Crowd @ glasto

[knivesout]

Sounds to me like 0.5% are listening to any one of those genres, there's just a lot of genres. Maybe stuff is just more varied than it was in our day. Isn't this basically the same discussion as why there are no mega acts coming through as headliners, with the same answer. I.e. music today is too diverse for everyone to get behind one genre and a handful of massive bands?

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

So 0.5% of the yoof are listening to cool stuff then.

Ace.

[Spindles]

This is a video that gets brought up every year without fail.

I think we've also had a couple of people who are in that crowd say it wasn't as enjoyable as it looks given the crushes that year

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

In terms of liveliness, from the various crowds I've been in, Glastonbury is pretty reserved, especially on the two bigger outdoor stages. The Glade was always a personal favourite, given the right act and crowd. However, nothing beats the electric atmosphere before a really big event on the Pyramid. 2009 before Blur and 2013 before the Rolling Stones immediately spring to mind

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

sitting on internet message boards stroking their withered penises in a little trite ejaculation of smugness.

[Tuna]

Definitely agree with Knivesout on the diversity of acts nowadays being a factor in the obscure crowd mixings.

Wait until Pixies get on the mainstage on Friday and then the place will be bumpin'.

[rjb94]

Also, there's not such rivalry between fans of different types of music these days as there has been in the past. A lot of people like a bit of all sorts - but as a result don't get behind one specific genre enough for it to become a movement.

[russycarps]

So you people can't create as good an atmosphere as there was in 1999 because there's to many genres of music these days?

Ok

[stuartbert two hats]

So you people can't create as good an atmosphere as there was in 1999 because there's to many genres of music these days?

Ok

[stuartbert two hats]

So you people can't create as good an atmosphere as there was in 1999 because there's to many genres of music these days?

Ok

[russycarps]

I think it's harder, at the pyramid at least.

Edited January 20, 2014 by russycarps

[CaledonianGonzo]

What defines that FLC crowd as being 'good'?

The fact that they were bouncing more is certainly true, but the fact that they're bouncing to Huey Morgan's rapping doesn't really do them any favours.

[russycarps]

What defines that FLC crowd as being 'good'?

The fact that they were bouncing more is certainly true, but the fact that they're bouncing to Huey Morgan's rapping doesn't really do them any favours.

[CaledonianGonzo]

You do still see that at the festival, though - maybe not bouncing in big unified waves like what happened back in the 1990s, but people dancing their socks off.

I fear that this is selection bias resulting from a tendency to go to see Portishead instead of Chic :-P

[russycarps]

You do still see that at the festival, though - maybe not bouncing in big unified waves like what happened back in the 1990s, but people dancing their socks off.

I fear that this is selection bias resulting from a tendency to go to see Portishead instead of Chic :-P

Edited January 20, 2014 by russycarps

[ghandi]

I thought last year seemed overly packed. It might have been us but all our group seemed to think this. I agree with the crowd reaction now as opposed to what i have seen from the past, although i didn't start going until 2009. The best crowd reaction i saw from any Pyramid set was for Stevie Wonder, well you couldn't not dance, unless you were sub human and been on another planet, everyone knew the songs at least !

[Spindles]

The yoof that know how to enjoy themselves are the ones that get labelled piss throwing shitheads?

[russycarps]

The yoof that know how to enjoy themselves are the ones that get labelled piss throwing shitheads?

[CaledonianGonzo]

I dunno - I wasn't in the Dance Village during Rudimental or at the Other Stage during Chase & Status, but I can't imagine those crowds being particularly sedate.

It's more likeley any decrease in crowd activity I notice is due to the fact that I'm more likely to be watching a woman from Mali singing Touareg blues than going to see F*ck Buttons.

[Spindles]

2009 was a good crowd in many ways, to be fair. It was a mass skank on the hill in the sunshine for Madness on the Sunday as I recall.

I think that each year we get a different crowd, but many keep coming back, which gives a bit of bias to us auld farts.

Glastonbury's position on the social map over the last few years has contributed to the ever more sedate crowds, I think.

my understanding from what people have said on here is that this boomtown festival is closest to what glastonbury used to be, and full of yoof going wild.

Do they throw piss around there? I dunno cos I've never been (I'm too old!)

[russycarps]

2009 was a good crowd in many ways, to be fair. It was a mass skank on the hill in the sunshine for Madness on the Sunday as I recall.

I think that each year we get a different crowd, but many keep coming back, which gives a bit of bias to us auld farts.

Glastonbury's position on the social map over the last few years has contributed to the ever more sedate crowds, I think.

That's the impression I get also, from reading here. Like Glastonbury in the 90s when alot of us round here were in our 20s ourselves and things were bigger and brighter to our eyes.

[Spindles]

Well, I meet an awful lot of people who seem to sneer at me for still going because they used to go and now it's all shit. Quite a few of those come across as the kind of person who went once, was a total shit the whole time they were there and left all their shit behind to never return having "done" the festival.

I've enjoyed the festival over the years and enjoyed other festivals too, so I still love the place for delivering more than any other for me. I don't care that it has changed because I have too and I am a strong believer that what really makes the difference each year is that year's crowd.

[russycarps]

Well, I meet an awful lot of people who seem to sneer at me for still going because they used to go and now it's all shit. Quite a few of those come across as the kind of person who went once, was a total shit the whole time they were there and left all their shit behind to never return having "done" the festival.

I've enjoyed the festival over the years and enjoyed other festivals too, so I still love the place for delivering more than any other for me. I don't care that it has changed because I have too and I am a strong believer that what really makes the difference each year is that year's crowd.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Back to knivesout's point about fragmentation and the disparate genres that define 21st century culture, I think the thing that's really creating that significant response to Scooby Snacks is just that it's a hit single in a time with a smaller, less diverse media. Not a particularly good one, but it's just the shared recognition that gets the reaction. In a world where - to a greater or lesser extent - there are no longer any hit singles (at least, not many likely to be perfromed by an act playing at Glastonbury) then what is going to galvanise the crowd?

Even people largely unaware of FLC will have seen Scooby Snacks on TOTP or TGI Friday, but that sort of media saturation is pretty rare in this day and age. I dunno if tracks like Reflektor or Velociraptor (recent singles by this year's headliners) have seeped into the broader culture in a way that 10 or 15 years ago things like Parklife or Disco 2000 or Born Slippy - or even I Bet That You Look Good On The Dancefloor - did.

So they'll get good reactions from the fanbase, but unless the crowd is 100% comprised of people who know the material beforehand then there's always going to be a large element of people waiting to be impressed by an unknown quantity. Hence, even if the crowd is enjoying the gig it's likely to be a bit more static as it can be difficult to go bezerk to something you're unfamiliar with.

[zico martin]

I think this is bang on, everything is on demand these days, whether it be spotify, or bbc i-player, we listen and watch what we want when we want not when everyone else is. Gone are the days when the majority of the country were watching top of the pops on thursday night and being told what the best songs were, we now have ways of finding out what music we like ourselves, but this is to the detriment of the shared experience.

the singles charts are now meaningless, certainly to my age group anyway!