Glastonbury 2024

[PurpleTurtle]

Who's in then?

Registration closes 5pm Monday 30th October
Coach ticket sale 6pm Thursday 2nd November
General sale 9am Sunday 5th November

Ticket price: £355 + £5 booking fee

https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/information...

I was contemplating taking a year off - cost of living crisis and all that - but all my fellow attendees still want to go and I suspect I will have the massive FOMO!

I might try for tickets and if I don't get one then c'est la vie. My little posse has been incredibly lucky over the last 15yrs to always get tickets when we've wanted to. A lot of that is because we're willing to do the coach package, so you are fishing in a much smaller pond of people wanting to depart from your departure point only.

Weather-wise we have been treated to several dry years so I'm guessing a wet one will come along soon!

Pyramid headliner predictions? I'm going with Madonna, Liam Gallagher and Depeche Mode.

[PurpleTurtle]

HTP99 said:

It appears the sale of tickets has been moved back 2 weeks due to some people not realising they had to re-register, WTF that is their problem, I knew, my wife knew, I'm sure the majority knew, so some didn't read their e-mails, it's not as if this wasn't publicised, that is their problem.

https://twitter.com/glastonbury/status/17200783725...

It's not the fault of the registrants though.

The situation is that people have gone in and checked their registrations before the cut-off date, changed anything necessary, got a confirmation that all is updated, but then when they have gone to double check on their details after the cut-off they have found themselves to NOT be registered

That's hardly their fault, is it, having done everything requested in good faith?

The joke organisation that is Seetickets have clearly failed to make the updates at the back-end, then deleted a load of 'lapsed' registrations that weren't actually lapsed.

It's an uncommitted update, in database parlance, somebody has made a simple but fairly seismic IT balls up.

They most likely didn't log the newly captured details, so are unable to repair the situation behind the scenes without having to fess 'up to having dropped a massive bk, hence opening registrations again.

There's loads of people all over social media blaming the punters but it is - quelle surprise - a colossal FUBAR by Seetickets.

Edited by PurpleTurtle on Thursday 2nd November 17:55

[PurpleTurtle]

I managed to get a ticket, as I have done for every year since 2008 when this booking madness started. That year I booked my ticket online a week before the festival, it only sold out a few days beforehand.

We had a syndicate of 52 people trying, and got tickets for 45 of us. However most of that was down to one guy - a friend of a friend of a friend - who was able to get SEVEN buying windows - I know not how! Personally I never got beyond the holding page, and that story was the same for pretty much everyone else in our syndicate. Two other people got as far as entering their registration numbers, but it timed out on them after they'd pressed 'buy' and then went sold out.

My ticket came via someone else who got an eigth buying window; one of my buying group of six people I am in that syndicate with was in Vegas for the F1, he'd asked an old pal of his to try on our behalf, he was successful, so once again (for the fifth year running now) I have a ticket because a stranger to me was able to get 'in' on the website at the right time. I've pinged him my 75 quid deposit and all good to go.

It's a crazy system. I really think they should do some sort of ballot, but I think the Eavis' love the hype it generates. I doubt there is any other music festival in the world which sells out an unannounced line-up 8 months in advance.

Edited by PurpleTurtle on Monday 20th November 12:58

[PurpleTurtle]

I’ve been very lucky and managed to get a ticket every year it has been on since 2008.

I have a ticket this year but an going to chuck it back in the resale. It’s a fairly middling line up (for me) with a few highlights, but not enough to justify the time and expense for me. I rarely watch the Pyramid headliners, but even the (as yet unannounced) Acoustic & Avalon stages probably won’t have enough to hold my interest.

Am going to redirect the budget at Latitude and End Of The Road instead.

Hopefully whoever gets my ticket in the resale will go and have an amazing time.

Edited by PurpleTurtle on Thursday 14th March 13:22

[PurpleTurtle]

That's the thing with Glastonbury, all the unexpected bits. I wouldn't describe myself as a fan of Paul Carrack or Mike and the Mechanics other than a casual liking of 'The Living Years', but he played the Acoustic Stage last year (never on telly, and not always acoustic) and was absolutely outstanding, probably my favourite act of the festival. I am normally yer textbook '6 Music Dad' into anything indie rock, but he just blew me away as a massively talented musician and singer.

I mentioned to Mrs PT that I'm considering chucking my ticket in, but she doubts it! The interesting dynamic now is whether I take our son, who at 9yrs old goes free - he's a veteran of at least two festivals a year since he was 6 months old, so knows the proverbial drill. It's now a case of "well, the music might not be brilliant, but I could take him and he could enjoy all the Kidz Field stuff without me moaning that I'm missing The Beatles reforming over on the Pyramid etc etc etc" .

I don't do all the South East corner business as I like my kip, usually tucked up in my tent for 1am, so I could turn it into a fun father/son bonding trip. I'll have plenty of mates with me (that he knows, and are all themselves parents of older kids) so if I need to get an hour to myself to immerse in some noodling to someone I love up at The Park I can do.

The big doubt at the back of my mind is that I might not get tickets the next few years, then all of a sudden he's 13, I'd be less keen on bunking him off school, and he'll cost me an additional 400 quid to get in by then. Decision, decisions!

[PurpleTurtle]

Full line up out, I'm looking forward to it.

https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/line-up/lin...

I've got a few annoying clashes but that is always the case. Just need a bit of sun now!

[PurpleTurtle]

Is everyone that is going packed and ready to roll then?

My tent has already been despatched in a mate's Range Rover, him and a friend are getting there for 7am Wednesday with a big garden trolley full of tents. We've got 34 people in our camp posse this year, so a bit of a mission to get everyone camped near-ish to each other with people having staggered arrival times.

Me and my 9yo are arriving first thing Thursday morning. Weather forecast is looking good.

Our list we want to see is:

Friday
Squeeze
Paul Heaton/The Vaccines - clash
Frank Turner
Dexys
Haircut 100
Billy Bragg
Faithless
Fontaines DC

Saturday
Cyndi Lauper
Soccer Mommy
Keane
Bloc Party
The Breeders
The Streets
Orbital/Ocean Colour Scene (clash)

Sunday
The Zutons
James
Bernard Butler
Alvvways
Avril Lavigne
Two Door Cinema Club/Romy/The Farm (clash)
The National/The Feeling (clash)

So mostly none of the main headliners, and a decent roster considering I was originally a bit non-plussed with the line up. How much of that we get to do remains wo be seen - totally different dynamic with a young 'un in tow, even though he is a festival veteran. The clashes will probably be resolved by what is nearest so we don't have to deal with too many crowds.

[PurpleTurtle]

Adam. said:

LCD Soundsystem would be my pick along with the National

Apart from 'All My Friends' (which is great) I just can't get into them.

Saw them in Austin, TX a few years ago, everyone was mad for them but it just didn't do anything for me.

That's the great thing about Glastonbury though, something for everyone.

[PurpleTurtle]

Condi said:

What sort of backpack/size of backpack do people take? I have some smallish lightweight ones I use for skiing and running, but normally don't take any backpack at all to festivals, so am a bit in the dark. Will be used to hold some beers (probably not that many though, can always buy some from the bar), and some water, although again, am normally quite happy with a couple of bottles in my pockets. I'll be mainly in the dance music areas bouncing around, rather than stood still watching any of the big stages.

I take my skiing daypack with me, an ancient Salomon thing that has had more beer and mud thrown at it than I care to think about. I like to carry a fair few cans with me, taking full advantage of not being forced to buy at the bar like most other festivals. Small advantage is that your bag gets lighter the more you drink!

Remember you can use the many property lock up tents for free (small donation to CND who run them, if you wish) if you don't want to be saddled with a bag all day.

Failing that, grab one of the free Tote bags that they give you on entry, always sponsored by The Guardian, fill that with beers then fold it up in your pocket once empty. If you can really be bothered then flog it on eBay for 7 quid afterwards!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/145345395603

[PurpleTurtle]

wal 45 said:

PurpleTurtle said:

Is everyone that is going packed and ready to roll then?

Saturday
Orbital/Ocean Colour Scene (clash)

I'd definitely go for Orbital, saw them earlier this year and best I've ever seen them...absolutely brilliant. Never liked OCS so easy choice for me, nearly fell asleep last time they were inflicted on me live.

Have a great weekend though, done a few Glastos in the late 80's and early 90's. Happy days

Cheers, will do!

The big challenge I will have there is having a 9yo in tow. He likes a bit of OCS, isn't a fully fledged raver yet! Also, the last time I saw a dance-ish act up at the Park (Spiritualized) it was impressively very, very loud, they properly cranked it up, which might be a bit too much for him.

Some milling about on the fringes of the (far less busy) Acoustic stage with him possibly asleep in his wagon by then, might be the easier call. The bloody wagon weighs a ton and I've made the call that this is the last year we use it, but it is handy if he is tired later on.

I also generally take the view of "if something is not on the iPlayer, go see it in person", which favours OCS as the Acoustic stage is never filmed, a real shame IMHO as they have some great acts on there.

[PurpleTurtle]

Condi said:

georgezippy said:

I just watched some of the IOW festival on sky arts.
That seemed to have a much better line up (in the opinion of middle aged me),

It depends what you like, the IOW line up is literally all music from 15/20 years ago, so hardly surprising middle age man would like it, but there is absolutely nothing there for anyone under 30 with the exception perhaps of Zara Larsson.

Until I started looking through some of the smaller festivals I had no idea half these bands were even still going!!

As a (nearly) 52 yo bloke I get what you mean. Some of my mates missed out on Glastonbury tickets so did IOW instead and had a great time. IOW is a totally different dynamic though, with only the two main stages on a much more compact site but it caters for a more family oriented crowd. From what I saw on TV there were a load of kids absolutely loving Keane who were not even born when their first album was released.

[PurpleTurtle]

Adam. said:

Quite enjoying Soft Play, nice to see a mosh pit at Glasto

I watched from the edge of the Other Stage with my 9yo (we were waiting to get down the front for James), he thought they were hilarious, as did I.

Not sure why they renamed themselves from Slaves?. Ah, OK, a quick check on Wiki tells me. Bloody good band.

[PurpleTurtle]

Chimaera98 said:

Avril Lavigne was surprisingly good. A big slice of early 2000’s singalong pop/punk rock nostalgia.

Apparently it was reported crowds were out of the park into the campsites to see her.

Can confirm, it was absolutely mental busy. My lad and I approached from the Dance Village side, but there was a massive queue to get to the Other Stage area. Fortunately, it being Sunday afternoon, a lot of people had packed up from the Oxylers camp, so there was a decent amount of green space for people to step amongst the tents, or places where tents used to be. Had it been on Friday I think they might have had a major public safety issue.

As it was by the time we got a vantage point to see her at the very back it was barely audible, so we took a stroll up the Stone Circle, witnessed a pagan type wedding there, then watch the last 10 mins of normal time of the England v Slovakia game on my phone. They didn't show the game on site, so there were lots of people playing it on devices, I am pretty impressed the mobile infrastructure held up.

[PurpleTurtle]

Condi said:

First time at Glasto and I loved (almost) every single second of it....

We camped in a camper at the Bath and West, which was 10 mins by bus from the site and then a 20-30 min walk to the stages, with the late night areas being about 45 mins away. Despite the distance it was fine, and as a bonus had proper showers and toilets which more than made up for a bit of walking. Some people camping on site had a similar distance to walk to their tents.

Arrived late Wednesday night/Thursday morning and drove straight in with no traffic at all. Loads of stewards/people about at the campsite who were super friendly and helpful.

Thursday was a bit of a let down, as everyone was there but the bigger stages weren't open yet (Pyramid/Other/Park/West Holt/Arcadia), and so any smaller stages with a known name were absolutely rammed, we explored the site for a bit but called it an early night and went home about midnight.

Friday to Sunday took the same pattern, arrive on site about 2pm, see some smaller acts with the gf, then about 5pm we'd split up to see who we wanted to see, before getting back together at 11/12pm and settling in somewhere for the evening until 5 or 6am.

Totally agree about acts being on the wrong size stages, which wasn't an issue if you had time to arrive early, but if you had expected to jump from one act to another would have been a problem. As it was there we didn't have a massive list of "must see" artists, but a long list of "wouldn't mind seeing" or "will see if we're here" artists and so we didn't struggle with the queues too much.

I don't think we saw one bad performance, and the stages, the sound, the lighting, the production was absolutely world class. Raving underneath Arcadia on top of the hill after dark was really cool. The organisation and the efficiency with which things happened was fantastic as well, when they had issues with crowding on some stages, next day there were stewards there and a long line of barriers to control people and limit the number and speed they moved into the areas.

As far as the performances, some highlights....

The Streets were fantastic, Mike Skinner simply doesn't give a st and is an old hand at this, he knew exactly what to do with the crowd and give them what they wanted. GF had no idea who they were but came away loving it and bought a "Who's got the bag" t-shirt.

London Grammar - one of my 2 "must see" acts, and they delivered. Hannah has the most stunning voice and Dot Major is such a talented musician, the way he's able to swap instruments and move from keyboard to drums half way through a song is so cool.

Faithless, first time seeing them since they stopped playing together 12/15 years ago, and they've still got it. There isn't anyone else who does dance music like they do, and while it was never going to be the same without Maxi Jazz it was different but good.

Ghetts bought out Kano and Wretch 32 together, nice surprise.

Arielle Free bought out Lulu for her remix of Shout, odd seeing a 75 year old dancing to a crowd of 20 somethings who had no idea who she was, but some in the crowd did know, and she's still got the voice and the lungs she had 30 years ago.

Eats Everything - the DJ's DJ, he did about 4 sets across the weekend, I saw his back to back with Groove Armada and the man is just so reliable, he delivers every single set and has the best time on stage doing it.

Gf loved Dua Lipa, Avril Lavigne and the Sugarbabes, said they were all fantastic.

Weekend finished at 5am Monday morning in the Temple with a few thousands others watching it get light behind the stage. Back to bed for 6ish and left the site about 2 in the afternoon, there was a bit of traffic but nothing too bad. Thank God I am off work for another 2 days.

Ha ha, love this, sounds exactly like my first time!

I’m nearly 52 so have done all the staying up until dawn stuff many times, these days I’m tucked up in my tent by 1am and awake having a brew by 8am. I always love bumping into people clearly going home to their tent as I’m getting up!

[PurpleTurtle]

UTH said:

Condi definitely making me seriously think about going for my first time next year

What's this place you stayed? Is it not in the actual festival?

There are two 'official' campervan areas for Glastonbury:

1) Onsite campervans/caravans - a 20 min walk from the main action
2) Bath & West Showground - a shuttle bus ride away.

The latter is flat and ideal for motorhome parking, so they utilise it very well.

https://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/information...

There is the mina scrum to get the main festival ticket first, then a smaller one for campervan tickets. It was an additional £200/£300 this year for regular/large campervans respectively. The large pitches are all at B&W Showground.

Obviously if not in a campervan/caravan your tent camping is included in the ticket price, find a space in the fields with everyone else.

Edited by PurpleTurtle on Tuesday 2nd July 16:17