2009 v 2019 - why are tickets so hard to get now?

[pentura]

22 minutes ago, Chubby Dude in a Tiny Car said:

but is that really the case tho?

it seems that first timers these days are not in wide-eyed amazement - because they HAVE seen it. 

endless videos & pictures, and endless messages means that they have seen it all before they even get there - and the only reason for being there is to create more videos, pictures and messages to feed into the never ending stream of it all...

 

I think this is a small demographic of newbies. The 'instagrammer' groups of young girls who spend 90% of their time on their phones at the Pyramid will make themselves well more known than other newcomers who want to take in everything as much as possible. You can take a walk at any time on the railway track and there's probably hundreds of newbies on there making their way to another place they've yet to discover

Two newbies came with our group in 2015. Both male, both in their 30's and they really went for it. Did everything with 110% and absolutely loved it. Yes, there will be gangs of people spending most of their time at the EE Charge tent but there will also be newcomers out till 5am at Block 9, or catching a band they've never heard of at the BBC Introducing Stage, all the while, their last contact with the outside world was texting their mum on Wednesday morning to say they've set up camp and their phone now belongs to the long drops

Edited October 8, 2019 by pentura

[gigpusher]

23 hours ago, priest17 said:

that's not a gradual thing though, 2010 was really hard to get tickets as well and its just been the same for 10 years now.

Nah my first time was 2010. I actually forgot about ticket day and saw a Facebook post from my friend about Midday and looked online and got them then. 

I think one of the key things is that social media has become a bigger part of everyone's life and it's impossible to miss things. The fact that in 2010 I hadn't looked at Facebook until after Midday tells you everything. Nowadays most people check it or Twitter or Instagram before they get out of bed. 

[Chubby Dude in a Tiny Car]

20 minutes ago, pentura said:

Two newbies came with our group in 2015. Both male, both in their 30's and they really went for it. Did everything with 110% and absolutely loved it. 

to be fair, the last time we had a newbie with us was when my brother-in-law came along in 2015.

he gave us a massive boost and his enthusiasm pushed us on to have one of the best festivals ever.

but we are all in our forties..

no idea what my point is / was.

[lukethekid]

55 minutes ago, UEF said:

I'm not sure the people going to the festival are any more or less diverse than before, other than attracting a few more poppy/Instragram types

That’s what diverse is though isn’t it, it’s more variety, so a few more poppy/Instagram types and the introduction of the big pop stars have made it appealing to now to everybody. 

[bennyboi]

6 minutes ago, Chubby Dude in a Tiny Car said:

to be fair, the last time we had a newbie with us was when my brother-in-law came along in 2015.

he gave us a massive boost and his enthusiasm pushed us on to have one of the best festivals ever.

but we are all in our forties..

no idea what my point is / was.

I know how you feel

[Wooderson]

It needs to piss rain again.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Flabbergasted that more people would want to go a festival headlined by Beyonce than one headlined by The Levellers.

[UEF]

Just now, CaledonianGonzo said:

Flabbergasted that more people would want to go a festival headlined by Beyonce than one headlined by The Levellers.

The "people called Jeremy who own a dog on a string" demographic isn't what it was...

[CaledonianGonzo]

They did well to not go bust when they lost the business of the trustafarian market sector.

[Quark]

7 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Flabbergasted that more people would want to go a festival headlined by Beyonce than one headlined by The Levellers.

 

6 minutes ago, UEF said:

The "people called Jeremy who own a dog on a string" demographic isn't what it was...

I will destroy you both

[CaledonianGonzo]

By strangling me with wooden beads or by smothering me with a German army surplus jacket?

[Quark]

death by dreadlock

[pentura]

6 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

By strangling me with wooden beads or by smothering me with a German army surplus jacket?

 

3 minutes ago, Quark said:

death by dreadlock

 

Asphyxiation at the hands of a lentil stew

[CaledonianGonzo]

Death by a 1000 flea bites, to a soundtrack of New Model Army

[H.M.V]

30 minutes ago, Wooderson said:

It needs to piss rain again.

2016 had no influence on ticket sales for 2017. Was still a bun fight. 

Now back to Quark and his lentil soup...

[Chubby Dude in a Tiny Car]

unfortunately it is almost certainly going to be a mud bath - i moaned so much about the heat this year that it is inevitable that the festival God will want to teach me a lesson...   

[The Clearest Blue]

My first was 2014, it was just me and one mate, I haven’t shut up about it since. This year my group was 45 people. I really need to learn to shut my mouth.

[Old_Johno]

Sooo late to the party. 

 

I’d generally agree there’s a lot of people who will only go to Glastonbury, despite having never gone to any other festivals or gigs! partly for the insta likes, and to be seen, but also to sit in front of the pyramid all day. 

other festival line ups have got a lot worse, live acts are costing more and more thanks to the death of album sales, so only glasto can get more than a handful of big bands. 

The glasto circle jerk hype doesn’t help either, not to sound like a gatekeeping ar*ehole but there are other festivals out there that you can have a good time at! People tweeting about crying and getting depressed coz they didn’t get a ticket etc. 

Im not super gutted to not have a ticket. Crowds were borderline dangerous last year in places, I’ll still go if one shows up so can’t grumble too much. 

[UEF]

1 hour ago, H.M.V said:

2016 had no influence on ticket sales for 2017. Was still a bun fight. 

Now back to Quark and his lentil soup...

I'd just managed to forget how horrific the process of getting onsite and pitched up was in 2016 after how nice we had it this year, so thanks for that...

[Quark]

1 hour ago, H.M.V said:

Now back to Quark and his lentil soup...

Keeps me regular

[clarkete]

4 hours ago, Chubby Dude in a Tiny Car said:

which year was it that it took all night to sell out?

sorry if this has already been talked about - but one year i'm sure i remember tickets going on sale in the evening, i stayed up F5'ing until i fell asleep, then carried on the next morning when i got to work - that was hard work! 

but in answer to the question in the OP - the reason getting tickets are so hard is the same reason society in general is falling apart... the fixation the modern world has with constantly staring at a screen.

 

Tsk, it was hard work for those of us who kept at it, not for lightweight quitters like you who nipped off for a nap nap  

[Chubby Dude in a Tiny Car]

6 minutes ago, clarkete said:

Tsk, it was hard work for those of us who kept at it, not for lightweight quitters like you who nipped off for a nap nap  

touché, sir ?

[clarkete]

7 minutes ago, Chubby Dude in a Tiny Car said:

touché, sir ?

To be fair - if that's when I was thinking of it was blinking awful and I had zero success over dial up or phone calls for 16 hours before a friend bought them.  I think I was going a bit mental by then  

[HotChipWillBreakYourLegs]

12 hours ago, Chubby Dude in a Tiny Car said:

which year was it that it took all night to sell out?

sorry if this has already been talked about - but one year i'm sure i remember tickets going on sale in the evening, i stayed up F5'ing until i fell asleep, then carried on the next morning when i got to work - that was hard work! 

but in answer to the question in the OP - the reason getting tickets are so hard is the same reason society in general is falling apart... the fixation the modern world has with constantly staring at a screen.

 

I think that was 2004.  I remember staying up all night trying on the phone and online then having to go to work with no sleep and worst of all no ticket success! 

I was a sparky's assistant at the time, probably not the safest day of work I did then! 

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

Social media specifically Facebook and Instagram definitely has a lot to do with it.

People have become way more narcissistic because of it, it’s all about showing you’re having “the best time ever” and projecting a certain image to people. It’s more important to show people you’re somewhere rather than to actually enjoy being there.

The first few years we went with a couple who thankfully haven’t got tickets the last few years. I genuinely question wether they actually ever really enjoyed themselves. They’d brag about having the best time ever but half the time I never really believed it. It almost seemed like it was more important to show people they were there over anything else.

Of course the vast majority of people will have the time of their lives, but largely due to social media Glastonbury has become one of those places a lot of people just want this show everyone they’re at.