Emily in Cheltenham

[ian the worm]

Emily Eavis, daughter of Glastonbury Festival founder Michael Eavis, now co-ordinates one of the biggest music festivals in the world. As it approaches its 50th birthday, Emily reveals the stories behind the headlines to Hugo Rifkind

Oct 13th £12 for an hour...

https://www.cheltenhamfestivals.com/literature/whats-on/2019/emily-eavis-glastonbury-tales/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=emily-eavis-glasto

[MJP]

I'm going

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

 

Oh, I saw the title and thought this was going to be a personal ad of some nature. As you were.

 

Not really.

[gooner1990]

Did anyone go to this? 
 

did EE say much else apart from the headliner part? 

[FakeEmpire]

On 10/16/2019 at 1:47 AM, gooner1990 said:

Did anyone go to this? 
 

did EE say much else apart from the headliner part? 

I did.   Key takeaways were:

* Two headliners booked, third they have been working on since the Summer

* No Fleetwood, No Led Zep

* They have loads of headliners to choose from these days whereas pre-2008 it was getting a bit thin

* No massive site changes planned for next year, at the start of a 5 year cycle so looking to just build on what's already there

* Her favourite suggestion has been a longdrop which actually leads to an underground venue

* She's conscious about ticket allocation but thinks there are problems with a ballot - mainly that not everyone registered is actually trying for a ticket and so you may end up with people going who aren't *that* bothered.   She said the stats show a huge drop off 15-20 mins into sale from where some people give up.

* Stats show even spread of ticket distribution across the UK. No evidence that better internet makes a difference.

* They're further ahead with booking than ever but that seems to be improving year on year

* They had to ask Billie Eilish to move stages last year because they were worried they'd have to shut the whole JP corner off.   They figured she might pull out altogether because she'd reached a stage where she could play anywhere she wanted for whatever fee she wanted so they were pleased that she agreed to stick with it and do as they asked

* Plans for another festival are off, Worthy Farm is best place for Glastonbury and they have better deals with other landowners now

* She thinks demand will calm down after 50th anniversary and it won't always be so difficult to get tickets

* Been working on Diana Ross for about 5 years, considers it one of the biggest coups for them

* In March 2019, they still didn't have Saturday headliner for 2019 sorted

* If locals don't want tickets, they buy them back so they can go on holiday and rent their homes out for 'a small fortune'

 

[Matt87]

I kind of just presumed they'd booked the Killers for Saturday night ages earlier, since they'd done that "secret" JP slot before the fallow year. Guess they were actually just struggling to get someone...

[Matt42]

Interesting about Billie

[Avalon_Fields]

9 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

Interesting about Billie

As she had sounds issues at the beginning of her set, I wonder if she regretted moving stages?

[Avalon_Fields]

15 minutes ago, FakeEmpire said:

 

* She thinks demand will calm down after 50th anniversary and it won't always be so difficult to get tickets

 

So, from that, I take it there this year was the highest ticket demand?

[nikkic]

I think at this stage the only thing that’ll really effect the demand is weather.

2-3 shit years and folk may start opting for festivals abroad. 

[marathonsteve]

I think that demand will go down as well.

[northernringo]

4 minutes ago, marathonsteve said:

I think that demand will go down as well.

Let's hope so...

[Doug85]

Adds more weight to Macca being the sat headliner and dropping out or just not agreeing to it in the end. Killers would have jumped at the chance to come back at short notice and tbf they were quite a safe choice for them so late in the process. 

[Ayrshire Chris]

17 minutes ago, Doug85 said:

Adds more weight to Macca being the sat headliner and dropping out or just not agreeing to it in the end. Killers would have jumped at the chance to come back at short notice and tbf they were quite a safe choice for them so late in the process. 

Killers being asked to step in at short notice? That would have pissed off coldplay! 

[eFestivals]

29 minutes ago, Doug85 said:

Adds more weight to Macca being the sat headliner and dropping out or just not agreeing to it in the end. Killers would have jumped at the chance to come back at short notice and tbf they were quite a safe choice for them so late in the process. 

emily had said previously that they'd lost their planned-for headliner quite late and had to get a replacement.

Everything seems to point to Macca being the act they lost.

[Gnomicide]

This also kaiboshes the theory that Foals will headline because they "played a secret set last time, just like Killers the time before". Killers wouldn't have headlined if Macca hadn't dropped out, it means nothing. 

That plus the fact that the band who played a Park secret set in 2017 was Elbow.

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

1 hour ago, Matt87 said:

I kind of just presumed they'd booked the Killers for Saturday night ages earlier, since they'd done that "secret" JP slot before the fallow year. Guess they were actually just struggling to get someone...

Kind of contradicts what she said about the number of available headliners these days

[eFestivals]

4 minutes ago, Gnomicide said:

This also kaiboshes the theory that Foals will headline because they "played a secret set last time, just like Killers the time before". Killers wouldn't have headlined if Macca hadn't dropped out, it means nothing. 

I certainly agree that there's not necessarily a link between a secret set and anything else (and i've not been putting forwards the idea they'll be one of Glasto's preferred headliners anyway).

In foals case tho I reckon it started a conversation to put them in position for a prime slot.

[eFestivals]

2 minutes ago, Supernintendo Chalmers said:

Kind of contradicts what she said about the number of available headliners these days

not really. There's a big difference with lining something up a year before and getting something late when all the acts will already have what they want to do scheduled in, plus exclusivity agreements that might disallow Glasto.

[Matt87]

16 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

emily had said previously that they'd lost their planned-for headliner quite late and had to get a replacement.

Everything seems to point to Macca being the act they lost.

Any thoughts on why Macca would have pulled out/not wanted to do it? 

[incident]

Just now, Matt87 said:

Any thoughts on why Macca would have pulled out/not wanted to do it? 

It could just be as simple as him being offered (much) more money to further extend his US tour.

[eFestivals]

1 minute ago, Matt87 said:

Any thoughts on why Macca would have pulled out/not wanted to do it? 

 

Just now, incident said:

It could just be as simple as him being offered (much) more money to further extend his US tour.

yep, it seems to be that.

He had shows booked in and announced until just-before-Glasto for ages, and then suddenly in the spring a few extras were announced.

[Matt87]

1 minute ago, eFestivals said:

 

yep, it seems to be that.

He had shows booked in and announced until just-before-Glasto for ages, and then suddenly in the spring a few extras were announced.

? Baby 'I'm' a Rich Man ?

[FakeEmpire]

1 hour ago, Avalon_Fields said:

So, from that, I take it there this year was the highest ticket demand?

She didn't say that explicitly.  She hinted at it by suggesting it was particularly difficult this year but no definitive answer on that.

Re: demand, she said "I really think this year has all been about the 50th" and "the last few years have been building up to the 50th and after that it will die down".   She mentioned that they'd had difficult years where it took a while to sell out and they really had to push tickets and that she thinks these things are cyclical and it will all calm down again at some point in her view.   

 

 

[FakeEmpire]

There was an absolute dickhead in the crowd who interrupted her when she was explaining that a ballot might mean that people who aren't that bothered end up with tickets whereas at the moment the majority of people who are "really, really trying, do get tickets".  She pointed to the stats showing the huge drop in demand after 15-20 mins where people give up and a guy shouted out "DISAGREE" (excellent mansplaining, disagreeing with someone reporting on the actual stats).   He explained that he'd been trying to go for 10 years and she politely pointed out that she was surprised to hear that because demand hasn't always been as high as this.

Edited October 17, 2019 by FakeEmpire