What if the 50th was the final one?

[1986]

A lunch time hypothetical.

What if, after 50 years on top, and after what looks like nailing one of their biggest line ups, the Eavii make the announcement to go out with a bang and make G50 the final festival? Reasons being numerous from keeping people wanting more, to wanting to lead the way in the societal change needed to battle climate change.

If this were to happen, the impact on us as fans would be obvious in that we'd have to find a new favourite festival, or retire from fests all together.

What would other impacts be? Would the UK festival scene that Glastonbury helped shape change massively (outside the main competition being gone)? 

Is there a global influence to be considered? 

Where would Bradley Cooper go every year?

etc

[Crazyfool01]

[squirrelarmy]

120,000 people would be still going to the farm in June even if they were just sat around someones Bluetooth speaker. 

[Crazyfool01]

1 minute ago, squirrelarmy said:

120,000 people would be still going to the farm in June even if they were just sat around someones Bluetooth speaker. 

I can arrange a certain band to headline for free  ... we will stick to those public footpaths 

[Quark]

[incident]

Sorry, I don't understand the question.

[Pipine]

Noooooooo...  I haven't got a ticket for the 50th (yet) it can't be the last.. Don't even go there!

[Matt42]

Rather not entertain this shit

[chazwwe]

I would probably have mad panic attacks leading up to it in wanting to see EVERYTHING and go everywhere 'one last time' try see an act on all my favourite stages and then get there, forget all of it by Thursday night and then Sunday afternoon have a good old sob when someone mentions it. 

[Chubby Dude in a Tiny Car]

fine by me.

seems like a good time to bow out.

would save a lot of hassle, and would save a LOT of money.

Glastonbury Festival is my favourite place in the world - but things gotta end sometime.

[zero000]

I think the pressure would get to me to make the most of the final Glastonbury ever, and I'd end up having a colossal blow out and regretting it for the next couple of weeks, safe in the knowledge that I had made the most of it. 

[Quark]

OK, sensible answer of sorts. All pure speculation you understand.

I think that some of the existing big names might look to increase capacity to soak up the numbers. Reading/Leeds might even look for a third site, although I have no idea if ghat would ever be viable!

The smaller fests would face a real question over their own identities, as they're probably the ones closest to Glastonbury in terms of ethos and feel. Thing like EOTR, Beautiful Days, Green Man etc might see the opportunity to grow, but it's whether they'd want to do that.

Probably look at more people flying abroad to other summer festivals.

I think the UK festival scene would suffer in a way.  Glastonbury is the only big one that's not dripping in corporate sponsorship and has a real beating social/political heart, even if it's not as strong as it used to be.  Bit of soul would be gone.

Billy Bragg would crumble to dust like the guy at the end of Indiana Jones & Last Crusade.

On the plus side, TNSMT would have their pick of the females picking up guitars

 

[Ayrshire Chris]

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

fine by me.

seems like a good time to bow out.

would save a lot of hassle, and would save a LOT of money.

Glastonbury Festival is my favourite place in the world - but things gotta end sometime.

No. Never end but certainly evolve

[Crazyfool01]

 Chris Martin , Fatboy slim , Hobo Jones etc   will join the queue  for Jobseekers allowance 

[WestCountryGirl]

Well, some people have already said that they'd be feeling the pressure to do everything and make the most of the 'last ever' Glastonbury, but that's pretty much how I'm approaching this year anyway. Not intent on doing everything at a mad dash, but taking in spots and experiences I haven't seen yet, because as far as I'm concerned this might be the last Glastonbury I ever go to. Whether that's because of the difficulty of getting tickets or, godforbid, life itself having other plans for me.

If Glastonbury were ever to end it would feel like a massive loss to me, as it is a very special place and experience, but I think it's best to treat every Glasto like the potential final one because you just never know.

[Bennykill]

plenty of other good festivals about.

[Avalon_Fields]

I would expect the short term beneficiaries would be other festivals but I’d predict that would only last a year or two (As there would be unfavourable comparisons to Glastonbury). 
 
I doubt there would be any significant global effect. Perhaps fewer world music acts touring the UK. 
 

it’s best not to take the festival for granted though, there’s plenty of risks and uncertainties that may derail things in the long term.

[Crazyfool01]

will Michael still be saying that was the best one yet with just the cows in attendance ?  

[dentalplan]

The festival will only end when Fatboy Slim cashes all of his appearance cheques.

[marathonsteve]

There surely must be a 51st one

[Freddyflintstonree]

can you imagine the downer it would be on monday morning? Eurgh

[stuie]

46 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

Rather not entertain this shit

Bang goes the two hours sleep per night in 2020 - not enough time for that!

[Clarence Clemons]

37 minutes ago, WestCountryGirl said:

Well, some people have already said that they'd be feeling the pressure to do everything and make the most of the 'last ever' Glastonbury, but that's pretty much how I'm approaching this year anyway. Not intent on doing everything at a mad dash, but taking in spots and experiences I haven't seen yet, because as far as I'm concerned this might be the last Glastonbury I ever go to. Whether that's because of the difficulty of getting tickets or, godforbid, life itself having other plans for me.

If Glastonbury were ever to end it would feel like a massive loss to me, as it is a very special place and experience, but I think it's best to treat every Glasto like the potential final one because you just never know.

Totally in agreement with this. Count yourself lucky every day you're at the festival, and cherish the experiences forever!

[stuie]

I think I'd feel more sad for people who've not experienced it to be honest.  And there's no doubt our country would be culturally poorer without it.  It's one of those very British things that we're all very proud of.

 

[Pinhead]

But it wont cos of all the contracts in place for the following 3 years at least that they would default on with some not insubstantial financial loss.