Why so difficult to get tickets!!

[maelzoid]

18 minutes ago, 09matthewsw said:

It’s not popular on here but I like the ballot idea. Especially more than the recent “no payment required” method which basically removes any ability to play the game and will make it easier for influencers etc to get tickets. 
 

Open the ballot registration window for a few hours on a Sunday morning announced at short notice. Find out if you’re lucky the following Sunday. Sign up in groups of 4 max, if one of you gets picked then everyone in your group goes. Groups of 1 get their names entered 4 times. Groups of 2 x 2. Those who have been continuously unlucky can get prioritised in future sales much like what they used to do with the London marathon. It could work 

It could work... I applied for the London Marathon 15 times before I got a place. If they introduce the lottery I’m pretty sure we’ll all be going just once every five festivals.

I absolutely oppose the idea of booking a ticket without any money down. Anyone with a decent SM following basically gets to go and rest of us will struggle because of it. 

[maelzoid]

In response to the OP, don’t give up. It will happen for you, and when it does it will be glorious.

[verrymerry]

The lottery thing is good andbad, because you might get lucky when others in your group don't. 

 

I do wonder if they take up the no payment upfront method for the main sale, how quickly they'll put on resale the ones people don't pay for, it will it be April/May as always. I just think there'd be a lot of people who don't pay at all and then they'll have less of the deposit money 

[Calvin Klein]

reward the most dedicated. ballot is terrible idea.

[clarkete]

9 hours ago, rob.a said:

This is the bit that annoys me about the ticket sale. Not everyone has loads of friends and not everyone is confident enough to join random ticket groups. Seems unfair to them.

 

9 hours ago, OllieWilliams said:

This is the case for me. The wife and I have been trying for years but with no joy, we rope in some family members but dont have many people to help.

Why don't you two start a group. 

Other members here will advise you, others will want to join and help you too. 

[TokiDoki]

On 6/24/2023 at 8:56 PM, Kazual said:

Hi all,

Obtaining tickets for tye Glastonbury Festival has always been notoriously difficult but I've known people be successful every time at obtaining tickets whereas I've failed to manage to get tickets since I first tried in 1999.

Is there a secret to increasing your chances of obtaining tickets?

I've tried getting friends and family to apply for tickets at the same time to better my chances but this method has never worked to date.

Any tips would be much appreciated as I'm bewildered as to how many people know seem to bag tickets every time the festival comes along!

Just in case anyone asks, these friends are getting tickets for another group of friends, so yes I've tried to see if they could get me one too but they are always already accounted for. 

Thanks in advance for any tips! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I guess you haven't been trying every time because 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2003 were super easy to get tickets for. 2003 was the first one to sell out quickly, but it still took ~1 day and the website didn't crash or anything, there was no ticket panic because we didn't know it would sell out that quickly. You could buy your ticket any time at your leisure on ticket sale day.

 

2005 and 2007 both sold out super quickly with the now-familiar website crashes etc.

 

2008 didn't sell out until just before the festival began, they were even selling tickets in HMV that year:

 

https://www.efestivals.co.uk/news/08/080608a.shtml

 

I believe 2009 onwards, every year sold out immediately (i.e. as fast as the website would allow)

Edited June 26, 2023 by liquuid_fusion

[incident]

Just now, liquuid_fusion said:

I believe 2009 onwards, every year sold out immediately (i.e. as fast as the website would allow)

2009 was on sale for months

2010 did sell out the same day tickets went on sale, but a few hours after the initial rush had been and gone.

Both of those were open to anyone who made even a token effort.

[DesperateDad]

On 6/24/2023 at 10:25 PM, irnkrtn said:

In 1999 you walked into HMV and bought a ticket over the counter. It didn't start online sales til the 00s and it didn't start selling out immediately til the middle of the 00s at that??

From glastofeed:

2002: Sold out in 8 weeks

2003: Sold out in 18 hours

2004: Sold out within 24 hours

2005: Sold out in less than 3 hours

2007: Sold out in 1 hour 45 minutes (registration system introduced)

2008: Sold out in 11.5 weeks (by opening day Friday)

2009: Sold out in 4 months (nearly five months in advance)

2010: Sold out in 12 hours

2011: Sold out in 4 hours

2013: Sold out in 1 hour 40 minutes

2014: Sold out in 1 hour 27 minutes

Coach: Sold out in 30 minutes

2015: Sold out in 25 minutes

Coach: Sold out in 15 minutes

2016: Sold out in 30 minutes

Coach: Sold out in 20 minutes

2017: Sold out in 50 minutes

Coach: Sold out in 22 minutes

2019: Sold out in 36 minutes

Coach: Sold out in 29 minutes

2020: Sold out in 33 minutes

Coach: Sold out in 27 minutes

2023: – Sold out in 61 minutes

Coach: Sold out in 22 minutes

 

The 2008 speed doesn't surprise as '07 was a moist one (made bearable by the joy my four-year-old's mud fiend mentality)

2009 is a surprise after the vintage year (IMO) of 2008 (expanded site, 1st year for the Park I think) 

[essjay2009]

As others have said, a ballot is a terrible idea. There's a weird psychological thing where people who are currently unsuccessful think that changing the system will somehow make them successful, but it's almost certainly not going to happen.

Numbers released by the festival seem to suggest you have something like a 10% of getting a tickets, based on number of attempts and capacity. I think it's a bit higher than that, because of multiple people trying in groups, so say 20%. 1 in 5.

If it's a ballot, the number of people who will just throw their name in to the hat will increase substantially. That 20% may drop to 5%, or even lower. Because, why not? You don't have to pay, you don't have to be organised, you don't even have to get up early on Sunday morning. There's no barrier to entry at all. Your chance of getting a ticket will go down. This is hard to take if you're not currently getting one.

Those of us who do frequent forums like this and put effort in to getting tickets every year will also lose out. It doesn't seem right that someone who has only a casual interest in going but throws their hat in to a ballot because "why not?' gets a ticket over someone who has dedicated a reasonable amount of time and effort to it. 

[irnkrtn]

2 hours ago, DesperateDad said:

From glastofeed:

2002: Sold out in 8 weeks

2003: Sold out in 18 hours

2004: Sold out within 24 hours

2005: Sold out in less than 3 hours

2007: Sold out in 1 hour 45 minutes (registration system introduced)

2008: Sold out in 11.5 weeks (by opening day Friday)

2009: Sold out in 4 months (nearly five months in advance)

2010: Sold out in 12 hours

2011: Sold out in 4 hours

2013: Sold out in 1 hour 40 minutes

2014: Sold out in 1 hour 27 minutes

Coach: Sold out in 30 minutes

2015: Sold out in 25 minutes

Coach: Sold out in 15 minutes

2016: Sold out in 30 minutes

Coach: Sold out in 20 minutes

2017: Sold out in 50 minutes

Coach: Sold out in 22 minutes

2019: Sold out in 36 minutes

Coach: Sold out in 29 minutes

2020: Sold out in 33 minutes

Coach: Sold out in 27 minutes

2023: – Sold out in 61 minutes

Coach: Sold out in 22 minutes

 

The 2008 speed doesn't surprise as '07 was a moist one (made bearable by the joy my four-year-old's mud fiend mentality)

2009 is a surprise after the vintage year (IMO) of 2008 (expanded site, 1st year for the Park I think) 

I think 2007 was first year of The Park? Saw Lily Allen open it. It was meant to be MIA but she was MIA. 

[Dave_c]

I'm definately in the camp of leave it as is, at least with the current system you feel like you have an influence on success. A lottery is the worst idea ever.

[fullfathom5]

On 6/26/2023 at 1:51 PM, Calvin Klein said:

reward the most dedicated. ballot is terrible idea.

Spot on!

[verrymerry]

1 hour ago, irnkrtn said:

I think 2007 was first year of The Park? Saw Lily Allen open it. It was meant to be MIA but she was MIA. 

Yeah I'm pretty sure it's been there as long as I've been going.

 

2007 was the last year of Lost Vagueness tho! 

[DesperateDad]

18 hours ago, irnkrtn said:

I think 2007 was first year of The Park? Saw Lily Allen open it. It was meant to be MIA but she was MIA. 

Thanks for the clarification, I wasn't convinced by my recall at all. 

My over-riding memory of 2007 is the mad fun my 4 year old son and I had in mud

[verrymerry]

2 hours ago, DesperateDad said:

Thanks for the clarification, I wasn't convinced by my recall at all. 

My over-riding memory of 2007 is the mad fun my 4 year old son and I had in mud

You legend 🤣 2007 was a mudbath, I salute you for surviving whilst keeping someone else alive too

[fraybentos1]

Ballot is a terrible idea as stated. 

I actually quite like the buzz of ticket day and the feeling if you get them is amazing!

[a6l6e6x]

Should be a glasto quiz before you get to pay. Make it really hard as well

 

[gooner1990]

18 hours ago, verrymerry said:

Yeah I'm pretty sure it's been there as long as I've been going.

 

2007 was the last year of Lost Vagueness tho! 

The first two years I went (2004 & 2005) what is now the Park area was general camping. 😊

[verrymerry]

I dug out all my old Glastonbury bags this week and we've been comparing the maps, how it's changed! 

No more Leftfield/Dragon camping or Suggs ground 🏕️

[ICESTONE]

Only 2 things i would like is max ticket buy to be 2 per person and once that person has bought tickets they are out (see people on TD saying they got in 3 times a bought 18 tickets). Not sure if its technically possible and i know the big group people will hate it but thats my preference.

Doubt they will do anything as the presser is always 'GLASTONBURY TICKETS SELL OUT IN 34 SECONDS' as if the festival needs to generate hype.

 

 

[dicka]

It's difficult to get a ticket because Glastonbury is one of the best places ever, I've not been able to get ticket since 2015 but I can't think of a more fair way of selling them than what we have.

[a6l6e6x]

Might just start a band to get in, swear that’s easier than getting a ticket now 

[iamstreety]

Always seem to be lucky with getting in. Think persistence helps.

• We split into groups of 6 with all the details ready to copy and paste.
• This year I had 2 laptops and an iMac with the browsers tiled on the screens (Firefox, Chrome, Safari). Then my phone and iPad. I leave them all on the 20 secs refresh and mash refresh on two.
• Don't stop when it says sold out as you may still get in.

[Lucy92]

1 minute ago, a6l6e6x said:

Might just start a band to get in, swear that’s easier than getting a ticket now 

I’ve heard of some bands on the line up not on main stages who didn’t have tickets! 

[slumberjack]

On 6/24/2023 at 11:42 PM, DaveN said:

Weren't they shitting themselves in 2008 because there were still tickets left only a couple of weeks before the festival opened it's gates?

The immediate sellout started in the 2010's

2005 and 2007 sold out quickly (no festival in 2006) and they were very wet years.  I remember tickets being available a week or two before the festival in 2008, possibly due to two very wet years?  I think it sold out within hours from 2009 onwards.