Would you take a reduced capacity?

[Davey_T]

Seen a lot of people complaining about overcrowding in a some areas of the festival and wished it was more ticket the early 2000's. Just wondered if people would take a reduced capacity (which would obviously make the already difficult ticket purchase even harder). If you would take a reduced capacity, how many would make it a better experience?

I personally felt that the toilet queues were much bigger than previous years and areas such as arcadia, silver hayes, shangri-la get ridiculously busy to the point of not bothering unless it's when the headliners are on.

Thoughts? Who feels it was better in the early 2000's?

[A13]

What, and make it even harder to get tickets? No thanks.

[progue]

I'd happily see the capacity halved

[kalifire]

I'd rather eliminate tickets for the locals on Sunday. The crowds just swelled that day and made getting anywhere a pretty joyless task. A lot of them were chair-sitting misery guts as well, as far as I can tell. I know they're trying to give preference to the surrounding areas but it isn't necessary and made Sunday worse, for me anyway.

[Ruwise]

No I wouldn't as even though it can be very crowded around the main stages and in the after hours places you can always avoid crowds if you want to.

[neilloggie]

I never felt overcrowded anywhere.

[rubenz]

Didn't feel crowded at all to me especially not on the main stages. Didn't go into Silver Hayes or JP Tent though which are normally rammed.

After Arcade Fire walked straight in to Shangri La with no queing and it wasn't too busy at all. Think moving the fiery spider across near the park spread things out better.

[KryziF]

In general the crowds are well spread out across the site, there are always a few things each year though that prove crazy popular that's when the overcrowding happens. I can remember this even in the early 2000s so not sure reducing capacity will necessarily help that much.

[Swine_Glasto2014]

Yep agree, cut it. Sunday was ridiculous, and didn't like the snobby looks on people's faces at all us looking like shite after five days of action

[Georgeh]

Only if they vetted all the ticket process so no dickheads could attend & hedge pissers & litter louts were unable to attend in the future if caught.

Also do away with the Sunday tickets

Edited July 1, 2014 by Georgeh

[Guest]

I'd happily see the capacity halved

That's half the income then but I guess you still want the same quality of bands and still keep all the other aspects of the festival. The only way to make up the shortfall is to either double the ticket price or don't give anything to Oxfam, Greenpeace or Wateraid.

[Ricci's Special Kebabs]

I never thought it was overcrowded once, I even thought the Dolly Crowd was fine.

[stopwn1981]

I felt it was harder to get around on Sunday - not sure if day tickets or everyone staying at tents Saturday cos of the weather. Having said that the dolly crowd was supposed to be huge, but I didn't think it was too hard to move around.

[Ruwise]

I never thought it was overcrowded once, I even thought the Dolly Crowd was fine.

No getting away from Dolly was a nightmare as is getting away from Pyramid headliners but reducing capacity would just mean some other bands would be playing to nobody when you get a huge act playing.

[The Chin]

Only time I got annoyed with crowds was Arcadia & the SE Corner on Sat night. Plenty of different bars still going strong around to keep people going though

[progue]

That's half the income then but I guess you still want the same quality of bands and still keep all the other aspects of the festival. The only way to make up the shortfall is to either double the ticket price or don't give anything to Oxfam, Greenpeace or Wateraid.

I can't say I'm particularly arsed about the 'quality of bands' to be totally honest.

[mattgimmeshelter]

If you don't like going to a festival with thousands of people, don't go to a festival with thousands of people.

[GlastoSimon]

From the 'front pit' area it took 20 odd minutes to get out of the Pyramid field after Dolly, that's the only time I felt too over-crowded and as someone else mentioned, locals were there on Sunday and it was the biggest crowd of the weekend.

[Ricci's Special Kebabs]

No getting away from Dolly was a nightmare as is getting away from Pyramid headliners but reducing capacity would just mean some other bands would be playing to nobody when you get a huge act playing.

For the amount of people who watched Dolly it really wasn't that bad. You've just got to be sensible and plan your movements well.

[tumbles]

Halving the capacity would be losing something like £15m of tickets sales right?

[frostypaw]

I'd happily take a drop in capacity and them openly saying there aren't going to be as many huge headliners and less on to compensate. yes that would suck a bit - but i absolutely loved the festival when it was a bit smaller so i figure it can't suck that much really.

[Vacant0]

"I didn't think it was overcrowded anywhere once"?! I'm absolutely amazed at the people saying this. The site really could do with less people in it - but no I wouldn't take reduced capacity. It's hard enough to get tickets as it is and it would mean less money for the festival.

Getting into the crowd for Dolly I found even harder than getting out btw - came down from the top of the hill near the disabled viewing platform (was attempting to meet some people around there.... it didn't happen) and the amount of people sat down in chairs blocking the path was just ridiculous. Move down a bit or wait for the crowd to stop moving before plonking your chair down for christ sake.

[Ricci's Special Kebabs]

"I didn't think it was overcrowded anywhere once"?! I'm absolutely amazed at the people saying this. The site really could do with less people in it - but no I wouldn't take reduced capacity. It's hard enough to get tickets as it is and it would mean less money for the festival.

Getting into the crowd for Dolly I found even harder than getting out btw - came down from the top of the hill near the disabled viewing platform (was attempting to meet some people around there.... it didn't happen) and the amount of people sat down in chairs blocking the path was just ridiculous. Move down a bit or wait for the crowd to stop moving before plonking your chair down for christ sake.

I stand by this, it was far worse for the Rolling Stones. A person also mentioned queuing for toilets for ages where I never queued more the 5 mins all weekend.

You've just got to be a bit more sensible when it comes to crowd movements. Dolly was always going to be a huge crowd so you prepare for that.

Arrive in good time, go for a piss beforehand and wait 5-10 mins after the act finishes.

[Nice hymer]

How about doubling capacity ? it's the best party on earth, why not let more people in ??

Can hardly share the festival with friends anymore, as it's nigh on impossible to get tickets...

Apart from the Dolly set and maybe Shangrila on Saturday night, I thought the site felt quite empty, certainly well spread over the area.

[Davey_T]

"I didn't think it was overcrowded anywhere once"?! I'm absolutely amazed at the people saying this. The site really could do with less people in it - but no I wouldn't take reduced capacity. It's hard enough to get tickets as it is and it would mean less money for the festival.

What about a ticket price increase to make up for the drop in revenue? I'm not sure myself which is why I made this thread. But the thought of less crowded areas/easier to get in through the gates/traffic jams is an interesting one.