Glastonbury 2023

Overcrowding at certain acts I think. That was definitely a big complaint last year.

In reality though, the total numbers onsite/tickets sold hasn't changed over the last few years AFAIK.

I think it's just that certain acts/high profile slots are pulling more people, along with perhaps a changing demographic of festival attendee, so certain acts are absolutely wedged, while lots of the site is empty....

Its increased massively. Theres 210k people on site now. Was 203k in 2019. And it was already too much.

Noticeable increase since the 00's and all they've added is the Park really.

Could the size of tent people are using now also be an issue? The four person tent with a big separate entrance area seems to be a popular option nowadays.

Overcrowded! LOL. I was there in 2000. Now that was overcrowded! (fence fell down). I was back in 2002 and it felt half full in comparison! Obviously site is much bigger now than then.

Quite possibly the greatest ever performance of a song at Glastonbury?

Folks without tickets? Is that speculation or fact?

I just remembered how in 1997 we drove a regular Transit van into the Campervan field and just parked up, with no need for an extra pass. Or if you did, we didn't have one and no-one stopped us. There was loads of room in that field too, i imagine the Campervan fields are quite crowded these days.

They had to try draw some of the crowd away from Elton but it clearly didn't work. For qotsa fans it looked like a great opportunity to see them up close

Sounds like it was dangerously crowded at times

Yup! If anyone hasn't watched it, treat yourself. He has a great singing voice and the fun/love between stage and audience broke through the screen! I reckon a lot of Smiths fans left Glasto' with a healthy respect for Rick Astley! Who could imagine that decades ago?

Last year three of us walking up to The Park via Pennards for the fireworks had jackets covering our wristbands. We got very abruptly asked by a large group of security where our wristbands were out of the blue. We showed them and they moved on but their manner certainly seemed to suggest they'd have escalated quickly had we not got them. I can only assume they'd had some people get in at that point to be acting that way.

I worked security there before. It's even difficult to just get near the fence and gates. There's checkpoints at all roads leading to the festival.

I think very few people sneak in for free, although I'm sure people directly involved like traders and new age traveller types have their own ways.

Tunneling is difficult cos it's not just the fence you tunnel under but a metal track for SUVs too. Also there's another fence inside the superfence, so you can't camp right beside it like the article states, but I'm not certain that's true everywhere along the fence.

So the tunnel would need to be a few meters long - maybe 4m.

I've heard of people just legging it past security. Also hiding in vans or trucks of performers and traders.

Hiding in luggage also. There's videos of people sneaking in by a river which goes under the fence.

I think a rope ladder attached to grappling hook or a telescopic ladder would be your best bet, then run as fast as you can towards a crowd and change clothes quickly.

It's not impossible to get near the fence but it is difficult.

I think the festival organizers should consider doing it over two weekends cos it's gotten so popular and hard to buy tickets.

Surely the weekend after Thursday the 20th is the 21/22/23. Which is not the last weekend in June.