Would you take a reduced capacity?

[Alcatraz]

I'd be fine with capacity being reduced, and some stages (Accoustic, John Peel, a number in Silver Hayes, Arcadia) cut as well.

But then I'd also realise that'd be an incredibly selfish thing to do

Edited July 1, 2014 by Alcatraz

[waynewdk]

Have 6 big acts,maybe 2 playing at same time. Stages at opposite ends of the festival would help ease congestion loads, without a huge finacial loss.

[stopwn1981]

It's only going to get bigger.

[midnight]

I didn't experience any overcrowding problems at all this year - but I didn't go to see Dolly Parton, perhaps that saved me!

My friend who accompanied me to most stages even mentioned that the crowds seemed to be better managed this year, go figure. We never got stuck. Mind, there are some tricky situations we tend to avoid these days, such as trying to get from Pyramid to Other Stage (or vice versa) between headliners, or trying to get into SouthEast Corner at certain times of the night. I guess it can be pretty bad for 1st timers.

Getting tickets is hard enough as it is. Not keen to see numbers reduced.

The crowds might spread a bit better if those stages and areas that often feature good but lesser known acts got a bit more coverage.

Edited July 1, 2014 by midnight

[kk1977]

I think capacity is ok as it is. Thing Arcadia's move and a better vibe in Silver Hayes as well as the return of the glade to its proper position helped to reduce the queues getting into the SE corner. I found it a lot busier around 4-5am than previous years.

The Sunday at the pyramid is always busy with the increase in numbers due to Sunday day tickets. There was space to move about. I only found it particularly busy getting out the field. This is made a lot worse with the number of people sitting on rugs and chairs - particularly the ones that insist in sitting blocking the walkways.

I think part of the perceived increase in how busy it feels is all the people walking about like lemmings, hoping to catch a secret set somewhere.

[waynewdk]

do u think a barriered walk way would work maybe a slim walk way from one side of pyramid to the other, might help the congestion of people passing through!

Edited July 1, 2014 by waynewdk

[phil the shrew]

Wouldn't like to see capacity reduced but would like to see a few tweaks to the layout and schedule to try and improve movement round the site

Think the area round John Peel and Silver Hayes stages has a couple too many stages and as such the paths get quite narrow round their and on the path back to the pyramid. Layout of that area needs looking at

Similarly the path directly opposite the other stage up onto the rail track scares me. When the other stage sets end loads of people scramble up there and often meet people coming down as well. Luckily the crowd is 99% sensible and don't push too much, but think widening that entrance out and maybe moving the toilets from that area would help

Would also like to see the festival address the chairs issue - know not everyone can stand all day, but large groups of people plonking chairs down all day not that far from the front of the pyramid or other stage doesn't help the capacity issue, or flow of people coming or going to a set

Maybe a few "no chair" zones on those stages would help - if you want to sit down fine but to sacrifice that you have to site a bit further back

Otherwise think things are ok. It's always the decision to maybe have to sacrifice 2-3 hours to see an act like Dolly v going to 2-3 smaller stages in the same time and get round the site quicker

[Staff_Sav]

It would have felt less busy if it wasn't muddy everywhere. Just made it hard work, otherwise its fine =)

Edit: Actually, make the capacity one less by removing the person who nicked my girlfriends Poncho

Edited July 1, 2014 by Staff_Sav

[One Tonne Baby]

I didnt get a ticket this year so cant comment on this years overcrowding but I think you tend to forget the year before. I've been to the 3 before this year and the late night areas have always been pretty much rammed after the headliner finishes. We always set aside 1 night to miss a headliner and go early to enjoy it without as many people.

[Anarion]

The amount of people didn't bother me, and I moved a lot in the areas of Pyramid - Other - Silver Hayes.

The only time I got in a massive traffic jam of people was between Oxlyers - Silver Hayes right after Metallica, but that was my mistake. If only I had sat down and chilled for a little while, like I did after Arcade Fire and Kasabian, the worst crowd surge would have been over.

[Midnight Man]

The worst overcrowding I experienced was at Blondie - I tried to leave halfway through but the walkways at the back of the Other field were rammed with no movement and no apparent stewarding. It felt quite uncomfortable so I moved back into the crowd. But it should never have been put on there at that time of day, with no mainstream competition, so I guess that's more of a scheduling issue.

Overall I didn't notice much difference in queues from the past few years and, as someone else said, if you reduce capacity you have to reduce charitable donations or increase ticket prices. So no!

[haznutuk]

I'd rather eliminate tickets for the locals on Sunday. The crowds just swelled that day

That's surprising as only a few thousand (low thousands) tickets are available on the Sunday for locals. They are always oversubscribed and drawn 'from a hat'. Also quite a few people leave on the Sunday rather than the Monday which should help balance things a little. Maybe the Sunday felt that much busier as it stopped raining and more people came out of their tents?

Eliminating the Sunday tickets for locals wouldn't help keep the locals on board putting up with the inconvenience caused by the Festival. I travelled out of the area last weekend and had to take a bus to Bristol Temple Meads as Castle Cary train station was effectively off-limits for ordinary passengers. I could have returned via Bristol on Monday but didn't as I knew the local bus would be diverted around the bypass leaving me to walk over a mile with my bags. Travelling via Castle Cary on Monday was simply not an option. So I travelled via Castle Cary yesterday to find the car park still full of metal crash barriers (it was first closed the Sunday prior to the festival). Then there is the traffic on the local roads that makes a return trip from Glastonbury to Street to visit the dentist a several hour excercise. On Wednesday one local bus company simply suspended services. This is a high level of disruption, over a significant perod of time, for locals who simply want to get on with life. If a few of them get compensated with a Sunday Ticket (for which they pay) then that helps.

[Guest]

I thnk the problem is that Sunday ticket holders tend to head for the Pyramid stage and 'set up shop' there for the day. I went 'walkabout' around the site on Sunday afternoon and it didn't feel any busier than the day before.

[Sofa]

It's only going to get bigger.

^^^ THIS ^^^

[KryziF]

I wonder if you post this poll after T-day would the votes be reversed.

[Ed209]

To those who think the locals shouldn't get sunday tickets, then shame on you.

Getting the local community involved is hugely important to the success of glastonbury. It is very much a local festival with huge numbers of the stewards/helpers/setter uppers coming from the surrounding local villages. Further to this, the local communities have to put up with quite a lot disruption so you can have your weekend. While it is the biggest festival in the UK, it still strives to stay as connected to the local people and communities as it possibly can. Its the only way it can exist.

Having some people sat in chairs in a small part of the festival and being a little bewildered by your munted face is the small price to pay for maintaining some of the harmony with the locals. If that's a price too far for you then you're a twat.

Edited July 2, 2014 by Ed209

[stardustjunkie]

The only time I didn't feel safe was the crush between Oxylers and Silver Hayes. We were trying to get back to our tent in Bushy Ground but it seemed like every other person at the festival wanted to get to Sonic to see Fatboy Slim.

I wish they'd realise that Fatboy Slim is too big for these small stages, everyone seems to want to see him. Putting him on Arcadia last year was the most ridiculous idea ever. Sonic was clearly too small for the numbers that wanted to see him and it created a dangerous crush with absolutely no stewards in sight. Just give him a random Pyramid/Other slot one night and be done with it.

I didn't feel like it was too over crowded but I often felt like I was walking in the opposite direction to everyone else. I just always seemed to manage to be going somewhere that no one else was which made it hard work!

Edited July 2, 2014 by stardustjunkie

[MoilyX]

Now that we're getting numbers approaching 100,000 arriving on the Wednesday ^{(citation needed)}, the first two days need looking at, imo. Everyone scrambling round on an evening/night looking for entertainment and with no main stages running it's getting stupidly-busy at the usual haunts.

Not sure what they can do though, other than introduce/encourage more tented venues where they can spread the influx around and still keep the overall noise down.

Edited July 2, 2014 by MoilyX

[Guest]

Maybe some more 'creative' programming of the Pyramid stage acts is required on the Sunday to 'encourage' the locals elsewhere on the site. Something like they did last year when putting Nick Cave on before the Mumfords. The looks on the faces of the 'Chair Brigade' when he started was almost worth the ticket price on it's own

[Peroni]

weds and thursday "bimbles" were very busy this year, so would love some sort of phasing of tickets into Weds entry, Thurs Entry etc... not sure how that would work with camping though, but I don't profess to be an expert!

I'd also be happy to pay more, to minimise the impact on the charities by loosing the number of participants.

[haznutuk]

weds and thursday "bimbles" were very busy this year, so would love some sort of phasing of tickets into Weds entry, Thurs Entry etc... not sure how that would work with camping though,

I think phased entry would be a good idea. Now it seems that if you are not on site first thing Weds morning then all the best camping spots are taken. So people come down Tuesday evening to wait in the car parks. Should be possible to reserve a few camping fields for Thurs & Friday entrants? I've also suggested in the past that each camping area should have one or two marquees with no other purpose than acting as a rain/sun shelter and a gathering point for anyone and everyone.

[frostypaw]

Totally think there should be some marquee and fire site locations amongst the camping for those not wanting to do the se corner or other options - not enough campfires!

[DeanoL]

Totally think there should be some marquee and fire site locations amongst the camping for those not wanting to do the se corner or other options - not enough campfires!

So many other options now though! Go to Stone Circle, Park Hill or Flagtopia, or the fire at the Theatre fields, or around Arcadia.

[kidpresentable]

There were only 2 times I found myself struggling to move due to overcrowding - just before both Blondie and Dolly Parton. That's a bit of a given, although Blondie clearly should have been on the Pyramid. Would hate to see it made more difficult to get a ticket.

[progue]

Totally think there should be some marquee and fire site locations amongst the camping for those not wanting to do the se corner or other options - not enough campfires!

I can agree with that. I think the whole SE corner thing has created a real change in the dynamic of the festival over the last few years..Not that that is necessarily a bad thing of course.

Moving Arcadia has gone some way to resolving the issues of course, but it would be good to see a bit more done on the campfires front...