IICON

[deadpheasant]

Loved the IICON - it's a large enough area for them to put a big act on there as well. Hopefully next year for the 50th anniversary.

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

It's an incredible looking stage and I have to say, taking the patented @bennyhana22 "front-and centre" position I thought the sound was good in my experience. It was, however, sadly underappreciated. I went to see CCAI and there was less than a dozen of us in the field. Fair enough they were the opening act on Sunday but it just seemed a bit sad with just me, a couple of photo-taking onlookers and a guy in full cyber raver garb.

I'm not entirely sure that the brand of techno on offer (sometimes quite minimalist and even avant garde) is well suited to the traditional Glasto-goer, sadly. I like the ethos of the stage but I do think they'll need to sell their soul and rope in some more widely recognised names if they want to get the full value out of the space. All of the above said, it was so refreshing to have room to pull shapes, I'm a little bored of being hemmed in at gigs and festivals when all I can do is head-nod and foot tap. 

And for the record, Karenn crushed it. 

[Tuna]

Great stage. Loved it. Loads of room - well, for now - and what a spectacle. Managed to not spoil it and my jaw hit the floor coming through the gates to the SEC. One of my mates was so spangled it was only after an hour he turned to me and shouted "Oh my god I've only just clocked its a massive head" sound was amazing too. 

Build it and they will come. Buzzing for what they can bring in the coming years. 

[The Nal]

Incredible looking stage and area. Was blown away. Looking forward to seeing someone on it next year.

About the only good thing down the SE corner though. They really need to bin most the place and start again with something new. 

[stuie]

13 hours ago, theevilfridge said:

Thought Karenn was fantastic last night, and the light show is unreal.

Maybe it was because it was Sunday and we were all a bit broken but we all found it too heavy and uninteresting.

Felix Dickinson finish on Genosys was absolutely superb though.

 

 

[Mezhyp1]

10 minutes ago, The Nal said:

Incredible looking stage and area. Was blown away. Looking forward to seeing someone on it next year.

About the only good thing down the SE corner though. They really need to bin most the place and start again with something new. 

I get what you mean with this. Block 9 is the only place I went in the SEC, though no Downlow because of the relentless queueing (not interested in spending my festival in a queue). 

They've got a big chance with IICON to make it a proper showpiece for the biggest and best of all kinds of electronic music. I'm plenty hopeful for its future 

Edited July 2, 2019 by Mezhyp1

[sean01]

Went a few times over the weekend having gone unspoiled other than a brief glimpse while entering the site via the hill of death, but as said by others, hessle audio was the only time I saw it busy at all, with bars busy etc too.

We went by Sunday maybe half past midnight and it was completely dead although whoever was on was decent enough.

And as far as sound, again only m going by hessle but it was really, really good from where I was, first right at the back sat down on the left, then right below the visor lights.

[Time Being]

13 minutes ago, stuie said:

 

Felix Dickinson finish on Genosys was absolutely superb though.

 

 

Yes

[Penrhos]

I loved IICON for all the reasons people have said - just needs some well known names on the stage...

SE corner was rammed as usual, i squeezed into Gas tower, new Cave and a few others and you could hardly move. It's almost as if you have a constant steam of people milling around to find space/music rather than going into a venue and dancing to the music.

Whereas Genosys and IICON had open space and a good soundspace to dance in - I spent a few hours down there most nights.

Pangea = big miss for me, large crane, big ball with pictures on, no room, not loud enough.

[Joe Shez]

Loved the venue. Was a bit dead on Thursday but busier on Friday and Saturday. 

Great visuals and for me a lot more preferable with a bit of room for manoeuvre. Thought the same about Arcadia as well, a little bit more space made the experience much more enjoyable - for me the late night stuff was much improved this year 

[watsonjm]

19 hours ago, kalifire said:

I had a good chat with a couple of the bar crew there on Sat/Sun (possible because there was hardly anyone else at the bar) and they said they’d been warned that it was going to be absolutely rammed and that they should prepare accordingly. So they were surprised to see it much less crowded than expected and asked me why I thought it might be (as if I’d know!). 

I told them that I thought it looked amazing and it’s the first thing many people see who venture into the SE Corner, but the vibe isn’t there. A lot of that was in the music. With respect to the DJ’s, there weren’t any widely known names that may have pulled crowds in, and the music being played wasn’t terribly accessible. So people arrived, took a look, then moved on to stalwart venues like the Temple and Shangri La. IICON wasn’t something people really swung back around to catch up with. 

Very much this

[The Nal]

2 hours ago, Mezhyp1 said:

I get what you mean with this. Block 9 is the only place I went in the SEC, though no Downlow because of the relentless queueing (not interested in spending my festival in a queue). 

They've got a big chance with IICON to make it a proper showpiece for the biggest and best of all kinds of electronic music. I'm plenty hopeful for its future 

The queues for Downlow are one of lifes great mysteries. People must've been queuing for hours?

Maybe its because I clearly remember when the area started in 09, but its basically just got busier but with none of the little interesting bits. Was 2010 the year with the underground type walk through with all the little interesting nooks and crannies? Lots to see and do. Randomness everywhere. 

Theres actually not a whole lot to do there now. Just loads of people squashed in together between midnight and 3am.

Was down there at 11pm on Saturday night and the place was a ghost town. 

Bin it. Start again. Use the new stage as a base. 

[ghostdancer1]

maybe the booking budget took a bit of a hit this year for the construction of it?

even still, I doubt it would have taken much to get some of the acts that were already playing across the weekend to appear. there were several acts on Wow/Sonic over the weekend that were much bigger than anyone at IICON imo, not to mention acts at the Glade, Pangea and the Beat Hotel too...

[Tommy Dickfingers]

I personally hope they keep booking the more underground/interesting acts they did than go the way of Arcadia myself. 

When people say “big names” who do they have in mind?

[Tuna]

5 hours ago, The Nal said:

The queues for Downlow are one of lifes great mysteries. People must've been queuing for hours?

The Downlow is now a box to tick, innit. Has a reputation, plus the exposure on RA etc. in recent years has made it mega popular. Obviously it's a great place and it's terrific that people get to experience it that maybe normally wouldn't, and I hope it was special for everyone, but we didn't even try given the queues, which was pretty disappointing. 

1 hour ago, Tommy Dickfingers said:

I personally hope they keep booking the more underground/interesting acts they did than go the way of Arcadia myself. 

When people say “big names” who do they have in mind?

I don't take 'big names' as being those who have that crossover appeal that Arcadia et al put on, but those who are bigger in the dance scene, like Matt has mentioned a few times Ricardo, Hauff, Kraviz. Someone like Jeff Mills would be interesting. Could even see some of the Innervisions people, Klock & Dettmann, etc., but but think they can do more. If they could accommodate for more of a live setuo some Erased Tapesy things would be cool... 

That being said I agree really. The only thing lacking was the crowds this year, I don't know if anyone really perceives that as a problem? Thought the crowds were well dispersed during the night, not sure if they need to bring more people over necessarily. 

Edited July 2, 2019 by Tuna

[Mr.Tease]

On 6/28/2019 at 5:00 PM, kalifire said:

The IICON stage is absolutely insane. Strangely, the light show during testing on Wednesday was better than anything I saw on Thursday when it was actually open. In its full effect, this is amazing to look at. Jury is out on the sound. 

During the sound test on Wednesday or Thursday it was so loud I could feel my hair bouncing all the way out at the long drops, so they must have had to crank it right down due to licensing issues

[edgy85]

What was the new moustache entry system at downlow this year? Did that make the queues longer?

[Tuna]

9 minutes ago, edgy85 said:

What was the new moustache entry system at downlow this year? Did that make the queues longer?

Just red moustaches I think?

e:see below

Edited July 2, 2019 by Tuna

[sirjonnyp]

The moustache system has been in place for years at NYC (I have photos of us wearing them from 2013 or 2014). This year they changed the colour of the moustache each evening as previously people had been showing up with their moustache from the night before and going straight to re-entry, thus keeping the 'first entry' line from moving. 

We went on Sunday night, someone got six moustaches (I don't know how), still had to wait about 20 minutes. As people have said, it's just too busy now and a lot of the stuff that made it unique five to ten years ago has been lost. 

[Mezhyp1]

2 hours ago, Tommy Dickfingers said:

I personally hope they keep booking the more underground/interesting acts they did than go the way of Arcadia myself. 

When people say “big names” who do they have in mind?

IICON could handle anyone like Jeff Mills, Villalobos, Helena Hauff 

Someone like Jeff Mills turning up there would be fucking massive

I know what you mean though, no one's wanting them to turn round and start booking mainstream DJs just because they would fill the field. Hessle had a big crowd when I walked over after HAAi, they could take inspiration from that 

[Mezhyp1]

Would more than 19,000 turn up to watch Aphex Twin at 2am?

[Tommy Dickfingers]

36 minutes ago, Tuna said:

The Downlow is now a box to tick, innit. Has a reputation, plus the exposure on RA etc. in recent years has made it mega popular. Obviously it's a great place and it's terrific that people get to experience it that maybe normally wouldn't, and I hope it was special for everyone, but we didn't even try given the queues, which was pretty disappointing. 

I don't take 'big names' as being those who have that crossover appeal that Arcadia et al put on, but those who are bigger in the dance scene, like Matt has mentioned a few times Ricardo, Hauff, Kraviz. Someone like Jeff Mills would be interesting. Could even see some of the Innervisions people, Klock & Dettmann, etc., but but think they can do more. If they could accommodate for more of a live setuo some Erased Tapesy things would be cool... 

That being said I agree really. The only thing lacking was the crowds this year, I don't know if anyone really perceives that as a problem? Thought the crowds were well dispersed during the night, not sure if they need to bring more people over necessarily. 

For me yes to Jeff Mills, Villalobos. Kraviz and Hauff especially. Not into Innervisions at all, find Ben Klock mega boring but don’t mind Dettmann. How well would a set from Villalobos go down with random passers by though? Where would Bloc9 find the budget for any of those DJ’s they’re all mega dear.

10 minutes ago, Mezhyp1 said:

IICON could handle anyone like Jeff Mills, Villalobos, Helena Hauff 

Someone like Jeff Mills turning up there would be fucking massive

I know what you mean though, no one's wanting them to turn round and start booking mainstream DJs just because they would fill the field. Hessle had a big crowd when I walked over after HAAi, they could take inspiration from that 

Hessle played the best tunes I saw there all weekend too. I think keep the booking policy Bloc9 has and eventually people will flock to that area and hang around. It doesn’t have to happen immediately does it? IICON for me now is the best thing to do at night at Glastonbury except for The Downlow.

[HalfAnIdiot]

News from a friend who works for Mendip DC and was employed monitoring crowds in SE corner was that IICON didn't reach its 10000 capacity while Shangri La was still rammed. Although other areas were less packed as noted here.

For 2020 I'd anticipate some ramping up of the IICON pull to increase the draw and alleviate Shangri-la a little. Perhaps some additional structures to make it more enclosing and less esoteric music. Pangaea needs to up its game for similar reasons too. 

 

[magliad]

16 minutes ago, HalfAnIdiot said:

News from a friend who works for Mendip DC and was employed monitoring crowds in SE corner was that IICON didn't reach its 10000 capacity while Shangri La was still rammed. Although other areas were less packed as noted here.

For 2020 I'd anticipate some ramping up of the IICON pull to increase the draw and alleviate Shangri-la a little. Perhaps some additional structures to make it more enclosing and less esoteric music. Pangaea needs to up its game for similar reasons too. 

 

The stage is brilliant but I always felt the acts they had booked for it were just way too small. Perhaps they were hoping it'd naturally build the crowds because it was new etc and people would stick around but it rarely had a vibe.

Should be better next year! But having said that I enjoyed Karenn and all the room to dance.

Edited July 2, 2019 by magliad

[Tuna]

20 minutes ago, Tommy Dickfingers said:

For me yes to Jeff Mills, Villalobos. Kraviz and Hauff especially. Not into Innervisions at all, find Ben Klock mega boring but don’t mind Dettmann. How well would a set from Villalobos go down with random passers by though? Where would Bloc9 find the budget for any of those DJ’s they’re all mega dear.

Yeah, likewise, I say that more in a not sure there's really been any place at Glastonbury for them until now. Only ever seen Klock on SH lineups too, dunno how the ££ is spread out between the different areas tho, would imagine block9 could get those names if they wanted them. Personally agree and hope they aim differently but who knows. 

Anyway, is the idea to get the random passers by? 

But yeah I agree, the block9 folk have been knocking it out the park for ages, they'll have some ideas up their sleeves and more, we're in good hands