Is this the weakest line up ever for Glastonbury?

[Guest subaudio]

I have to admit I've never bought a ticket as I was working there, I've been a good few times now and if I did have to pay I wouldn't go.

So many better festivals that are smaller, cheaper and friendlier.

 

[Marky L]

On 12/05/2019 at 12:31, pst62 said:

The Damned (always a spectacle to behold) are playing in one of the tents this year. Paul Gray is back on permanent bass duties, so that would've been the highlight for me, but I can't justify forking out my hard earned on Mr Evis' extortionate jamboree.

 

You beat me to it! Paul is such a fluid melodic bass player 😃

[Twigman]

On 10/05/2019 at 12:07, BigRedX said:

 

If I was on at Glastonbury, I'd want to helicoptered in 5 minutes before I was due on stage and out again the moment the last note of the encore was finished.

 

Could be a quote from our tech rider for glasto........not been booked yet...LOL

 

The only festival we're playing this year is Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig - civilised by comparison

Edited May 13, 2019 by Twigman

[Muzz]

The last time I saw George Ezra it cost me £6...he was good and all, but I don't think I'd spring for £253 to see anyone...

[EliasMooseblaster]

On 11/05/2019 at 09:26, Rich said:

Donkey's years ago, a couple of work colleagues (who had just become an item) went to Glasto. I was quite jealous as it was a good lineup that year with loads of bands I'd love to have seen. When they arrived back in the office I was dying to know who they'd seen. Every time I named a band, they said "nah, didn't see them either". Turned out they had spent the entire weekend in their tent smoking weed and banging each other's brains out.

The more oblique point this raises is the idea of people going along "for the experience." To expand further: years ago, a good friend of mine went for the first time, and came back full of praise for the weekend. "Everyone should go at least once," she declared. I was, obviously, glad that she'd had a good time, but I countered by saying that I didn't see a great many artists on the lineup I'd have paid to see, so I'd probably pass if the lineup looked similar the following year. "It's not just about the music, though," she insisted, "it's the whole experience."

Now, call me a pedant (and many people do), but if I were to go to lengths people go to in acquiring tickets for such a big music festival, I'd have thought that the music would be a pretty big component of that. Four days bumming around a city of tents and squinting at a leaflet to find an act you actually want to see doesn't sound like a "whole experience" I'm particularly keen to experience.

[BigRedX]

23 minutes ago, Twigman said:

Could be a quote from our tech rider for glasto........not been booked yet...LOL

 

The only festival we're playing this year is Wave Gotik Treffen in Leipzig - civilised by comparison

As you can probably tell I'm not a big fan of festivals. 

The only one I've ever really enjoyed was the annual Rock and Reggae festival in Nottingham mostly because it was free to get in to and I lived less than 10 minutes walk away, so if the music or weather was not to my liking I could simply go home until it improved, without feeling that I wasn't getting value for money.

The Terrortones had one year where we managed to score a decent number of festival slots. The only one that had other bands playing that I actually wanted to see, kept getting cancelled and then was back on again, and finally we decided to tell the organisers that we couldn't do it partly due to the uncertainty and partly because I had the opportunity to go an all expenses paid holiday that included the festival weekend. I think in the end it didn't go ahead. For the others it rained (often quite heavily and occasionally on the stage) except for one that was held indoors on a brilliantly sunny day, so of course everyone was outside enjoying the sun and virtually no-one saw us play.

I'm sure festivals in countries that have decent weather are great. I remain to be convinced about their desirability in the UK.

[Twigman]

1 minute ago, BigRedX said:

I'm sure festivals in countries that have decent weather are great. I remain to be convinced about their desirability in the UK.

I remain to be convinced about the greatness of any festival as a performer.

IME with only a brief line check and no proper sound check, the on stage sound always makes life difficult...generally due to the set having to be shorter than usual it all seems like a lot of effort for not a lot of return...at the level we're at we find that the financials often don't make it worthwhile.

We played SXSW in 2016 and got paid nothing - a long way to go for a 45 minute set....it would have been an expensive gig if we hadn't been able to tag a couple of weeks touring US on the back of it.

Played a few indoor 'festivals' over the years - they just seem like an excuse for the promoter to pay less than at a usual gig.

We're playing WGT this year only because we're intrigued by the clientele and the pics of exotic steampunk chicks we've seen online.

Oh we might be playing some strange outdoor festival in the mountains of Hungary in August....but the promoter seems to have gone a little quiet on that one.

[Barking Spiders]

My OP was mainly about the acts on the Pyramid, West Holts and Avalon stages not about the festival as a whole. For me there's quite a good lot of stuff going on around the fringes . If I were going, I'd spend most of my time at the Glade and Left Field. But for me it's just way too big an event. Download and Blue Dot are large enough.

[EliasMooseblaster]

26 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

As you can probably tell I'm not a big fan of festivals.

 

16 minutes ago, Twigman said:

I remain to be convinced about the greatness of any festival as a performer.

I'll stand up for some of the smaller festivals, as the ones that are run well have been among Cherry White's better gig experiences: Togfest in 2014 stands out in my memory (people on hand helping us to load-in, and a proper soundcheck...plus the crowd bought every CD we'd brought with us), as do Walthamstow's StowFest (literally a p!55-up in a brewery, as we played at Wild Card), and three good years on the trot at Dereham Blues Festival (including one late set played on a train platform, and the lesson learned that it was madness to try and play three sets at different locations in one day and drive back the same night).

Maybe the difference is what you're used to normally: as our usual fare was short sets on multiple-band bills around Central London, these festivals seemed like a breath of fresh air by comparison - certainly one of the main plus points was that they had a ready-made crowd of punters who were up for some new music and a good time.

[Woodinblack]

55 minutes ago, EliasMooseblaster said:

Now, call me a pedant (and many people do), but if I were to go to lengths people go to in acquiring tickets for such a big music festival, I'd have thought that the music would be a pretty big component of that. 

Obviously but to extend the pedantry a bit, that is because you have just defined it as a music festival and then complained the music isn’t good enough. It isn’t really that, it is a festival that also has music, and because that music is now televised on the beeb, it reinforces the idea that it is a music festival

[BreadBin]

It's called Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts 👍

Edited May 13, 2019 by BreadBin

[EliasMooseblaster]

15 minutes ago, Woodinblack said:

Obviously but to extend the pedantry a bit, that is because you have just defined it as a music festival and then complained the music isn’t good enough. It isn’t really that, it is a festival that also has music, and because that music is now televised on the beeb, it reinforces the idea that it is a music festival

 

11 minutes ago, BreadBin said:

It's called Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts 👍

Ah! I stand corrected, then - I was always under the impression that it was, first and foremost, a music festival. I certainly wasn't aware of the full title. My mistake!

[pineweasel]

1 hour ago, EliasMooseblaster said:

"Everyone should go at least once," she declared. I was, obviously, glad that she'd had a good time, but I countered by saying that I didn't see a great many artists on the lineup I'd have paid to see, so I'd probably pass if the lineup looked similar the following year. "It's not just about the music, though," she insisted, "it's the whole experience."

Absolutely agree with this. Glastonbury is simply on a different scale to any of the smaller festivals, more like a medium sized town full of performances and craft of all kinds. You only see the big stages on TV and in the papers but there is so much more. I've read there are around 100 stages in all and I can believe it.

Something I've learnt over the years is not to have a long list of must-see bands, as you will never get to all of them. It takes a long time to get from place to place, and you will get distracted by other stuff you find en route.

I love a smaller festival too - last year I really enjoyed End Of The Road - but there really is nothing like Glastonbury. Oh, and I think the line up this year is a bit lame too, but it really doesn't matter.

[Marvin]

I can make much more effective use of £253.

I really, really can't abide festivals. Costly endeavours to see bands etc that I've never heard of or wouldn't go and see anyway...and that doesn't take into account our abysmal weather.

[BigRedX]

2 hours ago, Twigman said:

I remain to be convinced about the greatness of any festival as a performer.

IME with only a brief line check and no proper sound check, the on stage sound always makes life difficult...generally due to the set having to be shorter than usual it all seems like a lot of effort for not a lot of return...at the level we're at we find that the financials often don't make it worthwhile.

We played SXSW in 2016 and got paid nothing - a long way to go for a 45 minute set....it would have been an expensive gig if we hadn't been able to tag a couple of weeks touring US on the back of it.

Played a few indoor 'festivals' over the years - they just seem like an excuse for the promoter to pay less than at a usual gig.

We're playing WGT this year only because we're intrigued by the clientele and the pics of exotic steampunk chicks we've seen online.

Oh we might be playing some strange outdoor festival in the mountains of Hungary in August....but the promoter seems to have gone a little quiet on that one.

WGW is a completely different ballgame, because of the audience and the fact that it is very tightly run on the nights. I'm a regular in the audience - I go to most unless the lineup is particularly weak. 

The best way to describe it is a professionally organised multi-band gig in the big venue with a good stage and PA. 

Are you down for October/November this year?

BTW don't expect to see many "exotic Steampunk chicks" in the audience for the gigs. They are too busy parading around the town for the photographers.

Edited May 13, 2019 by BigRedX

[Twigman]

42 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

Are you down for October/November this year?

 

June 10th

 

http://www.wave-gotik-treffen.de/ro/go4it.php?id=115&loc=en

 

If you go this year please do say hello

Edited May 13, 2019 by Twigman

[BigRedX]

10 minutes ago, Twigman said:

June 10th

 

http://www.wave-gotik-treffen.de/ro/go4it.php?id=115&loc=en

 

If you go this year please do say hello

Sorry. I thought you were down for the Whitby Goth Weekend (WGW). Ignore everything I said (although it might still be relevant).

BTW SLAG should definitely be playing Whitby if you can.

[Twigman]

1 minute ago, BigRedX said:

Sorry. I thought you were down for the Whitby Goth Weekend (WGW). Ignore everything I said (although it might still be relevant).

BTW SLAG should definitely be playing Whitby if you can.

ha - WGT v WGW - just one typo different........just been looking at Haus Leipzig....it looks like a proper venue.

and the steampunk chicks at WGT might actually go to the shows!

 

[fleabag]

I only went to Glasto once.  It was a free festival back then. Unbelievably laid back. You could amble without trauma upto the main stage ( there was only one ) watch an unknown band widdle away , wander off to one of the suspect choc cookie sellers, wander off to the beer seller,  flop down on the grass, and generally float.  Happy days.

Once it became a paid festy, i stopped going.  I also went to a couple of other free festies, one being Watchfield and the other was Windsor.  Windsor was a tad more manic then Glasto, as it was a much bigger festy,  but nothing like the asbo filled horror of paid festivals these days.

I cant remember if Knebworth was a pay festival ... anyone ?  I was at the Floyd one

Edited May 13, 2019 by fleabag

[Lozz196]

We’re on at the Rebellion Festival in Blackpool again this year. 200 plus punk/Oi bands over the first weekend of August, it’s an amazing festival, indoors so no having to trudge through rivers of mud or cope with English skin in sunlight syndrome (also known as sunburn). No idea which stage yet, but that’s all part of the build up.

[steantval]

1 hour ago, fleabag said:

I only went to Glasto once.  It was a free festival back then. Unbelievably laid back. You could amble without trauma upto the main stage ( there was only one ) watch an unknown band widdle away , wander off to one of the suspect choc cookie sellers, wander off to the beer seller,  flop down on the grass, and generally float.  Happy days.

Once it became a paid festy, i stopped going.  I also went to a couple of other free festies, one being Watchfield and the other was Windsor.  Windsor was a tad more manic then Glasto, as it was a much bigger festy,  but nothing like the asbo filled horror of paid festivals these days.

I cant remember if Knebworth was a pay festival ... anyone ?  I was at the Floyd one

Went to the first two Knebworth Festivals, definitely paid for them, certainly weren’t free.

[spectoremg]

On ‎10‎/‎05‎/‎2019 at 17:29, spongebob said:

The Cure? Debut album 40 years ago. 

Can you imagine in 1979, if a major festivals' major attraction was a band that had made their debut in 1939?

 

They'd be called Winston and the Hitlers.

[funkgod]

On 11/05/2019 at 20:41, musicbassman said:

Janelle Monae? Run of the mill? Aww, c'mon !

 

yep bang on, i was reading through all this thinking that everyone had missed janelle, her band is killer and she is such a great front person out of all them bands on i would of gone just too see her and the band, here is another version.....

 

[Stub Mandrel]

Ha! I went to Glastonbury once. I remember Richard Thompson (possibly with Fairport), Hank Wangford and the Mutoid Waste Company. I also remember walking to Glasto to buy a cheap cagoule (I still have).

I don't remember anything else* except we drank all the Tequila we brought intending to run a tequila sunrise stall...

It appears to have been 85, as that wasa Mutoids first year there. I vaguely recall that I saw a bit of Dr and the Medics before Wangford. No sign of the Thompo kid on the bill, perhaps I saw John Martyn and someone told me it was RT?

Maybe it was 84, because Fairport and Wangford went that year.

Perhaps I went both years?

Hmm. I can't think of any reason why I wouldn't have.

 

*To be honest I am fairly confident I only saw a couple of bands. I was too busy with the whole Seventh Seal cum Monty Python and the Holy Grail renactment experience... Glastonbury was never about music in the days when they had good bands.

I DO remember Reading '83 though, because I taped SRV when they played his set again on Radio 1.

[Stub Mandrel]

2 hours ago, spectoremg said:

They'd be called Winston and the Hitlers.

Or Glenn and the Millers...