There has to be a better way to allocate tickets

[clarkete]

4 hours ago, balti-pie said:

One of the great things about glastonbury is its division into little tribes and areas, which people follow almost without even realising. The pyramid is for your instagram/social media types to take pictures and hang around, with the music being something of a background - the Park is for your hipster types with oh so exclusive and rare taste in music, dance village for the ket heads and 17yr olds, Other stage is yer NME/indie nobs, west holts for people who have been a few times and seen a few things and fancy far more vibe than photo, and the avalon and acoustic are for the ancient ones 😆 and the t+c fields are for the very best of folk. (This may or may not tend to feature me quite a lot)

 

[clarkete]

16 hours ago, Alking said:

This comment tickled me, I have in the past been that weirdo watching from the motorhome and I was lucky enough to get tickets this year and may just do the same again. Along side much much more of course!! but attending with kids, for me, means a slightly different way to do the festival.
If your lucky enough to go to Glastonbury multiple times, you naturally take on an evolution… from the mad pyramid and days and pulling all nighters in Arcadia to the more chilled vibe that the green & healing fields can offer. I shall be spending most of my time this year in the more chilled areas and the kids field. That’s the place I’m at now but it hasn’t always been! The main issue is once you’ve been, you’ve caught the bug and will forever be chasing down a golden ticket! 

Hey - no judgement from me about anyone doing the festival their own way and if you're balancing enjoyment with parenting more power to your elbow.

I have ever heard tales of folks making it to the cv fields but not on site, which clearly seems like a lot of effort 😊

[Leyrulion]

6 hours ago, incident said:

it'd be on a H ticket arranged via either the local (tory) council or the DCMS

I'd be surprised if DCMS were able to get any ticket allocation. It's well over the gift reporting threshold so an enterprising journalist would have FOI'd that by now. There'd be a lovely Mail story about "civil servants on their jollies". 

[incident]

12 minutes ago, Leyrulion said:

I'd be surprised if DCMS were able to get any ticket allocation. It's well over the gift reporting threshold so an enterprising journalist would have FOI'd that by now. There'd be a lovely Mail story about "civil servants on their jollies". 

I'm pretty confident in my assumption that if DCMS formally asked for some tickets and weren't taking the piss, then the Festival wouldn't refuse them. That's even without considering that various parts of the festival receive arts council funding every year, and the festival centrally got nearly a million quid from the cultural recovery fund - and those grants would make it refusal a PR issue.

Yes, it is an assumption, but it seems like a very safe one. Just as they've provided tickets to a handful of Royals over the years, and various celebs - I'm assuming that the likes of Beckham and Rooney didn't go through the ticket scrum either.

[DeanoL]

On 11/8/2022 at 10:28 PM, Barkwin said:

Allocating of tickets isn't the issue - it's the unsustainable over popularity of the event.

It's over saturated with tik tokers and Instagramers wanting an UnGlastonbury headline act and to be 'seen' there.

It'd do well to get back to its roots a bit and stop the absolutely mental scramble for tickets fuelled by wacky pop acts and 'influencers.'

Why would the festival do well to reduce its popularity? I get why you want it to change, but why would they want to?

On 11/8/2022 at 11:53 PM, angel_with_a_pint_glass said:

I think it will be interesting to see how the smaller fields do next year. When I first started going to Glastonbury I was into all the popular, main stage stuff…fields like Avalon were nothing but a shortcut to me back then. Then there came a time when the big stages didn’t interest me and lineups like Avalon really came into their own…I would have picked Skinny Lister or the Eskies over whatever the main stages were offering any day. And that was ok because the price of the festival was still good value even if you avoided the big ticket stuff. But is that still the case? Is it worth spending £350 to hang out predominantly at Avalon etc. or do you just cut your losses and go to one of the many smaller, cheaper festivals? Personally my tastes are super varied these days and I’ll always love Glastonbury whether I’m at Avalon or the Pyramid (although generally it’s still a case of the less time spent at the Pyramid the better!)…but I wonder how many Glasto lovers who would previously have hung around Avalon, the green fields etc, can’t make the sums work anymore? And if that’s the case, does that mean that, like last year, everyone will be squashed into the main areas the entire time? Will people only flock to Avalon to see the like of the Sugababes? Glastonbury worked so well when people were more split in where they wanted to be. I hope that doesn’t change too much…

For me, it was worth £250 even seeing no Pyramid headliners. So at £350, I need one big act I would otherwise spend money on seeing. Because at this point, that's £100 for their own stadium gig I'm saving. So yeah, at headliner time at least one night I'll be watching Elton John instead of Will Varley. But doesn't mean I won't spend most the rest of the festival around Avalon and Theatre fields.

[t0paz]

On 11/9/2022 at 10:56 AM, CaledonianGonzo said:

For example?

I guess they mean anything which doesn’t adhere to the original Pop, Folk and Blues ethos of the festival? Or maybe just acts they don’t like.

[Skip997]

2 hours ago, t0paz said:

I guess they mean anything which doesn’t adhere to the original Pop, Folk and Blues ethos of the festival? Or maybe just acts they don’t like.

The acts ain't the problem. If you like music there will always be plenty to see.

[Penrhos]

In some ways it's a pity they cant do a "coachella" and run two weekends. With two ticket sales (although I don't think my heart could cope with double seetickets dramas).

In some ways it'd be better if there wasn't a phone signal on site then the selfie brigade might sod off and the people who insist on filming/streaming entire sets other phones might not.

I've been enough times to not care about headliners etc with just heavy rain and thick mud being my enemy (as I have a bad back and am getting on a bit).

The problem of oversubscription isn't going to go away anytime soon even muddy years and poor lineups haven't made much difference. 2016 was horrible but tickets for the next year still sold out quickly. Even £350 a ticket didn't slow sales down.

 

Ultimately if the ethos of the festival is lost will they want to keep running it?? 

[maelzoid]

4 minutes ago, Penrhos said:

In some ways it's a pity they cant do a "coachella" and run two weekends.

 

A monstrously awful idea.

I don’t think anything would destroy the unique specialness of the festival more than having a repeat of it the following weekend.

[Jose Pose]

46 minutes ago, Penrhos said:

In some ways it's a pity they cant do a "coachella" and run two weekends. With two ticket sales (although I don't think my heart could cope with double seetickets dramas).

In some ways it'd be better if there wasn't a phone signal on site then the selfie brigade might sod off and the people who insist on filming/streaming entire sets other phones might not.

I've been enough times to not care about headliners etc with just heavy rain and thick mud being my enemy (as I have a bad back and am getting on a bit).

The problem of oversubscription isn't going to go away anytime soon even muddy years and poor lineups haven't made much difference. 2016 was horrible but tickets for the next year still sold out quickly. Even £350 a ticket didn't slow sales down.

 

Ultimately if the ethos of the festival is lost will they want to keep running it?? 

None of these are bad things as far as the festival is concerned, and surely by definition they create the ethos of the festival, so it stands to reason it’s what they want?

[Zoo Music Girl]

These debates do come up every year, but I think there is a difference between saying the system is not fit for purpose as a concept and that it works like shit in practice. I was lucky this year but have failed three times in main sale and know how brutal it is. And all the failures at payment processing page, plus mistakenly saying it was sold out when it wasn't is a pretty poor show in my opinion.

I don't think a ballot would be much better, but a tiny festival we go to called Supernormal did one this year for their second batch of tickets and that worked quite well. Once you got selected you could buy up to six tickets. So it would be possible to do a ballot that meant mates could still go together, not necessarily saying that they should.

[Acid Loafers]

2 hours ago, Penrhos said:

In some ways it's a pity they cant do a "coachella" and run two weekends. With two ticket sales (although I don't think my heart could cope with double seetickets dramas).

Ultimately if the ethos of the festival is lost will they want to keep running it?? 

I've considered it, but the locals wouldn't allow it. The land owners wouldn't allow it. & it's against most of what Michael & Emily have built. 

2 weekends would ruin the grounds. Not sure if you could even clear up the tents & rubbish left behind Monday in time for another Wednesday opening. 

The locals would lose their minds at doubling the length of their traffic & sound woes.

It would also mean that if the festival does two weekends it's essentially now prioritising $$$ over the experience itself, which is how the world works, but Glasto tries to live in a world of doublethink, where it's about money & not about money.

[balti-pie]

14 hours ago, Penrhos said:

I

In some ways it'd be better if there wasn't a phone signal on site then the selfie brigade might sod off and the people who insist on filming/streaming entire sets other phones might not.

 

Oh christ, yes - im so on board with this its untrue. I lock my phone into the lockups and ignore it til monday morning (well, to be fair, apart from one check of the AFL scores when Fremantle are playing 😆) but the last time i put that idea forward on the 'how would you change glastonbury' thread i was castigated for being a child-hating monster who wants them all separated irrevocably from their parents!

So perhaps a throttle on the 5g signal where itll allow telephone calls of below 30sec, and text messages - all social media is delayed til monday. MUCH more fun and immersive! 

[topmarksbri]

Everyone should enjoy the festival the way I enjoy the festival and if you don't then it's not in the spirit of the festival. 

[stuie]

7 minutes ago, balti-pie said:

Oh christ, yes - im so on board with this its untrue. I lock my phone into the lockups and ignore it til monday morning (well, to be fair, apart from one check of the AFL scores when Fremantle are playing 😆) but the last time i put that idea forward on the 'how would you change glastonbury' thread i was castigated for being a child-hating monster who wants them all separated irrevocably from their parents!

So perhaps a throttle on the 5g signal where itll allow telephone calls of below 30sec, and text messages - all social media is delayed til monday. MUCH more fun and immersive! 

Well it's all about choice in my opinion.  If you want to lock your phone up you can.  If you want to send a clip of a band to a mate who loves that band, you can.  If you want to put a few pics on your story so your friends know what you're up to, that's OK too.

I love social media but I only follow and am followed by my friends and family.  I'm not an 'influencer' or anything like that, so can't think why it should be delayed until Monday.  It's not hurting anyone and doesn't detract from my enjoyment - I'm fully immersed! 

[balti-pie]

5 minutes ago, stuie said:

Well it's all about choice in my opinion.  If you want to lock your phone up you can.  If you want to send a clip of a band to a mate who loves that band, you can.  If you want to put a few pics on your story so your friends know what you're up to, that's OK too.

I love social media but I only follow and am followed by my friends and family.  I'm not an 'influencer' or anything like that, so can't think why it should be delayed until Monday.  It's not hurting anyone and doesn't detract from my enjoyment - I'm fully immersed! 

Pah, far too reasonable and well argued

[Hugh Jass II]

14 hours ago, maelzoid said:

A monstrously awful idea.

I don’t think anything would destroy the unique specialness of the festival more than having a repeat of it the following weekend.

We'd just all end up doing it twice anyway.

Most years I could easily do a second run through mopping up the stuff I missed first time round.

[Superscally]

6 minutes ago, Hugh Jass II said:

We'd just all end up doing it twice anyway.

Most years I could easily do a second run through mopping up the stuff I missed first time round.

I'd dig a foxhole and wait it out for 36h.

[t0paz]

Just now, Superscally said:

I'd dig a foxhole and wait it out for 36h.

There are many places to hide. But what would they do if a group of say 50 people refused to leave Pennards? Or what about the thousands of people with tickets to both weekends? Do they just mill about the village for a few days? It’s just not workable, even if they did want to do it.

[Superscally]

42 minutes ago, t0paz said:

There are many places to hide. But what would they do if a group of say 50 people refused to leave Pennards? Or what about the thousands of people with tickets to both weekends? Do they just mill about the village for a few days? It’s just not workable, even if they did want to do it.

I don't think it will or should happen, but it would be easy to stop peoe doing both. New registration process, one reg only with link to passport or driving licence, using same photo, one sale where you picked your weekend...

[Skip997]

8 minutes ago, Superscally said:

I don't think it will or should happen, but it would be easy to stop peoe doing both. New registration process, one reg only with link to passport or driving licence, using same photo, one sale where you picked your weekend...

There are people who don't have either

[gfa]

12 hours ago, Acid Loafers said:

I've considered it, but the locals wouldn't allow it. The land owners wouldn't allow it. & it's against most of what Michael & Emily have built. 

2 weekends would ruin the grounds. Not sure if you could even clear up the tents & rubbish left behind Monday in time for another Wednesday opening. 

The locals would lose their minds at doubling the length of their traffic & sound woes.

It would also mean that if the festival does two weekends it's essentially now prioritising $$$ over the experience itself, which is how the world works, but Glasto tries to live in a world of doublethink, where it's about money & not about money.

They could 100% clear the tents/rubbish in time. They shouldn't do it and won't - the grounds would be ruined as well

10 minutes ago, Superscally said:

I don't think it will or should happen, but it would be easy to stop peoe doing both. New registration process, one reg only with link to passport or driving licence, using same photo, one sale where you picked your weekend...

This would piss a lot of people off

[clarkete]

2 hours ago, stuie said:

Well it's all about choice in my opinion.  If you want to lock your phone up you can.  If you want to send a clip of a band to a mate who loves that band, you can.  If you want to put a few pics on your story so your friends know what you're up to, that's OK too.

I love social media but I only follow and am followed by my friends and family.  I'm not an 'influencer' or anything like that, so can't think why it should be delayed until Monday.  It's not hurting anyone and doesn't detract from my enjoyment - I'm fully immersed! 

I've got so many earlier attendances when my focus was entirely on getting banjaxed that now the decades have passed some great years are very foggy and it amazes me when others here identify the year x happened. 

Now I use my mobey and use a combination of clashfinder and an occasional snap to ensure I've at least got a record of what I saw. It doesn't curtail my enjoyment and does help to jog the memory upon my return - not least those bloody questions that I never have an easy answer to"what was your favourite? " 

[Superscally]

1 hour ago, Skip997 said:

There are people who don't have either

I wonder how many of these still go to Glasto via the usual channels...

1 hour ago, gfa said:

 

This would piss a lot of people off

Probably the same people who didn't like the photo idea...

Remember, I'm not advocating this! 😃

[Skip997]

1 minute ago, Superscally said:

I wonder how many of these still go to Glasto via the usual channels...

Probably the same people who didn't like the photo idea...

Remember, I'm not advocating this! 😃

I don't like the photo idea either, but thankfully crew tickets don't have a photo or postcode or anything other than name.