Crowds (/ Overcrowding?)

[foolee]

Lorde & Tom Odell/Scissor Sisters are the only real over capacity ones I saw. 

[AlanFish23]

Always amazes me how certain acts on the Thursday draw such massive crowds, simply as the main stages aren't open yet. Things like Baggy Mondays are just insane. Can't even get near the tent. On The Thursday we needed to get across the Theatre & Circus field to get to the Big Top to see Doreen Doreen. However it seemed like every man and his dog was stood watching some bloke sing school assembly songs on a piano. Literally thousands watching him. The steward advised us to go around the T&C field as would be impossible to get through the crowd. I can't imagine the bloke on the piano would pull a crowd of more than 25 people if he played same spot Friday to Sunday. Doreen Doreen were great by the way!

[sime]

It still felt like too many people to me at times although that bit less than before and so moving around was mostly easier. I don't not take my phone with me (as I really do want to escape from the real world whilst at Glastonbury) so wouldn't have known about the app messages. Really good that they get sent though. Such a simple but effective idea.

 

I spoke to a number of first timers of all ages and overcrowding was the one thing they said would make them think twice about returning. So for me, things are better than they have been but I did still feel a bit people smothered at times. 

Edited July 1, 2025 by sime

[Blownimpression]

7th Glastonbury, 2nd with our child (2 and 1/2). So we tried to keep out of potential busy areas and tried to find space etc, as he was either in his buggy, or in a backpack carrier. No major issues at all really, much better than previous years in my opinion. 

 

Only 2 times I got stuck in very slow moving crowds (my fault for not thinking about it) was trying to pass between Leftfield and Bread & Roses just before Nile Rodgers/Chic. Felt like there should be one way, or one side in, one side out, round the trees. I was pretty much stationary for 15mins. No pushing though, everyone was patient.

 

The other was trying to leave through Silver Hayes towards the other, Friday evening after Floating Points at Woodsies, before Four Tet. I thought Four Tet would be busy, so left with my toddler, all seemed fine, but seemed to meet a big crowd wanting to enter Silver Hayes. The bottleneck past the toilets in Silver Hayes was a bit of a pain. Fine before and after that. 

 

Even Becky Hill on Arcadia was fine. Hadn’t planned on going, but got back to the tent, the toddler got back in his pram and wouldn’t get out till we took him back to see the ‘copter.

[amfy]

Watching on TV I felt that crowds looked more comfortable and it’s good to hear that was the reality.

May well give it another go in 2027!

[Spindles]

Really great to read so many positive impressions from this year's festival, I have to say.  This may well be the first year I've never seen people griping and moaning after the festival about one thing or another.  Last year's festival felt to me like the best organised I'd ever attended and clearly they've continued that pattern of improvement.  Glad everyone had a great time.

[giantkatestacks]

Only one issue when husband got caught for half.an hour late sunday afternoon outside san remo trying to get to us in the other. Assume it was marabou state. 

 

The railway line other closure for prodigy made sense as with the reorientation that side was full and adding more people would have been very dangerous. Hence only allowing people from the back which is what the new space was created for.

[Badlands]

52 minutes ago, Spindles said:

Really great to read so many positive impressions from this year's festival, I have to say.  This may well be the first year I've never seen people griping and moaning after the festival about one thing or another.  Last year's festival felt to me like the best organised I'd ever attended and clearly they've continued that pattern of improvement.  Glad everyone had a great time.

Absolutely, this must surely be an efests first!  May well have actually been the ‘best one yet’ 

[iamstreety]

It seemed like the stewards were quicker to shut off areas this year and diverting traffic away from crowded areas. Was much better.

 

I was already in the crowded stages, so didn't see the problems at the back.

 

The only place I tried to get through that was closed off was for the Primary School Bangers.

[cp89]

1 hour ago, Blownimpression said:

 

7th Glastonbury, 2nd with our child (2 and 1/2). So we tried to keep out of potential busy areas and tried to find space etc, as he was either in his buggy, or in a backpack carrier. No major issues at all really, much better than previous years in my opinion. 

 

Only 2 times I got stuck in very slow moving crowds (my fault for not thinking about it) was trying to pass between Leftfield and Bread & Roses just before Nile Rodgers/Chic. Felt like there should be one way, or one side in, one side out, round the trees. I was pretty much stationary for 15mins. No pushing though, everyone was patient.

 

The other was trying to leave through Silver Hayes towards the other, Friday evening after Floating Points at Woodsies, before Four Tet. I thought Four Tet would be busy, so left with my toddler, all seemed fine, but seemed to meet a big crowd wanting to enter Silver Hayes. The bottleneck past the toilets in Silver Hayes was a bit of a pain. Fine before and after that. 

 

Even Becky Hill on Arcadia was fine. Hadn’t planned on going, but got back to the tent, the toddler got back in his pram and wouldn’t get out till we took him back to see the ‘copter.

The only busy crowd moment I encountered was this one at the Bread and Roses.

 

I was on shift (recycling crew) at the time and we were stuck in our meeting point (behind the bar) for a long time.

 

But the stewards/security addressed the issue and put a one way system in place.

 

I think, generally, the crowd control was much better this year. Last year I got caught up in busy spots on multiple occasions.

[compactdisc]

The only bad crowd I got caught in was about 2am Sunday at the SEC entrance. It was closed for about 15 minutes, and the guy with the megaphone just kept telling people “nearly there” and “won’t be long” which was winding people up. Eventually people started climbing the barriers and it was getting quite tense. 

 

Before they reopened, megaphone guy then announced “ok we’re opening the gates for 30 seconds” which inevitably caused a huge push. Whoever was on the megaphone that night shouldn’t be given the job again!

 

Everywhere else was great compared to the past few years, so just a blip. 

[lendan]

We didn’t experience any major overcrowding issues this year. We walked passed woodsies on our way to the pyramid and they closed it for Lorde, never got into the temple (but that’s normal) they closed a walkway to the other for Charlie - but that’s it.
Seemed much better from 2023. 

[cp89]

2 hours ago, foolee said:

Lorde & Tom Odell/Scissor Sisters are the only real over capacity ones I saw. 

 

I discovered during Scissor Sisters that a good place to stand during a packed Woodsies set is in the bar tent. They have the sound from the Woodsies stage playing on the bar speakers and the lights going on the bar stage, so there is a bit of atmosphere.

 

Also you can see directly into the Woodsies tent and down to the stage, as well as the big screen just outside the Woodsies tent.

 

And if you can't see either of those, there's actually a TV screen in the bar showing the feed of the set.

 

Other people have mentioned Baggy Monday for crowd size, the sound is awful outside the tent from the side, but if you go down the back by the bar and the sort of pergola area, the sound is fine. I also watched Tom Rowlands' set from here while my girlfriend had a nap.

 

12 minutes ago, lendan said:

We didn’t experience any major overcrowding issues this year. We walked passed woodsies on our way to the pyramid and they closed it for Lorde, never got into the temple (but that’s normal) they closed a walkway to the other for Charlie - but that’s it.
Seemed much better from 2023. 

 

I waited until the very last moment of the festival to go to The Temple this year. Didn't have any opportunity to get down there at times when it wouldn't be absolutely rammed. So got in there at around 4:30 yesterday morning with ease.

[pie_and_a_pint]

The only crowd issue I had was Thursday evening in (of all places) the Astrolabe. Stewards did absolutely f**k all to ensure the folk leaving after Stephen Frost’s Improv Allstars could get out before the heaving crowds flowed in for the brass act afterwards. This meant pushing out through a 20 deep crowd to leave - I was trying to help a less-mobile older lady out and literally no one was paying any attention to me saying ‘please let people out before you push in’ repeatedly. I’m pretty sure I yelled that in the face of someone from

this very parish, actually, as he barged past me……. 

[JayP1983]

Was gridlocked after Chic heading to other stage next to San Remo so had to divert around through silver hayes. Other than this and after Charli I felt it was fine. 

[NorthernSoul52]

Seems broadly well-organised, which is always the trick. Glad those there had a fabulous time.

 

Watching Rodrigo back this evening, can see she aced the numbers there. A few more for The 1975 than Neil Young, I do believe?

[Summertime]

It was really excellent in our experience this year. You could see all the measures they put in place to manage crowds (more stewards, closing fields, using drones to monitor crowds, opening up the sides of Avalon, the app notifications, and even releasing the stage posters early to give people more time to discover new acts) really added up to a much better feeling overall. Agree with the points above about the crowds being calmer too. 

[wosman]

Did it with the kids again and was much better than 22 and 23 in our experience. We only had one bad run in this year after Chic when Snow Patrol finished. That line of trees between Bread and Roses and leftfield was chokka, took us 10 mins to pass nearly all people were calm and great apart from the odd d-head. 

 

Looking back at the set times, I'm very surprised the final 3 acts on Other / Pyramid started and ended at exactly the same time, they could look at staggering those slightly to free up the log jams on the 2 main thoroughfares between Other and Pyramid. 

[giantkatestacks]

6 hours ago, pie_and_a_pint said:

The only crowd issue I had was Thursday evening in (of all places) the Astrolabe. Stewards did absolutely f**k all to ensure the folk leaving after Stephen Frost’s Improv Allstars could get out before the heaving crowds flowed in for the brass act afterwards. This meant pushing out through a 20 deep crowd to leave - I was trying to help a less-mobile older lady out and literally no one was paying any attention to me saying ‘please let people out before you push in’ repeatedly. I’m pretty sure I yelled that in the face of someone from

this very parish, actually, as he barged past me……. 

I got stuck in that too!

[lendan]

7 hours ago, cp89 said:

 

 

I waited until the very last moment of the festival to go to The Temple this year. Didn't have any opportunity to get down there at times when it wouldn't be absolutely rammed. So got in there at around 4:30 yesterday morning with ease.

I ventured over about 3, caught the end of Mia archives at iicon and stayed there for DJ Storm, 

hopefully make it in again next time 

[Chris_R]

9 hours ago, compactdisc said:

The only bad crowd I got caught in was about 2am Sunday at the SEC entrance. It was closed for about 15 minutes, and the guy with the megaphone just kept telling people “nearly there” and “won’t be long” which was winding people up. Eventually people started climbing the barriers and it was getting quite tense. 

 

Before they reopened, megaphone guy then announced “ok we’re opening the gates for 30 seconds” which inevitably caused a huge push. Whoever was on the megaphone that night shouldn’t be given the job again!

 

Everywhere else was great compared to the past few years, so just a blip. 

 

Will feed it back if I can to the other team leads, was not the intention to wind people up I can assure you! We don't get a huge deal of training on manning the tower or the specifics of the gates in general - really needs to be improved!

It's very much learn on the job for that element, and as we only closed for 15/20 minutes each night the entire shift there's not even that opportunity either.

 

A load of the jumpers went over the  fence at the left side and just ended up in the Sensation staff compound and couldn't go anywhere else 😄

 

 

[Skip997]

Had a little bit of trouble getting through Shangri La, early Saturday morning, had to nip down the production lane. 
 

Overall not too bad if you choose your acts and stages carefully 

[Crazyfool01]

9 hours ago, pie_and_a_pint said:

The only crowd issue I had was Thursday evening in (of all places) the Astrolabe. Stewards did absolutely f**k all to ensure the folk leaving after Stephen Frost’s Improv Allstars could get out before the heaving crowds flowed in for the brass act afterwards. This meant pushing out through a 20 deep crowd to leave - I was trying to help a less-mobile older lady out and literally no one was paying any attention to me saying ‘please let people out before you push in’ repeatedly. I’m pretty sure I yelled that in the face of someone from

this very parish, actually, as he barged past me……. 

for clarity this appears to be me and i had no control over the speed i entered the tent  ... I've since apologised and unfortunately didnt hear the comments or i would have stopped or at least tried to stop the forward momentum as best I could .... how i knew was because I'm recognisable and was at the venue concerned 

[Gashead86]

On the whole, noticeably better than the last time I attended which was 2023.. That festival was dangerously busy at times, I felt a few times in 23 like we were genuinely close to a really serious incident…

 

The only time I found myself in the middle of anything crazy was the rush trying to get from lonely hearts to other for busta.. That was very busy and not particularly well managed to be honest. 
Still don’t really get LHC as a stage tbh. It has some big acts that pull large crowds, but the standing area for the stage is pretty much the path to other stage. Asking for trouble. 
 

The new and improved app we had this year clearly made a huge difference both for us the punters, but equally for the organisers who now have a pretty good idea where people are going to be and are able to manage things better with that information. 
A real game changer that app and I used it all the time when on-site to remind me of the quickest way to get to places and the map was very useful for locating recommended food outlets. Really felt like the app improved my festival. 
 

 

[KefferK]

Thought it was a complete game changer this year, though I did miss 2024. Paths massively widened, new access points and routes through campsites, less general camping in busy areas like at the back of main stages, 100s of crowd control staff working, advice on levels of busy from the app. Seems a bit at odds with the comment from Emily in the lead up that they'd discussed it and nobody thought it was too busy last year, but hey, I'll take it.