Crowds (/ Overcrowding?)

[philipsteak]

 

Scissor Sisters on Woodsies was perfect. They were amazing. Yeah, they could've played lower down on the pyramid but it wouldn't have had nearly the same impact. 

The main issue with overcrowding largely seemed to be with the changeover from Tom Odell. We got there before the end of his set and the tent was already full so we (along with a few thousand others) had to wait until then left. After that we all pretty calmly made our way in and it seemed fine. Although obviously I don't know what it looked like outside. 

I also think they unofficially reopened it as my friend made it to us about 20 second before the twerking gorilla came out on stage

 

(There was a twerking gorilla, right? 

We all saw it yeah?)

Edited June 30, 2025 by philipsteak

[kalifire]

In terms of traffic, the pass through next to Bread & Roses heading to Leftfield (or vice versa) isn’t fit for purpose when it’s busy. Even when they made it a one way system, it was carnage. They need to half the trees in that section to allow for more foot traffic.

[kemosabe]

Selfishly going to bump this, for those on their way home - really interested in your thoughts.

 

guessing that the fact there hasn’t been loads of threads/comments during the festival itself suggests we’re in a better place then last year! 

[Steveb72]

Definitely didn’t feel as crowded this year compared to the post covid ones.  The less tickets made a difference and don’t know if they’ve managed to cut down on people getting spun in as well.

[Tbrady94]

From a personal standpoint I think they did an excellent job with crowd control this year. Charli in particular was talked about beforehand and I felt so safe in that crowd - the bigger Other field, the crowd control within the crowd itself and the clear messaging was so helpful. Similarly Kneecap felt very safe with the closed down field.

 

Also the app this year, with information about what is expected to be busy, was extremely helpful. It allows you to plan better and compromise on what you need to.

 

And as a final sidenote, generally (and this might just be a personal experience) I found there was way less pushing and shoving this year and people were generally more respectful in the crowds and affording a bit more space.

[GlastoEls]

I haven’t been since 2022 - and this year felt miles better.

 

 

[Hotchilidog]

Glad to read that experience was better, reducing the ticket sales seemed essential to me. Nice to see the festival taking action and continuing to evolve their crowd management. 

 

Watching on TV I noticed that it would have been quite easy for me to get prime spots for some of my favourites this year.

[Badlands]

Whilst we had kid in tow so avoided the potential pinch points, overwhelming feedback from our group is that the crowd management was much better than previous post Covid years. 
 

I’m sure the annual thread of furious gripes as to why the festival hadn’t catered specifically to individual needs and tastes will still be massive but for me it was a resounding success.

[kemosabe]

3 minutes ago, Tbrady94 said:

From a personal standpoint I think they did an excellent job with crowd control this year. Charli in particular was talked about beforehand and I felt so safe in that crowd - the bigger Other field, the crowd control within the crowd itself and the clear messaging was so helpful. Similarly Kneecap felt very safe with the closed down field.

 

Also the app this year, with information about what is expected to be busy, was extremely helpful. It allows you to plan better and compromise on what you need to.

 

And as a final sidenote, generally (and this might just be a personal experience) I found there was way less pushing and shoving this year and people were generally more respectful in the crowds and affording a bit more space.

On your last point. I’m guessing when you don’t have to push through crowds alll weekend for literally anything vaguely popular, people are probably more likely to be nicer and more respectful when they do come across a crowd 

[CantWaitForGlasto22]

Agree crowd control seemed better this year - closing areas and directly people around busy points after the big stages exited really helped keep us moving and keep us safe. I was amazed during The Prodigy that everyone kept the walkways clear around back of Other so it was easy to move around the back of the stage. Sensible obviously but everyone just did it 

Edited June 30, 2025 by CantWaitForGlasto22

[ameski18]

46 minutes ago, kemosabe said:

Selfishly going to bump this, for those on their way home - really interested in your thoughts.

 

guessing that the fact there hasn’t been loads of threads/comments during the festival itself suggests we’re in a better place then last year! 

I was last there in '22 & '23 and the crowds were almost intolerable! I always figured the issues were caused by the thousands who'd been spun in / acquired wristbands without a ticket! 

I was chuffed to hear Emily Eavis et al. mention this in interviews and actually do something about it, so I'm finding this thread super interesting. 

Bad stage booking choices I can deal with but general overcrowding was a nightmare! And as @kemosabe mentioned above, people always seem to be more tolerant in those crowds when they haven't been fighting their way around site all week. 
 

I don't know how we'll ever get away from the odd overcrowded field / tent?!

Edited June 30, 2025 by ameski18

[Talcroft]

45 minutes ago, Steveb72 said:

Definitely didn’t feel as crowded this year compared to the post covid ones.  The less tickets made a difference and don’t know if they’ve managed to cut down on people getting spun in as well.

 

Obviously anecdotal, but met a group of scousers who said "you know normally we have our little scheme where we can get an in, well that's not been available this year so we're having to work." 

I know the scheme they had and I dunno what the festival has done to rein it in, but it's clearly working. 

[Badlands]

4 minutes ago, ameski18 said:

don't know how we'll ever get away from the odd overcrowded field / tent?!

We’ll not, and part of that is by design. Having a Lorde sized act play a smaller stage is part of the sell.

[K2SO]

4 hours ago, kalifire said:

In terms of traffic, the pass through next to Bread & Roses heading to Leftfield (or vice versa) isn’t fit for purpose when it’s busy. Even when they made it a one way system, it was carnage. They need to half the trees in that section to allow for more foot traffic.

 

This was the one issue that needed addressing for me. We last went in 2022, and almost never wanted to go back because of how crowded it was. This year we couldn't stop saying how much calmer it felt. The only trouble really came at that pinch point on Sunday. I do feel like if it was always clearly signposted that you have to go through one side, then it would actually eliminate the majority of the issue there.

[ameski18]

1 minute ago, Badlands said:

We’ll not, and part of that is by design. Having a Lorde sized act play a smaller stage is part of the sell.

Fully agree! 

[Memory Man]

51 minutes ago, Steveb72 said:

Definitely didn’t feel as crowded this year compared to the post covid ones.  The less tickets made a difference and don’t know if they’ve managed to cut down on people getting spun in as well.

Its hard to know without figures but theres a good possibility that the reduction on spin ins made more difference than the fewer tickets sold

[K2SO]

3 minutes ago, Talcroft said:

 

Obviously anecdotal, but met a group of scousers who said "you know normally we have our little scheme where we can get an in, well that's not been available this year so we're having to work." 

I know the scheme they had and I dunno what the festival has done to rein it in, but it's clearly working. 

 

A friend of my wife managed to get in on Thursday. Still no idea how - All we were told was she was "Doing loads of drugs with Scouse lads all day" and somehow got in

[lazyred]

57 minutes ago, GlastoEls said:

I haven’t been since 2022 - and this year felt miles better.

 

 

Same for us. Some of the bottlenecks I remember like the pyramid towards woodsies were much better. It felt like there was a lot more stewards managing the crowds

[Nduja]

In general I think it was a massive W for the organisers. The transformation of The Other Stage from a complete graveyard 10 years or so ago to what it is today is remarkable

[Little Thief]

Didn’t feel crowded at all really, much better than last year. Sunday felt busy though across all the main walkways vs the previous few days. Wonder if they sold more Sunday day tickets this year after the exodus last year on the Sunday.

[Spindles]

1 hour ago, GlastoEls said:

I haven’t been since 2022 - and this year felt miles better.

2022 was a shitshow.  Friends who've been going for decades were talking about calling it a day on the festival, I skipped 23 because it wasn't the festival I remembered.  Returned last year and the reaction to crowd safety issues was clear, I'm glad to read they are continuing to improve.

[Arrowman]

Thought crowds were brilliant this weekend, really happy atmosphere, didn't have to stand shoulder-to-shoulder.

 

Of course, you have to plan. We knew we wanted to be in front of the sound desk for Charli, so made our way over after Pulp, enjoyed Ezra from the side, and walked through to our spot before Skepta came on.

 

Think people do tend to hang on the fringes of the big crowds, and there's more congestion at the side of stages than in the middle of the audience. But nothing Glastonbury can do about that.

[LoraMaze]

This is excellent to hear. Thought I might not return after the shitshow of 22

[yosoyyoberdi]

Great improvement overall. Not a single crushing moment like I experienced in 2019.

[Helsbels]

On 29/06/2025 at 12:57, jannybruck said:

Scissor Sisters at Woodsies was such a stupid booking - they've just completed an arena tour and have big nostalgia hits, the crowd was always going to be there. Would've been perfect sundown on Pyramid.

100% this....