While reports of its line-up shortcomings will inevitably be proven wide of the mark, there’s no doubt that Glastonbury (official site here) is in a state gone slightly awry right now, with recently released tickets stalling short of selling out – unlike the festival’s major competitor, Reading – and organisers forced to re-open registering for further tickets in a drive to attract attendees. Apparently some 37,500 tickets remained unsold at the time of today’s registering announcement. What’s gone wrong, then?
Year after year Glasto – a fixture on the festival calendar since the ‘70s, occasional rest years excepted – has sold out almost instantly, phone lines jammed from dawn ‘til dusk as hopefuls redial the same credit card line while planning the next day’s visit to Blacks. Its status as the domestic festival to get muddy at, and play for that matter, is starting to look shaky; there can be no doubt that the confirmed headline acts – Kings of Leon, Jay-Z and The Verve – aren’t as classically Glasto as top-billed sorts of not so many years back: R.E.M., David Bowie, Radiohead, The Who, Paul McCartney, et cetera. They lack the universal appeal of the aforementioned, and only one of three can truly be said to be enjoying their highest commercial profile ever. A contributing factor in the no-sell-out story? Perhaps. Let’s assess the suspects…
99 problems but Jay-Z’s the one you pick on…
Apparently some sorts don’t dig Jigga, and have been (virtually) vocal with their displeasure: NME.com’s stories yesterday, reporting on the festival’s failure to sell out immediately, attracted a variety of borderline racist comments from individuals personally insulted that hip-hop had found a headline place at a typically white men/guitar rock institution like Glasto. While these attitudes can be ignored as puerile, youthful potty-mouths working overtime, there’s no doubt Jay-Z’s presence can be considered an effect on initial ticket sales – fans of the rapper, but not mud and tiresome indie bores, will simply head to Wireless, and back to their own beds/hotel rooms for a lot less than the price of a Glastonbury ticket.
Let’s not party like it’s 1995…
The Verve? One great album and a smattering of semi-decent tracks across the remainder of a catalogue does not necessarily headliners make you, especially when said long-player, succeeded though it was by greater commercial fortunes, was released in 1995. A Northern Soul might be regarded by many as a classic of its times, the best in its particular canon, but really: was nobody with acclaimed LPs from this side of the millennium bug available for hire? Kings of Leon are a huge act nowadays, true, but at this stage (three albums in) they too lack a collection of certified hits substantial enough to warrant their bill-topping designation. If you added their sales together, chances are Hova would win, and he’s the one copping the most flack of the three here.
You can’t burrow under/climb over the fence anymore…
Or, more pertinently, no bugger truly into the spirit of the experience can afford a Glastonbury ticket without selling an organ and/or giving up their offspring for adoption. Those that can afford the asking price – £160 plus booking fee and postage atop that – are precisely the sorts head-honcho Michael Eavis was eager to muddle with fresher-faced newcomers: middle-class white-faced Guardian readers (me, then) with pennies enough to just leave the tent there come Monday morning. Last year Eavis complained about there being too many thirty-somethings on site, too few teenagers, but with that sort of ticket price, d’uh. Oh yeah, and it clashes with exam season. Still. And the television coverage almost exclusively focuses on the oldies, rather than who’s gracing the newer band stages: hardly an exciting prospect for your more casual potential teenage attendees.
Cards up your sleeves vs waving them wildly…
By not announcing the majority of its bill, as is its wont, does Glastonbury shoot itself in the foot? Previous years: certainly not. But Eavis senior’s, and daughter Emily’s (pictured), protestations that the full bill will be an attractive one will fall on largely deaf ears until names are revealed. Reading shouts its bill from the rooftops; likewise Connect, ATP, Isle of Wight, Primavera. Should Glastonbury be quicker to reveal its trumps, in order to secure an immediate sell-out?
Brits abroad, increasingly so…
With flights to the continent still affordable to many of a festival-fancying persuasion, weekenders in Europe are attracting more and more Brits to their guaranteed sunshine and (well in advance) pre-announced bills. See: the aforementioned Primavera, Benicassim and Sonar in Spain, Exit in Serbia, Roskilde in Denmark, Hove and Quart in Norway. Tickets to these events are often cheaper than domestic equivalents, too, making the combination of foreign holiday plus exciting music venue all the more enticing.
Mud…
Simply: would you rather spend three days, at least, wading through slop and muck in drizzly Somerset for the sake of catching a handful of bands you’re partial to, or jet out to the Spanish sunshine for a selection of the same bands under (almost) certain blue skies, where the booze flows cheaper and the lager louts are mercifully locked out? Precisely. Attend enough bad-weather Glastos in a row, as this writer has, and you’re unlikely to return for probably more of the same. Eavis, Michael, has admitted this probably is a factor in this year’s slow sales: “I think three years of mud may have taken their toll”.
The underground’s not so deep these days…
Niche, or boutique, events like All Tomorrow’s Parties, Green Man and Truck are big on atmosphere, something that’s vitally important for a festival that doesn’t sell itself exclusively on its musical bill. While there’s a definite spirit to Glastonbury that’s far from extinguished, the crusty old-timers that made the trip every year from day dot have moved on as the festival’s been forced into adopting a more commercial approach to management. And they can’t sneak in for nowt anymore, too. Bummer, old dudes. Point: the audience is shifting, and presently in a state of flux, regulars fewer and further between than ever before. The abundance of day-long events, including Wireless and Field Day in the capital, must also be considered – returning to an earlier point, there’s much to be said for creature comforts after a day of biting wind and howling rain.
…Not that any of this really matters, as Glastonbury will sell out. No doubt about it. Radio 1's Huw Stephens tells us as much: "There are so many good little festivals now that are sometimes more diverse and niche. But Glastonbury still has so much history and the vibe is unique." Enough said 'haps, and chances are by the time this article runs it already will have got rid of those spares; we’ve been blighted by connection problems for so long that it’s almost a certainty that everything above is already out of date (Okay, so it’s not – Ed). But still: it didn’t when it had before, and that’s a talking point worth elaborating into a discussion. So, DiScuss…
Visit GlastonburyRegistration to register, and remain registered for the next three years.
Tickets are available for online sales at seetickets.
The UK sales phone line is 0800 079 2008.
The international sales line is 0044 1159 934 183.
I think you have said it all...
Nothing left to discuss!
how long
has it been selling out instantly for though? Last few years? 5? Since 1975?
I'm not sure but before indie/guitar type music went fully mainstream about 5 years ago, it never used to sell out straight away did it? Same with Reading, you could get tickets right up to the date.
I could be totally wrong with this.
It's only been selling out instantly for
the past 7/8 years.
In the mid/late 90s there would still be tickets about a month in advance.
2 factors:
1) eBay turning everyone into a potential ticket tout
2) The 'indie' explosion
Someone wrote a very similar article for the Guardian
except they said that a Reading ticket was £240 quid.
http://music.guardian.co.uk/festivals/story/0,,2271734,00.html
I'd be interested to feel he vibe of a Glasto
In true festival spirit my mates and I decided to go to Reading two years ago dressed in Victorian wares, including massive top hats, with a bag full of pot and an old tape recorder. Oh, what jovial stoner fun we would have, laughing at each other and along with all other festival goers, lending them our hats and dancing around the fire on an evening! we thought.
How wrong we were.
There were no jovial hippies or carefree folks there. On the first day we got tins of food thrown at us by an assortment of cunts camping together, and constant harassment from chavs with no sense of humour. we felt on the verge of being beaten up the whole time. My mate even got his hat nicked!
I imagine that Glasto wudve been more welcoming to such in-jokes, and even though i think the Reading line-ups pretty god this year, i'll prob never go again, and i went 5 years in a row!
maybe foreign festivals are superior because of weather but also because the majority of people in this country when combined with a field and beer can turn into right wankers!
dressing up in fancy dress?
it sounds like you expected everyone to think you were hilarious. fancy dress wears thin after 10 minutes or so, most people would find the abuse you recieved a lot funnier than your costumes!
Oh dear
fancy dress?
you really were asking for it weren't you?
You're probably the type who holds up signs to girls advertising 'free hugs'.
Grow up.
you
sound like a tosser.
I think
the three previous replies to your post prove the truth of your last paragraph. Head for foreign climes, people are not so damn up themselves there.
agreed on line up
they should announce more... one of the better things about glasto is the smaller stages... I wont go, but if i did, thats where I'd be. And seeing as there are no confirmed acts, its too much of a gamble innit.
Why did this have to happen to Glastonbury?
Of all the mammoth mainstream UK festivals, Glastonbury is still head and shoulders superior than all combined, even with three years of mud.
I like to see this little situation as Glastonbury being made an example of. No more is half arsed line-ups and commercialisation acceptable for these festivals.
I only wish V was made the example.
Another thing, why are the Eavis' so desperate for it to sell out almost immediately? They have to prove to the punters that this festival is worthy of the fortune everyone's asked to fork out these days.
All good points
Definitely agreed on the whole 'not announcing the full lineup' thing. It's like they're relying on tradition to sell tickets. Which just won't cut it these days. People need to know they're getting their money's worth.
I wouldn't blame the headliners though. They are underwhelming, but I'm sure they'll still be good.
The timing of it is crap, too. It is usually smack bang in the middle of exam season for all the 'young people' they supposedly want to attract.
This year it seems a week or so later (uni students seem ok for it, but A-level age will still be examing), but it's still not ideal.
It just seems pretty unthinkable in these days of festivals selling out within hours, rather than the days or even weeks of old, that Glastonbury of all things wouldn't sell out within at least the first day.
One year I had to sit an exam
and then go to Glasto, I think it was my Media exam!
Well....
Glastonbury has the potential this year to eat some humble pie and strip back a little and eventually return to form. It could well be a year when loyal attendance (albeit low) and fingers crossed some memorable performaces (MGMT, Elbow and Jay Z)could actually make it memorable in a sort of weird niche way, if you get me. I understand what I'm saying but many of you may not..........apologies.... Nonetheless I will be attending.
James Blunt
is playing main stage this year...
James Morrison...
played it last year...
.
Just needs to be sunny!
Please no...
...anything but Blunt.
Glasto Blows
The last time I went to Glasto was in 1999 I vowed never to go back. My reasons at the time was:
1) It's in the middle of no-where. I love camping but I do it to get away. If I want to be in an isolated location then I'd find one.
2) For all that money the mud is too much of a gamble. 1998 was one of the worst weekends ever; 1999 wasn't good enough to change my mind
3) Too many people are there trying too hard
Since 1999 there have been a whole raft of further reasons why U would never go back:
1) Like the poster above said, you could get tickets up until pretty late so you could judge the line up. Can't do that now. At least with Reading you can queue up the next day at Astoria etc having seen the line up
2) Just like football it's out-priced itself from it's core market. I think people that jump the fences are wankers because it puts the cost up but the cost shouldn't be the cost.
3) Because of celebrity culture it's become The New Place to Be Seen. Too many luvvies, it's the Ascot of festivals.
4) The amount they charge it too much given that you don't know whose's playing. Would you pay £160+ for a cardboard box without knowing what's inside?! The headliners this year are a joke.
I'm going to Reading this year but I don't every year. I've seen the line-up before I've bought. True, there are the usual collection of wankers you don't want to camp next to but at least it's easy to get to, you can go to the supermarkets to top up on food/beer and even when it rains it doesn't get that muddy.
I LOVE the big outdoors but Glasto doesn't let you experience that. Go the Yorkshire Dales of something. Sorry, Glasto blows.
Reading
Is fucking horrible. Too many kids setting stuff on fire. Glastonbury has a nice atmosphere, and you know most current bands, and a few good heritage ones will be playing. And the dance area is immense.
Wrong on a few accounts there Lauski.
Mainly the fact that it has been impossible to jump the fence since 2003 (they made it a lot bigger).
The other glaring error is that Reading and Leeds is basically chaville Arizona. Never ever ever will I go to one of those Godforsaken festivals again.
In saying that though, Glasto has definately gone to the dogs. Last year was the final straw.
How can you not mention the increased size?
I think that is a major reason for a lot of people not going this year. Everywhere was packed, it took ages to get anywhere, and there wasn't enough space to camp. Also it took people ages to get out of the place partly because of the mud. This all leads to people going 'fuck this, I can't be bothered next year'.
indeed
it seemed like everyone had arrived by weds night last year, in prev years that happened on the thursday...
I'm starting to think that the wankers might avoid it this year so it might actually be good. Not £160+ good though. Although i wouldnt go to a festival specifically to see the headliners, they are a big part of the face value of the ticket, whether i eventually choose to see them or not.
its
bubble has hardly burst when we're all agreed it will still definitely sell out 180,000 tickets. It has sold 150,000 already, which was its full capacity up until last year.
I think we're just seeing a slight 'correction' to the market which has been going silly for the last few years to try to provide for a seemingly insatiable demand for festivals. That one that was cancelled yesterday for only selling 87 tickets shows that we've reached saturation.
Glasto also suffers from lots of mud, yes, and for the cost more and more people are looking abroad for 'guaranteed' sunshine. Like me!
Storm in Heaven's..
The best verve album!
I think the onerous ticket process, last year's dire weather, very mixed headliners (the one not highlighted as a key point above, KoL, may be good but headliners? I actually think Jay-Z's an interesting choice but the other 2 are not) and a reluctance to reveal the rest of the line up til after tickets have sold puts off people who don't really have that kind of money to throw about.
I don't think Eavis really helps matters by slating everyone who paid £150 last year for not being diverse enough and the way he's tried to rectify it is quite astonishingly cack-handed. He's basically put off the core glastonbury goer and without making any decent effort to make it appeal to anyone else. If he wants kids maybe he should look at the Reading/Leeds headliners (please no!).
I was very tempted not to go this year following last. The line up was fairly poor last year but it's the weather which really spoiled it. It surely can't be that bad again? I think line-up's aren't really as important at something like Glastonbury (or Reading/V for that matter) because you'd pretty much have to hate music to not be able to find decent/curious bands to watch 75% of the time.
In the end I decided to go - in terms of big UK festivals if it's a choice between glasto, reading and V it's not really a choice and I wanted to do something. I just hope it's dry!
So many inaccuracies,
so little time...
OK, not so much inaccuracies
but selective truths to make it appear worse than it is.
"...no bugger truly into the spirit of the experience can afford a Glastonbury ticket."
is this true?! So its a few extra quid on top of the average festival price, not exactly cost-prohibitive even if you are Gypsy Willow Lovelace trying to "keep the vibe alive".
£160 is still a lot of money
compared to 2002, when it was about £110. what justifies a £50 increase since 2002?
Plus if you're travelling
it comes to nearly £200
Mike, did you write this?
You forgot to mention this:
Eavis selling out - what good is it by increasing the camping area to accomodate 30 thousand extra people. People dont hang around by their tents all day, last year you could hardly move around, I didn't bother with a lot of bands because I didn't have the energy to wade through the horrific crowds. The mud wasn't the issue, the amount of people were.
Yeah sure, we dont know the full line up, but what are we to expect when the supposed best bands on offer are the acts you have mentioned?
Glasto is dead now, Eavis and his stupid daughter have killed it.
Incidentally, The Verves best album is 'A storm in Heaven'.
can i be arsed to...?
...leave my house on weds night and wait two hours for a coach to arrive?
...spend five days stinking of grub and covered in mud (because there isn't any way of showering)?
... watching mediocre bands that everyone will have forgotten about this time next year?
... hitch across the mammouth festival site in order to see small bands hiding in less than glamorous locations, and then get so mud swamped I miss my bands?
... spend most of the week in a pub tent drinking tea (when i could be in a nice warm pub)?
... hold my bladder until the toilet truck comes a calling?
... wait for three hours in a potential downpour because seetickets coaches can't be arsed to come pick us up?
... get home on the Monday morning, with hypothermia and have to spend the next three days in bed (ill)?
No, not this year I'm afraid. Unlike last year, I've got some sense.
I will be in a nice warm pub I'm sure. with toilets and everything. Bring it on!!!
unsurprisingly
this year I am going to ATP! Woo!
i dont like
i dont like how much people are putting glasto down at the moment. i have enjoyed it both times ive gone (2 of the muddiest) and i think i will enjoy it alot this year.
leave glastonbury alone please and stop over analysing it...
:(
You have only been twice!!!!!
It shows to be honest.
leave glastonbury alooooooone!
Werchter has those headliners
Playing in the afternoon, plus REM and Radiohead and Neil Young. All for half the price.
Plus it has a bunch of other great acts.
^^^ this
i got my ticket yesterday!
ive been to the past 5 glastonburys and have witnessed it get progressively more shite - it is still one of the better uk festivals but i cant get excited about it the way i used to. then i saw the line-up for rock werchter and that made my decision for me :D
Glastonbury is better
on TV.
I can go to the fridge and eat ice cream and drink beer, and not have to worry about all these things above.
Yeah
Glastonbury is crap.
OMG!!1 Goldrush are playing at Truck! Best festival ever!!1!
those '1's are important
so I know you're joking.
Indeed.
I like Truck really.
The Verve
I bet 'The drugs don't work' will go down like a treat in the fields of Glasto. ;-)
Its well past its sell by date
You can get a fortnight abroad for the same money
Its far too big to easily get around the site
Its a place to be seen rather see music
Camping in the mud is hell on earth
Eeavis is on an ego trip and swayed by fashion- anyone into their civil liberties wont buy a ticket with producing id too!!
How can teenagers afford £160+ ??-they are either at school ,studying or on very low wages !! Eavis has a screw loose me thinks cos even most middle aged people on average incomes are struggling with money right now !!
The headlimers are not the problem -nor is the line up not being announced (these are only problems for teenagers)-the best bands will be on the samll stages anyhow which are not televised
So much of it is on tv it has killed the festival experience to a large extent.
My suggestion !!
Is choose a smaller festival - in london eg last year field day was great so was lovebox , the clapham bank holiday one was a good day out theres the free kenfest in finsbury park and the denmark street freebie and the wireless festivals whic are corporate but get good line ups!! then theres loads of smaller fantastic ones all over the country -guilfest is great and never sells out!! I would love to try latitude one day or the one in brecon beacons !! Glastonbury is past its best-foregt and move on !
"anyone into their civil liberties wont buy a ticket with producing id too!!"
dont be silly
registration
The thing that drove me not to go last year and probably this, was the registration aspect. I could just about cope with the military operation required to purchase tickets in previous years but the additional burden of making sure everyone in your party was registered and that everyone had the right registration codes for buying tickets, just put me right off. There's no spontaneity it just becomes a bothersome.
I know ticket touting was perceived to be a problem but registration made it feel like it was some kind of scouting conference. The solution to the problem is over the top and bordering on authoritarian. For me it had become an obsession for the organisers which grew out of control. There's always going to be touting at these type of events it's almost part of it all and Eavis should just learn to live with it.
others to see..
well i'm not going this year because i want to try some others, so we are going to latitude, the wickerman and some local free festivals as well as the usual leeds fest. next year may go again but more likely to be werchter or roskilde (was superb in 2005)
Agreed to the points in the article
£160+ is officially too much for me. And then there’s transport to pay for, and then beer and food costs (which only seem to increase with each year.)
Not knowing who's playing is no incentive.
Last glasto was a pain…too busy (and muddy). Packed on Wednesday afternoon…I use to feel like part of the elite for getting there on the Wednesday and being there for 5 days…but this I think has now become the norm i.e. Wednesday afternoon and hardly anywhere to camp…we were struggling…we ended up camping next to some toffee nose twats enjoying grapes, cheese and wine whilst listening to coldplay…complaining that our tent was too close to theirs…yeh, completely in the spirit of Glastonbury (!).
I don’t read the NME at all anymore nor do I check out the bands that are mentioned on DiS anymore so it would probably be a weekend wasted on me.
There are a number of reasons
But I haven't seen anyone give what I think is the most obvious one. And it's a boring economics one, so apologies in advance.
There was no festival in 2006. That meant that last year, you had a situation whereby extra demand had been "artificially" created... a lot of those people who would have gone to a Glastonbury in 2006, on top of those who planned to go in 2007, meant that the 30,000 capacity increase was covered.
We simply don't know if that 180,000 capacity is sustainable. It's only been achieved once, and that was last year, with the extra impetus of the year off a year earlier. I think the experience this time around suggests probably not. 120,000 would appear to be Glastonbury's natural size... anything much bigger than that is guaranteed to be a risk.
Hate to say it, but the Eavises got greedy. And it's come back to bite them.
actually....
they've made the same amount of money in terms of profit since - the capacity was increased to give more people the chance to go, and, in tandem, the charity donations increased...
so... fuck you.
I can't stand Emily Eavis
and that's one of the reasons I wouldn't want to go.
She's like that upper class person who tries to be cool and cutting edge by mentioning everything a year too late...
damn those upper classes!
writing
songs about castles
All the music
is pretty much dreck on the main stages. I would go just for the Glade, were it not more sensible just to go to the Glade festival. Or BAng FAce. Or Bloc. There's always cool fringe stuff going on at Glastonbury, but this too is probably far surpassed by events like Shambala.
In summary, fuck Glastonbury.
Benicassim woooo!
Finally gets a mention on DiS!!!
Oh yeah and can we stop talking about Glasto now. Seriously.
"99 problems but Jay-Z’s the one you pick on…"
lolz!
Not wanting Jay-Z at Glasto isn't rascist - It's 'cos he's fucking wank.
Anyone pulling the race card out is way off the mark. Listen to his music. IT'S SHITE. And as a headliner? Urgh.
Basically the line up FUCKING STINKS. It's gotta happen sometimes but hey that's the score.
Next year they'll get in some big names, trust.
Benicassim
has been a let down for the last 2 years. When I first went in 2004 if felt like a proper European festival, mix of cultures and bands...now it just seems to be lads abroad on the piss and a very English and Indie centric line up.
Not this year...
...so far anyway...
"I didn't see a band all weekend, I was so wasted..."
All good points in this article and mostly good points by the above comments too.
I'd add another, that after the supposed 'indie-explosion' the younger folk just want to go to A festival, and the cheaper the better. When they get there they're more bothered about getting wrecked, trying to pull and film bands on their camera phones rather than actually watch bands.
I reckon the slump in sales at this point may be a blessing in disguise for old Glasto. The people who REALLY want to go will cough up the money no matter what.
And I think the Jay Z bashing is unfair. The more open minded music fan (i.e. not those on NME.com) will look forward to a change from guitars.
Storm in a teacup more like...
Ah, this is such a non-story (and yet I'm commenting...)
They've sold 100,000 tickets and Jay-Z will easily be the most amazing and exciting of the three headliners. I'm not sure about the other two headliners, but who cares, it's an amazing location beyond the music. I think it's a bit harsh slating the Eavises personally.
Yes, it's expensive, but there's some wonderful cheaper options too. Truck, Latitude, Green Man, Indietracks, Lounge on the Farm. There's a wonderful selection, including Glastonbury, so I can't understand why everyone enjoys knocking everything down and stirring up a crisis.