Pinhead Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 I'm stunned that for 7,000 punters, it increases by 35K more 'non-customers'. I remember having a convo with someone last year about how it was seemingly becoming a festival where half of those there were staff etc and it was in danger of becoming a festival 'for itself' rather than the wider ticket paying public . Don't believe its quite that bad tbh, but does anyone see what I mean with a ratio like that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
incident Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 1 minute ago, Pinhead said: I'm stunned that for 7,000 punters, it increases by 35K more 'non-customers'. I remember having a convo with someone last year about how it was seemingly becoming a festival where half of those there were staff etc and it was in danger of becoming a festival 'for itself' rather than the wider ticket paying public . Don't believe its quite that bad tbh, but does anyone see what I mean with a ratio like that? When the increase was announced, one of the major justifications given was that it wouldn't lead to a significant increase in the number of people on site for two reasons: - That they weren't intending on using all of the extra numbers, it was just to cover them in case it was needed down the line, for example if they needed to step up security at short notice as happened in 2017. - That it would mean they didn't need to double (or more) up on tickets anymore - so for example an artist playing Friday would count as one person for the purpose of the licence, then when they left the site and a Saturday artist arrived then they'd take their place. The increase was supposed to allow it to be 1 ticket = 1 person on site without having to factor in when they arrived / left. I can't say that I fully buy into those reasons in their entirety, but there's probably some element of truth there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eFestivals Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 1 minute ago, Pinhead said: I'm stunned that for 7,000 punters, it increases by 35K more 'non-customers'. they're not directly related. The 35,000 more 'staff' was agreed a number of years ago, but has been increased bit by bit as the years passed. The extra 7,000 punters is a new thing, but where I reckon any extra staff needed for them could come out of that extra 35,000. The 35,000 increase was done on a "we'd like to have this much available" basis rather than a "we need every last one of these" basis. 1 minute ago, Pinhead said: I remember having a convo with someone last year about how it was seemingly becoming a festival where half of those there were staff etc and it was in danger of becoming a festival 'for itself' rather than the wider ticket paying public . Don't believe its quite that bad tbh, but does anyone see what I mean with a ratio like that? the staff/punter ratio prior to 2002 was probably bigger then than it is now. Staff got trimmed so much that many aspects & areas were complaining they didn't have enough staff or guest passes for performers, or whatever. As an example of how tight things were being run, a stage manager got sacked in around 2004 after he booked a band with lots of members and hoped the booking would secure him the extra passes he needed for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinhead Posted February 25, 2019 Report Share Posted February 25, 2019 Yeah I heard that there was a clampdown to some degree on the number of extra 'hospitality' passes some areas were claiming that they needed for extra crew and so on a few years ago. So in essence then, the 35K is 'potential' on site rather than actual? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eFestivals Posted February 26, 2019 Report Share Posted February 26, 2019 11 hours ago, Pinhead said: Yeah I heard that there was a clampdown to some degree on the number of extra 'hospitality' passes some areas were claiming that they needed for extra crew and so on a few years ago. "a clampdown to some degree"? That's like saying tory cuts are just a few quid. The staff cuts were brutal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pinhead Posted February 26, 2019 Report Share Posted February 26, 2019 Do you think it impacted in any way on how any of the areas were run and what they were capable of putting on during the festival? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eFestivals Posted February 26, 2019 Report Share Posted February 26, 2019 35 minutes ago, Pinhead said: Do you think it impacted in any way on how any of the areas were run and what they were capable of putting on during the festival? There's the example I gave above, of a stage manager getting sacked for exceeding his passes. I don't know any other stories, but I'd guess the tight numbers for artists/guests/staff impacted onto most areas in some way at some point. A lot of what got lost were non-working blaggers, but it wasn't only them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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