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“They let in an extra 20k people” rumour


Dusk1983
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Site definitely filled up quicker - I've never noticed so many people on site before the fireworks on Wednesday night.

Thursday night was just madness - just like a normal Friday-Sunday.

If this is the pattern going forwards they need to seriously change the stage scheduling as there was far too much churn between stages when music styles altered which caused some mighty crushes past the food vendors.

 

 

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46 minutes ago, Yokel Again said:

Did the licence change?

yes. In the last few festivals it's gone from around 175k to 205k.

Despite that, my impression is that things were quieter this year than some other recent years. I guess it's really about being in the crowded place at the crowded time.

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Out of sync too - I didn’t think it was that bad;  though I was one of the fence jumpers in 2000 - that was busy!

Thought there was quite a bit of room - though I tend to stick to smaller stages. Mind you West Holts for Lizzo was the busiest I’d seen it in the daytime.

Most people have discovered the railway track these days - I swear years ago it wasn’t utilised as much - so much so I found it much easier late at night to walk through the market places which I wouldn’t normally do in a muddy year.

There’s 5K local tickets for Sunday - maybe weekend people didn’t leave on the Sunday due to bad weather this year so maybe felt busier?

There was also more people booked into buses trains - and I imagine most wouldn’t pre-book those till late Sunday/Monday. 

Working on the info point Weds & Thurs everyone seemed to be on the move - but by Fri the stages then absorbed some of the capacity. Perhaps again due to good weather people could get around & explore   areas they would not normally do? Given the reports of how many miles myself and people I know did over the festival I imagine this holds true for many others! 

Hot tents probably also mean less people staying in the campsites for lie-ins during the day. 

 

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Just now, eFestivals said:

yes. In the last few festivals it's gone from around 175k to 205k.

Despite that, my impression is that things were quieter this year than some other recent years. I guess it's really about being in the crowded place at the crowded time.

As part of the licence is there anything that prevents them from opening larger stages on a Thursday? Or do you think it's more likely that it's something that the festival doesn't want to do, be that for financial reasons or wanting people to explore the site?

West Holts or John Peel would be a great addition, perhaps for new artists to perform or for comedians.

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3 minutes ago, The Nal said:

Busiest I've ever seen Wednesday morning. Most people were on site by lunchtime. Hardly any Thursday arrivals and not as many people leaving on Sunday.

It really is a Wednesday AM to Monday AM festival now.  

And I think so many people come on Tuesday too - saw people starting the que at Ped Gate D at 18:00 on Tues. If you know you’re coming in Oct there’s ample time to plan/book leave if needed. Lots of the central camping areas had filled up by 11am Weds - when I went for a bimble at 8am some people where running to find pitches!

Edited by Another eforum account
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2 minutes ago, andyhh said:

As part of the licence is there anything that prevents them from opening larger stages on a Thursday? Or do you think it's more likely that it's something that the festival doesn't want to do, be that for financial reasons or wanting people to explore the site?

West Holts or John Peel would be a great addition, perhaps for new artists to perform or for comedians.

the licence doesn't allow the main stages to open on Weds or Thurs, and - having sat thru Glasto licence hearings - I doubt it ever will do.

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2 minutes ago, andyhh said:

As part of the licence is there anything that prevents them from opening larger stages on a Thursday? Or do you think it's more likely that it's something that the festival doesn't want to do, be that for financial reasons or wanting people to explore the site?

West Holts or John Peel would be a great addition, perhaps for new artists to perform or for comedians.

They should at least open the tents so people can sit around on the grass. 

1 minute ago, Another eforum account said:

And I think so many people come on Tuesday too - saw people starting the que at Ped Gate D at 18:00 on Tues. If you know you’re coming in Oct there’s ample time to plan/book leave if needed. Lots of the central camping areas had filled up by 11am Weds - when I went for a bimble at 8am some people where running to find pitches!

Saw people running about myself yeah. We got to Michaels Mead at midday and it was already pretty much full which is a first. In 2010 we put up a mates huge 8 man tent for him on Thursday evening no problem next to us. Still loads of room then.  

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7 minutes ago, Another eforum account said:

 

Working on the info point Weds & Thurs everyone seemed to be on the move - but by Fri the stages then absorbed some of the capacity. Perhaps again due to good weather people could get around & explore   areas they would not normally do? Given the reports of how many miles myself and people I know did over the festival I imagine this holds true for many others! 

 

 

Hello mate, I know this is slightly off topic but working at the info points: how did you get into that? I volunteered for Oxfam this year and enjoyed it, but standing at a vehicle gate for 3 x 8hrs was a bit knackering - I’d much prefer a slightly more sedentary position really: any contact info you could send my way would be very much appreciated ??  

To go back to being on topic ?? I thought it wasn’t too packed at all either, though I only saw one act at the Other and the Pyramid. I tend to hang around the Greenfields and Shangri-La more than anywhere else. 

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Actually seemed very un-crowded to me this year ?‍♂️

Crowd anxiety is one thing that really plagues me during the festival, but really this year everything felt like the crowd wasn't very big, apart from Lizzo. In fact, I watched a load of main stage bands from the front row; Cat Power, This Is The Kit, Vampire Weekend, The Cure. Sigrid felt like a ghost town, I thought she'd be mobbed.

After Kylie had finished I strolled into the front circle with no trouble at all. I thought that was odd and maybe that was just because I'd entered through the John Peel side, but then nope, another 5 of my group came in with ease from the other side. After Miley had done my group buzzed off for something else, so I took a few paces forward to see how far I could get, then realised we'd been only about 15 metres from the barrier the whole time, and there was a free spot there, so I took it.

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Turned up to East CV at our normal time on Wednesday and was right at the back of E16 - never been that far away before, will have to consider having Tuesday off work and spending another day on site.

Crowd at pyramid was a bit odd on Sat - was rammed up on the field but we got into the inner barrier with ease for Liam & killers.

 

Edited by Penrhos
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It was busy, but not any more noticeable than previous years (other than the Kylie into Mylie!) 

As others had mentioned, found South East corner quite easy to get into. Denzel Curry was easy to watch on Thursday, and got into South East Corner easily again Friday after watching Stormzy and very slowly heading over. As we were on our way over I was telling my mates ‘no way are we getting in at this time’, and we just strolled in and saw (literally) the last minute of Idles, which i would have assumed to have been dangerously rammed?! 

Saw a few food stalls about that never seemed have a queue, which made me feel sad for them! And heard someone say that a lot of traders had a bad year.

Edited by bigfurbdogg
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Yeah I must say, as a first timer this year my primary complaint was that the whole thing often just felt too busy. 

I didn't really enjoy a lot of the nighttime stuff for that reason. Maybe my friends just happened to insist on going to the worst places possible, but I constantly just felt like I was in a sea of people.  

Kylie on Sunday of all sets was the first time in my life I've genuinely been a bit scared of a crowd. There was a real crush going on just to the right of the stage near where those trees are walled off. Those bottlenecks just got even worse in between Kylie and Miley when you combine lots of people trying to leave and lots of people bafflingly thinking it's acceptable to sit down anywhere they want and so in the end my girlfriend and I ended up just traipsing back to our tent to enjoy a bit of air for an hour or so. 

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1 hour ago, Digi said:

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 

I'd agree to this - especially in The Cure and Kylie (to be expected I suppose).

Edited by discgoesmic
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I dunno if I thought it was busier than the last few years tbh. Thursday and Sunday definitely seemed the busiest, but then that makes sense as there were limited places to go on the Thursday and the Sunday had the locals included in the numbers as well. 

Of course it all depends where you go. I only went to the Pyramid on Sunday, so I couldn't really compare the Friday and Saturday crowds, and I never went to Other (for the first time ever maybe?), only through the field early or late in the day.

Attenborough/Kylie was crazy busy, but I had a better experience than I had at Dolly or Lionel, largely because our group maintained a spot about midway up the field for most of the day from Mavis onwards. It was a pain getting out to the loo and to get a drink, but once in there was actually a fair bit of space around us and certainly more than there was further back or at the sides. The only horrible crush was just afterwards when we sacked off Miley for Bootleg Beatles, hoping for somewhere a bit quieter, but Acoustic was rammed too. That was a really unpleasant crush and actually a bit scary.

Conversely, this is the first year in ages I've spent any time at the SEC in the evenings/night time and it was great. Managed to get in and out no bother on the Thursday and Saturday, and spent most of Wednesday down there. Which was really nice actually. Had thought I'd never get down there again but the new IICON field really spaced the crowds out a bit. Mind you I didn't venture into Shangri La post-Wednesday, so can't speak for that one.

Could definitely have done with more shaded spaces on the Thursday. I ended up finding a tiny pocket of shade at the far end of the very outside of the Acoustic stage and just sitting there for a good few hours trying to cool down. Any time anyone remotely encroached beyond the barrier around the outside they were sent back, which seemed a little mean considering people just wanted to get out of the sun.

On Friday and Saturday my partner and I made use of Block 9 in the daytime for a bit of shade up against the fences. Was a godsend.

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1 hour ago, giantkatestacks said:

I didn't think so - I thought it was better than usual so I must be out of sync!

This was the same for me, I guess I just wasn't where the cool kids were going.  I found the general travel around the paths of the festival to be lighter than it can be, more people at every gig than I was used to and everyone seemed well adjusted to moving in crowds.  No significant difficulties all week, although Shangri La Thursday night was rammed but that was to be expected and other areas of the SE corner had plenty of room to breathe.

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I got a right telling off from a Sunday local when I was going round them to wander down for Mavis. I suggested that having a blanket AT THE BARRIER might mean it would be stepped on and was told 'Only by rude people, we have been here since 9.30am you know'. 

Well I have been cleaning this fecking field since 6am this morning you blanket-owning pillock.

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Some interesting points of view here. I’d agree it was easier to get into the SEC but that’s because the late night diversion is one of the most mud-prone routes on site. This year it flowed. Getting in a venue though? Forget it.

in general this was typical for me, small/mid sized/specialist venues were effectively off limits this year. Pound for pound busier so than the main stages, I thought, perhaps cos the main line up wasn’t the strongest.

Edited by Dusk1983
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Seemwd busier to me. Usually, one area is packed and you can head to another that isn't so much but at times it just seemed everywhere was filled to the brim matterless if where you went.

Defo seen more quieter stages in 2017, this one I barely saw any.

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5 minutes ago, chatty said:

Seemwd busier to me. Usually, one area is packed and you can head to another that isn't so much but at times it just seemed everywhere was filled to the brim matterless if where you went.

Defo seen more quieter stages in 2017, this one I barely saw any.

Exactly. There were no apparent distinctions between main and smaller stages or even entire areas this year. It was just all rammed, everywhere. Good way to put it.

Everyone was telling me on weds or thurs “it will get better when the main stages open”. It didn’t! That’s a first.

Edited by Dusk1983
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Do you think they could increase the size of a couple tents ? John peel in particular is in a field pretty much by itself.

I've not got much to compare it to buy the old King Tuts tent at TITP seemed massive in comparison and used! O host pretty massive acts (new order, Calvin harris, kraftwerk Etc.) Without much trouble getting in. Even the slam tent at T seemed huge, but it was years ago when I was there so my memory might be blurry 

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3 minutes ago, Samyeeeezy said:

Do you think they could increase the size of a couple tents ? John peel in particular is in a field pretty much by itself

Good point but JPT this year had half the festival hiding in the woods just waiting for the big acts. Ludicrous scheduling didn’t help. Friendly Fires and The Streets on JPT was crazy.

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