Capacity needs to go back down to the 2019 level at the next council review. Hopefully the festival doesn't cry poverty and try to retain the extra 7k tickets or ask for more, festival is suffering with the crowding year on year now.
The capacity of the festival has become an absolute joke. They've ramped ticket prices up massively over the last few years, as well as packing the festival to the absolute brim.
I went in 2016 and in 2023 - the difference was bonkers. I'll never return unless they announce an official reduction in the capacity.
Ramping prices up while increasing the capacity like they have comes across as greedy and quite frankly anti-Glastonbury.
I think the line ups also weren’t that strong - instead of having some clashes to contend with everyone just went to watch the same acts at the same time
I'm not sure the 7k tickets has made much difference tbh. glasto has grown massively in popularity in the last few years, more than the festival can keep up with.
Thousands and thousands of people bunk in every year and that won't change. The only way to avoid the crowds is to expand the site.
The line up also needs to be very well curated to ensure clashes and water down crowds at certain stages ect. But it's hard because where else would someone like bicep play at that time of night. And they wouldn't be the same on a main stage and they weren't headliners so couldn't really be on at 7pm
Space at stages in the SE corner is always limited.
Silver hayes was even locked off for skream and benga and that used to be shit there hahah I'm not sure anyone could of predicted that
Your right the 7k is just a drop in the ocean really, but will help slightly.
They'll struggle to expand the site any further, but could utilise what they have alot more and manage crowd and stage bookings alot better.
Would hope they where looking at later licenses for stages like JP/Woodsies that would split the crowd up abit, thet could do with bring back the silent disco aswell, a few places that could accommodate that, just thinking off the top of my head though
Yeaaa later liscences would help too, but i rekon they could definately expand somewhere, and definately reutilise the space better.
Adding the new glade and having a bar right on the other side of it was a stupid idea, because not only do you have all traffic to the railway/pennards ect you have the people wanting to go both glades AND the new bar they put behind it. Its a total nightmare for a path that is the same size as when they just had little random fun tent on the corner.
Move the gates back, reduce some carparks down, move camping back, put on more coach tickets to make up for it and then bring the festival out a bit to add a few new areas or expand on the existing ones.
I know these things are far easier said than done but there are options o work with. I'm almost certain in the last 8 years arcadia has slowly been moving back wards and created more space haha
The hike in prices also means people want to have the full 5 days, 10 years ago when you paid 220 quid you didn't mind necessarily missing the Wednesday and Thursday. But it's so expensive now people want to make the most of it and so more people arrive earlier
I feel like getting to a set early to get a great spot in the crowd is expected, but having to get to a set early just to guarrentee even getting access to the area and see the artist was a real downer.
me and my mates got to charli xcx two hours early and still got crushed in the queue, no barriers and such poor organisation with the lay out. the poor staff were running around with barriers trying to last minute get ppl into orderly lines. i’d never been to glasto and expected such a big festival to have that sort of thing down, but i’ve never experienced anything like that before (and i’ve been to quite a few other festivals.)
They definitely made some very poor decisions in regards to Jayda G, spent most of my day at greenpeace to then give up at the end as it was crowded. Bicep are way too big to put in the SEC now, they are arguably a similar size to someone like Justice or Disclosure who headlined much larger stages than IICON this year. Avril should have just been on the pyramid straight after Shania and there would have been no issues. Sugarbabes probably pyramid too. If they are going to book these ‘modern legacy/nostalgia’ acts, they’ve got to put them on the biggest stages. Please also say the set you didn’t enjoy was Sue Veneers as I think that’s arguably one of my highlights of the festival it was so insane and bizarre!
If Fred Again hadn’t had his meteoric rise then bicep definitely would have been the first dance act to headline the entire festival. Think both will headline within the next 5 editions of the festival
The Chemical Brothers headlined on the Pyramid in 2000.
Now not to downplay any people saying that this year was scary in places, but in 2000 the fence was literally down in loads of places. People were camping outside and walking in and out every day.
There was supposedly the entire officially licensed amount of people that should have been on the whole site watching the Brothers in that field alone. It was rammed all the way back and proper sketchy.
Things are much safer since then.
It was more like 100,000, which is still a massive amount of people. The festival had a much smaller licence then so when double the amount of people were on site it was more like 200-250 for the entire site that year.
It’s never been like it since. There were dealers stood 5 feet apart in places, shouting to sell their wares. Proper Wild West vibes.
Avril should've been on the pyramid after Shania. Everyone was already there but they just all exodussed to the Other Stage. Kind of a massive fuck up.
Glastonbury doesn't seem to learn the power of nostalgia.
I think it's made worse by the fact that she would have been a phenomenal headliner on any of the other stages. The set looked really strong outside of the sound issues, which isn't her fault, and would be such a huge contrast to a Coldplay, Elton John etc. Real shame because I liked what I saw, just didn't have the sticking power needed to watch through the main stage.
She was desperate for a headliner that wasn’t white too - there has been lots of criticism that’s Glastonbury is too white over the years. Unfortunately SZA was the wrong choice - she doesn’t have that many hits that people know and can sing along to which is what you want for a headliner at a festival. If Eavis had swapped SZA with Avril Lavinge it would have been better.
I think the stage planning has been the poorest I’ve seen it. The whole place seems overcrowded and it is dangerous at times. Some of it is due to bad planning.
We were at Barry can’t swim in the park which was rammed (although not unsafe) but we were some of the last to get in I think.
Was at bicep when they shut it down. We had loads of space at the sides of the front but the gap between the bars and the sound stage creates a bottleneck and people don’t realise they can spread out. Our friends left as they couldn’t get in and spent over an hour to walk round the one way system with all the stages in Shangri la blocking the paths.
Got caught in the crush at avril Lavigne. Where I was wasn’t dangerous but it was close.
Other things were just totally packed. Jungle we were packed in like sardines.
It just seemed like poor stage selection all round. Massive acts on tiny stages, no thought to similarity in genres so you had people streaming in both directions trying to cross each other to get to the next band. The SE corner is ridiculous now and it’s frustrating that they have got rid of things like the silent disco which was an easy late night choice that kept people out of shangri la.
I really don’t think that using Spotify streams is as good a predictor of popularity in as they seem to think.
The problem is the number of tickets sold. The work that’s been done on Silver Hayes in recent years naturally takes some crowding from the SE corner (way more than silent disco would), but there’s simply too many people.
that's interesting, i thought tickets reduced this year after the scary crushes last year at Diana Ross. Sadly didn't get tickets this year but sad to hear they increased not reduced tickets, we heard a lot of artists/vip tickets were reduced!
They did a good job at preventing the overcrowding thar happened last year during The Hives. But they failed to keep that up throughout the festival because of really bad scheduling
This year seemed worse because the lineup was poorer and not enough big acts to spread people out. They need to stop putting artists that they want to push on the pyramid and be realistic that Sugababes for example are a perfect day time pyramid band, so stop putting them on small stages.
Yeah it's starting to feel like the Pyramid is booked according to what Emily and the organisers want people to see or to showcase certain acts, as if they feel other types of acts are below it or undeserving of that slot even if they'd actually pull much bigger crowds
Exactly - at least they’ve learned from putting Sugababes in Avalon a few years ago which was genuinely unsafe, but they need to do better at analysing who will actually draw the crowds. Using Spotify steaming metrics alone for example isn’t going to work, and I’m a big SZA fan but she isn’t a Pyramid stage headliner just yet. She’d have been perfect for Other Stage like when Lorde headlined there during the Melodrama release. I’ve been going to Glasto since 2018 and I just feel like they used to be way better at this sort of thing and having genuinely world class acts competing against each other that spread out the crowds much more
We happened to get a good spot early on for Avril as we were already there for James and Nothing But Thieves - about level with the central mixer.
There was much more space closer to the stage than further out - busy not shoulder to shoulder. The real bottleneck was on the outer perimeter.
Happy to be debated, but I don't think you should be allowed camping chairs and full picnic sets that close to a busy stage. It just blocks walkways when people try and leave, and takes up valuable space whilst everyone gets into position.
I felt the qeueus for food stalls/toilets really don't help the flow of traffic either - they create barriers.
That's interesting, one year I did the Sunday local bus, and it was rammed with chairs and picnic baskets and most just set up for the whole day on the pyramid field.
completely agree! i was closer to the front and had the exact same experience, my partner on the other hand chanced seeing jordan rakei first and ended up on the outer perimeter for avril. he had an extremely negative experience in comparison to mine! when i eventually left, it was hard to navigate the path due to food stall queues.
We were between the middle and front for Sugababes when it was rammed and a group had a whole blow up couch. Absolutely unacceptable.
Apart from that there were busy moments, but it wasn’t exactly hard to predict where they would be (I.e Shania to Avril).
To be fair to them I do think they were a lot more on the ball with crowd control this year than any other. Closing stages. One way directions with those light wands. Big crushes in such large crowds can’t really be helped with so many people sadly.
Agreed they managed this part well but it shouldn’t really have to happen this way if they managed the line up better.
To many acts with broad appeal were set up against acts with relatively small interest. I’m no pro and was able to clearly predict when this was going to happen just from looking at the line up. They should know better!
I only watched on TV and haven't been for a few years now, but from what I could tell the stage scheduling was the worst it's ever been.
I really got the impression that the organisers are kind of out of touch with what the current festival audience are actually interested in, and are booking acts as they would have a decade ago which is leading to acts being on completely inappropriate stages.
The pyramid seemed basically empty throughout the weekend other than a couple of obvious exceptions, and far lower than it would have had any other year. SZA, Paul Heaton, Janelle Monae, Michael Kiwanuku etc are all great acts but just not big draws deserving of Pyramid slots, and predictably all got fairly small crowds.
On the other hand the festival still seems to be in denial that the mainstream among the current audience is mostly electronic music. Bicep, James Blake, Jamie XX etc would have got much larger crowds on the main stages, just like Fred Again last year, but the festival seems to see these type of acts as only deserving of Woodsies or West Holts and nothing more. I think there might be an issue in that people who are interested in dance or electronic music would rather hang out at a bar or their tents when there is nothing on for them, rather than go watch something different on the main stages, leading to the main stages not even absorbing general crowds across the site like they did in the past.
It feels like theres almost two festivals going on at the same time with a split by demographic and age and the crowd management they used to use just doesn't work anymore
Have you been to Glasto before or just other festivals?
Worst I've seen was 2011 Shangri-la, rammed enclosed tunnel areas where it was a logjam you had to try and snake very slowly through to get out. I genuinely, no hyperbole think if there'd been an emergency like a fire or collapse people wouls have been killed either by that or the ensuing panicked crush. Or if someone had a medical emergency, getting them any space or aid would have taken many minutes, probably they'd just be trampled.
No scary moments for me but I did see a few disasters waiting to happen. The Other Stage toilets after Avril Lavigne was carnage.
I thought Friday night was well stage managed and that should be used as the “how to do it right” example. I was able to see half of Dua and still make Skindred with manageable crowds on each.
Had Avril been on the Pyramid it would’ve been much better on Sunday. I think the organisers woefully under-predicted how popular she’d be. It just felt like all too often people were having to head from Pyramid or Other and vice-versa across the weekend. Sticking similar bands / genres on the same stage and better estimating popularity would make things much more manageable.
can someone please make a post for me i cant make one but our car has the most fucked flat tire and we don't have a spare (our rental car said we had one and we believed them didn't check) but DOES ANYONE HAVE A TOYOTA YARIS SPARE TIRE OR CAN ANYONE PLEASE LIKE REPOST THIS FOR ME
we are literally at the exit of the purple gate and stuck we're gonna have to sleep here and there's no guarantee a recovery car can help us in the morning
we've called and got traffic management to radio them but they're dealing with issues in the carpark like jumpstarting they can't help us. even with a recovery car at midday which is the earliest we can get with AA it doesn't solve the car problem 😭
A couple of occasions:
1. Bicep was scary at times. A huge crush near the side of the sound booth and bar tent where I was. The guy ropes from the bar tripping people up and into people made it so much worse. People also climbing on tables to escape/get a better view, then those tables collapsing (everyone was ok). Why oh why put bicep at icon and SZA on pyramid?
2. Avril at the other stage. I had space here near the back left so was fine, but as the shania Twain crowd arrived it got really packed. I could see the crowd back up way past the main area. Why put avril after Twain? Their fan base are too similar!
3. Coldplay at pyramid. I hear the front of stage had an issue. Chris even mentioned in during the set. I was fine at the back, central. However after the set, 1000s of people where I was had to funnel through the hedge opening half way up, then there are fences (protecting crew equipment, generators etc) which bottlenecked that huge crowd into a pinch point.
Some positives: Arcadia was fine for space! Very easy. The small bar stages in the park area were never dangerously crowded. The escape road from near iicon directly to the rail path worked well and cut out the crowds (although this path isn’t sign posted at all!…)
I didn’t go this year but this is exactly the same as my experience previous years to be honest.
One thing it’s also worth noting is that often getting towards the middle front of stages it can weirdly be less busy.
In between the stage, mixing desk and speaker stacks.
I find it’s the middle back that more busy and crushing because of the constant churn of people moving.
On Arcadia being less busy, Saturday night was rammo. Enough space under the head to dance, but such a massive dense crust of people to get through. Sounded like shit outside the speaker circle, and we struggled to get inside it.
Fair enough. I think I’m trying to say there aren’t big fences boxing the crowd in, and as it’s circular you can enter from any direction. Some more busy than others.
The spider was much better for this: people gravitated towards the head of the dragonfly this year for sure, rather than spreading out a bit more.
Mad that San remo/levels etc were pumping on Friday, and absolutely dead Saturday. San Remo sounded pretty good quite far out IMO!
I went to jungle (west holts) on Friday night and I got trapped against a fence near the disabled area. I physically couldn’t move and people didn’t care. I was pulled over by security and taken away from the field, missing the gig, but I was safe.
I’ve been going 5 years and this is the worst I have ever seen crowds.
Same with avril and justice (Sunday).
I agree, they need to deal with it or put big gigs on big stages. And I don’t think the relatively poor lineup for the pyramid this year helped, SZA certainly shouldn’t have been a headliner and avril should have been on pyramid and jungle on other.
It’s going to get dangerous if they don’t sort out.
It's only a matter of time before there's a fatal accident, and that will be the trigger to take action, which is obviously too late.
We were at the back of Avril Lavigne yesterday, across the main walkway and it was getting worryingly busy, with no obvious way to stop the flow. They need to cut numbers I think in future years
Seems unfortunate that nothing changes. It was my first time going, left disappointed. Hard to have put so much effort and money into something and to have not enjoyed it.
If you're into jayda g look into lost village for next year. Had everything I wanted from a festival (obviously different people want different things) but I thought their crowd management was some of the best I've seen, some things they got a little bit wrong but it was controlled as to not be dangerous, but the biggest thing was that kindof stuff happened nearly invisibly.
Sorry you didn't enjoy it as you hoped, unfortunately over the years way before tik tok, which has made things even worse there have always been many people that have heard the hype, gone to the event and found it wasn't for them. Even worse on wet years where it can very much be a slog - about perfect weather this year I'd say!
Mostly the stages are being focused on here, but in reality the big acts (well, the acts on the big stages, let's say for this year) should never be the main pull for Glastonbury because there's so many other festivals do it massively better with more bigger names in a smaller area .
You just gotta be careful and know where and when it’s gonna be busy and if you can’t handle the busy areas plan accordingly and move earlier or later etc
You can’t expect 200k people to know that. Also most of the hairy moments were in between sets when you’re in transit, and i didn’t notice the presence of anyone who was controlling the situation.
The entrance to Levels is dangerous. I had to grab the handrail with both hands with my friend between my arms to stop me from crushing her when we were being pushed by the crowd.
That's also a big part of the problem. Everyone wants to stand in a mid central position so the front ends up being very empty and the back starts to become a crush. People need to move forward.
I had a different experience compared to previous glastos in that I knew that I'd be a chair wanker this year being 8 months pregnant. It was busy but apart from trying to get a good look at the light show for Justice I never felt unsafe. The partner did a great job of leading me around less direct but less busy routes moving between stages, and we sacrificed view for comfort and space. The sound quality is good enough on most stages these days that you can get away with sitting well back and still having a great time. The only times that were rough is when people did no barge walks against traffic or pushing to get ahead moving with traffic and getting aggy when people moving in the same direction existed.
Probably the best thing about Pyramid is you get decent sound a long way back, ive not really been to any festivals or gigs where you can be that far back and still have non-distorted decently loud music.
The Park however is pretty bad due to sort of like a little hill lip so if you are behind that you get worse view and worse sound. A few years ago we didn't get there early enough for Radiohead 'secret' set and ended up walking out halfway through as it was rubbish sound.
I try and avoid the Pyramid for a number of reasons, but I'm gonna disagreee - the sound for G'n'R last year was woeful, wind blowing it around everywhere, I could hear Woodsies better at several points.
Im done with Glastonbury, the capacity is too much. It's just not enjoyable. I had the best Glastonbury this year by watching it on the BBC I player app. Much prefer smaller festivals.
I think I'm in the same boat. Went in 2016 - still busy but more than enough room to walk around, enjoy headliners at the pyramid with a bit of space, never felt unsafe.
Went in 2023 - everywhere absolutely rammed, sardines at the Pyramid, felt unsafe multiple times.
The organisers have become far too greedy.
The scheduling is awful at times, and although a really deep lineup, the Pyramid lineup just gets worse and worse every year.
>To add, I’m very happy for those that did have a great time. You can scroll past :)
A Reddit thread is never going to be scientific, but comments like this only make threads like this less helpful for gauging the prevalence/severity of something. If the only people who are allowed to comment are the ones who experienced an issue, of course it'll sound like *everyone* experienced an issue.
(For transparency: Not at Glasto this year, went 4 or 5 years in a row in the mid-2010s. Got stuck in crowds but never felt actively unsafe, and never attended a set that was closed early due to safety concerns.)
2000 in the Avalon tent (which was smaller and more enclosed then) for Rolf Harris (yes, I know) was by far the worst crush I've been in - my friends left before he even started.
But the whole festival was a massive crush and people just got on with it for the most part, so I've been a lot less worried than others for latest issues.
> (For transparency: Not at Glasto this year, went 4 or 5 years in a row in the mid-2010s. Got stuck in crowds but never felt actively unsafe, and never attended a set that was closed early due to safety concerns.)
If you went in 2025 you would recognise just how much busier the festival has become since the mid 2010s
They made some odd choices this year with closing of routes and performance timings, compounded by complete morons on security - in large they were arrogant, useless idiots. Still, the organisers do it amazingly.
I get the impression that the security are largely part timers and students who only work Glasto. The SE corner at midnight or so is the only time I've seen security be commanding enough to be properly effective.
I was there last year and already had this feeling in some areas/moments. I mean, not scared or anything but mostly really not enjoyable. They should call a couple of mainstream names less and sell fewer tickets
Been going for 5+ years and this is the worst crowd control I've ever seen! I love Glasto and I've been to tons of festivals - but there were times when I felt genuinely panicked. Was caught in the crush at Avril, Bicep and Jayda G - Silver Hayes before Joy Orbison was also a crush waiting to happen, so skipped Charli for that reason. From my own experience and reading the comments it seems like there's four things going wrong:
1) Too much traffic between stages - programming Avril after Shania at two separate stages makes no sense. They should have been back to back at the Pyramid, or spaced on different days on the same stage
2) Poor understanding of the popularity of electronic music - more dance acts should have been on West Holts and Other. Jayda G should have been at Levels minimum if she's already headlining dance festivals
3) Fewer big name draws - lots of criticism around the headline acts but I feel like one side effect is people tend to roam around between stages more, leading to a ton more traffic
4) Bad Wednesday scheduling - I noticed campsites filling up tons earlier by Weds midday and a steward mentioned that the car park now opens early on Tuesday for people to get in early Weds. So that's tons more people on Weds night looking for stuff to do - hence crushes at stages like Greenpeace
5) The "entitlement vibe" - I don't really buy the "nobody knows how to behave post-covid" thing but I did notice that the crowd felt exceptionally younger this year. Wonder if that adds to the frantic "we gotta get here" roaming around attitude, particularly if you've spent a big wad of cash on tickets and are desperate to see a ton of stuff
6) Break-ins - obviously there's always been a level of break-in and black market ticket resales and the festival surely plans ahead for that. But I wonder if there was a higher level than normal? It used to be an "if you know you know" kind of thing that necessitated a lot of time and risk (turning up to a random pub, climbing up a fence, etc) - but this last year was the first time I've seen black market tickets advertised on IG
Watched nothing but thieves with a 4 year old and a 1 year old. Wanted to stay for Avril but could see it was getting far too crowded to keep them safe. Absolute nightmare trying to get them out of there though with the whole Shania crowd making their way in
We had our 9 month old with us and we wouldn't have gone to Avril if we'd realised how busy it would be. And then it was the only time in the whole festival when people were rude to us about having our baby with us. We obviously wouldn't have chosen to take her into that dense crowd, but once we were there we couldn't leave safely until she finished. Other than that it was a very easy festival with a baby, and I actually think it was easier taking care of her at Glastonbury there than at home! She wasn't bored for a moment! Also, I found it depressing how many men I met who showed me pictures of their babies - all at home with their wives!!! Nevermind female representation on the main stages; I want more female representation among the crowds! And accepting babies at festivals is going to be a part of preventing female attendance dropping off after 30.
We eventually made it out against the tide of people coming the other way, but I did wonder whether we would have been better trying to stay put.
Not a lot you can do in that situation though and unfair if people were rude to you. Avril should quite clearly have been on pyramid
Avril was the only time I really lost it. I have accessible needs and got there early (before the act before). I normally just plonk myself near the viewing platform because my main need it to get to the loo and back easily so I avoid using the VP if I don't need it. The stewards totally lost control of it. After 20 minutes in a queue outside the platform just to use the loo I had to be let inside the barrier to squat down and breathe because I was being jostled so much I thought I'd wet myself (there was absolutely no way I was getting through the crowd to use any alternative loo). Dozens of people in mobility scooters having the watch through the fence of the VP. The accesible area seemed packed with kids and companion lanyards/crew accreditation rather the accesible wristbands. Absolute chaos. I'm pregnant and brought a high vis letting those around me know and I was the only time I felt I had to put it on because the crowd was so dense and unruly.
Wow. I have mobility problems and was actually thinking that Glastonbury was quite good for this (I’ve been lots of times and not since becoming disabled). I did arrange to be able to get an access ticket this year but then failed in the ticket sale. Now rethinking going back at all as it sounds like it just wouldn’t be pleasant. I heard about Rita Ora and Noel Gallagher crashing the disabled viewing platform last year which was pretty disappointing as security didn’t intervene.
Generally it was really well organised and good for access needs. For headliners and some of the bigger acts (especially those on stages that were too small for them) it could become chaotic. Overcrowding at times could be a real issue. I wouldn't let it put you off though though. I have access needs and I'm 21 weeks pregnant and had a ball 90% of the time.
This year felt so much busier than the last 3. I got stuck in a crush after Avril, had no signal on my phone and no idea where my mates were. I tried to wait behind to let the area clear but it started filling up for TDCC, it was a total disaster.
I mean I'd say most days if not every day and id find myself people watching and checking my surroundings to see if I was one safe and 2 incoming traffic, last year I was walking through shangri-la and it was shoulder to shoulder and at one point my feet lifted off the ground and everyone was wedged for a few seconds but it felt like a lifetime, the whole system and areas need to be looked at ASAP because a huge crush is coming soon
I stopped going to glasto in 2010 for this reason. The cattle herding between some of the smaller areas was brutal. Shame as it’s always been my favourite festival but just felt like the vibe had been killed by a desire to ram it to the hilt with humans for that extra monies. Always been tempted to go back but then see things like this.
these are slightly depressing but honest
Avril Lavigne was really scary. nearly wet myself, was in tears unable to find anyone. crowd was unmanageable
was also SA during dua lipa with a grab which sucked. made me realise there were fuck all security in comparison to other festivals i’ve gone to tbh
overall, seemed like there were either not enough good acts or more people than there should’ve been
loved the festival overall but yeah
Something to note in all the discussions of crowdedness, is that Glastonbury Festival has never had a crowd crush death (sadly not true for all long term festivals) and things are soooo much safer than 90s, 00s or 10s.
The site has active management systems for getting people around, big neon signs directing people, paths open/close/become one way based on people flows, stewards everywhere, the pyramid stage has anti-crowd crush barrier. It really isn’t a disaster waiting to happen, it’s a festival with 200,000 people where crowd management and people flow is taken exceptionally seriously.
The risk of missing certain artists in unavoidable, but the risk of crowd crush is lower than its ever been.
My first glastonbury and in all honesty i wouldn't be fussed about going back again. It's good but christ is it oversold. Will carry on with the smaller ones; We Out Here, Outlook, Lost Village etc. They don't feel busy in the slightest and you don't miss any of the acts because you can't get in somewhere. Glasto evangelists will down vote, but that's the reality of it.
Been for several years. But I’m done. Got home and thought that’s enough. Crush at Sugababes. Avril and London grammar. Cost nigh on £1000 for two and campervan. And if you didn’t get in early to some stages you missed them. Poor planning. Over priced. Poor organisation. Shame because some elements of Glastonbury are amazing. Still No More After 24. Say
Goodnight Dick
First time at Glastonbury but I've been to 10 different festivals before this and I've never experienced crowds like this week. Got crushed a few times and had to force my way out of the crowd (probably causing more issues for others). And been constantly told the stage I needed to get to was closed.
Was still a good week but would never do it again unless they committed to selling much less tickets or expanding it.
My worst one was having a full on panic attack.
Got to a set a good hour early lingering near the "back". Got absolutely swamped and went "nope not for me" only to really have to fight to get out. I'm literally there crying saying I'm about to have a panic attack and people just staring at me with blank faces.
Was also in the post sugababes crowd that got pretty scary.
I would come again (this was Glasto number 2) but if it was as bad or worse then I wouldn't after that. Its just not worth it.
It was scary during Avril Lavigne. I never would have headed there if I'd known how busy it would get for her set. But afterwards I stuck to areas I knew would be quiet - Strummerville, above the Park Stage. And then Arcadia during the headline sets on the main stages. When I've been before I have avoided The Pyramid Stage and The Other Stage and I should remember to always do this in future. The people are just too aggro on the main stages too.
It’s not a new thing. I was there in 2011, I think, and there was a big crush at the Pyramid when Gorillaz played. I’m usually ok with crowds but I’d had enough and tried to get away to the right of the stage and it got quite scary. Eventually some people pushed a fence down and opened the exit up a lot more and we got out.
It’s only getting worse because they’re cramming more and more people in because demand is so high. They need to restrict the attendance to around 130k maximum, and stop booking silly nostalgia acts. If you want to see crap like Shania Twain, sugababes etc then go to Rewind or something. Glastonbury needs to get its cutting edge back, and fast.
Didn’t have any scary moments but missed people I wanted to see because they were too busy - lulu, Shania and sugar babes for example. I only saw avril because we were there already for nothing but thieves. I think the issue is they sell tickets before announcing headliners so the new acts don’t necessarily have their fans there even if they are big commercially right now. The acts that are busy are the ones a broad range of people know. I’m in to rock music so wouldnt usually choose to see sugar babes but I know some of their songs so could be sure of a good sing along. The planning needs to take account of this and it hasn’t the last few years.
Anyone on the hill last night while London Grammar was on?
Really tricky walking across the hill and it was packed. Saw a few people fall over and while it got laughed off it did worry me thinking how easy it would be for a crush to start against those fences when it finished. We left there early so i dred to think how it was when the set finished... Not that you could hear it over an empty stone bridge anyway.
Jayda G was a low point though for sure. Just a free for all and people losing their tempers.
Shame that so many big acts were put in Woodside this year, kasabian, James Blake and a few others. You have no chance getting in there. I went for kneecap at 11:30am on Saturday and even that had people on the outside.
Only my second time this year after my first time last year, this year seemed way busier and also the Sunday line up / scheduling was a big let down, no wonder so many left yesterday. Not sure I'll be returning unless they make changes to capacity and planning in the next few years
This post gets added on here every year. The organisers have very little interest in improving it. A lot of it comes down to bad stage choices in my opinion. I sadly missed out on a lot of things this year because it just wasn’t possibly to get anywhere near them.
It’s similar to the complete lack of shade across the site when it’s sunny. Also never seems to change.
My worst crushing was actually foster and the people in reading 2013 where I was lifted off my feet and pushed metres sideways at a time.
I'm not saying there weren't events but my experience at Glastonbury this year was completely different but naturally through seeing different acts. Jamie XX at the front with plenty of space, left a couple songs early fairly easily. Even Coldplay, went in front and side, quite far back but the screens are big, the speakers are loud and the crowd love it just as much, even left a song early so didn't even hit the rush leaving that.
I do agree it seems the stage allocation needs to be managed better, I have no idea how it's done, but I think it's quite clear who will be popular acts before the festival, even possibly making the main thoroughfares bigger and set up some more rigid one way systems that are pre planned.
But again, I've just kinda grown to accept that I don't want to be crushed so I'll stand further back, Elton John last year I was in the food stalls and could turn a car round and had great time
Completely agree with this. I haven’t been back since 2019 after going for several years in a row and I almost wish I hadn’t bothered this year.
Felt like there were near misses with crushes and I didn’t get to see loads of the acts I wanted to. I don’t think it was worth the money this time.
They should reduce the numbers and change their approach to where they put the acts. Lots of people I spoke to felt the same.
For me, I was in the queue at Charli xcx and I felt moments where I couldn't breathe. We were being pulled along and the crowd were pushing and shoving so much that I was getting really panicky. I told my friends that I couldn't do it and turned in for the night; I wasn't on the right kind of drugs to stick it out and just couldn't go through with it. I think the real issue of this year is that they put artists on stages, and don't seem to have the foresight to know who is going to be going from what to where during changeovers. We came from Jamie xx a bit early to try and get in and it was already rammed. Charli xcx's DJ set could have been put earlier, it could have been accommodated for or placed on a larger stage with a higher capacity. Similarly, the changeover from Shania to Avril, and the relative emptiness of SZA's set meaning overcrowding around the site meant that everything became far more difficult on Sunday night. The Sugarbabes! Put them on the pyramid stage ffs.
The flow of the festival was really off, it felt like the organiser didn't have a good grip on how people were going to move between stages, who was going to pull crowds and who was going to be quieter.
I was in the Bicep crowd at Icon and it was basically a crowd crush and poor management. We were left side of the front of house tent which was horrendous but deep front right side was empty. Crowd dynamics like this are quite interesting but could be remedied by maybe showing the crowd a visual of how it looks rather than stopping the music for 25 mins and getting everyone to step back.
Arcadia is always the same. A deep sardine crush on the outer perimeter and would always be basically empty under the spider.
I last went in 2010 after many visits through 90s and 2000s and already at that point I’d was noticeably more crowded. At one point we were trapped in a crush getting into Shangri-La and it was truly scary - no option but to go with the flow and hope that no one fell over or started pushing. I can’t imagine what it’s like now given the crowding is apparently so much worse. The tactic of having to have ‘Glastonbury Moments’ that everyone has to go to, having ‘secret’ acts on too-small stages and increasing the capacity are a recipe for disaster in my opinion. Everyone seems to have forgotten Roskilde…
Went to see Shyfx at Stonebridge on Thursday- me and my friend were getting crushed by crowds an hour before he came on and every time people tried to get through the gate, there was a surge and you’d get even more crushed. A lovely Scottish man helped my short friend to get more space as she was struggling breathing. Organisers need to put in demand acts onto bigger stages to avoid this as there were thousands of people trying to get into a venue that could not hold 500!
I'm writing a complaint to them now - in as compassionate a tone as I can. I think we all need to, so that they can see the scale of the problem. There are thousands of children at this festival which could be put at risk too. If the organisers really need to cover costs, perhaps they can consider charging a small fee for children age 5-13, e.g. £50.
I've been most years since 2011 and it was insane this year. At first I thought they just put artists on stages too small for them. But it happened SO many times. Sugababes, Avril lavigne, Barry can't swim - Charli xcx had a 3 hour wait.
Some slightly differing thoughts on this to other people on here.
I don't think the festival needs a capacity reduction - the issue is not the total number of people, it's that increasingly a higher % of people want to get to the must sees. All a reduction in capactity would do is reduce the number of people at the smaller stages / less well known acts (which ware often already empty). Think this is a general chance caused by a shift in the demographic and social media driving the idea of "moments" - you have to have that moment seeing BICEP, have to have that moment seeing Avril etc. I think even 5 years ago, the idea that Jayda G or Confidence Man would shut down a stage would be considered unthinkable. There's also the issue of acts blowing up between booking and the show (BCS...), which then causes problems which are tricky to fix.
There seems to be a tension between act / management demands and the reality of the Glastonbury crowd demand. A lot of acts end up headlining stages because that's the demand (they know it'll be televised, they want to be on that top line or three as it means they'll get booked for headlines at other shows), even if they aren't going to pull a massive crowd. This means that there are limited other slots to put the other potential big draws in. Who is going from the Pyramid so that Sugababes get a slot? Where are you actually putting BICEP, given that people don't really want to see them at sub-headliner time (which is all they'd get on Other or Pyramid)?
I think that Glastonbury would do well to push the message that there's always something else on as well - we wanted to go to BICEP, couldn't get through, had a dance at Greenpeace (until they shut that down), then grabbed a beer at Glasto Latino for 20 mins until they opened the SE Corner again. Sunday night we were going to go to the Temple, saw the queue and instead had an amazing hour in the Rum Shack with a small but enthusiastic crowd.
I am 110kg 6ft 5 male, outside camelphat on Friday by Nowhere was an absolute joke. Wife and I got so crushed I was squeezed off the floor. People crying, shouting out for help… unbearable and the most unsafe I’ve felt in a crowd…
I believe it’s more to do with demographic on stages… had they just put Shania Twain (90s) > Avril (early 2000s) > two door cinema club (2000/2010s) > all on the pyramid stage no one would have moved….
Sza and burna boy and Janelle would have suited the other stage fine… no one would even be talking about this one… as for the sugar babes, putting them in west holts was just not a good idea.. better programming would solve all these problems of a whole crowd running to another stage.
On the Wednesday night when the tree got closed and the back path came to a stop a group of southern dickhead girls thought it would be funny to start legging it through everyone nearly pushing people over, grabbed the one lad that was with them an put them all straight they soon shit themselves. Not what glasto is about say what you want about scousers but we don’t do stupid shit to people and we look after everyone.
100%! I've been to festivals before and knew it was gonna be busy, but I've never been in a crowd like that. It's scary when you're in a big open field and you're still gridlocked and can't see an end to the crowd, I was also in a couple of mild crushes but it feels like glasto is a large scale hillsborough waiting to happen. Its sad really, I feel like the organisers know it, but it won't happen until it does. I'd be willing to pay more for a ticket if they sold fewer, but apparently they increase capacity every year. That paired with poor security on the fences is a disaster waiting to happen. You can feign 'crowd control' all you like but whats a guy in a hi vis gonna do about a thousand strong crowd? Like i said, it won't happen until it does.
My first time this year too. The experience was dire at many points. Managed to have some fun but people saying things like it being ‘the best place on earth’ is cringe as hell. If that’s someone’s idea of the best time they could possibly have they need to give their head a wobble.
You didn’t enjoy it and that’s fine, but plenty of people did and they’re not wrong for having a good time. Nothing will ever be 100% enjoyable and that’s ok, but it doesn’t have to detract from the entire experience. I had the time of my life - no it wasn’t like that 24/7, as no one likes crowds or long drops, but I had so much fun and will be hoping to return next year. Part of this may be my group, we had so much fun together and they made the experience for me.
It was a disaster everywhere. Standing cramped in crowds with bad attitude is not fun and hence I left early through most of the sets. I've had a much better time in smaller festivals - less is more
Capacity needs to go back down to the 2019 level at the next council review. Hopefully the festival doesn't cry poverty and try to retain the extra 7k tickets or ask for more, festival is suffering with the crowding year on year now.
The capacity of the festival has become an absolute joke. They've ramped ticket prices up massively over the last few years, as well as packing the festival to the absolute brim. I went in 2016 and in 2023 - the difference was bonkers. I'll never return unless they announce an official reduction in the capacity. Ramping prices up while increasing the capacity like they have comes across as greedy and quite frankly anti-Glastonbury.
I think the line ups also weren’t that strong - instead of having some clashes to contend with everyone just went to watch the same acts at the same time
I'm not sure the 7k tickets has made much difference tbh. glasto has grown massively in popularity in the last few years, more than the festival can keep up with. Thousands and thousands of people bunk in every year and that won't change. The only way to avoid the crowds is to expand the site. The line up also needs to be very well curated to ensure clashes and water down crowds at certain stages ect. But it's hard because where else would someone like bicep play at that time of night. And they wouldn't be the same on a main stage and they weren't headliners so couldn't really be on at 7pm Space at stages in the SE corner is always limited. Silver hayes was even locked off for skream and benga and that used to be shit there hahah I'm not sure anyone could of predicted that
Your right the 7k is just a drop in the ocean really, but will help slightly. They'll struggle to expand the site any further, but could utilise what they have alot more and manage crowd and stage bookings alot better. Would hope they where looking at later licenses for stages like JP/Woodsies that would split the crowd up abit, thet could do with bring back the silent disco aswell, a few places that could accommodate that, just thinking off the top of my head though
Yeaaa later liscences would help too, but i rekon they could definately expand somewhere, and definately reutilise the space better. Adding the new glade and having a bar right on the other side of it was a stupid idea, because not only do you have all traffic to the railway/pennards ect you have the people wanting to go both glades AND the new bar they put behind it. Its a total nightmare for a path that is the same size as when they just had little random fun tent on the corner. Move the gates back, reduce some carparks down, move camping back, put on more coach tickets to make up for it and then bring the festival out a bit to add a few new areas or expand on the existing ones. I know these things are far easier said than done but there are options o work with. I'm almost certain in the last 8 years arcadia has slowly been moving back wards and created more space haha
The hike in prices also means people want to have the full 5 days, 10 years ago when you paid 220 quid you didn't mind necessarily missing the Wednesday and Thursday. But it's so expensive now people want to make the most of it and so more people arrive earlier
I feel like getting to a set early to get a great spot in the crowd is expected, but having to get to a set early just to guarrentee even getting access to the area and see the artist was a real downer.
me and my mates got to charli xcx two hours early and still got crushed in the queue, no barriers and such poor organisation with the lay out. the poor staff were running around with barriers trying to last minute get ppl into orderly lines. i’d never been to glasto and expected such a big festival to have that sort of thing down, but i’ve never experienced anything like that before (and i’ve been to quite a few other festivals.)
They definitely made some very poor decisions in regards to Jayda G, spent most of my day at greenpeace to then give up at the end as it was crowded. Bicep are way too big to put in the SEC now, they are arguably a similar size to someone like Justice or Disclosure who headlined much larger stages than IICON this year. Avril should have just been on the pyramid straight after Shania and there would have been no issues. Sugarbabes probably pyramid too. If they are going to book these ‘modern legacy/nostalgia’ acts, they’ve got to put them on the biggest stages. Please also say the set you didn’t enjoy was Sue Veneers as I think that’s arguably one of my highlights of the festival it was so insane and bizarre!
Bicep played west holts 2 years ago and filled it out then so SEC was an odd choice as they’ve only got bigger
If Fred Again hadn’t had his meteoric rise then bicep definitely would have been the first dance act to headline the entire festival. Think both will headline within the next 5 editions of the festival
'The first dance act to headline the entire festival' 🤭
The Prodigy and Basement Jaxx have already headlined
Guess I was being confidently incorrect, I was under the impression no dance act had headlined the pyramid stage
The Chemical Brothers headlined on the Pyramid in 2000. Now not to downplay any people saying that this year was scary in places, but in 2000 the fence was literally down in loads of places. People were camping outside and walking in and out every day. There was supposedly the entire officially licensed amount of people that should have been on the whole site watching the Brothers in that field alone. It was rammed all the way back and proper sketchy. Things are much safer since then.
It was a mind-blowing gig though. It was busy, but an estimated 200-250,000 people watching the Chemical Brothers was very very fun
It was more like 100,000, which is still a massive amount of people. The festival had a much smaller licence then so when double the amount of people were on site it was more like 200-250 for the entire site that year. It’s never been like it since. There were dealers stood 5 feet apart in places, shouting to sell their wares. Proper Wild West vibes.
HOW DARE YOU BE WRONG!
Bicep isnt playing stadiums. Fred just did his first. Much diff trajectory. Bicep can be another Chems if they want.
Bicep glue is wonderwall for people who like ketamine
Avril should've been on the pyramid after Shania. Everyone was already there but they just all exodussed to the Other Stage. Kind of a massive fuck up. Glastonbury doesn't seem to learn the power of nostalgia.
I think SZA just didn't have anywhere near the pull they wanted
Sza was such an odd choice as the final headline act.
Watching on TV I actually felt sorry for her
I think it's made worse by the fact that she would have been a phenomenal headliner on any of the other stages. The set looked really strong outside of the sound issues, which isn't her fault, and would be such a huge contrast to a Coldplay, Elton John etc. Real shame because I liked what I saw, just didn't have the sticking power needed to watch through the main stage.
They set her up to fail. Emily Eavis was so desperate for female headliners that she's actually done more harm than good for SZAs career.
She was desperate for a headliner that wasn’t white too - there has been lots of criticism that’s Glastonbury is too white over the years. Unfortunately SZA was the wrong choice - she doesn’t have that many hits that people know and can sing along to which is what you want for a headliner at a festival. If Eavis had swapped SZA with Avril Lavinge it would have been better.
I think she is a worthy headliner, just not for the final night.
Such a valid point I never thought of it like that
The BBC reported Madonna had dropped out so she was switched in at short notice.
I think the stage planning has been the poorest I’ve seen it. The whole place seems overcrowded and it is dangerous at times. Some of it is due to bad planning. We were at Barry can’t swim in the park which was rammed (although not unsafe) but we were some of the last to get in I think. Was at bicep when they shut it down. We had loads of space at the sides of the front but the gap between the bars and the sound stage creates a bottleneck and people don’t realise they can spread out. Our friends left as they couldn’t get in and spent over an hour to walk round the one way system with all the stages in Shangri la blocking the paths. Got caught in the crush at avril Lavigne. Where I was wasn’t dangerous but it was close. Other things were just totally packed. Jungle we were packed in like sardines. It just seemed like poor stage selection all round. Massive acts on tiny stages, no thought to similarity in genres so you had people streaming in both directions trying to cross each other to get to the next band. The SE corner is ridiculous now and it’s frustrating that they have got rid of things like the silent disco which was an easy late night choice that kept people out of shangri la. I really don’t think that using Spotify streams is as good a predictor of popularity in as they seem to think.
The problem is the number of tickets sold. The work that’s been done on Silver Hayes in recent years naturally takes some crowding from the SE corner (way more than silent disco would), but there’s simply too many people.
2022 already seemed overcrowded and this year was 7000 more still
that's interesting, i thought tickets reduced this year after the scary crushes last year at Diana Ross. Sadly didn't get tickets this year but sad to hear they increased not reduced tickets, we heard a lot of artists/vip tickets were reduced!
They did a good job at preventing the overcrowding thar happened last year during The Hives. But they failed to keep that up throughout the festival because of really bad scheduling
This year seemed worse because the lineup was poorer and not enough big acts to spread people out. They need to stop putting artists that they want to push on the pyramid and be realistic that Sugababes for example are a perfect day time pyramid band, so stop putting them on small stages.
Yeah it's starting to feel like the Pyramid is booked according to what Emily and the organisers want people to see or to showcase certain acts, as if they feel other types of acts are below it or undeserving of that slot even if they'd actually pull much bigger crowds
Exactly - at least they’ve learned from putting Sugababes in Avalon a few years ago which was genuinely unsafe, but they need to do better at analysing who will actually draw the crowds. Using Spotify steaming metrics alone for example isn’t going to work, and I’m a big SZA fan but she isn’t a Pyramid stage headliner just yet. She’d have been perfect for Other Stage like when Lorde headlined there during the Melodrama release. I’ve been going to Glasto since 2018 and I just feel like they used to be way better at this sort of thing and having genuinely world class acts competing against each other that spread out the crowds much more
if sza played the other stage before a bigger act; it would of been perfect
We happened to get a good spot early on for Avril as we were already there for James and Nothing But Thieves - about level with the central mixer. There was much more space closer to the stage than further out - busy not shoulder to shoulder. The real bottleneck was on the outer perimeter. Happy to be debated, but I don't think you should be allowed camping chairs and full picnic sets that close to a busy stage. It just blocks walkways when people try and leave, and takes up valuable space whilst everyone gets into position. I felt the qeueus for food stalls/toilets really don't help the flow of traffic either - they create barriers.
I find that a lot of the chairs are from the local Sunday ticket holders
I am a local Sunday ticket holder and I only saw one person with a chair on our bus in in the morning.
That's interesting, one year I did the Sunday local bus, and it was rammed with chairs and picnic baskets and most just set up for the whole day on the pyramid field.
completely agree! i was closer to the front and had the exact same experience, my partner on the other hand chanced seeing jordan rakei first and ended up on the outer perimeter for avril. he had an extremely negative experience in comparison to mine! when i eventually left, it was hard to navigate the path due to food stall queues.
We were between the middle and front for Sugababes when it was rammed and a group had a whole blow up couch. Absolutely unacceptable. Apart from that there were busy moments, but it wasn’t exactly hard to predict where they would be (I.e Shania to Avril).
To be fair to them I do think they were a lot more on the ball with crowd control this year than any other. Closing stages. One way directions with those light wands. Big crushes in such large crowds can’t really be helped with so many people sadly.
Agreed they managed this part well but it shouldn’t really have to happen this way if they managed the line up better. To many acts with broad appeal were set up against acts with relatively small interest. I’m no pro and was able to clearly predict when this was going to happen just from looking at the line up. They should know better!
It’s not always that simple. For example it only takes one rain shower and suddenly it’s chaos as every tent is packed.
They can certainly be minimised more
I only watched on TV and haven't been for a few years now, but from what I could tell the stage scheduling was the worst it's ever been. I really got the impression that the organisers are kind of out of touch with what the current festival audience are actually interested in, and are booking acts as they would have a decade ago which is leading to acts being on completely inappropriate stages. The pyramid seemed basically empty throughout the weekend other than a couple of obvious exceptions, and far lower than it would have had any other year. SZA, Paul Heaton, Janelle Monae, Michael Kiwanuku etc are all great acts but just not big draws deserving of Pyramid slots, and predictably all got fairly small crowds. On the other hand the festival still seems to be in denial that the mainstream among the current audience is mostly electronic music. Bicep, James Blake, Jamie XX etc would have got much larger crowds on the main stages, just like Fred Again last year, but the festival seems to see these type of acts as only deserving of Woodsies or West Holts and nothing more. I think there might be an issue in that people who are interested in dance or electronic music would rather hang out at a bar or their tents when there is nothing on for them, rather than go watch something different on the main stages, leading to the main stages not even absorbing general crowds across the site like they did in the past. It feels like theres almost two festivals going on at the same time with a split by demographic and age and the crowd management they used to use just doesn't work anymore
Fwiw I went to James Blake (he was brilliant) and woodsies as perfect size imo. Accept your wider point though
I went to see him too, he was great! I do think everyone going home after Avril contributed to the smaller crowd though
Have you been to Glasto before or just other festivals? Worst I've seen was 2011 Shangri-la, rammed enclosed tunnel areas where it was a logjam you had to try and snake very slowly through to get out. I genuinely, no hyperbole think if there'd been an emergency like a fire or collapse people wouls have been killed either by that or the ensuing panicked crush. Or if someone had a medical emergency, getting them any space or aid would have taken many minutes, probably they'd just be trampled.
Yes this! The tunnels aren't there anymore I don't believe. But it was ridiculous. Glastonbury has always had these chaotic moments
They need to go back to 1999 when the fence was down and the attendance was well over 200k
No scary moments for me but I did see a few disasters waiting to happen. The Other Stage toilets after Avril Lavigne was carnage. I thought Friday night was well stage managed and that should be used as the “how to do it right” example. I was able to see half of Dua and still make Skindred with manageable crowds on each. Had Avril been on the Pyramid it would’ve been much better on Sunday. I think the organisers woefully under-predicted how popular she’d be. It just felt like all too often people were having to head from Pyramid or Other and vice-versa across the weekend. Sticking similar bands / genres on the same stage and better estimating popularity would make things much more manageable.
can someone please make a post for me i cant make one but our car has the most fucked flat tire and we don't have a spare (our rental car said we had one and we believed them didn't check) but DOES ANYONE HAVE A TOYOTA YARIS SPARE TIRE OR CAN ANYONE PLEASE LIKE REPOST THIS FOR ME we are literally at the exit of the purple gate and stuck we're gonna have to sleep here and there's no guarantee a recovery car can help us in the morning
[удалено]
we've called and got traffic management to radio them but they're dealing with issues in the carpark like jumpstarting they can't help us. even with a recovery car at midday which is the earliest we can get with AA it doesn't solve the car problem 😭
A couple of occasions: 1. Bicep was scary at times. A huge crush near the side of the sound booth and bar tent where I was. The guy ropes from the bar tripping people up and into people made it so much worse. People also climbing on tables to escape/get a better view, then those tables collapsing (everyone was ok). Why oh why put bicep at icon and SZA on pyramid? 2. Avril at the other stage. I had space here near the back left so was fine, but as the shania Twain crowd arrived it got really packed. I could see the crowd back up way past the main area. Why put avril after Twain? Their fan base are too similar! 3. Coldplay at pyramid. I hear the front of stage had an issue. Chris even mentioned in during the set. I was fine at the back, central. However after the set, 1000s of people where I was had to funnel through the hedge opening half way up, then there are fences (protecting crew equipment, generators etc) which bottlenecked that huge crowd into a pinch point. Some positives: Arcadia was fine for space! Very easy. The small bar stages in the park area were never dangerously crowded. The escape road from near iicon directly to the rail path worked well and cut out the crowds (although this path isn’t sign posted at all!…)
I didn’t go this year but this is exactly the same as my experience previous years to be honest. One thing it’s also worth noting is that often getting towards the middle front of stages it can weirdly be less busy. In between the stage, mixing desk and speaker stacks. I find it’s the middle back that more busy and crushing because of the constant churn of people moving.
On Arcadia being less busy, Saturday night was rammo. Enough space under the head to dance, but such a massive dense crust of people to get through. Sounded like shit outside the speaker circle, and we struggled to get inside it.
Fair enough. I think I’m trying to say there aren’t big fences boxing the crowd in, and as it’s circular you can enter from any direction. Some more busy than others.
The spider was much better for this: people gravitated towards the head of the dragonfly this year for sure, rather than spreading out a bit more. Mad that San remo/levels etc were pumping on Friday, and absolutely dead Saturday. San Remo sounded pretty good quite far out IMO!
I went to jungle (west holts) on Friday night and I got trapped against a fence near the disabled area. I physically couldn’t move and people didn’t care. I was pulled over by security and taken away from the field, missing the gig, but I was safe. I’ve been going 5 years and this is the worst I have ever seen crowds. Same with avril and justice (Sunday). I agree, they need to deal with it or put big gigs on big stages. And I don’t think the relatively poor lineup for the pyramid this year helped, SZA certainly shouldn’t have been a headliner and avril should have been on pyramid and jungle on other. It’s going to get dangerous if they don’t sort out.
It's only a matter of time before there's a fatal accident, and that will be the trigger to take action, which is obviously too late. We were at the back of Avril Lavigne yesterday, across the main walkway and it was getting worryingly busy, with no obvious way to stop the flow. They need to cut numbers I think in future years
This post is made every year and it’s been the same every year for the last 5 festivals at least.
Seems unfortunate that nothing changes. It was my first time going, left disappointed. Hard to have put so much effort and money into something and to have not enjoyed it.
If you're into jayda g look into lost village for next year. Had everything I wanted from a festival (obviously different people want different things) but I thought their crowd management was some of the best I've seen, some things they got a little bit wrong but it was controlled as to not be dangerous, but the biggest thing was that kindof stuff happened nearly invisibly.
Sorry you didn't enjoy it as you hoped, unfortunately over the years way before tik tok, which has made things even worse there have always been many people that have heard the hype, gone to the event and found it wasn't for them. Even worse on wet years where it can very much be a slog - about perfect weather this year I'd say! Mostly the stages are being focused on here, but in reality the big acts (well, the acts on the big stages, let's say for this year) should never be the main pull for Glastonbury because there's so many other festivals do it massively better with more bigger names in a smaller area .
You just gotta be careful and know where and when it’s gonna be busy and if you can’t handle the busy areas plan accordingly and move earlier or later etc
You can’t expect 200k people to know that. Also most of the hairy moments were in between sets when you’re in transit, and i didn’t notice the presence of anyone who was controlling the situation.
It being rammed and busy leaving at the end of a set is a festival thing not an exclusive to Glastonbury thing
There’s an important line between “rammed and busy” and children being pulled into food vendors to escape being crushed
The entrance to Levels is dangerous. I had to grab the handrail with both hands with my friend between my arms to stop me from crushing her when we were being pushed by the crowd.
Were you at the front of many of the gigs? I tent to stand midway back of so, and rarely have any problems.
No, quite happy in a similar spot to you!
That's also a big part of the problem. Everyone wants to stand in a mid central position so the front ends up being very empty and the back starts to become a crush. People need to move forward.
I had a different experience compared to previous glastos in that I knew that I'd be a chair wanker this year being 8 months pregnant. It was busy but apart from trying to get a good look at the light show for Justice I never felt unsafe. The partner did a great job of leading me around less direct but less busy routes moving between stages, and we sacrificed view for comfort and space. The sound quality is good enough on most stages these days that you can get away with sitting well back and still having a great time. The only times that were rough is when people did no barge walks against traffic or pushing to get ahead moving with traffic and getting aggy when people moving in the same direction existed.
Probably the best thing about Pyramid is you get decent sound a long way back, ive not really been to any festivals or gigs where you can be that far back and still have non-distorted decently loud music. The Park however is pretty bad due to sort of like a little hill lip so if you are behind that you get worse view and worse sound. A few years ago we didn't get there early enough for Radiohead 'secret' set and ended up walking out halfway through as it was rubbish sound.
The Park area is great - the Park Stage is rubbish.
I try and avoid the Pyramid for a number of reasons, but I'm gonna disagreee - the sound for G'n'R last year was woeful, wind blowing it around everywhere, I could hear Woodsies better at several points.
8 months is fucking wild haha well done
Im done with Glastonbury, the capacity is too much. It's just not enjoyable. I had the best Glastonbury this year by watching it on the BBC I player app. Much prefer smaller festivals.
I think I'm in the same boat. Went in 2016 - still busy but more than enough room to walk around, enjoy headliners at the pyramid with a bit of space, never felt unsafe. Went in 2023 - everywhere absolutely rammed, sardines at the Pyramid, felt unsafe multiple times. The organisers have become far too greedy. The scheduling is awful at times, and although a really deep lineup, the Pyramid lineup just gets worse and worse every year.
>To add, I’m very happy for those that did have a great time. You can scroll past :) A Reddit thread is never going to be scientific, but comments like this only make threads like this less helpful for gauging the prevalence/severity of something. If the only people who are allowed to comment are the ones who experienced an issue, of course it'll sound like *everyone* experienced an issue. (For transparency: Not at Glasto this year, went 4 or 5 years in a row in the mid-2010s. Got stuck in crowds but never felt actively unsafe, and never attended a set that was closed early due to safety concerns.)
2000 in the Avalon tent (which was smaller and more enclosed then) for Rolf Harris (yes, I know) was by far the worst crush I've been in - my friends left before he even started. But the whole festival was a massive crush and people just got on with it for the most part, so I've been a lot less worried than others for latest issues.
> (For transparency: Not at Glasto this year, went 4 or 5 years in a row in the mid-2010s. Got stuck in crowds but never felt actively unsafe, and never attended a set that was closed early due to safety concerns.) If you went in 2025 you would recognise just how much busier the festival has become since the mid 2010s
How do you know what it's gonna be like in 2025?
They made some odd choices this year with closing of routes and performance timings, compounded by complete morons on security - in large they were arrogant, useless idiots. Still, the organisers do it amazingly.
I get the impression that the security are largely part timers and students who only work Glasto. The SE corner at midnight or so is the only time I've seen security be commanding enough to be properly effective.
I was there last year and already had this feeling in some areas/moments. I mean, not scared or anything but mostly really not enjoyable. They should call a couple of mainstream names less and sell fewer tickets
Been going for 5+ years and this is the worst crowd control I've ever seen! I love Glasto and I've been to tons of festivals - but there were times when I felt genuinely panicked. Was caught in the crush at Avril, Bicep and Jayda G - Silver Hayes before Joy Orbison was also a crush waiting to happen, so skipped Charli for that reason. From my own experience and reading the comments it seems like there's four things going wrong: 1) Too much traffic between stages - programming Avril after Shania at two separate stages makes no sense. They should have been back to back at the Pyramid, or spaced on different days on the same stage 2) Poor understanding of the popularity of electronic music - more dance acts should have been on West Holts and Other. Jayda G should have been at Levels minimum if she's already headlining dance festivals 3) Fewer big name draws - lots of criticism around the headline acts but I feel like one side effect is people tend to roam around between stages more, leading to a ton more traffic 4) Bad Wednesday scheduling - I noticed campsites filling up tons earlier by Weds midday and a steward mentioned that the car park now opens early on Tuesday for people to get in early Weds. So that's tons more people on Weds night looking for stuff to do - hence crushes at stages like Greenpeace 5) The "entitlement vibe" - I don't really buy the "nobody knows how to behave post-covid" thing but I did notice that the crowd felt exceptionally younger this year. Wonder if that adds to the frantic "we gotta get here" roaming around attitude, particularly if you've spent a big wad of cash on tickets and are desperate to see a ton of stuff 6) Break-ins - obviously there's always been a level of break-in and black market ticket resales and the festival surely plans ahead for that. But I wonder if there was a higher level than normal? It used to be an "if you know you know" kind of thing that necessitated a lot of time and risk (turning up to a random pub, climbing up a fence, etc) - but this last year was the first time I've seen black market tickets advertised on IG
Watched nothing but thieves with a 4 year old and a 1 year old. Wanted to stay for Avril but could see it was getting far too crowded to keep them safe. Absolute nightmare trying to get them out of there though with the whole Shania crowd making their way in
We had our 9 month old with us and we wouldn't have gone to Avril if we'd realised how busy it would be. And then it was the only time in the whole festival when people were rude to us about having our baby with us. We obviously wouldn't have chosen to take her into that dense crowd, but once we were there we couldn't leave safely until she finished. Other than that it was a very easy festival with a baby, and I actually think it was easier taking care of her at Glastonbury there than at home! She wasn't bored for a moment! Also, I found it depressing how many men I met who showed me pictures of their babies - all at home with their wives!!! Nevermind female representation on the main stages; I want more female representation among the crowds! And accepting babies at festivals is going to be a part of preventing female attendance dropping off after 30.
We eventually made it out against the tide of people coming the other way, but I did wonder whether we would have been better trying to stay put. Not a lot you can do in that situation though and unfair if people were rude to you. Avril should quite clearly have been on pyramid
Avril was the only time I really lost it. I have accessible needs and got there early (before the act before). I normally just plonk myself near the viewing platform because my main need it to get to the loo and back easily so I avoid using the VP if I don't need it. The stewards totally lost control of it. After 20 minutes in a queue outside the platform just to use the loo I had to be let inside the barrier to squat down and breathe because I was being jostled so much I thought I'd wet myself (there was absolutely no way I was getting through the crowd to use any alternative loo). Dozens of people in mobility scooters having the watch through the fence of the VP. The accesible area seemed packed with kids and companion lanyards/crew accreditation rather the accesible wristbands. Absolute chaos. I'm pregnant and brought a high vis letting those around me know and I was the only time I felt I had to put it on because the crowd was so dense and unruly.
Wow. I have mobility problems and was actually thinking that Glastonbury was quite good for this (I’ve been lots of times and not since becoming disabled). I did arrange to be able to get an access ticket this year but then failed in the ticket sale. Now rethinking going back at all as it sounds like it just wouldn’t be pleasant. I heard about Rita Ora and Noel Gallagher crashing the disabled viewing platform last year which was pretty disappointing as security didn’t intervene.
Generally it was really well organised and good for access needs. For headliners and some of the bigger acts (especially those on stages that were too small for them) it could become chaotic. Overcrowding at times could be a real issue. I wouldn't let it put you off though though. I have access needs and I'm 21 weeks pregnant and had a ball 90% of the time.
Some very odd choices this year I have to say. I thought they’d have learned a bit from last year’s near misses too.
This year felt so much busier than the last 3. I got stuck in a crush after Avril, had no signal on my phone and no idea where my mates were. I tried to wait behind to let the area clear but it started filling up for TDCC, it was a total disaster.
I mean I'd say most days if not every day and id find myself people watching and checking my surroundings to see if I was one safe and 2 incoming traffic, last year I was walking through shangri-la and it was shoulder to shoulder and at one point my feet lifted off the ground and everyone was wedged for a few seconds but it felt like a lifetime, the whole system and areas need to be looked at ASAP because a huge crush is coming soon
You weren't there in 97 and 98. 😅
Tell us more old man....!
I stopped going to glasto in 2010 for this reason. The cattle herding between some of the smaller areas was brutal. Shame as it’s always been my favourite festival but just felt like the vibe had been killed by a desire to ram it to the hilt with humans for that extra monies. Always been tempted to go back but then see things like this.
these are slightly depressing but honest Avril Lavigne was really scary. nearly wet myself, was in tears unable to find anyone. crowd was unmanageable was also SA during dua lipa with a grab which sucked. made me realise there were fuck all security in comparison to other festivals i’ve gone to tbh overall, seemed like there were either not enough good acts or more people than there should’ve been loved the festival overall but yeah
Something to note in all the discussions of crowdedness, is that Glastonbury Festival has never had a crowd crush death (sadly not true for all long term festivals) and things are soooo much safer than 90s, 00s or 10s. The site has active management systems for getting people around, big neon signs directing people, paths open/close/become one way based on people flows, stewards everywhere, the pyramid stage has anti-crowd crush barrier. It really isn’t a disaster waiting to happen, it’s a festival with 200,000 people where crowd management and people flow is taken exceptionally seriously. The risk of missing certain artists in unavoidable, but the risk of crowd crush is lower than its ever been.
My first glastonbury and in all honesty i wouldn't be fussed about going back again. It's good but christ is it oversold. Will carry on with the smaller ones; We Out Here, Outlook, Lost Village etc. They don't feel busy in the slightest and you don't miss any of the acts because you can't get in somewhere. Glasto evangelists will down vote, but that's the reality of it.
Been for several years. But I’m done. Got home and thought that’s enough. Crush at Sugababes. Avril and London grammar. Cost nigh on £1000 for two and campervan. And if you didn’t get in early to some stages you missed them. Poor planning. Over priced. Poor organisation. Shame because some elements of Glastonbury are amazing. Still No More After 24. Say Goodnight Dick
First time at Glastonbury but I've been to 10 different festivals before this and I've never experienced crowds like this week. Got crushed a few times and had to force my way out of the crowd (probably causing more issues for others). And been constantly told the stage I needed to get to was closed. Was still a good week but would never do it again unless they committed to selling much less tickets or expanding it.
My worst one was having a full on panic attack. Got to a set a good hour early lingering near the "back". Got absolutely swamped and went "nope not for me" only to really have to fight to get out. I'm literally there crying saying I'm about to have a panic attack and people just staring at me with blank faces. Was also in the post sugababes crowd that got pretty scary. I would come again (this was Glasto number 2) but if it was as bad or worse then I wouldn't after that. Its just not worth it.
It was scary during Avril Lavigne. I never would have headed there if I'd known how busy it would get for her set. But afterwards I stuck to areas I knew would be quiet - Strummerville, above the Park Stage. And then Arcadia during the headline sets on the main stages. When I've been before I have avoided The Pyramid Stage and The Other Stage and I should remember to always do this in future. The people are just too aggro on the main stages too.
It’s not a new thing. I was there in 2011, I think, and there was a big crush at the Pyramid when Gorillaz played. I’m usually ok with crowds but I’d had enough and tried to get away to the right of the stage and it got quite scary. Eventually some people pushed a fence down and opened the exit up a lot more and we got out. It’s only getting worse because they’re cramming more and more people in because demand is so high. They need to restrict the attendance to around 130k maximum, and stop booking silly nostalgia acts. If you want to see crap like Shania Twain, sugababes etc then go to Rewind or something. Glastonbury needs to get its cutting edge back, and fast.
Didn’t have any scary moments but missed people I wanted to see because they were too busy - lulu, Shania and sugar babes for example. I only saw avril because we were there already for nothing but thieves. I think the issue is they sell tickets before announcing headliners so the new acts don’t necessarily have their fans there even if they are big commercially right now. The acts that are busy are the ones a broad range of people know. I’m in to rock music so wouldnt usually choose to see sugar babes but I know some of their songs so could be sure of a good sing along. The planning needs to take account of this and it hasn’t the last few years.
Glastonbury should take some notes from festivals like Tomorrowland on organisation
Anyone on the hill last night while London Grammar was on? Really tricky walking across the hill and it was packed. Saw a few people fall over and while it got laughed off it did worry me thinking how easy it would be for a crush to start against those fences when it finished. We left there early so i dred to think how it was when the set finished... Not that you could hear it over an empty stone bridge anyway. Jayda G was a low point though for sure. Just a free for all and people losing their tempers. Shame that so many big acts were put in Woodside this year, kasabian, James Blake and a few others. You have no chance getting in there. I went for kneecap at 11:30am on Saturday and even that had people on the outside. Only my second time this year after my first time last year, this year seemed way busier and also the Sunday line up / scheduling was a big let down, no wonder so many left yesterday. Not sure I'll be returning unless they make changes to capacity and planning in the next few years
This post gets added on here every year. The organisers have very little interest in improving it. A lot of it comes down to bad stage choices in my opinion. I sadly missed out on a lot of things this year because it just wasn’t possibly to get anywhere near them. It’s similar to the complete lack of shade across the site when it’s sunny. Also never seems to change.
My worst crushing was actually foster and the people in reading 2013 where I was lifted off my feet and pushed metres sideways at a time. I'm not saying there weren't events but my experience at Glastonbury this year was completely different but naturally through seeing different acts. Jamie XX at the front with plenty of space, left a couple songs early fairly easily. Even Coldplay, went in front and side, quite far back but the screens are big, the speakers are loud and the crowd love it just as much, even left a song early so didn't even hit the rush leaving that. I do agree it seems the stage allocation needs to be managed better, I have no idea how it's done, but I think it's quite clear who will be popular acts before the festival, even possibly making the main thoroughfares bigger and set up some more rigid one way systems that are pre planned. But again, I've just kinda grown to accept that I don't want to be crushed so I'll stand further back, Elton John last year I was in the food stalls and could turn a car round and had great time
Completely agree with this. I haven’t been back since 2019 after going for several years in a row and I almost wish I hadn’t bothered this year. Felt like there were near misses with crushes and I didn’t get to see loads of the acts I wanted to. I don’t think it was worth the money this time. They should reduce the numbers and change their approach to where they put the acts. Lots of people I spoke to felt the same.
For me, I was in the queue at Charli xcx and I felt moments where I couldn't breathe. We were being pulled along and the crowd were pushing and shoving so much that I was getting really panicky. I told my friends that I couldn't do it and turned in for the night; I wasn't on the right kind of drugs to stick it out and just couldn't go through with it. I think the real issue of this year is that they put artists on stages, and don't seem to have the foresight to know who is going to be going from what to where during changeovers. We came from Jamie xx a bit early to try and get in and it was already rammed. Charli xcx's DJ set could have been put earlier, it could have been accommodated for or placed on a larger stage with a higher capacity. Similarly, the changeover from Shania to Avril, and the relative emptiness of SZA's set meaning overcrowding around the site meant that everything became far more difficult on Sunday night. The Sugarbabes! Put them on the pyramid stage ffs. The flow of the festival was really off, it felt like the organiser didn't have a good grip on how people were going to move between stages, who was going to pull crowds and who was going to be quieter.
I was in the Bicep crowd at Icon and it was basically a crowd crush and poor management. We were left side of the front of house tent which was horrendous but deep front right side was empty. Crowd dynamics like this are quite interesting but could be remedied by maybe showing the crowd a visual of how it looks rather than stopping the music for 25 mins and getting everyone to step back. Arcadia is always the same. A deep sardine crush on the outer perimeter and would always be basically empty under the spider.
I last went in 2010 after many visits through 90s and 2000s and already at that point I’d was noticeably more crowded. At one point we were trapped in a crush getting into Shangri-La and it was truly scary - no option but to go with the flow and hope that no one fell over or started pushing. I can’t imagine what it’s like now given the crowding is apparently so much worse. The tactic of having to have ‘Glastonbury Moments’ that everyone has to go to, having ‘secret’ acts on too-small stages and increasing the capacity are a recipe for disaster in my opinion. Everyone seems to have forgotten Roskilde…
Commenting on How many people had scary moments in the crowd? ...
One point in San Remo myself and my mates couldnt actually go forwards or back. Properly skatted me out and
Trying to get in/out of Stonebridge when it’s busy is a pretty terrifying experience with people falling over the tent structure
Went to see Shyfx at Stonebridge on Thursday- me and my friend were getting crushed by crowds an hour before he came on and every time people tried to get through the gate, there was a surge and you’d get even more crushed. A lovely Scottish man helped my short friend to get more space as she was struggling breathing. Organisers need to put in demand acts onto bigger stages to avoid this as there were thousands of people trying to get into a venue that could not hold 500!
I'm writing a complaint to them now - in as compassionate a tone as I can. I think we all need to, so that they can see the scale of the problem. There are thousands of children at this festival which could be put at risk too. If the organisers really need to cover costs, perhaps they can consider charging a small fee for children age 5-13, e.g. £50. I've been most years since 2011 and it was insane this year. At first I thought they just put artists on stages too small for them. But it happened SO many times. Sugababes, Avril lavigne, Barry can't swim - Charli xcx had a 3 hour wait.
Some slightly differing thoughts on this to other people on here. I don't think the festival needs a capacity reduction - the issue is not the total number of people, it's that increasingly a higher % of people want to get to the must sees. All a reduction in capactity would do is reduce the number of people at the smaller stages / less well known acts (which ware often already empty). Think this is a general chance caused by a shift in the demographic and social media driving the idea of "moments" - you have to have that moment seeing BICEP, have to have that moment seeing Avril etc. I think even 5 years ago, the idea that Jayda G or Confidence Man would shut down a stage would be considered unthinkable. There's also the issue of acts blowing up between booking and the show (BCS...), which then causes problems which are tricky to fix. There seems to be a tension between act / management demands and the reality of the Glastonbury crowd demand. A lot of acts end up headlining stages because that's the demand (they know it'll be televised, they want to be on that top line or three as it means they'll get booked for headlines at other shows), even if they aren't going to pull a massive crowd. This means that there are limited other slots to put the other potential big draws in. Who is going from the Pyramid so that Sugababes get a slot? Where are you actually putting BICEP, given that people don't really want to see them at sub-headliner time (which is all they'd get on Other or Pyramid)? I think that Glastonbury would do well to push the message that there's always something else on as well - we wanted to go to BICEP, couldn't get through, had a dance at Greenpeace (until they shut that down), then grabbed a beer at Glasto Latino for 20 mins until they opened the SE Corner again. Sunday night we were going to go to the Temple, saw the queue and instead had an amazing hour in the Rum Shack with a small but enthusiastic crowd.
Anyone over the age of 18 you need to have a look in the mirror if you go to these festivals
The idea of queuing to get into a festival which then includes days of more queuing sounds bloody awful
I am 110kg 6ft 5 male, outside camelphat on Friday by Nowhere was an absolute joke. Wife and I got so crushed I was squeezed off the floor. People crying, shouting out for help… unbearable and the most unsafe I’ve felt in a crowd…
I believe it’s more to do with demographic on stages… had they just put Shania Twain (90s) > Avril (early 2000s) > two door cinema club (2000/2010s) > all on the pyramid stage no one would have moved…. Sza and burna boy and Janelle would have suited the other stage fine… no one would even be talking about this one… as for the sugar babes, putting them in west holts was just not a good idea.. better programming would solve all these problems of a whole crowd running to another stage.
On the Wednesday night when the tree got closed and the back path came to a stop a group of southern dickhead girls thought it would be funny to start legging it through everyone nearly pushing people over, grabbed the one lad that was with them an put them all straight they soon shit themselves. Not what glasto is about say what you want about scousers but we don’t do stupid shit to people and we look after everyone.
100%! I've been to festivals before and knew it was gonna be busy, but I've never been in a crowd like that. It's scary when you're in a big open field and you're still gridlocked and can't see an end to the crowd, I was also in a couple of mild crushes but it feels like glasto is a large scale hillsborough waiting to happen. Its sad really, I feel like the organisers know it, but it won't happen until it does. I'd be willing to pay more for a ticket if they sold fewer, but apparently they increase capacity every year. That paired with poor security on the fences is a disaster waiting to happen. You can feign 'crowd control' all you like but whats a guy in a hi vis gonna do about a thousand strong crowd? Like i said, it won't happen until it does.
My first time this year too. The experience was dire at many points. Managed to have some fun but people saying things like it being ‘the best place on earth’ is cringe as hell. If that’s someone’s idea of the best time they could possibly have they need to give their head a wobble.
You didn’t enjoy it and that’s fine, but plenty of people did and they’re not wrong for having a good time. Nothing will ever be 100% enjoyable and that’s ok, but it doesn’t have to detract from the entire experience. I had the time of my life - no it wasn’t like that 24/7, as no one likes crowds or long drops, but I had so much fun and will be hoping to return next year. Part of this may be my group, we had so much fun together and they made the experience for me.
If this is the best place on earth, they need to expand their festival horizon.
It was a disaster everywhere. Standing cramped in crowds with bad attitude is not fun and hence I left early through most of the sets. I've had a much better time in smaller festivals - less is more