Silver Hayes - A massive disappointment.

[bombfrog]

I was really looking forward to the "enhanced" dance village this year with the bigger new main tent. It looked great in the pictures.

Unfortunately the reality was very different. The Sonic stage was a bit bigger but the sound was bloody awful. We were stood inside the tent for AlunaGeorge and Rudimental and you couldn't hear a bloody thing. There were screens outside but your chances of hearing anything unless you were standing right next to a speaker were about zero.

The other massive problem was the stupid amount of sound bleeding between all the open stages. The Blues and The Gully in particular were very very loud (especially the bass) and could be heard when trying to watch acts at Sonic and inside the Pussy Parlure, The lead singer of London Grammar complained about it but not much could be done at that point. Both The Blues and Gully only ever had a couple of hundred people in front of them. Why do we need two reggae stages anyway?

The solution to this is really simple. If you're going to put on acts like Disclosure and Rudimental then get a bloody big tent and put a massive, loud sound system in it. Then get rid of the outdoor stages that are less than 100m away and ruin it.

Is that so hard to do?

[Messy]

Agreed. Trying to cram too much into too small a space.

Overcrowding was the worst part for me. I don't mind a bit of push and shove but trying to get into a reasonable position to see anything (on Thursday in particular) was a living nightmare. Some of the worst gridlock I've ever seen.

[Nomie]

Can totally agree with you on this. I also had a major issue with the ridiculous bottle neck coming from the other stage into the dance area and when trying to go through to disclosure was actually worried about a major crush situation and had to get my friend out before she passe out as she was feeling unwell. Upon telling the nearest security steward about how bad it was I literally received a shrug off him as a reaction. I also found the general atmosphere/vibe not very enjoyable. Needs a re-think I think!

[Phil-itfc]

I thought the sonic was smaller than the old Dance East tent that it has replaced.But on the whole the Silver Hayes is vastly improved. I loved The Gully. The whole area that houses the dance music needs to be bigger, at least half the size again of what it is. But how they'd manage that I dont know.

[shoptildrop]

The other massive problem was the stupid amount of sound bleeding between all the open stages. The Blues and The Gully in particular were very very loud (especially the bass) and could be heard when trying to watch acts at Sonic and inside the Pussy Parlure, The lead singer of London Grammar complained about it but not much could be done at that point. Both The Blues and Gully only ever had a couple of hundred people in front of them. Why do we need two reggae stages anyway?

[bombfrog]

Have to say if you were on the left side of John Peel all you could hear was those 2 stages which was that great....so we always went to the right of John peel when we watched bands there

[ICGenie]

I thought the sonic was smaller than the old Dance East tent that it has replaced.But on the whole the Silver Hayes is vastly improved. I loved The Gully. The whole area that houses the dance music needs to be bigger, at least half the size again of what it is. But how they'd manage that I dont know.

[willutalk]

They need one stage just like this!!

[eoinca]

It was just as shite as in previous years, mostly poor music and a general atmosphere unlike the rest of the festival. I avoided it for everything other than Nas and Julio Bashmore and even then I only stayed for a while of each. I don't know what they can do to improve it but its so inferior to the SE corner it's just not worth going to IMO

[chris_top_her]

T in the park do the dance tent really well, the slam tent there is massive and never gets that crushed. The wow stage was ridiculous on Thursday night, so many druggies pushing about made it really impossible to enjoy yourself. That said though for nas and gold panda I got a great view and it was great, so you probably do need a smaller stage for artists like this... Hmmm

[Guest]

The Gully was great, nice to have an area that caters for this style of music. The rest of the area still doesn't work, sound bleed still awful and the layout is poor. One large tent that can be controlled would be better. The dance tent at Kendall Calling works and has the benefit that all of the major assholes are contained with like minded others.

[eFestivals]

The Gully -= it was more Guatantemo Bay than Montego Bay

[CaledonianGonzo]

That was The Blues, surely?

(Guantanamo Bay itself is actually very nice - got a beautiful swimming beach :-P )

I loved 'em both. Spent a few hours there on Saturday lunchtime and it was just.....perfect.

[5co77ie]

I thought the idea behind the Gully and The Blues were great the felt more a part of the unique DIY ethos of the Festival - I love, the large tent was an impressive set up, but the whole place appeared confused with a boat at one end to make it feel more disjointed. The wide open spaces need some small 'statues or installations' to break up that biting cold early evening wind. The Catering was a bit limited, and I couldn't find any proper cider in the area although it served the best jerk chicken I found on site at 'Tasty Treats'.

However the security were atrocious! Firstly someone tried to rob my daughter within seconds of us entering the area, and secondly if you're going to create a reggae vibe busting people for smoking weed is not the way to do it. I was told on Friday about the security policy on Friday, so on Sunday my intention was to watch from Natty to The Congos via Dreadzone, but I got out of dodge after feeling out of place. I could just muster a laugh at Bristol Hi-Fi on Sunday, who kept asking "where are all the weed smokers?" Only for the security to nip and bust those with arms in the air, until quickly no one replied.

If you're going to create a Bristol vibe at least have the same policing policy when it comes to those having a smoke! I can't imagine the green fields having the same security. The fact there were so few smokers, a very low dreadlock count in the area, and so many pill heads, and thieves made the whole place uneasy, and not anywhere you wanted to sit and chill with a coconut drink and a spliff! A total waste of effort to create what could have been a terrific addition to the site.

It's very hard to bring Jamaica to a dance orientated arena, and for me this experiment failed, which is why we run so far behind the rest of Europe for providing a proper platform for our reggae scene.

[Apone]

Silver Hayes is brilliant if you want the authentic feeling of being in Birmingham Broad St on a Friday night with nightclubs pumping out dubstep, aggressive doormen, slutty girls and drunken assholes spoiling for a fight. However I come to Glastonbury to get away from all that shit, I cant stand even walking through it but its either that or negotiate the picnic area that used to be the Pyramid stage

[5co77ie]

Silver Hayes is brilliant if you want the authentic feeling of being in Birmingham Broad St on a Friday night with nightclubs pumping out dubstep, aggressive doormen, slutty girls and drunken assholes spoiling for a fight. However I come to Glastonbury to get away from all that shit, I cant stand even walking through it but its either that or negotiate the picnic area that used to be the Pyramid stage

Edited July 2, 2013 by 5co77ie

[Matt87]

Silver Hayes is brilliant if you want the authentic feeling of being in Birmingham Broad St on a Friday night with nightclubs pumping out dubstep, aggressive doormen, slutty girls and drunken assholes spoiling for a fight. However I come to Glastonbury to get away from all that shit, I cant stand even walking through it but its either that or negotiate the picnic area that used to be the Pyramid stage

[Apone]

I suppose its good in one way as its such an asshole magnet (and as the great Zappa said, ladies can be assholes too), that it keeps them away from the rest of the festival

Like South East is nicknamed the naughty corner, perhaps Silver Hayes should be nicknamed the Twat corner

Edited July 2, 2013 by Apone

[Phil-itfc]

Really? There's such a huge amount of the festival already given over to dance music, sometimes I think I'm going to Creamfields or something. You have all the NW corner, most of the SE corner, Arcadia / the Glade area. Plus the increasing number of dance acts on the main stages. You want more?

[georgiebarn]

I avoided walking through there as it was like Ayia Napa on a Saturday night. Awful music bleeding in to more awful music, rubbish everywhere, nasty aggressive people and the worst toilets on site. Thank goodness for the cut through between Pyramid and SH.

[**claire**]

I didn't really spend any time in the area as it's not my cup of tea, just walked through it a couple of times on the way to JP tent during the day - I thought it looked better visually than in previous years, with some good ideas - can't comment on the rest as I never spent any time there, just used it as a cut-through!

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

I didn't really get the theme that was going on there either. Why was the WOW stage like a boat? Nothing else had a nautical theme.

It wasn't somewhere where you wanted to sit down and chill out for a few hours, but I'm not sure what they can do to solve it. Making it bigger would help sound bleed, but then dance areas would be taking over the site. Maybe just condense it to one huge big tent?

[mail1234]

I think they should scrap the dance field tbh. It never really works and though I never bumped into any myself, it does attract a fair amount of twats from what people are saying. As someone else said, there's already dance music catered for in the late night areas so why another area is needed I don't know. I loved the Gully and the Blues but wouldnt be sad to see the rest go

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

I think they should scrap the dance field tbh. It never really works and though I never bumped into any myself, it does attract a fair amount of twats from what people are saying. As someone else said, there's already dance music catered for in the late night areas so why another area is needed I don't know. I loved the Gully and the Blues but wouldnt be sad to see the rest go

Edited July 2, 2013 by thesecretingredientiscrime

[graham1030]

I walked through the area on Thursday night by accident then avoided it for the rest of the festival. Loads of horrible pilled up groups and a horrible atmosphere.

Unfortunately this type of music attracts these people and they also give the nice, thoughtful people who also enjoy this music a bad name.

Personally I would like to see a smaller dance area but I guess the area draws all the horrible chavs away from the other areas which is fine by me