Crowd Etiquette

[Dreamingofsunnydays]

Had some really rude people talking through Dianna Ross, wife exploded at them. They then got really argumentative, before they shut up for a little bit…they then started yapping on again before the people behind had a go. Then the people in front….they eventually left 😁

Genuinely though things were going to kick off…thought this to be more likely at Noel rather that Dianna! 

 

[Alvoram]

4 hours ago, moogster said:

It's been said about 10 times already but HOW can people keep their backpack on in a crowd. It's either in front, or if doable between your legs. We did keep ours on if there was space around (I always did a quick check behind me if doing that.

And YES that small cute backpack thing can be a pain as well. And YES if you put your bag down it will get dirty. That's why you don't take your Hermes with you.

 

It's not the dirt that bothers me... When I no longer see people pissing on the ground in the middle of crowds then I'll start putting my belongings on the ground. 😉 Plus it becomes a trip hazard on the ground, so many times I saw people either step on or trip up over peoples belongings, including bags, on the ground. 

No problems wearing a backpack on my front though, just hadn't considered it, will keep that in mind next time 🙂 

[moogster]

1 minute ago, Alvoram said:

It's not the dirt that bothers me... When I no longer see people pissing on the ground in the middle of crowds then I'll start putting my belongings on the ground. 😉 Plus it becomes a trip hazard on the ground, so many times I saw people either step on or trip up over peoples belongings, including bags, on the ground. 

No problems wearing a backpack on my front though, just hadn't considered it, will keep that in mind next time 🙂 

Fair enough: our daybags are soaking in a bucket now because I know it's not " just mud" 😉 Bag on the ground for me is between the legs, not nicely lying in front.

And if there is enough space around, wearing it on the back is fine. It's just about being a bit more conscious of the crowd situation really!

[charlottesometimes]

Not so much etiquette in a crowd/stage situation, but several times in the toilet queue I observed people letting others go ahead of them when they were clearly desperate. Was nice to see.

[Alvoram]

2 minutes ago, charlottesometimes said:

Not so much etiquette in a crowd/stage situation, but several times in the toilet queue I observed people letting others go ahead of them when they were clearly desperate. Was nice to see.

I saw this a lot with youngsters, and quite rightly so, they haven't fully developed the ability to hold it as well as an adult has. But nonetheless it was nice to see everyone being so patient with them. 

[Glastov2]

16 hours ago, Simsy said:

I've found there are 2 types of talkers at gigs. Type 1 don't seem to care that there's music on, treat it like a noisy pub and carry on their convo (eg the people next to us for wet leg who got in early to see a really hyped set but were talking about their last holiday). Type 2 do seem to care about the music, but are narrating the whole thing "oh, I hope they play x, yes I love this one, this is so good" etc (eg the people next to us for libertines who seemed to be enjoying it but just didn't STFU).

Re. Smoking, apologies if I told anyone here off for smoking in John Peel, but the smoking ban came in 15 years ago, you must know by now you can't smoke inside!

So why isn't there signs to say you can't? Because presumably, you can...

[charlottesometimes]

Oh and as for bad etiquette, again not during performances but in the campsites  - there seemed to be many groups of tents tied together with guy ropes at almost waist level turning a long drop visit into an Olympic sport…not fun. Never seen this before in 10 Glastos.

[Spindles]

5 hours ago, FuzzyDunlop said:

He then puts a box down & is about to do a shit in the middle of the Pyramid field. I turn around, he stands up, pulls kecks up & says "I cant do it, Ill go to the toilet"

A genuine WTF moment. They were in their 60s. Not as if it was a daft kid. Yeah, use me as a wall to shit behind.

That is grim.  The state of some people.  I heard some girls talking about how one of their group didn't have a groundsheet in the porch so they used her tent (without her knowledge) to pee on the ground.  I can only imagine the poor young lady was living in a piss stinking swamp all weekend.

[hez]

Actually doubled back to take a picture of this when walking past the acoustic stage

[gorfield]

18 hours ago, Alvoram said:

I’ve seen a lot of mention of ‘Glasto Crowd Etiquette’ on here these last few days. As a first timer I’m wondering if you guys can help with this. (We fully intend to attempt to bag tickets again for 23.) There are no ‘guides,’ nobody to teach us and there was such a mixed bag of behaviour this year, that simply doing as others do would be confusing. 

What are the key elements of good crowd etiquette that are important to you? 

don't think that grabbing hold of your mates hand gives you the right to drag them through crowds of people without even saying excuse me.  Drives me NUTS! 

[gorfield]

14 hours ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

I will add though that I find the complaints about people talking at sets on here ridiculous

You're at one of the biggest festivals at the world, one person in a group might have wanted to see this act and they've probably all been drinking since 11am, expecting the same environment as an intimate gig is hilariously entitled and out of touch

I agree. I don't go to a festival to stand and watch the band in silence

[Barney McGrew]

To the young guy behind us at Macca, singing along, well, shouting horribly and purposely out of tune to Hey Jude you're a dick and it took some serious self control on my part not to have word.

Tosser.

 

[Alvoram]

33 minutes ago, gorfield said:

don't think that grabbing hold of your mates hand gives you the right to drag them through crowds of people without even saying excuse me.  Drives me NUTS! 

We had groups / long lines of 10+ doing this to us, it is horrendous. But I can't complain too much. Cara did just this thing to me at George Ezra, she wanted to get closer so was pulling me through the crowd. Now I'm twice her height and width, so the gaps she could squeeze through were not necessarily big enough for me!!! I was so embarrassed and eventually had to have a word with her, and even a little falling out for a few minutes, about it. Her response / argument was that people had been doing it to us every set... She just REALLY wanted to see him. Sorry if this inconvenienced anybody here, it felt wrong at the time. 

[gigpusher]

1 hour ago, Glastov2 said:

So why isn't there signs to say you can't? Because presumably, you can...

I didn’t see any signs giving a list of rules of behaviour around the stages but  it’s just obvious that people have paid their money to watch the acts. If you are not interested in the act there are so many places around the festival where you can talk. I did see plenty of Don’t be a dick signs around the festival so it does cover talking through an artists set that people want to watch. 

[DeanoL]

1 hour ago, Glastov2 said:

So why isn't there signs to say you can't? Because presumably, you can...

Good question! The app actually says "The legislation against not smoking inside public places applies to all tented venues on site" but the festival website itself just says: 15. Smoking is not permitted in enclosed public areas

1 hour ago, hez said:

Actually doubled back to take a picture of this when walking past the acoustic stage

To be fair, I think that sign at acoustic denotes the point at which you can't put chairs forwards of. So they're literally sitting in the nearest possible point they're allowed!

[willgooneday]

7 hours ago, FuzzyDunlop said:

I am 6ft 4. During Sam Fender a couple of about 60/65 walking through the crowd

Her - "He's tall go behind him" 

Him - "Ok"

He then puts a box down & is about to do a shit in the middle of the Pyramid field. I turn around, he stands up, pulls kecks up & says "I cant do it, Ill go to the toilet"

A genuine WTF moment. They were in their 60s. Not as if it was a daft kid. Yeah, use me as a wall to shit behind.

Thanks

 

Absolute fucking morons. 

[tazbang]

1 hour ago, hez said:

Actually doubled back to take a picture of this when walking past the acoustic stage

That is the Acoustic Stage and it is no chairs beyond the signs. Pushing the boundaries but hardly a biggie.

[hez]

3 minutes ago, tazbang said:

That is the Acoustic Stage and it is no chairs beyond the signs. Pushing the boundaries but hardly a biggie.

Yeah I know what stage it is. Just thought it made for a funny photo, I didn't want them escorted off site.

But just goes to show that trying to ban chairs in the Pyramid field etc wouldn't be an easy task.

[hfuhruhurr]

7 hours ago, FuzzyDunlop said:

I am 6ft 4. During Sam Fender a couple of about 60/65 walking through the crowd

Her - "He's tall go behind him" 

Him - "Ok"

He then puts a box down & is about to do a shit in the middle of the Pyramid field. I turn around, he stands up, pulls kecks up & says "I cant do it, Ill go to the toilet"

A genuine WTF moment. They were in their 60s. Not as if it was a daft kid. Yeah, use me as a wall to shit behind.

Thanks

 

What fabulous logic, I'm laughing just thinking about why it was so important for you to be tall in order to shit behind you. 

I'm getting a t-shirt with too short to shit behind.

[FLB]

• Don't take up more space than you need to. That means bag on the floor in between your legs; yes it will get a bit dirty and you will have to keep an eye on it during the set - if that's an issue then don't bring it out with you. If there isn't space to sit, don't sit. If there is space to sit, there probably still isn't space to sit on a blanket! If you have a cart/pushchair etc, make peace with the fact that you won't be able to watch everything from the middle of the crowd like you used to.
• Try to avoid smoking, substance use and excessive talking in a crowd. This is especially important at Glastonbury imo since there are lots of kids about. To be fair they didn't cause me any issues, but it was still a bit weird to see people doing coke at 2pm on a Sunday afternoon at Herbie Hancock...
• If you're moving through a crowd carrying food/pints, some of it is probably going to spill on someone. There's no reason to eat in a busy crowd at any point imo.
• Obviously leave the crowd if you need the toilet! Thankfully I haven't experienced anything anywhere near as bad as T in the park, where pints of piss were constantly being thrown into the air all weekend...
• Pick an appropriate spot in the crowd. If you like to dance around a lot that's fine, but not if you're going to be constantly bashing into people. If you really have to sit down before a set, do it at the back of the crowd rather than at the sides where you will stop people from getting further in. If you know you are going to leave halfway through, don't try and watch the first half of the set from a place where you can't easily get out, and try to avoid 'just popping along for 5 minutes at the start to say that I've seen them' unless you can do it in a way that won't make a busy crowd even worse.
• Don't stop people from moving through the crowd if they want to. If I am making my way through a crowd it's because there's enough space to do so, and usually I can see a gap further in (I'm quite tall). If you stop me from getting there you'll just make things worse for the unlucky people around you that I'm now blocking. It's especially bad when people make it hard for others to exit a crowd, since more often than not there's a good reason people need to get out quickly.
• People won't mind your flag as much if the pole is tall enough and you make it funny!
• If you're going on someone's shoulders, don't do it for more than one song.

[kalifire]

Only two particularly annoying incidents this year. Start of Snarky Puppy, somebody next to me discovers somebody he knows and beckons him over. Cue five straight minutes of loudly going over his Glasto weekend highlights. I eventually moved. 

Start of Bonobo, crowd already pretty tight where I am, couple of guys barge through, knocking into me. I instinctively mutter “watch out, mate”. Not aggressively, just making it known he’s being really pushy. Guy stops and stares me down. Really pretty threatening. Felt it could have gone either way. I ignore him and he moves on. 

Other than that, your standard pushers you always see there. Didn’t feel like it was much worse than normal although I avoided big crowds towards the end. 

[The Red Telephone]

17 minutes ago, FLB said:

 

• People won't mind your flag as much if the pole is tall enough and you make it funny!

Definitely this. I liked the “This is a Work Event” one and the “Freight Business Journal” and Wolves flag always cheer me up. If they’re witty, I do love a flag.

But please don’t bother if:

(a) It’s on a short pole

(b) it has multiple flags on it

(c) if you’re just going to write “Tits” on it

[CaledonianGonzo]

Just now, The Red Telephone said:

(c) if you’re just going to write “Tits” on it

Though this one resulted in an accidentally v. funny photo during the Shoppies.

[The Red Telephone]

2 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Though this one resulted in an accidentally v. funny photo during the Shoppies.

Ooh, what’s that then?

[pie_and_a_pint]

Stop fucking yapping at the top of your voice while the act is on. I don't care about how much coke Josh did last night or how Ella got, like, a glitter tattoo, and while it's thrilling to hear that mum and dad are off to Malta for a fortnight on Sunday and Tony got booked in for his hip replacement, you can talk about that later. For now, there's a nice man/lady/band on stage performing their heart out for our enjoyment, and we're all here because we'd all quite like to hear them, not you and your mundane chitchat.

(This applies in any 'live music on stage' scenario, from the tiniest little pub backroom to the Pyramid Stage and everything in between!)