Pyramid for Elton

[baggie92]

They needed an extra row or 2 of speakers, at the back you'd have been better off playing the set off iPlayer, we left after 5 songs to QOTSA and they were great. 

[swede]

9 minutes ago, mouserat said:

If it helps in any way, we were level with the sound desk from The Chicks onwards and one of us went for a wee after Lil Nas X and was able to get there and back in 30ish mins. 

Although you had a fairly constant trickle of people pushing by to get nearer the front, it never got crushed where we were and we made great friends with people who helped us keep bags safe etc.

I've been in big crowds at Glasto before, was at The Stones in 2013, Dolly in 2014. Haven't been since 2017 and I've always liked the back of the pyramid field as even with larger crowds theres always been room to maneuver and have a bit of space, and have a nice stroll to and from the bars and toilets.  

[Wooderson]

19 minutes ago, baggie92 said:

They needed an extra row or 2 of speakers, at the back you'd have been better off playing the set off iPlayer, we left after 5 songs to QOTSA and they were great. 

Wild that there was no audio compensation for the huge additional space allocated.

[al_coholic]

45 minutes ago, lukethekid said:

The top one is from 2011. 
 

It was just a comparison to show how much space they’ve pinched to open the field up. 

Is that Row Mead that they have taken? Bloody good job they did judging by that image. Also looks like they have take out some of that hedge. Wonder if they will restore Row Mean for camping next year. 

[MrZigster]

31 minutes ago, al_coholic said:

Is that Row Mead that they have taken? Bloody good job they did judging by that image. Also looks like they have take out some of that hedge. Wonder if they will restore Row Mean for camping next year. 

I think that's it for Row Mead now 

Hope I'm wrong.

[Suprefan]

1 hour ago, Wooderson said:

Wild that there was no audio compensation for the huge additional space allocated.

They cant afford it, or actually, wont put money into something that important. They added 2 led screens for his performance and that was it. And looking st the aerial of the new field their pa placement is not that good and prone to it sounding like shite

 

7 million households watch elton last night which makes it the highest rated program of the year.

Edited June 26, 2023 by Suprefan

[incident]

1 hour ago, al_coholic said:

Is that Row Mead that they have taken? Bloody good job they did judging by that image. Also looks like they have take out some of that hedge. Wonder if they will restore Row Mean for camping next year. 

Can't imagine any scenario under which it goes back to camping at this point, though I suspect they might find a use for the furthest corner (where the ground levels off and you can't really see the stage) - maybe more toilets, or some stalls, or something as it's not much use as a vantage point.

But yeah if they're keeping this layout, then they definitely do need to reprofile the sound system in the field - and possibly even take the chance to look at the position and orientation of the stage itself.

Edited June 26, 2023 by incident

[Amy Lawn]

Watched Lil Nas X up to the end of That's What I Want, nice poisition good bit of space. Leisurely walked over to Woodsies with 5 min to spare before my actual literal mother Caroline came on and killed it. Went for a pee and a fill up of the water bottle. Brisk but not too brisk walk over to the Pyramid. Got directed up the back by high vis gang (they were doing a heroic job, bless them), got up to the top right at the back where the metal fence was just as big Elton came on. Good few pigs standing about enjoying the concert on the public purse up there. Did a circuit of the outside of the crowd having a little laugh at how mental and surreal it all was. Got to the Italian food stand on the other side of the Pyramid and followed some people coming back into the crowd from the bar to get a good position, in situ about 25 mins into the set, I think he'd just finished Benny. Crowd absolutely thick as f**k the whole way through, no breathing room. Stall holders standing on roofs up near Cider Bus. Even though I was on the periphery, I could see and hear well all the way through, and the crowd were loving it... except for when Jimmy Nobody came on and did his song, they didn't like that at all. Really glad I witnessed the scale of the crowd, felt like a real once in a lifetime thing. Hung by the ice cream van and waiting 45 mins after the show for the crowds to clear before deciding it wasn't going to budge and braving the crush to get to the fritter shack.

My guesses for guests were Dula Peep, Lil Nas X, Rina Sawayama and one or two of the annoying uncles from Guns N Roses. One out of four not bad considering the odds. Good of Elton to let Rina upstage him and take the crown of Glastonbury for the second night running. Honestly let her headline all 3 nights on the Pyramid next year, nobody is doing it like her.

Edited June 26, 2023 by Amy Lawn

[Rose-Colored Boy]

8 minutes ago, Amy Lawn said:

Watched Lil Nas X up to the end of That's What I Want, nice poisition good bit of space. Leisurely walked over to Woodsies with 5 min to spare before my actual literal mother Caroline came on and killed it. Went for a pee and a fill up of the water bottle. Brisk but not too brisk walk over to the Pyramid. Got directed up the back by high vis gang (they were doing a heroic job, bless them), got up to the top right at the back where the metal fence was just as big Elton came on. Good few pigs standing about enjoying the concert on the public purse up there. Did a circuit of the outside of the crowd having a little laugh at how mental and surreal it all was. Got to the Italian food stand on the other side of the Pyramid and followed some people coming back into the crowd from the bar to get a good position, in situ about 25 mins into the set, I think he'd just finished Benny. Crowd absolutely thick as f**k the whole way through, no breathing room. Stall holders standing on roofs up near Cider Bus. Even though I was on the periphery, I could see and hear well all the way through, and the crowd were loving it... except for when Jimmy Nobody came on and did his song, they didn't like that at all. Really glad I witnessed the scale of the crowd, felt like a real once in a lifetime thing. Hung by the ice cream van and waiting 45 mins after the show for the crowds to clear before deciding it wasn't going to budge and braving the crush to get to the fritter shack.

My guesses for guests were Dula Peep, Lil Nas X, Rina Sawayama and one or two of the annoying uncles from Guns N Roses. One out of four not bad considering the odds. Good of Elton to let Rina upstage him and take the crown of Glastonbury for the second night running. Honestly let her headline all 3 nights on the Pyramid next year, nobody is doing it like her.

What a post 👏

If there’s any justice in the world Rina will spend the whole of next summer supporting Taylor, but failing that a Pyramid residency sounds a good bet tbh. 

[rubenz]

First time I've seen people sat on top of the long drops by the Pyramid to get a view. Pretty rancid smelling spot I would have thought! 

[Tiesto13]

1 hour ago, Wooderson said:

Wild that there was no audio compensation for the huge additional space allocated.

Yeah, we were originally stood down near the small tree to the right of the stage. A couple of our group started to get a bit worried about the crowd size and we started moving up which was a mistake in itself as the path along the side was horrible and you’d spend minutes at a time moving nowhere. And just inside of it in the field huge amounts of people sat down on camping chairs just metres away from something that could very easily have turned into a crush ignoring stewards shouting at them to stand up. 
 

Eventually made our way up to the row mead section of the field and it was pretty spacious there, and a lot of people remained seated, even after it got going. Only problem was that the sound bleed from San Remo, hum from the electricity pylons and distance from the speaker stacks all combined to make it pretty terrible. So we moved forwards again to just above the path, where it was pretty busy but a good combo of everyone in the group feeling comfortable and also being able to hear what was going on. 

Was trying to work out what crowd size it might be and it’s always going to be impossible but think 120,000 is underestimating it maybe? 

138,000 paying tickets but less a decent number that will leave before the final set (10,000 maybe) but with an additional 5,000 Sunday tickets. Let’s say 125,000 paying tickets? Then is it 67,000 working tickets etc? Not sure what a reasonable estimate for how of those would have been people seeing something at that time but 60% maybe after people who are on shifts or have gone home? So 40,000 there. Gives you 165,000 people who were theoretically available to be seeing something at that time. Based on the pictures from all the other stages, not sure you get close to 45,000 even accounting for those who went too hard on Saturday and are still in their tents. 

[Tiesto13]

Heh, forgot the original reason why I quoted that post around the additional sound compensation was my guess was that they’re probably limited in how loud the sound from the field can be and therefore their license doesn’t allow them to add anything else.

[moho79]

As ever, it was jam packed with people round the edges of the field but if you could navigate 20/30 metres in there was definitely plenty of space. I think people assume it’s like that the whole way through so they just stop where they are but it absolutely isn’t. Although whenever I tried to point this out to people they didn’t believe me.
 

We were mid-right for Elton and at one point early in the set I needed to go to the loo - there and back in ten mins, no problem. 

tho I think they need to maintain a clear path along the right hand side of the field, bit like a fire Lane, just to ease the natural movement of people in and out of the crowd 

[Steveb72]

I took that at 2144 and as you can see it wasn’t too bad by us.

[Bike_Like_A_Mum]

Just reading through this, started the topic and then couldn't get any signal!! How did you all have service 🤣

We caught Blondie half way through, then stayed for the duration as the kids like lil nas x. We were over to the right and fairly in the thick of it in the context of a crowd of 120k (which is terrifying when you look at those photographs 😱) but we felt safe where we were and had nice people around us. When we first got there we had a lot of chair and picnic people around. We purposely chose to stand near them to be honest as it created a good barrier for the kids during the set crossovers. But we were going to move to the back for Elton. So glad we didn't!! When they put the chairs down we had loads of room to dance around us! We hadn't intended to be that close at all but we had got to know the people around us and like I said, felt safe with them around. Sounds like we could have moved back a bit and ended up near some nob heads. So i'm glad we took our chances and stayed put as it was such a special night!! 

It was a little hairy coming out afterwards, we tried to get out a little bit earlier but couldn't penetrate the wall. So we just went with the flow of the traffic and most people give the 'pushy people' a warning that there's little ones ahead. We had to walk all the way around the back of the pyramid though, longest route back to CV East EVER, so my daughter did get really grumpy about the walk when she was so tired. I'm sure plenty of people would have been judging us when they saw her face haha but she was honestly fine about the crowds, it was just day 6 of late nights and sh*t loads of walking for her and she'd had a brilliant time up to that moment. Unfortunately the sweets shop was closed 🤣🤣 

Precious memory of Elton though, the kids have both called him one of their highlights. Proud of them for being troopers, why shouldn't they get to have a lovely experience too 😊 What a historic night!! I hope you all had as much fun as us ❤️

Edited June 26, 2023 by Bike_Like_A_Mum

[stuwilky]

3 hours ago, Suprefan said:

They cant afford it, or actually, wont put money into something that important. They added 2 led screens for his performance and that was it. And looking st the aerial of the new field their pa placement is not that good and prone to it sounding like shite

 

7 million households watch elton last night which makes it the highest rated program of the year.

The decision to remove row mead was a very late one. There wouldn’t have been time to get the necessary kit ordered and installed before the site opened.

 

If we’ve lost row mead permanently I’m sure improvements will be made for 2023. 

[Drinky]

The wind was also a factor - we watched Lizzo from up the top of Row Mead and the sound was much better than the same spot for Elton because it was being whipped around by the gusts of wind on Sunday night. (The same thing that ruined the Killers in 2007, for any old bastards who remember that)

[Crazyfool01]

On 6/25/2023 at 7:17 PM, FloorFiller said:

Yup, lots of people thinking they can swoop in after Lil Nas has finished are gonna be in for a bit of a shock. Looks mental. 

I managed just that despite the bbc article saying I’d been there since 4am . Just a bit into the pit on the right but in there never the less 

[bennyhana22]

On 6/26/2023 at 12:59 AM, fightoffyour said:

Damn, I would’ve loved to have been there, but Elton was incredible.

 

paging @bennyhana22

Echo everything that @thatTFBguy said!

One of the best headliner sets I've seen at any festival. Utterly joyous. Thomas (lead singer) did a little speech about how the band understand how festivals work, with so many choices available for the crowd, and how they were so grateful and happy that we'd chosen to spend our Sunday night with them.

The crowd was phenomenal. Not as modest as I wondered it might be, and every single one of us was totally up for it. The crowd singing was amazing (not easy given how unintelligible many of them are, written by a non-originally anglophone!), everyone jumping for the whole set.

I saw a few sets in Woodsies and, as is often the case, the sound was 'fine', rather than the utterly stellar systems on West Holts and, this year, the pretty much flawless Park (sound for Fever Ray and Eyes Blood was impeccable). However, for Phoenix it was like they'd put in a new system (I wonder if they brought their own sound engineer, who knows how to set them up perfectly). Every instrument was on point and the vocals, so often a bit muddy in the tent, were spot on.

Closing the set with 1901 was perfect, after opening with a riotous Lisztomania, during the former with Thomas leaving us to sing his lines in the pre-chorus - and we did!

I've watched half of Elton today and it looks amazing. The field looks incredible and he sounds remarkably good. I'm so glads he played and that so many got the chance to experience that.

But, Phoenix in Woodsies? My best decision of Glastonbury 2023.

Ben
x

Edited June 27, 2023 by bennyhana22

[efcfanwirral]

55 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

I managed just that despite the bbc article saying I’d been there since 4am . Just a bit into the pit on the right but in there never the less 

We did similar, tried the pit but actually ended up a bit further back with an incredible view. It was possible and it then all got much better when people put their chairs away...

Pretty sure I saw you setting up - did you carry your hat in in a box? I recognised it!  If so I was camped a bit up the hill! 

Edited June 26, 2023 by efcfanwirral

[Crazyfool01]

1 minute ago, efcfanwirral said:

We did similar, tried the pit but actually ended up a bit further back with an incredible view. It was possible and it then all got much better when people put their chairs away...

Pretty sure I saw you setting up - did you carry your hat in in a box? I recognised it!  If so I was camped a bit up the hill! 

was on the back of my bike trailer when we did the second run was camped pyramid side of woodsies just  below lockup 

[Chrisp1986]

Taken at 22.12.

I started working in just after Blondie finished. It was RAMMED to point someone had their bag on MY feet so couldn't move. Never felt so claustrophobic in a crowd and I used to go to front at every V festival.

[faymondo]

On 6/25/2023 at 7:17 PM, FloorFiller said:

Yup, lots of people thinking they can swoop in after Lil Nas has finished are gonna be in for a bit of a shock. Looks mental. 

We tried this and got stuck underneath the screens. it was getting a bit scary in their so we ploughed out and went up on the hill thats normally camping where we had a chill to watch Sophie Ellis Bextor. The sound was shite due to the wind picking up so we got down to the top path and had a lovely panoramic view with space to dance and the sound was improved. Though we did walk further away at one point and the sound went worse again and came back to spot number two. 

Took us about 20 mins to get off the hill towards San Remo.

[Joey01]

21 hours ago, Ommadawn said:

Saw my first punch up ever at Glastonbury during his set. Shame.

Fantastic set otherwise.

 

Sunday night's alright for fighting?

[efcfanwirral]

40 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

was on the back of my bike trailer when we did the second run was camped pyramid side of woodsies just  below lockup 

That will have indeed been you then!