost empty it felt when the super fence went up compared to the year before, this year definitely felt different. I wasn't stuck in any more bottlenecks than last year but was struck at how full each stage / field seemed all the time.

[Amy Lawn]

I met a group of perfectly nice people on Friday who said they'd read a website that gave them instructions on how to sneak in. I didn't go into specifics with them, but they were a group of 4, said they parked about 5 miles away from the festival at the dead of night on Wednesday and snuck in with a small backpack each.

[pecks]

if you have a performers ticket, you don't get a wrist-band on entry. you have to go to where you play and pick one up there. so I guess if you never go out the gate & don't go backstage, you don't really need one. having said that, most performers will camp backstage and so will pick one up at some point.

[Jack Nottm]

A story from us camped up near the top in big ground.

Around midday Thursday a group of middle age blokes arrived (3 or 4 of them) and set up a tent not far from us. I immediately had my suspicions. Something just didn't seem right. Middle age men, no partners or anything, extremely small tents to be living in for a weekend. After about half an hour one of them came round scrounging. He wanted to "cut off the excess on our wristbands" so he could presumably stitch it together "to get a mate in." We refused giving some bullshit reason not to cause a fuss but a few in neighboring camps did.

I know when micro chipped wristbands where mentioned nobody wanted them but it could surely stop things like this occurring. Maybe building in a bar code into a fabric wristband which needs to be scanned and re scanned on entry and exit.

Edited July 2, 2013 by Jack Nottm

[graham1030]

We had our wristbands checked twice in the site itself. Once going from my tent to the toilet and again returning to my tent.

In the 6 years I have been its the first time that ever happened

[Grimmy]

Glasto/see tickets really do need to review their systems, there are massive loopholes. I can't believe anyone even bothered scaling the wall when it's very easy to get through the gate. I can't really say any more than that

[Arriente]

I only thought the obvious areas were crowded (SE corner on Thursday, main stages, big acts etc) but I tend to judge it on how long the queues are for the decent food stalls, and I hardly had to queue for anything.

The Brothers Bar was also amaingly quiet almost every time I was in West Holts, even on Thursday.

I chatted to some guys in Block9 who told me they had got in in the back of a crew van. They didn't have wristbands, so I guess they were telling the truth. Seemed like nice guys though.

[angelin]

I thought it was the least crowded for years! It was so easy to get to and from our tent in the Big Ground. This year we actually had space to put chairs up and sit and chat. Hardly any queues for toilets and parking was a doddle. Also at least three resales. I didn't think it was crowded at all.

[redmosquito]

I felt it was less crowded too. But then we didn't spend much time around the main stages this year. When we were in the normally busier market areas moving through the crowds with our kids in the trolley felt much easier than in did in 2011.

The couple of times we ventured to towards the Pyramid the field did look busier.

[Glasto fan]

I definitely thought it felt much more crowded. Although the field we camp in, Lime Kiln, Ground, wasn't as tightly packed in as it usually is and in the family camping field in Wicket Ground below there was loads of green space for the whole weekend. Maybe more people are staying in the pre-erected tents and luxury camping areas?

However, the site itself I thought was busier than usual. Even on the Thursday it was difficult to get around in places. A lot of the less popular venues seemed busier as well. Places like the Cabaret tent were pretty full even in the day time and the Theatre and Circus fields felt busier than usual.

[whisty]

it depends were you go

It depends were you go and when you go. I didn't get stuck in a single crowd at any point this year.

If you go to the popular stuff, rather unsurprisingly ... it's popular.

[bigjontour]

i found a wristband on the floor on sunday morning, picked it up and on closer inspection it was a load of tail ends super glued together. and when walking out to my car on sunday morning, there were some girls asking us for tickets or pass outs to go with some wristbands they had been given.

i think a lot of people got these after a mass exodus after the stones.

[ltfckimbo]

I doubt the number of people getting in surreptitiously is anywhere near the amount to contribute to significant overcrowding.

I think the location of Arcadia, caused as many problems as it solved, although the way I looked at it we sacrificed one late night area to the sheep so we could enjoy the others!

[headshrinker1979]

there were definately some dodgy goings on regarding people without tickets being shipped in, i also heard that some security were shipping people in for the right price. also when i got my wristband re-done on entry on wed the supervisor was telling ticket checkers on the gates that there were a lot of fake tickets going round and they must do all of their checks on each ticket beofreletting people in. i also know people that walked straight throught the gate sunday evening, no ticket, no pass,no wristband and no questions asked! as said above why bother getting round the wall of steel when it seems so easy just to walk in!

Edited July 2, 2013 by headshrinker1979