Glastonbury 2022 Age Range

[gfa]

Was thinking about this earlier and thought I would make a topic about it. Its my first time going so I have no reference to work off on what the age range usually is but I noticed thinking about when I put my deposit down (just after I turned 18) and that I will be 21 on the Monday after festival weekend. This means that two years of groups will be without tickets, assuming that people who don't go with their families decide to go for the first time when they turn 18. Students are also potentially more likely to give up their ticket too due to money issues - I am not sure if this would see a noticeable increase due to covid but it could also be a factor.

Hopefully I made myself clear in that first paragraph, seems like an interesting question in my head but maybe it will be completely un-noticeable ... although for new acts like Billie Eillish and other newer acts further down the lineup it could be noticed.

My question is do you think it will be noticeable this lack of younger people in 2022 compared to previous years due to all of the tickets being reserved for two years - and then maybe as a follow up should there potentially be an allocation of a thousand tickets or so to groups who may have missed the chance to put down their deposit due to not being old enough etc?

[dentalplan]

No to both. It’s been delayed two years, not twenty.

[incident]

My perception is that a lot of the 18-21 year old student types get in by volunteering rather than buying tickets anyway. Though I've got no evidence for that.

Doubt any demographic shift will be enough to be noticeable without specifically looking for it.

[gfa]

5 minutes ago, incident said:

My perception is that a lot of the 18-21 year old student types get in by volunteering rather than buying tickets anyway. Though I've got no evidence for that.

Doubt any demographic shift will be enough to be noticeable without specifically looking for it.

Fair enough, I guess 2 years isn't actually that long really. What percentage of the festival would you say is in that 16-21 sort of age group?

Edited December 24, 2021 by gfa

[Joshuwarr]

14 minutes ago, gfa said:

Fair enough, I guess 2 years isn't actually that long really. What percentage of the festival would you say is in that 16-21 sort of age group?

I'd probably say its below 10%. I feel the biggest cohort is somewhere between 25-40? But it really does have a very good spread of age groups represented in attendance.

[incident]

6 minutes ago, gfa said:

Fair enough, I guess 2 years isn't actually that long really. What percentage of the festival would you say is in that 16-21 sort of age group?

At a total guess maybe 10-15? But I could be miles out in either direction - Glastonbury has a very wide spread of ages, and I don't think that late teenagers have stood out by either their abundant presence or their absence in the past.

[gfa]

23 minutes ago, Joshuwarr said:

I'd probably say its below 10%. I feel the biggest cohort is somewhere between 25-40? But it really does have a very good spread of age groups represented in attendance.

 

23 minutes ago, incident said:

At a total guess maybe 10-15? But I could be miles out in either direction - Glastonbury has a very wide spread of ages, and I don't think that late teenagers have stood out by either their abundant presence or their absence in the past.

Thanks, was quite intrigued in general honestly given thats what I will be. @incident - your final words about presence/absence, has there ever been a time when there has been an age group that has been like that. Maybe if anything I should be looking the other way towards older festival go-ers concerned about covid

[Leyrulion]

It's possibly an interesting thought that if there aren't anywhere near the normal amount of 18-21 year olds compared to a normal year whether that affects the stage programming at all. 

Probably not as I'd assume the young ones will snap up the tickets the old ones give up due to covid. 

I wonder how many ticket holders have died since they got tickets, probably about a thousand or so. 

Merry Christmas!

[Hugh Jass]

In recent years I’ve felt the average punter age to be in the 25-35 bracket.

[Ayrshire Chris]

1 hour ago, Leyrulion said:

It's possibly an interesting thought that if there aren't anywhere near the normal amount of 18-21 year olds compared to a normal year whether that affects the stage programming at all. 

Probably not as I'd assume the young ones will snap up the tickets the old ones give up due to covid. 

I wonder how many ticket holders have died since they got tickets, probably about a thousand or so. 

Merry Christmas!

Such a cheery upbeat optimistic post!😉,  I’m spending the next six months getting jabbed, wearing a mask, sanitising , no one is gonna snap up our tickets, seriously, remember the average age profile with the ticket rollovers will higher by a few years. 

 

[grumpyhack]

I don't think the age range matters.  Remember the Glastonbury Festival has a population of around 200,000 including volunteers.  If in a city of that size you are bound to find a fair number of like-minded souls.  Plus the different areas and stages tend to attract different age groups.  You're never alone at Glastonbury - unless you choose to be.  It's the frienmdliest place you'll find.

[gfa]

35 minutes ago, grumpyhack said:

I don't think the age range matters.  Remember the Glastonbury Festival has a population of around 200,000 including volunteers.  If in a city of that size you are bound to find a fair number of like-minded souls.  Plus the different areas and stages tend to attract different age groups.  You're never alone at Glastonbury - unless you choose to be.  It's the frienmdliest place you'll find.

Oh i'm sure, its more the stages tend to attract different age groups part - having fewer people 18-21 could leave some pretty sparse (would think that DnB for example would be up there with the most effected). Will be interesting to see although based on the other replies i doubt there will be much change

3 hours ago, Leyrulion said:

It's possibly an interesting thought that if there aren't anywhere near the normal amount of 18-21 year olds compared to a normal year whether that affects the stage programming at all. 

Probably not as I'd assume the young ones will snap up the tickets the old ones give up due to covid. 

I wonder how many ticket holders have died since they got tickets, probably about a thousand or so. 

Merry Christmas!

I can't see it changing the programming honestly although it would be hard to notice and impossible to measure

[stuartbert two hats]

On 12/24/2021 at 10:24 PM, dentalplan said:

No to both. It’s been delayed two years, not twenty.

Given how long you've been posting you're clearly closer to my age than the OPs. We won't notice two or three years change in demographic, but I bet the younger attendees will.

But yeah, there's nothing that should be done to "fix" it.

[Joshuwarr]

1 hour ago, gfa said:

Oh i'm sure, its more the stages tend to attract different age groups part - having fewer people 18-21 could leave some pretty sparse (would think that DnB for example would be up there with the most effected).

Oh you'd be surprised. I feel those still pushing through in the late night areas as the sun comes tend to be more in the 25-35 age bracket (at least from my experience!). And a lot of older folks love their dance music too!

[gfa]

37 minutes ago, Joshuwarr said:

Oh you'd be surprised. I feel those still pushing through in the late night areas as the sun comes tend to be more in the 25-35 age bracket (at least from my experience!). And a lot of older folks love their dance music too!

I don't doubt that, I know plenty of older people love dance music from going to shows (Bicep at Brixton had a huge mix, completely surprised me for instance) - just never really see older people at dnb shows although might be more to do with what I attend being at uni etc. Based off Latitude this year which probably has a fairly similar demographic mix, the dance areas were full of a whole range of ages but the dnb tent was pretty much only younger people.

Luckily i'm not really a fan of dnb so it won't effect my experience all just was something to consider.

1 hour ago, stuartbert two hats said:

Given how long you've been posting you're clearly closer to my age than the OPs. We won't notice two or three years change in demographic, but I bet the younger attendees will.

But yeah, there's nothing that should be done to "fix" it.

I guess we'll see, honestly more than happy to have an older audience - was something that made me enjoy Isle of Wight and Latitude which you don't get at Reading for instance. Huge amount of people my age are complete twats, only have to look at the tabloid articles showing the tents after Boardmasters/R&L to see that.

[dentalplan]

1 hour ago, stuartbert two hats said:

Given how long you've been posting you're clearly closer to my age than the OPs. We won't notice two or three years change in demographic, but I bet the younger attendees will.

But yeah, there's nothing that should be done to "fix" it.

I mean, I'm still in my twenties...

The age that teenagers can start going without family is 16 but I suspect that most of the younger crowd tend to start going around uni age with uni mates. So about 19 to 21. People aged 23 do not look considerably different to those aged 19. The crowd won't be noticeably older, even to people within that age range.

[mcshed]

7 hours ago, dentalplan said:

People aged 23 do not look considerably different to those aged 19.

To you or I that's true but the point is it might well be noticeable to a 21 year old.

[Avalon_Fields]

It would be interesting to see the stats on average range over the last 20 years. I’d guess it’s a little older now? Certainly before the fence it was probably a lot younger?

it’s a great festival by attracting all age groups, and catering for almost all music and arts tastes, but I do think it’s a serious issue if the average age is growing, as it would be only a matter of time before it’s viewed as less attractive for the young and then it’s reputation may fade.

[dentalplan]

3 hours ago, mcshed said:

To you or I that's true but the point is it might well be noticeable to a 21 year old.

I know that was the point. I'm saying it's not true. I even did so explicitly in the last sentence of the post you quoted.

What a weird fucking debate anyway. Is there any point to this? 'The crowd will be noticeably older by two years for people going for the first time and have no point of reference' - fantastic.

Edited December 26, 2021 by dentalplan

[baggienick68]

The average age has increased significantly over the last 20 years. When I first went in 97 I had several conversations about being an older punter. I was in my 40s! Now I dont feel out of place in my 60s. 

[gfa]

8 hours ago, dentalplan said:

What a weird fucking debate anyway. Is there any point to this? 'The crowd will be noticeably older by two years for people going for the first time and have no point of reference' - fantastic.

There will be people unlike me who are my age and do have a point of reference. I don't see the reason to try and shutdown discussion completely, even though my question led to a no its interesting seeing what people think about changes to the average age of the festival

2 hours ago, baggienick68 said:

The average age has increased significantly over the last 20 years. When I first went in 97 I had several conversations about being an older punter. I was in my 40s! Now I dont feel out of place in my 60s. 

From people I know that do festivals a lot of people view themselves as becoming too old for Reading/Leeds, but also at the same time Glastonbury is definitely viewed as having an older crowd. The UK festival industry has grown substantially over the last 20 years though and so its only natural festivals naturally separate themself into being aimed at different music tastes (which generally leads to different age groups). The wide range of music at glastonbury (as well as the size/landmark status) is what keeps the age range so broad.

[Lycra]

It's going to be interesting to see how the effect of the pandemic, with the enforced 2 year lay off, plays out in general.

The music industry has been beset with no shows and reduced crowds since it began to open up earlier this year. This has been put down to both fear of covid and people getting out of the habit. Whilst I don't envisage anything similar happening in June, the journey until then will poke hard decisions to be made.

Much has happened in quite a lot of people's life since deposits were paid over 2 years ago!

[Avalon_Fields]

1 hour ago, Lycra said:

It's going to be interesting to see how the effect of the pandemic, with the enforced 2 year lay off, plays out in general.

The music industry has been beset with no shows and reduced crowds since it began to open up earlier this year. This has been put down to both fear of covid and people getting out of the habit. Whilst I don't envisage anything similar happening in June, the journey until then will poke hard decisions to be made.

Much has happened in quite a lot of people's life since deposits were paid over 2 years ago!

I guess it will be harder for some, with the ticket balance payment due a month earlier than previously, early March may be difficult to decide for those still nervous. Positive is it hopefully increases the chances of those on efestivals waiting for the resale.

[Lycra]

1 hour ago, Avalon_Fields said:

I guess it will be harder for some, with the ticket balance payment due a month earlier than previously, early March may be difficult to decide for those still nervous. Positive is it hopefully increases the chances of those on efestivals waiting for the resale.

That's what I'm hoping as we're currently ticketless and I would love to take Mrs L again, especially as she's been on the front line ever since the pandemic began.

I know of 2 who've already asked for a refund and 4 others who are a 90% no but won't pull out until balance is due. And of the original 8 ticketless in our group, only 4 will in the resale.