SE corner changes

[Winslow Leach]

Efestivals, 2016: They should make Silver Hayes more like Shangri La.

Glastonbury, 2017: We're making Shangri La more like Silver Hayes.

[Perks]

On 27 April 2017 at 9:47 PM, Keithy said:

No that's lies Ben.

Blast! Beat me to it.

[musky]

31 minutes ago, Trismeister said:

Bit of a radical idea... But considering that the fields like the Caberet in that area are pretty empty at night, would it not be possible to move an area such as the unfairground there to make more room for Shangri LA ect considering the huge popularity the night life areas have, and leave space for comedy/poetry tents to use in the day. I know it seems like a strange idea, but I'm tired of being stuck in crushes in the corner of the site when there is so much space around, especially when so many festival goers only go for the se corner.

I always enjoy the theatre and circus fields as well but I don't see why they can't move some late night stages there to create more space at night. It would also link up some night life areas of the festival a little more which are currently very scattered around.

I think there's likely too be two problems with this idea.

Firstly, it's moving the late night areas closer to the village which will present greater difficulties with controlling the sound levels. Secondly (and more importantly) it would represent a downgrading of the Cabaret area. It's a core area of the festival and they've put considerable effort into building up this aspect of the festival over the years, largely down to the efforts of  Arabella Churchill. The kind of build that is associated with the SE corner would dominate the field, relegating the performance parts to an afterthought. The Cabaret tent goes on until 2am, so I'm not sure how that would work with music going on in close proximity. While I'm sure they could add other attractions there I don't think the type of stuff found in the SE corner would be compatible.

It's like pointing out the Permaculture or the Craft fields are under utilised at night and should be turned over to late night entertainment. It's not going to happen because they are part of what makes Glastonbury Glastonbury.

[Untz]

Well this sounds shit.

[Trismeister]

1 hour ago, musky said:

I think there's likely too be two problems with this idea.

Firstly, it's moving the late night areas closer to the village which will present greater difficulties with controlling the sound levels. Secondly (and more importantly) it would represent a downgrading of the Cabaret area. It's a core area of the festival and they've put considerable effort into building up this aspect of the festival over the years, largely down to the efforts of  Arabella Churchill. The kind of build that is associated with the SE corner would dominate the field, relegating the performance parts to an afterthought. The Cabaret tent goes on until 2am, so I'm not sure how that would work with music going on in close proximity. While I'm sure they could add other attractions there I don't think the type of stuff found in the SE corner would be compatible.

It's like pointing out the Permaculture or the Craft fields are under utilised at night and should be turned over to late night entertainment. It's not going to happen because they are part of what makes Glastonbury Glastonbury.

I understand that its hugely unlikely because of how the festival has developed with areas being developed by individual teams with different visions. I just wonder whether this unplanned evolution of areas would have occurred that way if they had all been planned from the beginning.

It wouldn't work with the level of construction that an area such as the Unfairground requires I just wonder if there's a solution not so different from Arcadia being used in the other stage field in 2013 where teams could make better use of space that is quiet at night without it impacting the stages in those fields. I wasn't aware the Caberet ran until 2am so that makes that area difficult, I just wondered whether they could have tents for the poetry and Caberet that could accommodate late night crowds and music and have maybe one large art installation for a late night stage that is also used in the day. 

But fair point about not downgrading the Caberet field, it would obviously require a big redesign of the layout of that area so may not be much desire to do so.

 

Edited April 30, 2017 by Trismeister

[BlackHole2006]

The Cabaret field definitely won't be changing in that sense and is kept as it is for a reason. 

[Untz]

42 minutes ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

It does, but I reckon we're jumping the gun a bit here and maybe getting disappointed for nothing. On past form, we should trust these guys to know what they're doing and look forward to the changes and discovering new things. How many times have we seen posts on here saying it's got a bit staid for those that go every year and needs updating.

Unless @Sawdusty Surfer posts on here saying he's seen it and it all looks sh#t then I reckon we keep an open mind and head down there Wed an d Thurs to see what's happened. And if it issh#t, then I'm sure we can all find something fun elsewhere!

Less of the balanced and reasonable posting!

I agree with all of what you said and I accept changes have to be made for safety reasons, I just hope it doesn't lose too much of its character.

[jonodillieono]

2 hours ago, musky said:

I think there's likely too be two problems with this idea.

Firstly, it's moving the late night areas closer to the village which will present greater difficulties with controlling the sound levels. Secondly (and more importantly) it would represent a downgrading of the Cabaret area. It's a core area of the festival and they've put considerable effort into building up this aspect of the festival over the years, largely down to the efforts of  Arabella Churchill. The kind of build that is associated with the SE corner would dominate the field, relegating the performance parts to an afterthought. The Cabaret tent goes on until 2am, so I'm not sure how that would work with music going on in close proximity. While I'm sure they could add other attractions there I don't think the type of stuff found in the SE corner would be compatible.

It's like pointing out the Permaculture or the Craft fields are under utilised at night and should be turned over to late night entertainment. It's not going to happen because they are part of what makes Glastonbury Glastonbury.

There was definitely a dance venue in the crafts field last year, walked passed it every night. Was usually pretty empty

[Brave Sir Robin]

On 2017-4-28 at 9:57 PM, Half Man Half Mattress said:

Sorry for being a bit dense but what are 'the hexagons'? Been down there a few times but usually in a kind of fear and loathing type cognitive state.

This big red construction is a hexagon:

There were several of these 'microvenues' with different stuff going on inside.

Edited April 30, 2017 by Brave Sir Robin

[swede]

The wife really wants to hit the SE corner this year but having been in Shangri-la on a couple of occasions I really do feel it's style over substance. 

Never done the other areas late on and am a big fan of Arcadia as you can always grab of a bit of your own space if needed 

Think we may leave The Jacksons early and head in before the rush but which areas are people's favorites and why 

[musky]

2 minutes ago, swede said:

The wife really wants to hit the SE corner this year but having been in Shangri-la on a couple of occasions I really do feel it's style over substance. 

Never done the other areas late on and am a big fan of Arcadia as you can always grab of a bit of your own space if needed 

Think we may leave The Jacksons early and head in before the rush but which areas are people's favorites and why 

Deluxe Diner/Rocket Lounge. Because of the vibe and the bands.

[Hotchilidog]

I hope some micro venues are retained as they are great. It's just got so popular a rethink is needed to help people enjoy it. I trust the people in charge to do good job. The alleyways were bloody great though...

[musky]

7 hours ago, jonodillieono said:

There was definitely a dance venue in the crafts field last year, walked passed it every night. Was usually pretty empty

Interesting. Never noticed one there. Anyone know what it's called - @Sawdusty Surfer?

 

[mjsell]

I'm looking forward to going in the SE corner and actually knowing what is going on and where things are. When I went in 2015 I think we went twice and I was a state both times - so have has a shoddy mental picture of how it's all laid out. I remember Latino, Rum shack, Genosys and stumbling through what I assume was shangri la, but I have no clue how it all relates to each other. 

Much preferred my night in Beat Hotel, where I couldn't get lost. 

[jonodillieono]

2 hours ago, musky said:

Interesting. Never noticed one there. Anyone know what it's called - @Sawdusty Surfer?

 

It was just a white tent always playing music at night. I usually go through the craft fields to get into the SE corner so seen it on the main path there

 

Just looked at the site map. It was roughly where the first F is in 'Craft Fields'

Edited April 30, 2017 by jonodillieono

[The60ftOctopus]

15 minutes ago, jonodillieono said:

It was just a white tent always playing music at night. I usually go through the craft fields to get into the SE corner so seen it on the main path there

 

Just looked at the site map. It was roughly where the first F is in 'Craft Fields'

Are there tables and seats in this place? 

I think I ended up in this tent once with a group of random people. One drew me a picture of a teletubbie with some crayons.

Such a surreal morning and I've not found the place since. 

[Harmonic Prospector]

8 hours ago, musky said:

Deluxe Diner/Rocket Lounge. Because of the vibe and the bands.

I've been thinking for a while now that Deluxe Diner and The Rocket Lounge need to be elsewhere on site, perhaps Avalon. I don't think I'm alone when I say that these venues are the only thing that draws me to the SE corner.  If they could be accommodated elsewhere on site it would ease the congestion as those of us who are after a Rocket Lounge vibe after hours wouldn't need to go to the SE corner at all. 

[jonodillieono]

10 minutes ago, The60ftOctopus said:

Are there tables and seats in this place? 

I think I ended up in this tent once with a group of random people. One drew me a picture of a teletubbie with some crayons.

Such a surreal morning and I've not found the place since. 

I didn't go in, I just always walked passed it. There was always loud music coming from it and lights. It wasn't like an open tent, there was only one entrance in the side, didn't seem to be any security so don't think it was a staff bar

[musky]

11 minutes ago, jonodillieono said:

I didn't go in, I just always walked passed it. There was always loud music coming from it and lights. It wasn't like an open tent, there was only one entrance in the side, didn't seem to be any security so don't think it was a staff bar

I must have walked past there loads of times, although probably not late at night. I'll have to keep an eye out for that this year.

[Junglist1981]

Pragmatically speaking big changes are needed to make it really good again. It's faaaar too popular to try and carry on as it was, needs to be twice as big to regain the magic it had at it's peak but there's no room for it to grow.

Must be a tough one for the organisers to deal with, given the amount of people who are staying out late. The festival probably needs another entirely separate late night area, but then where could that go? Dotting venues about the place might help a little but individual venues are never gonna have the draw created by the SE's mad vibe so it's always gonna be over subscribed down there.

One idea might be to only open the corner from 2am, then have it go hard through until midday. But then you'd need about 20 more 1,000 capacity venues spread about elsewhere to deal with the 12-2 crowd. Hmmm.

Easiest thing to do right now for late night raving is probably go Glade or Arcadia until they shut and then maybe go Shangri La at half 3. But then a lot of the interesting little stages are shut by 5am.

Text book case of victim of it's own success really. It's a very necessary thing to have though, where would all those people go without it? If for some reason the whole SE corner got shut down they'd probably have to shut all the other late stages to avoid crushes elsewhere.

How busy does the Stone Circle get at night these days? Not been up there for years. Always used to be heaving.

[Junglist1981]

Imagine a world without noise restrictions. 

Main stages open until gone 3am. Glade 24/7, Arcadia at sunrise, late night boozy knees up nonsense in Avalon, mad little stages everywhere open all night catering for all tastes. Would be immense.

I guess anyone living with about 5 miles would get no sleep all weekend, but they could be proud to be taking one for the team.

[DeanoL]

14 hours ago, Trismeister said:

Bit of a radical idea... But considering that the fields like the Caberet in that area are pretty empty at night, would it not be possible to move an area such as the unfairground there to make more room for Shangri LA ect considering the huge popularity the night life areas have, and leave space for comedy/poetry tents to use in the day. I know it seems like a strange idea, but I'm tired of being stuck in crushes in the corner of the site when there is so much space around, especially when so many festival goers only go for the se corner.

 

The less busy areas of the SE corner are there on purpose to allow for overcrowding. Essentially if there is a crush, the crowd need somewhere to go. You could fill Unfairground and Latino with more venues but you'd have to reduce the overall capacity of the corner. 

[nickharley]

I'm definitely sharing people's concerns over the layout issues but will definitely hold my breathe until any proper judgement of it.

The idea of truth and lies however really excites me. Appreciate that the Heaven and Hell theme was a huge project and couldn't be changed so easily but looking foward to a new theme. With the current political climate I think there's a lot of fun to be had with it. 

Always loved this poster from a few years ago and I can imagine something like this being built on. 

[Keithy]

If they can open up some more footfall space by removing some of the hexagons then I'm all for that. If you get caught up in a slow moving trudge through the SE corner then any excitement/magic soon gets drained from you. There's always going to be a tourist element to the SE corner who want to get their photos so anything that helps nice that crowd through the area is a good move.

I have wondered if they will be much stricter in the crowd control this year and reduce the numbers being allowed in. 

Avalon is so close to the SE corner that I'd guess it's not bound by the sound restrictions so perhaps they could do some after hours stuff there. All that said, there is smaller after hours stuff away from the SE corner, people just need to wander and find it. I still fondly remember a great little bar in 2013 that was playing Nirvana ''Nevermind' in full at 2/3am. Wasn't in the SE corner but can never remember where exactly. I think it was around Williams Green but I was quite drunk at the time.

[stuartbert two hats]

Just to add to the 'other late night places', The Bimble Inn may not have spacial projections or secret doors, but is open late, has a bar and has good DJs playing loud music when most other things are shut.