This year’s Glastonbury could be the last, organiser admits Emily Eavis has raised doubts about the future of the Glastonbury Festival.The daughter of Michael Eavis, who has helped her father to run the event for the past eight years, said that they had discussed the shelf life of the music festival at Christmas. She said that they were treating the 38th festival this year, which will be headlined by Jay-Z, a rapper, as though it were the last. Asked whether the event had a limited time span, she told Orange World, a mobile phone website: “Yeah, I probably do to be honest. We had a kind of retrospective time during Christmas, talking about it and whether it’s a long-term thing. I kinda feel that we should ply everything into this as if it could be the last. It’s a risky, risky business and it would be nice to think, to know that it could go on for ever [but] I don’t know if that’s possible.” Mr Eavis, who founded the festival, said recently that Glastonbury had become too middle-aged and respectable. Last year fans bought 137,500 tickets in a record time of one hour and 45 minutes when they went on sale. Related Links Neil Diamond to play Glastonbury The first festival was held in 1970, a day after Jimi Hendrix died. Tickets costs £1, including milk from the farm. ---------------------------------- OH NO!!! PLease, i do hope they dont stop having this festival, it would be a disaster! :bawl::bawl: Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Glastonbury is everything that is wrong with live music. It's hyped, over exposed, and the stages are too big. In the 80's I used to go see big name bands in a 2,000 occupancy venue. I could see the guitarists hands. At Glasto you end up watching the band via a TV screen.
unless you get there first and you know who you want to watch, also if you go and see someone like Bon Jovi they also have big screens up so that everyone can see, and that is when they are playing sone where like, Cardiff Millenium stadium.
that was an example, we went to see bon jovi, in cardiff, and they had big screens so everyone could see, so dont know what's so differant about glastonbury
you don't just go for the music, you go to be with people who like the same thing has you, the atmosphere is amazing at a decent open air concert,
Well, yeah, I've been to loads of open air concerts(Donington/Download/Knebworth/Glasto), but the problem now is that they are too big. The first Donington I went to had about 40,000 people. This number grew to ~100,000, and at that size the sound on the main stage just sucks. Last year I went to the 'Download' festival and pretty much stuck to the smaller stages, saw 'The Answer' and 'Beyond All Reason' in the Tuborg tent, Motley Crue in the Dimebag tent, and the sound was excellent. I only ventured to the main stage for Machine Head, and the sound sucked ass. I miss 'Rock City', but then I miss the '80s, and being a teenager too.
well yeah i see your point 100.000 people is a bit to much, but i do hope that this years glasto isnt the last, i think it will be such a shame to see that go!
Phlogistician has a lot of good points there. I've been going to Glastonbury every year since the mid 90s & this year I'm not going... by choice. Here's my two cents As a result of Mean Fiddler promotions getting involved the line up has, in my opinion become weaker & weaker every year. I can't remember the last time I saw a band on the mainstage that I hadn't already seen at another festival or in a basement somewhere 2 years previously. I normally find the headliners to be painfully obvious choices & I'm not a fan of many of the 'big name acts' that are booked for the festival but in all fairness I just spend most of my time in the smaller tents. The sound last year was a joke, apparently they had installed some fancy new sound system that allows for a fuller sound whilst actually being quieter with the aim being to not piss the locals off too much. The truth is it was just quieter. In fact, at the end of Bjorks (amazing) set the side of the stage I was on lost ALL sound & I hear that the Killers were drowned out by a chant of 'Turn it up'. The after hours is also a lot quieter due to sound restriction laws (I don't see why the local's are so reluctant to give up one week of their year for people to make some noise, I mean... they could rent their house for a week & go on holiday or something if it's that much of a problem) & the crowd has changed drastically in the last 5 years. Every year since the 'superfence' went up it's lost more & more of what made it so special & now with the ticket race getting more & more complicated (I could, & might write a review of my ticket purchasing experience but I don't have the time now) & the hype getting out of hand I'm simply realising that it's just not worth the hassle or money anymore. There are plenty of festivals in the UK & Europe that appeal to me a lot more now. They are cheaper, with better line ups & you can simply look at the line up & then buy a ticket without the rigmarole of getting a Glastonbury ticket. I think it would be a shame if it ended (even though I think that's just a PR stunt) but I don't think I'd miss it it if did end.
Personally I prefer much smaller places. I saw Vai in a theatre with 3-400 people, I saw his hands and there was no line at the toilett. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
yeah i ahve seen bands in smaller venues, i have seen papa roach in manchester acadamy, mis, the rasmus, and the automatic in manchester academy, and i will admit i did enjoy it loads.
Pretty much that's my criteria, if you couldn't see the guitarists hands, (and not on a video screen!) then the venue is too big. Bands used to tour. They would play dozens of dates in cities all over the UK. Now they book out Wembley for five days and fans have to come to them. It's lazy, and detracting from what music is about, and record companies are letting it happen. People can rip off mp3's, but you were either at a gig, or you weren't, that cannot be substituted or shared. Anyway, looks like I'll be spending a day at the 'Download' festival again this year, the rumours so far are encouraging. Back to Glasto, last time I went was 1986, I didn't like it, but at least the acts were a bit edgy. Now it seems they are trying to be ironic or something, I mean, Shirley Bassey, and Tom Jones? This year I hear it's Neil Frikking Diamond. It's not a rock festival, it's not a pop festival, it's an 'easy listening' festival!
Download returns for it's sixth year over the weekend of Friday 13th to Sunday 15th June 2008. The headliners have been announced as Kiss, The Offspring and Lostprophets, also confirmed are Judas Priest, as 'very special guests', Lemmy's Mötorhead, Rise Against, Children Of Bodom, Coheed and Cambria, Alter Bridge, Disturbed, In Flames, and Incubus. More bands will be announced over the coming weeks. Tickets for Download 2008 are priced at: a full weekend ticket £130, standard camping £20, camper van £40, family zone camping £20, lockers £11, parking £10 in advance or £15 on the day. To buy your tickets, click here. Expect the campsite to open at noon on Wednesday 11th June and to close at noon on Monday 16th June. As well as music, expect lots of on-site activities in ‘The Village’, which includes activities such as LaserQuest, human table-football, contortionists, and drumming workshops.
