SE Corner - time for a refresh?

[FuzzyDunlop]

4 hours ago, Skip997 said:

I'd put it at 99.9% of people

There aren't a huge number of tea total folks about, and especially in the SE corner after midnight

#alcoholisadrug

 

[Skip997]

18 minutes ago, Isaact said:

It's the most dangerous part of the festival in terms of crowd control, well, that and the South East Park / Arcadia entrance that should be shut completely off.

I'm in general agreement here, however, "the field just to the south" if it's the one I think you're taking about is Shangri-La crew camping. They already struggle to accomodate everyone. Moving crew camping either to one of the public camp sites or even worse outside the fence would cause serious objections, the later option would likely result in several people with a long history in the SE corner giving up the festival. The first option means having to relocate a punters campsite, where to exactly?

An easier option would be to move the bars/food outlets/micro venues into a space vacted by removing some the tired Unfairground venues, The Rocket lounge could also move more into Unfairground (it's current position also cause a bottleneck around the toilets). Then get rid of Nowhere and open out The Truth Stage arena.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Seems to be something irreconcilable about the 'it needs more alleyways and nooks and crannies' and 'as it is it's full of bottlenecks and pinch points' viewpoints.

[incident]

2 hours ago, bob323 said:

can anyone correct me? when it was Lost Vagueness (I used to love the sign on the railway track) did they change the theme each year? - sometimes subtle, sometimes major, I rememeber a star wars theme and that was flippin ace

No, LV was basically the exact same from 2002 to 2007 inclusive.

It benefits massively from nostalgia here, if LV did somehow come back people would be like "really? that's it?". For all the complaints that the SE corner is stale, there's still more changes every year than LV had across 5 years.

[Isaact]

23 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Seems to be something irreconcilable about the 'it needs more alleyways and nooks and crannies' and 'as it is it's full of bottlenecks and pinch points' viewpoints.

No there isn't - the issue is the main thoroughfare is through the crowd crust because there isn't enough space.

Moving stages so you get a proper separation between thoroughfare and crowds doesn't go against the nooks and alleyways view

[CaledonianGonzo]

They only have limited space to build it in.  

[Isaact]

4 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

They only have limited space to build it in.  

Pretty sure that I read at least two of the fields next to it are included as part of the licence for late night music, right?

Are you telling me that the entire field behind Shangri in between the publicly accessible bit and the wall is taken up by staff camping?

[bob323]

39 minutes ago, incident said:

No, LV was basically the exact same from 2002 to 2007 inclusive.

It benefits massively from nostalgia here, if LV did somehow come back people would be like "really? that's it?". For all the complaints that the SE corner is stale, there's still more changes every year than LV had across 5 years.

dam memory,

LV was definately much smaller than it is today

[glast0gal]

I enjoyed having a pootle around SE corner this year on the Saturday while GnR were on the Pyramid. The Truth stage needs more space imo, so agree that they could probably bin off UFG, expand SGL and go a bit more 'all-in' with a fresher theme. I liked the actors late at night. I think I was one of the only ones out of my group who wasn't dabbling in disco biscuits and the like this year, so appreciated how having actors in the area added to the atmosphere alongside the music. Tbh, the stand-out late night venues for me at Glasto tend to be the ones with more impressive staging - Levels was fantastic, IICON is an amazing stage, Temple is great fun, and I've seen some good acts on the Truth stage too. Think the biggest drawback is the crowding and the flow (or perhaps lack thereof) of people you get down in SE corner between 23:30-03:00, probably its busiest time (?) Don't know how much you can change that to be honest, as if you make the area bigger, then people will just fill up the space, unless you drastically cut the number of tickets available to the festival overall.

[bigbilly]

Think the Park needs an update as well TBH Nothings changed for ages.  

[Crazyfool01]

how busy was the SEC ? did the improved Silver Hayes have any impact? 

[glast0gal]

2 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

how busy was the SEC ? did the improved Silver Hayes have any impact? 

Felt like business as usual. Mind you, I headed down to SEC just as the Fred Again x Bless Madonna b2b set was about to kick off at the Temple and then stuck around Shangri-La and decided to take myself off for a wander just as the Bassment Jaxx secret set was starting on the Truth stage (epic fail of a decision) so decided to retire to my tent not long after that. SH felt good this year - benefits from being an area with a lot of space but feels like SEC is just too established in the fabric of the festival now. Feel like a lot of the party crowd treat it as its own mini festival and it's seen as more of a safe bet than SH in the sense that there will be at least something to grab your interest in SEC, whereas if you don't like what's on at SH, you've then got to schlep over to the other side of the site to get in on the action. A shame because SH was rocking this year - really, really impressive stuff.

[Leyrulion]

On 7/2/2023 at 6:16 PM, O'Doyle Rules said:

Apologies if this is elsewhere (and ignore if it is) but I really am finding myself less interested in the SE corner each passing year. It’s just a lot of aimless (off your tits) wondering and I feel the weird interaction I loved has dwindled somewhat?

I’ve only been going since 2008 so not sure what came before, and appreciate any big revamp at Glasto is a big undertaking and they prefer to slowly build stuff up, but do feel a “fresh” restart would be cool.

Amazingly found myself in Silver Hayes a lot this year - about time they made it a viable alternative. 

Anyone feel the same?

I'll give you the same response I give to others, you're 15 years older. Your tastes change and that's fine.

[Crazyfool01]

9 minutes ago, glast0gal said:

Felt like business as usual. Mind you, I headed down to SEC just as the Fred Again x Bless Madonna b2b set was about to kick off at the Temple and then stuck around Shangri-La and decided to take myself off for a wander just as the Bassment Jaxx secret set was starting on the Truth stage (epic fail of a decision) so decided to retire to my tent not long after that. SH felt good this year - benefits from being an area with a lot of space but feels like SEC is just too established in the fabric of the festival now. Feel like a lot of the party crowd treat it as its own mini festival and it's seen as more of a safe bet than SH in the sense that there will be at least something to grab your interest in SEC, whereas if you don't like what's on at SH, you've then got to schlep over to the other side of the site to get in on the action. A shame because SH was rocking this year - really, really impressive stuff.

Things go in phases … I expect silver hayes to get busier as it evolves from now … interesting to see if this impacts SEC or will it just take from nearer arcadia or a bit from both 

[Skip997]

1 hour ago, Isaact said:

Pretty sure that I read at least two of the fields next to it are included as part of the licence for late night music, right?

Are you telling me that the entire field behind Shangri in between the publicly accessible bit and the wall is taken up by staff camping?

Yes

Shangri-La crew, SE corner stewards, Block 9 crew and Greenfields overflow crew camping

[Johnnyseven]

52 minutes ago, glast0gal said:

The Truth stage needs more space imo, so agree that they could probably bin off UFG, expand SGL and go a bit more 'all-in' with a fresher theme.

I always had the impression that the UFG and Shangri-la were run by 2 different crews, hence 2 crew bars. If so I don't think sacking off 1 so the other can expand would be very fair.

[glast0gal]

1 minute ago, Johnnyseven said:

I always had the impression that the UFG and Shangri-la were run by 2 different crews, hence 2 crew bars. If so I don't think sacking off 1 so the other can expand would be very fair.

Yeah, they will be two different crews. This is my pie-in-the-sky thinking making for not very practical real-life solutions there (haha!) We'll have the four areas as they are (space-wise) until any organisers decide to take a different approach.

[dotdash79]

32 minutes ago, Crazyfool01 said:

Things go in phases … I expect silver hayes to get busier as it evolves from now … interesting to see if this impacts SEC or will it just take from nearer arcadia or a bit from both 

Next year Silver Hayes will be a lot busier, the line up was off the scale this year. Really ahead of the other areas, the change of team running it has been a revelation, it felt less of a walk through this year.

[Dave_c]

2 hours ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Seems to be something irreconcilable about the 'it needs more alleyways and nooks and crannies' and 'as it is it's full of bottlenecks and pinch points' viewpoints.

Yeah, I suspect the alleyways and smaller venues got taken away for that very reason, to remove crowd pinch points.

I don't even bother going there anymore, not worth the hassle for me and with Silver Hayes upping it's game I doubt I'll go back unless the area has a total refresh.

[MEGABOWL]

12 minutes ago, dotdash79 said:

Next year Silver Hayes will be a lot busier, the line up was off the scale this year. Really ahead of the other areas, the change of team running it has been a revelation, it felt less of a walk through this year.

Silver Hayes was great this year. Absolutely nailed it.

[gooner1990]

Interesting that the TBD guys also picked up on the lack of bands or DJs playing bands late at night too.

[Soulofatruck]

My first glasto we ended up in a Lionel Ritchie karaoke room in the SE corner, everyone in Lionel masks just singing Lionel tunes. Was incredibly surreal and we spent ages in there. Also miss the Sunday night paint party in the Temple!

I think there's definitely room for improvements for the late night stuff, more of the quirky and weird. Music wise, I'm not a fan of "beats" and think it could be more varied, wether that be the SE corner or elsewhere on site. 

 

[mikeyb123]

I remember the alleyways in 2013, were these binned off from 14 onwards? I remember looking for it but didn’t think i was looking hard enough. The alleys were cool.

 

in my first year in 08 does anyone remember a bar/club that was deliberately positioned so the Dancefloor was on quite a steep hill? That was really funny in there but I can even confirm if it was real. Also remember going through a cupboard into a cloak room with fancy dress and then into a main room just with a load of double beds?!  Then I saw someone called frank’s anazi in some cabaret tent. I absolutely loved that place in 08 and when I went back it never felt quite the same and it made me wonder whether it did actually all happen.

[Johnnyseven]

10 minutes ago, mikeyb123 said:

I remember the alleyways in 2013, were these binned off from 14 onwards? I remember looking for it but didn’t think i was looking hard enough. The alleys were cool.

 

in my first year in 08 does anyone remember a bar/club that was deliberately positioned so the Dancefloor was on quite a steep hill? That was really funny in there but I can even confirm if it was real. Also remember going through a cupboard into a cloak room with fancy dress and then into a main room just with a load of double beds?!  Then I saw someone called frank’s anazi in some cabaret tent. I absolutely loved that place in 08 and when I went back it never felt quite the same and it made me wonder whether it did actually all happen.

Frank Sanazi has played for quite a few years in the Cabaret tent.

[O'Doyle Rules]

1 hour ago, dotdash79 said:

Next year Silver Hayes will be a lot busier, the line up was off the scale this year. Really ahead of the other areas, the change of team running it has been a revelation, it felt less of a walk through this year.

Completely agree. Found myself staying and enjoying. For years there were festivals I wouldn’t even join.

Also, not SH or SEC but San Remo has had some of the most electric atmospheres the last two years. A bit of a “selfie” vibe, but a really keen crowd.