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“They let in an extra 20k people” rumour


Dusk1983
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A few people have mentioned it, but surprised to not see more about the crowds this year on here. Heard this rumour about 20k extra punters on site all round the site this year. Usually when we were caught in a crush and started talking to people around you, as you do. 

In previous years pinch points have been put down to mud or certain artist overlaps but this year the entire site felt like a pinch point. Another poster wrote today about being able in previous years to bimble on Thursdays around the “tucked away” stages and venues and even parts of the SEC. No chance this year. None at all.

Actually I remember in 2015 I arrived on Thursday and I remember a) pitching up in a half empty field and b) being able to see most of the Eastern side of the site in one evening, inc SEC. And I mean being able to actually stick my head into each tent/sit down/buy a drink/having a dance! And I include here the NYC Downlow, Temple, and Shangri La!

This year there was no hope of doing either, not even on the Weds. Absolutely none. A security guard pulled us into their staff enclosure on the railway line on sat night saying “it’s not safe, stay out of the crush”!

i include here the bar queues too. 10 deep as standard!

So not saying this rumour is true but for me it’s absolutely night and day. Something has changed...

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I'm not sure it was much busier than normal up until Sunday. I just think people came out of their tents much earlier because of the heat which made the whole place seem busier 

Sunday did feel particularly crowded though. Not sure how many Sunday tickets are released but it was definitely noticeable on the Sunday this year, more so than other years 

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Did the licence change?

Friends who have hospitality tickets (well, they pay for them, comes through someone in some industry or other) said that their area they've been in the last few years was over double in size this year.

It did seem VERY busy from the word go, but it's hard to remember year on year due to the different weather conditions.

I know people go on about 2000 but I don't remember it being anywhere near as busy as it seemed this year. 

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I asked my group the same question and they all agreed this year seemed overly busy all around the site at all times.

I'm used to crushes after the headliners but these sort of crowds seemed to be occurring everywhere I went throughout each day. Although, weirdly, I found Sunday pretty ok! Weird....

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There were an additional 7k tickets licenced this year. That's quite a few extra people to accommodate and would have been noticeable. However I think the great weather brought a lot more people out of their tents throughout the day.

Personally I didn't get involved in a crush this year, which is unusual, but I put that down to my itinerary more than anything. 

Edited by HalfAnIdiot
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I thought it felt the same as previous years - there were probably a few more imbalances this year though - Kylie and Miley being the big one. 

After hours felt like the crowds were more spread out than usual, though partly down to IICON and increased capacity down SEC. 

 

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2 minutes ago, HalfAnIdiot said:

There were an additional 7k tickets licenced this year. That's quite a few extra people to accommodate and would have been noticeable. However I think the great weather brought a lot more people out of their tents throughout the day.

Personally I didn't get involved in a crush this year, which is unusual, but I put that down to my itinerary more than anything. 

I dunno, when it's muddy we say it slows people down and makes the crowds worse. When it's warm we say it bring more people out and about. It just keeps getting more crowded every year.

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I'm also clearly out of sync because I thought crowding was better than usual. Granted I didn't do too much of the worst runs (eg. Pyramid to Other in the evening etc). Went to SE corner on Sunday and that was fine too. Noticeably busy on Weds but I'd just put that down to the weather being nice meaning everyone wanted to get there as early as possible. Williams Green was a bit ridiculous on Thursday, and it felt like everyone had the same idea to hang around there so perhaps this needs a bit of thought in future.    

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Maybe the nice weather meant fewer people went back to/stayed in their tents? I thought the Thursday definitely seemed busier, in areas that aren't usually busy, but outside of that I seemed to avoid the crowds, and it was actually quite empty at times!

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Possibly the good weather and ground conditions meant people were more mobile, the Kylie miley afternoon was really crowded trying to get onto the already crowded field not helped by an awful lot of picnic rugs, folk lounging flat out, more chairs than I can remember and those big blow up couch things that take up a lot of space. Ok on a normal day but not when really busy, something that has to be addressed. 

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1 minute ago, Ayrshire Chris said:

Possibly the good weather and ground conditions meant people were more mobile, the Kylie miley afternoon was really crowded trying to get onto the already crowded field not helped by an awful lot of picnic rugs, folk lounging flat out, more chairs than I can remember and those big blow up couch things that take up a lot of space. Ok on a normal day but not when really busy, something that has to be addressed. 

Yeah it really was rammed. That was the busiest I'd seen it all weekend that day. We were by the ice cream van at the bottom of pyramid and it was shoulder to shoulder there for Kylie Miley

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Hard to tell tbh. It's definitely the first time I've enjoyed the SE corner properly, felt way less crowded in there this time. Shangri La was still pretty bad, but Block 9 and Unfairground were much better.

Anywhere that had shade was definitely worse though, the Woods was like the bit in Robin Hood when they drive all the peasants out of the village! People just huddled at the side of the path in any shade they could find.

Personally I didn't hit any crushes that were that bad.

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I thought it seemed better than 2016 when I was last there, but that’s probably because the mud made it difficult for people to get around so everything felt more dense.

The main pinch point I noticed, and it was regularly really bad, was that small path between the Glade and the Other Stage, leading up to the road. Coming from Chemical Brothers it felt seriously dangerous and there were no stewards to be seen. 

Edited by LMK
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Agree that think the weather forced everyone out of bed early and people either looking for shade or walking about - there was certianly more of a breeze when out and about than when at camp (at least in Pennards!).

According to Sky they think Kylie drew a record breaking crowd and then lots of people stayed for Miley before many all traipsing off to Billie - everyone having the same idea certainly makes it seem busier.

Thursday seemed more busier for memory but think this was just because of the lack of things to do so everybody doing the same thing and the weather being nice enough for people to be out and about. Glade was also beyond busy but I think that's because the quality/calibre/fame of the acts sends everyone there and it's too small to cope.

Having said that, never encountered any queues to get into SEC. Obviously they've expanded the area to include IICON but didn't expect it to be as easy. NYC Downlow on the other hand was a different story!

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I only went to the naughty corner on Sunday night and a trader and also a steward said it had been loads quieter up there than usual. Tbh I stopped going for a couple of years after 2013 as it had got so busy. Been to the last 3 in a row and dont think it seemed any busier especially with lots of new areas. Gerry Cinnamon was super rammed as he should have been on a bigger stage and David Attenborough then Kylie was very busy but to be expected

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Thursday was busy, which I think is due to more and more people turning up earlier so they don't miss anything.

But I didn't find it busy the rest of the time. That said, I didn't go anywhere near the Pyramid until Kylie and a lot of the stuff I wanted to see was never going to be over subscribed, compared to previous years.

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