Secret Sets. Best way to hear about them on site?

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

14 minutes ago, rubenz said:

I always like to go to a TBC set but I don't think I can recall a single one where the act that came out was different from what I was expecting.

Having said that I did trek up to the park on a rumout of a Secret set as the Cat Power timings seemed to finish earlier than usual.

A big crowd turned up and stood about for a while before realizing nowt was happening!

Managed to catch the end of Mumfords so all round a bad end to the night!

Reminds me of this happening at Reading but with a worse outcome. I was there that year and it was pretty terrible for all involved, mostly the poor band who just wanted to play music. We all thought the same - days without social media and no newspapers confirming anything. 

https://www.nme.com/news/music/foo-fighters-415-1333299

 

Edited May 26, 2023 by MEGATRONICMEATWAGON

[March Hare]

I love the idea of secret sets but the festival needs to put them on proper stages, with capacity based on the assumption that word will get out.  Having a TBC on Sunday afternoon that turns out to be The Killers is still cool, but having it on Woodsies (that’s right, I’m embracing it) was bad judgment.

[March Hare]

3 minutes ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

Reminds me of this happening at Reading but with a worse outcome. I was there that year and it was pretty terrible for all involved, mostly the poor band who just wanted to play music. We all thought the same - days without social media and no newspapers confirming anything. 

https://www.nme.com/news/music/foo-fighters-415-1333299

 

They knew what they were doing with a name like that. No one deserves a bottle though 🍾🎶 😭 

[rubenz]

5 minutes ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

Reminds me of this happening at Reading but with a worse outcome. I was there that year and it was pretty terrible for all involved, mostly the poor band who just wanted to play music. We all thought the same - days without social media and no newspapers confirming anything. 

https://www.nme.com/news/music/foo-fighters-415-1333299

 

On dear, sounds quite chaotic for all concerned!  Nowadays you could just google the FFers and you would know it was some random small band!

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

6 minutes ago, March Hare said:

They knew what they were doing with a name like that. No one deserves a bottle though 🍾🎶 😭 

I mean, I don't think the band knew what was going to happen, or the significance of their name. Maybe it was from influenced by the Foos but still. I don't think they predicted that reaction. The Festival could have stepped in somehow though, I think.

5 minutes ago, rubenz said:

On dear, sounds quite chaotic for all concerned!  Nowadays you could just google the FFers and you would know it was some random small band!

Exactly. With the speed of 'word of mouth' these days and limitless info, that'd never happen these days, just like secret sets don't stay secret anymore. 

[august1]

3 hours ago, rubenz said:

On dear, sounds quite chaotic for all concerned!  Nowadays you could just google the FFers and you would know it was some random small band!

I think they were dropping hints that it was foos. Links to their songs etc to get a big crowd. Safe to say it backfired 

[stuartbert two hats]

4 hours ago, Skip997 said:

Just out of interest why do you feel the need to do this at all?

Wouldn't be even more fun/exciting if "secret sets" were actually secret

The replies from people who managed not to miss out on their favourite band, so hot footed across the site to see them. Yes, not as big a surprise as if they'd been on front of the stage, but still not something they knew about that morning - and they actually got to see them.

I'm heavily conflicted about the whole thing, always have been, but when you read those replies from overjoyed fans, it makes it worthwhile.

Edited May 26, 2023 by stuartbert two hats

[SighMo]

10 hours ago, Crazyfool01 said:

Possibly an unpopular opinion but given the issues last year and the festivals obvious attempts to try and deal with them I’m not sure the secret glasto thing should be a thing now 

I agree with this. Secret Glasto doesn't work if everyone has it. 

Didn't the Paolo Nutini secret set work fairly well because Secret Glasto got asked not to leak it?

[Punksnotdead]

7 hours ago, Nduja said:

I remember at my first glasto, some neighbours hot footing it down to Other Stage because they were convinced on an Outkast secret set to open the festival. This caused quite a lot of panic as I was nowhere near ready. When the sounds of "I Predict A Riot" rolled over the fields, it was quite some relief.

I was there for that - lots of rumours: Foo Fighters, Outkast, Libertines, etc. When that prick from Kaiser Chiefs ponced about on stage, a huge cry of "Oh for fucks sake!" came out! In hindsight, it might have just been me that shouted out! 😄

[Suprefan]

1 hour ago, SighMo said:

I agree with this. Secret Glasto doesn't work if everyone has it. 

Didn't the Paolo Nutini secret set work fairly well because Secret Glasto got asked not to leak it?

But oddly enough when George Ezra was announced and stuff there wasnt this mad rush early on. I went early to JPT to see Just Mustard and  Sports Team and the tent was maybe a quarter full if that before Just Mustard even hit the stage. When Sports Team was ending then the ramming had begun. Getting out of the area was a pain and you could see all the people streaming into the field and tent. But was the area closed off at noon? No it was not.
 

Idles was kept fairly secret and I was able to get into the BBC Intro tent without much hassle.

Overall though I remember talking to people and they had heard all the rumors and such and they werent like as tuned in as the forum is. Its 2 diff worlds. A group of casual fans just needs one person to be totally in the know and to keep them informed about thats happening. Like morning of Sunday I was chatting with a Steward and the Jack White news officially had popped up and I just said "hey, jack white is playing the park today". They just said "really?!?". Way more people not clued in than you think.

 

Bastille was the worst thing on thursday cause nothing was happening and thats just a recipe for disaster. 
 

If theyre going to keep doing it and not have to rely on secret glasto and such then youll have to keep em on Pyramid and Other and not be borderline headline artists. 
 

 

At Coachella only one stage has TBA slots which is the Do Lab thats mainly all dj's anyway, but theyve had some big names pop up over the years. They have a sms sign up list and they send out notifications 4 hours before a respective act is scheduled to hit the stage. There havent been any crazy things happen cause of that either. Even with Odesza being a surprise this year it seemed to be fine since their time slot was overlapping with some other major acts and it wasnt a shitshow. And this year 80% of the Do Lab surprises leaked ahead of time anyway so if you wanted to know who it was you had ample time before the fest to find out.

Edited May 27, 2023 by Suprefan

[CaledonianGonzo]

20 hours ago, mr flow said:

I think we are sorted. I'm not running it for the first time in 3 festivals as i'll be in Ibiza for a wedding, but we have a new volunteer, and we will all chip in as and when we need to.

 

Just to echo what @august1 was saying above. We take the health and safety side of things very seriously and usually tweet a more cryptic clue earlier in the day to allow fans of the act to get an early heads up. we follow that with a confirmation which is usually so close to stage time that if you aren't close to the area you would struggle to get there. As mentioned, we didn't tweet about Paulo Nutini last year, as could see the issues it would cause.

 

[CaledonianGonzo]

The @Secret_Coachella twitter account telling people to get their Do Lab on.

[Twiggy553]

13 hours ago, Suprefan said:

At Coachella…They have a sms sign up list and they send out notifications 4 hours before a respective act is scheduled to hit the stage.

“Everyone got a text four hours before” doesn’t come with the same bragging rights as “we heard it through the grapevine” 😂 

[CaledonianGonzo]

16 hours ago, stuartbert two hats said:

The replies from people who managed not to miss out on their favourite band, so hot footed across the site to see them. Yes, not as big a surprise as if they'd been on front of the stage, but still not something they knew about that morning - and they actually got to see them.

I'm heavily conflicted about the whole thing, always have been, but when you read those replies from overjoyed fans, it makes it worthwhile.

I'm genuinely baffled at people who don't like / want to do away with secret sets.  Fucking Grinchs.

[squirrelarmy]

14 hours ago, Suprefan said:

But oddly enough when George Ezra was announced and stuff there wasnt this mad rush early on

The mad rush was traffic going the other way trying to get away from the JPT. 

[Leyrulion]

22 hours ago, downtherabbithole said:

How feasible would it be for no-one outside of the crew to not know who was gonna perform at a secret set up until the act stepped on stage? Surely it can be done but would require extreme amounts of hush and even diversion

Pretty difficult. There's a huge number of people involved in organising. Any one of them just needs to mention it to a friend, colleague not working on Glastonbury and a rumour starts. 

 

Having said that Paul McCartney managed to keep Dave Grohl and Bruce Springsteen absolutely secret. There were no rumours about them at all so it is possible.

[CaledonianGonzo]

4 minutes ago, Leyrulion said:

Pretty difficult. There's a huge number of people involved in organising. Any one of them just needs to mention it to a friend, colleague not working on Glastonbury and a rumour starts. 

 

Having said that Paul McCartney managed to keep Dave Grohl and Bruce Springsteen absolutely secret. There were no rumours about them at all so it is possible.

The Guardian mentioned Bruce guesting with Macca in their Sam Fender review.

https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2022/jun/24/sam-fender-at-glastonbury-2022-review-unforgettable-emotional-release

That said, I didn't read it so was still fucking cockahoop when them man himself popped up. 

And the stuff about the Samster out-Bossing the Boss is fucking bobbins.

[stuartbert two hats]

5 hours ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

I'm genuinely baffled at people who don't like / want to do away with secret sets.  Fucking Grinchs.

I can understand wanting to do away with the fuckers distributing spoilers though.

[stuartbert two hats]

3 hours ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

The Guardian mentioned Bruce guesting with Macca in their Sam Fender review.

https://amp.theguardian.com/music/2022/jun/24/sam-fender-at-glastonbury-2022-review-unforgettable-emotional-release

That said, I didn't read it so was still fucking cockahoop when them man himself popped up. 

And the stuff about the Samster out-Bossing the Boss is fucking bobbins.

I had absolutely no idea it was going to happen and not did anyone I was with. Mad that it was in a newspaper article, yet word still didn't get around.

[Barneym]

3 hours ago, squirrelarmy said:

The mad rush was traffic going the other way trying to get away from the JPT. 

Ha, it was just people sitting down outside which made it hard if people stood up it would have been easy to walk away

for what it’s worth I like JP ‘secret’ sets I was at the Killers and we just went to watch the band before (names escapes me) and had no problem getting in, if that had been on the Pyramid I doubt I would have gone as it was seeing them in the tent which made it special. I think you nearly always know if you want to and if you are prepared to give up 2 hours before you can always see it, it’s just a question of your priorities. If there is any chance Pulp will do that set I’m getting there for when the tent opens and not drinking so I don’t have a toilet issue.

[august1]

3 hours ago, stuartbert two hats said:

I had absolutely no idea it was going to happen and not did anyone I was with. Mad that it was in a newspaper article, yet word still didn't get around.

My missus seemed to know about those 2 guests from Facebook/twitter and took great pleasure in proving me wrong 😭

[stuartbert two hats]

40 minutes ago, august1 said:

My missus seemed to know about those 2 guests from Facebook/twitter and took great pleasure in proving me wrong 😭

It's a good job we only do sets, not guest appearances.

[clarkete]

9 hours ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

I'm genuinely baffled at people who don't like / want to do away with secret sets.  Fucking Grinchs.

Simple enough isn't it?

This place was inundated with some folks commenting on crowds in some places and times last year - including that some moving about didn't seem to have applied the sort of planning and consideration for others as some in this thread mentioned (I wasn't one BTW - my recollection is significantly worse before the fence) . 

Added to that - punters mobile comms are better than ever, crowding mentioned in council report and high profile crushing story in the news.  Their stewards in some places seemed less experienced last year and I wouldn't be confident they could manage a big act in JP or Park these days. 

[HotChipWillBreakYourLegs]

10 hours ago, Barneym said:

Ha, it was just people sitting down outside which made it hard if people stood up it would have been easy to walk away

for what it’s worth I like JP ‘secret’ sets I was at the Killers and we just went to watch the band before (names escapes me) and had no problem getting in, if that had been on the Pyramid I doubt I would have gone as it was seeing them in the tent which made it special. I think you nearly always know if you want to and if you are prepared to give up 2 hours before you can always see it, it’s just a question of your priorities. If there is any chance Pulp will do that set I’m getting there for when the tent opens and not drinking so I don’t have a toilet issue.

Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes.

[adequate8]

On 5/26/2023 at 11:31 PM, SighMo said:

I agree with this. Secret Glasto doesn't work if everyone has it. 

Didn't the Paolo Nutini secret set work fairly well because Secret Glasto got asked not to leak it?

Yeh that’s the first time I’ve heard Glasto stepped in, good job too as it was busy enough an hour before (some there thought it’d be Harry Styles). 
 

i told those who DM’d me and hope they managed to get there/enjoy it!