The dark side of the festival

[giantkatestacks]

Basically some sort of oneway system is needed from the Pyramid to the Other and some management in the pinch point at the markets from the Pyramid towards the other and vice versa but it wont happen and if you suggest anything like it you are seen as some sort of joy killer. 

[guypjfreak]

5 minutes ago, giantkatestacks said:

Basically some sort of oneway system is needed from the Pyramid to the Other and some management in the pinch point at the markets from the Pyramid towards the other and vice versa but it wont happen and if you suggest anything like it you are seen as some sort of joy killer. 

It's a festival not Milton Keynes old son.. People need to be more respectful of other people.. 

I think old Mr Richie had the biggest crush but hey ho we decided to go there.. Should have known better lol

Edited April 23, 2017 by guypjfreak

[kaytee...]

12 minutes ago, miffmiffy said:

I've been caught in two bad crushes in this area over the years. Once in 2008 when accessing during Amy Winehouses set and then again in 2013 prior to the Stones.  Both situations were exacerbated by small groups of people suddenly deciding to push on through regardless. I could see people around us starting to panic. Easy to see how things can turn quickly in these scenarios.

I found it totally frightening and consequently we never enter the Pyramid field via that route for headliners, subs or where an act is likely to draw any reasonable crowd.

I never usually enter or leave the field that way and I won't do again in the future. The Sunday theatre situation is ridiculous now, rows and rows of chairs and people complain when you try to get past 

[fowls]

I don't buy the "Glastonbury is like any other large town/small city" idea.  The festival is naturally going to be self-selecting for a relatively young healthy population.  Sure, minor accidents will be about the same or maybe a little higher due to everyone being more active, but more major accidents and fatalities shouldn't be in any way comparable.

[verrymerry]

10 hours ago, TiZuff said:

his answer was "ive been put on the graveyard run, i have to go into all the corners and look for dead bodies. I cant do that man, no way. I cant do it, they found people last year... i need to go."

He then continued running. 

We stayed til about 5pm on the Monday one year and security were going around looking in tents and collapsing them (presumably t o indicate it had been checked), not a nice job... 

7 hours ago, Mark E. Spliff said:

The festival requires a fairly lax approach to traffic management in order to keep the 'city' supplied...

I'm probably one of the few who actually likes the chaos of landrovers and tractors driving around the site, it's utter madness and it makes me think "only at Glastonbury" 

[fowls]

2 minutes ago, kaytee... said:

I never usually enter or leave the field that way and I won't do again in the future. The Sunday theatre situation is ridiculous now, rows and rows of chairs and people complain when you try to get past 

 

I'd be for a chair ban after a certain time.   It's so dangerous having pockets of space, especially when they collapse the chairs to stand up and everyone pushes forward into the space that's been created.  Just takes the crowd to misjudge how much space is actually there and you have a crowd surge to deal with.

[duke88]

It didn't make me fear for my own safety, but it was ridiculously tight on the paths to the right and back of the Pyramid before Coldplay last year. Told a lady with her kids not to try to fight her way through it with them. I do sometimes wonder why it's judged unsafe and illegal for a few thousand people to stand on a concrete terrace, complete with barriers, at a football match, yet it's completely fine for tens of thousands of people to stand in a field at a gig!

[billum]

1 minute ago, duke88 said:

I do sometimes wonder why it's judged unsafe and illegal for a few thousand people to stand on a concrete terrace, complete with barriers, at a football match, yet it's completely fine for tens of thousands of people to stand in a field at a gig!

I'm no expert, but is there less room for a crush to be dispersed sideways with a football crowd? In a big field like at the pyramid the crush can push out to the sides at the front, especially now there is that moon-shaped crush barrier that will move people off to the sides if pushed from behind

[One Tonne Baby]

Always get slightly worried I'm going to get crushed and the festival should employee some people to manage crowds a bit better. Remember a few years ago on the wednesday night getting stuck leaving the dance area and it was genuinely a bit scary.

[crocodiles]

First time last year did suprise me the amount of space you have at main stages although we weren't right at front for anyone but not miles back. When we left pyramid after muse it did get ridiculously crowded up by se corner where you cross over towards the tipees.  There were only 2 or 3 ste wards who were doing their best but was not good . We  stood aside for a while till crowd thinned as my wife was a bit freaked by crowd. In respect of other stuff were there is loads of drink and drugs u will get people passing out having bad reactions that's a fact of life and being at glastonbury doesn't protect people from that . 

[Peroni]

I think the excesses people go to prove they've "had a great time"  are way way over the top now 

So many times I've been in my group enjoying which ever act / stage we've been at to have someone else zombie though it completely out of it...it's unsettling and unfair if you can't handle whatever substances / drink etc you decide to stick down your throat or my personal bug bear suck out of a ballon...

I expect I'll get a lot of each to their own responses on this but the impact isn't just isolated to that one individual...  it causes ripples to others and in the long run it impacts the viability of the festival we all love....

[noplacelikehome]

The crush at hell stage last year for Mark Ronson was really scary, we moved right to the back near the fence to try and keep out of the main crush but were soon getting pressed back against the fence at the back of the arena, decided to get out as we could see more and more people coming in with nowhere for them to go. The 15 or 20 minutes trying to get out of that crowd were the worst I have experienced literally lifted off my feet several times. I think there is an accident waiting to happen there and it has completely put me off going to that area after hours this year

[stuartbert two hats]

5 minutes ago, Peroni said:

I think the excesses people go to prove they've "had a great time"  are way way over the top now 

So many times I've been in my group enjoying which ever act / stage we've been at to have someone else zombie though it completely out of it...it's unsettling and unfair if you can't handle whatever substances / drink etc you decide to stick down your throat or my personal bug bear suck out of a ballon...

I expect I'll get a lot of each to their own responses on this but the impact isn't just isolated to that one individual...  it causes ripples to others and in the long run it impacts the viability of the festival we all love....

Do you think it's getting worse on that front? I don't. Or at least it's nothing like pre fence days.

[Mardy]

9 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

Do you think it's getting worse on that front? I don't. Or at least it's nothing like pre fence days.

Yeah, much tamer now, and the crowd are, in general,  far far less bollocksed. On average. 

[Peroni]

7 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

Do you think it's getting worse on that front? I don't. Or at least it's nothing like pre fence days.

I couldn't say.  I've only been post fence... I do think peoples reason for going to the festival have swayed more to it's a place to get completely k'od  to the point I'm needing festival medical intervention over and above the original intents of the Evaii when they started the event...

theres an air of entitlement about people feeling safe to go completely over the deep end at festivals... and its exacerbated by the culture at the moment of getting kudos for how wasted you can get...

[zero000]

1 hour ago, fowls said:

I don't buy the "Glastonbury is like any other large town/small city" idea.  The festival is naturally going to be self-selecting for a relatively young healthy population.  Sure, minor accidents will be about the same or maybe a little higher due to everyone being more active, but more major accidents and fatalities shouldn't be in any way comparable.

Young and healthy also = more likely to take risks with drink and drugs, so it could well even out.

[russycarps]

19 minutes ago, Peroni said:

I think the excesses people go to prove they've "had a great time"  are way way over the top now 

So many times I've been in my group enjoying which ever act / stage we've been at to have someone else zombie though it completely out of it...it's unsettling and unfair if you can't handle whatever substances / drink etc you decide to stick down your throat or my personal bug bear suck out of a ballon...

I expect I'll get a lot of each to their own responses on this but the impact isn't just isolated to that one individual...  it causes ripples to others and in the long run it impacts the viability of the festival we all love....

Glastonbury has always been about getting as fucked up as possible.

If people find that unsettling, the festival isn't the place for them.

Why should it always be the festival that has to change to accommodate the newcomers? 

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

I do think they festival is now too over crowded, but the poor person who set themselves on fire has nothing to do with anything, they were just a poor tortured soul who happened to be at Glastonbury when it all became too much.

[Peroni]

Just now, russycarps said:

Glastonbury has always been about getting as fucked up as possible.

If people find that unsettling, the festival isn't the place for them.

Why should it always be the festival that has to change to accommodate the newcomers? 

I disagree... obviously there are folks who have that as their primary motivation but now there are a variety of segments that attend the festival.   Why else would they invest so much in the diversity of stages / areas they put on and the fact they promote that Kids get in free etc.

In general things evolve... they evolve to cater for what is demanded / expected of the clientele who chose to attend.   

 Like I said further up.. do what you want but not without consideration that you are sharing the space with others...

[russycarps]

9 minutes ago, Peroni said:

I disagree... obviously there are folks who have that as their primary motivation but now there are a variety of segments that attend the festival.   Why else would they invest so much in the diversity of stages / areas they put on and the fact they promote that Kids get in free etc.

In general things evolve... they evolve to cater for what is demanded / expected of the clientele who chose to attend.   

 Like I said further up.. do what you want but not without consideration that you are sharing the space with others...

Thankfully the yoof of today seem to enjoy getting fucked up so it seems the future of the festival is in safe hands in this regard and people like you are the minority. I just wish they'd find acid rather than the crap they seem to enjoy.

If you think a drug free Glastonbury would be an improvement on the current festival you're off your rocker. 

[MetaKate]

At a different festival I was at last year I was sitting on a hill enjoying the music and the blaring hot sun when I noticed the people next to me. 3 "friends" 2 of which were fine...and the third was completely fucked up and passing out in the hot sun. I told them to get their friend out of the sun and get him to drink some water but they were telling me he was fine. I gave him some water (they had none) and he ended up puking it up. I told them he had heat stroke and needed med attention  and they finally dragged him off...whether they went to the med tent or not is a different story. I've never seen a fellow in such a bad state with friends sitting there ignoring it. Really made me angry. 

On a different note- my friend passed out at Arcadia Saturday night last year (she passes out constantly, everywhere) and we were near the front in a massive crowd. My other friend and I had her on our shoulders and the crowd parted for us. We were out and sitting on something within 2 minutes. +1 for glastonbury crowd consideration. 

[Trout Mask Replica]

The vehicle situation does give cause for concern, not so much in its normal operation which appears to be well marshalled and as safe as can be. What is a bigger concern is the recent trend, as seen in France, for a lone ranger terrorist or trouble maker to comandeer one and start driving into the crowds intentionally. 

Of course, such an incident would be the end of the festival and large crowd events of all kinds. I'd expect that due to the difficulty of getting tickets and such the likelihood would be low but I'd hope the festival were giving greater thought to vehicle security given how many tractors and landys are onsite. Maybe having some facility to disable them, dead hand switch or remotely will become a requirement for the festival. 

Sorry if this all sounds a bit bleak but an attack on Glastonbury would be an attack upon freedom and liberal values more generally and it is a high profile event with so much coverage. 

As festival goers and music lovers it also means we have a greater responsibility to keep our eyes open and look after each other, especially in large crowds. 

[Peroni]

@russycarps never said "drug free" and I'm interested to understand what you mean when you say "people like me"  I'm fairly sure we've never met... is your perception that I'm anti drugs? 

My point it more around the impact it has on others and not the act itself... there's a fine line between having a "good time" and causing harm to yourself or impact to others...

Out of interest... why do you prefer acid induced folks to other class A's. What makes one better or worse?

[Divein]

I know it can't be helped really but vechicle situation gets too much at times.

 

The amount of times and I had to move off the metal track into massive puddles or foot high mud was too much. I'm sure they could reduce the amount of vechicles going around certain times.

[Pink_Tequila]

38 minutes ago, Trout Mask Replica said:

The vehicle situation does give cause for concern, not so much in its normal operation which appears to be well marshalled and as safe as can be. What is a bigger concern is the recent trend, as seen in France, for a lone ranger terrorist or trouble maker to comandeer one and start driving into the crowds intentionally. 

Of course, such an incident would be the end of the festival and large crowd events of all kinds. I'd expect that due to the difficulty of getting tickets and such the likelihood would be low but I'd hope the festival were giving greater thought to vehicle security given how many tractors and landys are onsite. Maybe having some facility to disable them, dead hand switch or remotely will become a requirement for the festival. 

Sorry if this all sounds a bit bleak but an attack on Glastonbury would be an attack upon freedom and liberal values more generally and it is a high profile event with so much coverage. 

As festival goers and music lovers it also means we have a greater responsibility to keep our eyes open and look after each other, especially in large crowds. 

All plant is disabled by code and special key which are logged out to registered vehicle users. I am not going to worry about rogue terrorist vehicle users at Glastonbury. Provisions and plans are in place to prevent an attack anyway.

Edited April 23, 2017 by Pink_Tequila