1 major change

[Xeph1995]

1 minute ago, HotChipWillBreakYourLegs said:

With the late night stuff you used to be able to bumble around and just stumble in to an amazing venue with good music.

There seems to be more planning now as there's more queuing you need to plan around.

I still do this tbh and haven't encountered too many problems. 

I don't know if it's either dumb luck or I'm just missing the big sets that people have planned but always have a good time. 

Stumbled upon sub focus in 19 at like 5am was great. 

Edited June 12, 2023 by Xeph1995

[Skip997]

1 minute ago, HotChipWillBreakYourLegs said:

With the late night stuff you used to be able to bumble around and just stumble in to an amazing venue with good music.

There seems to be more planning now as there's more queuing you need to plan around.

The SE corner is over-hyped and over talked about. I'm not dissing the acts, there's always some great stuff on, but all this talk of "the naughty corner" does it no favours, it just brings people there who are curious to see something that doesn't exist (i.e. it's not really naughty).

[maelzoid]

The numbers felt big because the weather was perfect. If there's a bit of rain, that keeps enough people in tents to reduce the crowds massively.

So my big change would be... They should totally rethink the booking of acts. Not including stuff on the two big stages or headliners on WH (maybe Park and Woodsies), I think pretty much every other act should be playing two or more sets over the weekend, at different time slots, different stages.

This would massively reduce clashes, massively reduce costs (Paying one act to do 2 slots < 2 acts to do 1 each) and massively reduce the number of people on site.

It's great that there's like 17 stages, but if every one is programming a unique itinerary Any one person is only seeing 1/17th of the festival! It becomes overkill.

[shuttlep]

keep the numbers the same, double the size of the festival , add a monorail.

 

alternatively, keep the numbers the same, but split it over two weekends  half one weekend half the next  

 

I know none of these are realistic , but the question didn't ask for realistic 

Edited June 12, 2023 by shuttlep

[Nice hymer]

1 minute ago, Skip997 said:

The SE corner is over-hyped and over talked about. I'm not dissing the acts, there's always some great stuff on, but all this talk of "the naughty corner" does it no favours, it just brings people there who are curious to see something that doesn't exist (i.e. it's not really naughty).

Like a Walking Dead herd these days.

Ditch the one-way system and ditch the distopian future vibe.

More colour, more chaos, more happy vibe please!

[goldfishboy]

this may be controversial but i would make the festival run across multiple weeks. each ticket is valid for one week of glastonbury, and the site would be evacuated each monday to make way for the next lot

[HotChipWillBreakYourLegs]

17 minutes ago, Xeph1995 said:

I still do this tbh and haven't encountered too many problems. 

I don't know if it's either dumb luck or I'm just missing the big sets that people have planned but always have a good time. 

Stumbled upon sub focus in 19 at like 5am was great. 

It does still happen, but it feels a little less spontaneous than it used to.  There's probably other factors at work though.

We used to go in a small group and before smart phones.  Now there's more of us, always waiting for someone and we're older and grumpier!

[Skip997]

5 minutes ago, Nice hymer said:

Like a Walking Dead herd these days.

Ditch the one-way system and ditch the distopian future vibe.

More colour, more chaos, more happy vibe please!

I remember a few years back wondering along the railway track in the early hours and watching a stream of people walking towards me, my exact thought was "the walking dead". I made a quick escape into Maceos and all was good with the world again.

100% agree on the "More colour, more chaos, more happy vibe please!"

Maybe the revamped SH will bring this

Edited June 12, 2023 by Skip997

[Breeze]

1 hour ago, Skip997 said:

Significantly reduce the number of attendees

Agreed. On this note has anyone seen the licensed numbers for all previous years in the one place?

[worthyraver]

1 minute ago, Skip997 said:

I remember a few years back wondering along the railway track in the early hours and watching a stream of people walking towards me, my exact thought was "the walking dead". I made a quick escape into Maceos and all was good with the world again.

I have warned you before about that brown acid

PS

Have you got any left?

[Skip997]

2 minutes ago, worthyraver said:

I have warned you before about that brown acid

PS

Have you got any left?

Out of reactions

Have an up vote

[stuie]

1 hour ago, FuzzyDunlop said:

1 major change.... 30,000 less people on site. I know thats dramatic, but quite often I fancy watching X, Y or Z & its an absolute no go.

The SE corner isnt always enjoyable cos you cant get to what you want. 

30000 less would still make it busy, but there would be a lot more room.

A reduction in numbers of 30,000 would mean lost revenue from ticket sales of > £10M.

                   

[Xeph1995]

7 minutes ago, goldfishboy said:

this may be controversial but i would make the festival run across multiple weeks. each ticket is valid for one week of glastonbury, and the site would be evacuated each monday to make way for the next lot

Definitely not in favour of this at all, I dislike festivals that have two weekends. 

[maelzoid]

11 minutes ago, shuttlep said:

alternatively, keep the numbers the same, but split it over two weekends  half one weekend half the next  

 

8 minutes ago, goldfishboy said:

this may be controversial but i would make the festival run across multiple weeks. each ticket is valid for one week of glastonbury, and the site would be evacuated each monday to make way for the next lot

Hands down, the worst possible idea, in my opinion. No offence intended.

Nothing would destroy the unique experience of the festival as much as having a re-run the following weekend.

[Skip997]

1 minute ago, stuie said:

A reduction in numbers of 30,000 would mean lost revenue from ticket sales of > £10M.

                   

So basically GFL have created an out of control monster, "a rod for their own back".

They need to reduce numbers to increase peoples enjoyment and reduce the very real possibility of a crowd crush disaster. 

But, they need to keep/up the numbers to provide the level of acts and entertainment that is demanded by the punters and the media.

[Nice hymer]

5 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

I remember a few years back wondering along the railway track in the early hours and watching a stream of people walking towards me, my exact thought was "the walking dead". I made a quick escape into Maceos and all was good with the world again.

100% agree on the "More colour, more chaos, more happy vibe please!"

Maybe the revamped SH will bring this

This is exactly the point. When there's a better vibe in Maceos than out on the strip, it's time for a change.

I'm hopeful for SH this year and hopeful the SE Corner will have a major revamp in the next couple of years....

[Helsbels]

2 hours ago, FuzzyDunlop said:

1 major change.... 30,000 less people on site. I know thats dramatic, but quite often I fancy watching X, Y or Z & its an absolute no go.

The SE corner isnt always enjoyable cos you cant get to what you want. 

30000 less would still make it busy, but there would be a lot more room.

Its not at all dramatic,since they increased the numbers by around about that number of people a few years back the amount of queuing and gridlocks has increased dramatically and while its still the best place on the planet it was definitely easier to see what you wanted and get around the site easier.

Unfortunately its never going to happen but less people would be nice

[aj6658]

31 minutes ago, maelzoid said:

The numbers felt big because the weather was perfect. If there's a bit of rain, that keeps enough people in tents to reduce the crowds massively.

So my big change would be... They should totally rethink the booking of acts. Not including stuff on the two big stages or headliners on WH (maybe Park and Woodsies), I think pretty much every other act should be playing two or more sets over the weekend, at different time slots, different stages.

This would massively reduce clashes, massively reduce costs (Paying one act to do 2 slots < 2 acts to do 1 each) and massively reduce the number of people on site.

It's great that there's like 17 stages, but if every one is programming a unique itinerary Any one person is only seeing 1/17th of the festival! It becomes overkill.

Think this is awful idea. People love Glastonbury because the variety of shows and TBH part of the experience is missing stuff out. 

You're basically ripping out huge parts of the festival. I love Glass animals, but them playing twice dilutes its. Also it removes so much for people to see. Dont like Glass animals, go see someone else

 

Think by saying it reduces people onsite just means you make the festival worse

Edited June 12, 2023 by aj6658

[aj6658]

24 minutes ago, goldfishboy said:

this may be controversial but i would make the festival run across multiple weeks. each ticket is valid for one week of glastonbury, and the site would be evacuated each monday to make way for the next lot

• Site will be completely churned up and a mess that needs to be cleaned up 
• There's a magic of being there at the one time and place 

 

If it wasn't a camping festival then fine 

[Hullsmudger]

For what it's worth, reduce the number of big acts, dilute the focus on the Pyramid and Other, thereby spreading the footfall across the site.  Also reducing the expense that comes with the big acts.  It wouldn't affect the ability to sell out the festival, but it would attract a more diverse crowd.

I always find too many acts I want to see and after Friday lunchtime find myself almost exclusively watching bands and miss out on a lot of the unexpected treats...

[aj6658]

Less people would be nice but 

• the lost revenue for 20k people would be around 6-8m once you factor in sales of other items like car park stickers e.c.t 
• The cost to run the festival has clearly never been higher - alot of those costs dont decrease at the same pass as decreased volume 
• tickets would be even harder to get 

 

[Xeph1995]

Disperse the SE corner and spread the venues round the site in different smaller locations would be an idea. 

Theres no need for all that stuff to be crammed into one space anymore. 

Edited June 12, 2023 by Xeph1995

[Chip Batch]

Everyone saying less people means you increase the chances of *you* not getting a ticket though?

Missed out again this year and would love to have a ticket and it be really busy over not going at all.

But yeah, if you've got a ticket less busy would be better.

Edited June 12, 2023 by Chip Batch

[Skip997]

3 minutes ago, Hullsmudger said:

For what it's worth, reduce the number of big acts, dilute the focus on the Pyramid and Other, thereby spreading the footfall across the site.  Also reducing the expense that comes with the big acts.  It wouldn't affect the ability to sell out the festival, but it would attract a more diverse crowd.

 

Exactly.

IMO the festival is massively suffering from having managed to attract a very homogeneous crowd.

About 10 years ago a friend of mine went to his first Glastonbury. Very quickly he said "this is a very white, middle class event".

[Trunks1993]

2019 felt half as busy as 2022. I’m hoping 2022 was just an anomaly (I.e. 1st fest post-covid blip)