Glastonbury 2007 pt1: the build-up

[MsShirlLaverne]

^^^^^^ I'm just happy that I've got a ticket and I'm going.

 

[Looby]

By customer service I mean everything including the toilets, the drainage, the crowd control, the security, the camping and the tickets. As well as the music and all the entertainment. I think the festival needs to step up a notch. Maybe it will this year, it remains to be seen. But the ticket thing doesn't bode well. what I mean is now that the days of yore are just that, its time for the festival to improve at a greater rate.

If that's what you want from a festival go to Reading or V. Especially security and crowd control, I don't think more of this is wanted or needed at Glastonbury.

 

[Looby]

^^^^^^ I'm just happy that I've got a ticket and I'm going.

Exactly, and looking forward to seeing you.

 

[Sunray]

How do I square the days of yore with customer service? Thats actually a really interesting question. I wonder if the days of yore, on balance, had better customer service? I think the whole massive problem with Glastonbury as a festival is that its taking a long time to reconcile itself with the fact it is now a corporate entity. The festival can't square its selling point of being a big hippy fest with the good customer service that a big corporate festival should have. By customer service I mean everything including the toilets, the drainage, the crowd control, the security, the camping and the tickets. As well as the music and all the entertainment. I think the festival needs to step up a notch. Maybe it will this year, it remains to be seen. But the ticket thing doesn't bode well. what I mean is now that the days of yore are just that, its time for the festival to improve at a greater rate.

These enmass ticket sales are always going to push the bounds of any companies resources. To gear up to so its all smooth is not in their interests as it will cost them more than its worth.

Its not really a corporate entity. Carling offered Evis 2 Million quid to put their banners on the speaker stacks, how many corporations would take that.

 

[boing!]

i think on ballance Glastonbury is pretty well organised, when you think about the scale of it all.

An hour spent getting frustrated with a website doesn't really entail the whole organisation is utter shite does it.

 

[moose]

We were reminiscing last night about the days when you could trundle down to Piccadilly Records at some point during the fortnight after tickets went on sale, hand over a few quid and get one [/old gimmer]

 

[Biffo]

2004 was a shambles (12-15 hours of through the night online/phone frustration). They have learned and improved since then.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Does anyone (Tort?) know if a site map for this year has been released yet?

 

[pennimania]

We were reminiscing last night about the days when you could trundle down to Piccadilly Records at some point during the fortnight after tickets went on sale, hand over a few quid and get one [/old gimmer]

or when you could ring up and get them SEVERAL days after they had gone on sale

I wouldn't have a ticket but for the loophole and moose's kindness, I did know about the MSN thing but actually it didn't occur to me to use it because although I frequently browse at TOS , I only post there occasionally.

Also I suppose I thought it would be like 2005, where I got thru really easily.

This time I never once got thru to even a 'busy' message - and still don't really understand why. I don't know that it was cheatiing for others to buy proxy tix, there are many who have had their tix bought for them by total strangers at TOS - quite an amazing leap of faith.

I imagine there will be a huge amount of 'gratitude beers' flowing on the firdst day

 

[newbie]

I think the whole massive problem with Glastonbury as a festival is that its taking a long time to reconcile itself with the fact it is now a corporate entity. The festival can't square its selling point of being a big hippy fest with the good customer service that a big corporate festival should have.

that's because it's not about 'customer service' and I hope it never is. It's a festival built on the idea that participants bring what they seek to find.

The issue, if there is one, is not that the festival office isn't corporate enough, it's that too many people come with the expectation that they can be passive consumers, simply lapping up entertainment and spectacle, all laid on for them. Demanding to be a customer has been creeping in for the last decade or more, forcing the festival towards corporatism (it's not the only pressure, mind).

If you'd said customer service back in the day people would have thought you were barking: that mindset is what we were trying to get away from! It's not a coincidence that the Green Fields are seen as emblematic of the festival, they're the bit closest to how it was in those days of yore, and their focus is hardly on servicing customers.

 

[Tort]

Does anyone (Tort?) know if a site map for this year has been released yet?

There was one given out in A1 size at the license hearing but apparantly it's already out of date and so people have been requested not to publish it on the internet so as not to raise issues which may have already been superceded in subsequent versions. I'll make sure I stick a link on here as soon as I'm aware of one being available.

 

[Tort]

I’m treating that claim that one guy got 150 tickets with a huge amount of scepticism. Even if he had the details for all those people readily to hand and got a booking page immediately at 9am I still don’t see how he could have gone through the whole booking process an absolute minimum of 38 times in the 100 or so minutes during which the tickets were available.

I do know of one reliable source who booked 31 tickets & 2 others who booked more than 20 but these are people who have large networks of contacts via TOS, who were all in constant contact via phone, MSN & other message boards when TOS predictably went into meltdown. As a result they were able to make sure that all of the contacts within the group were sorted in the shortest possible time. I held a booking page open myself & offered to help people out on assorted smaller message boards once I knew that all my nearest & dearest were sorted. As a result I was able to sort 2 complete strangers out just minutes before the “Sold Out” signs came up. I’m not saying it was fair or otherwise & although I’m guaranteed entry to the festival through working it I can totally understand people’s perception of the “unfairness”. But from a totally selfish perspective I’m enormously relieved that almost everybody that I know has once again been successful in getting a ticket this year & I’ll be trying my damnedest to make sure that the small number that haven’t are sorted on the 22nd when the networks will swing back into action & those that try to get tickets off their own backs will unfortunately be at an enormous disadvantage once again.

 

[DrRingDing]

There was one given out in A1 size at the license hearing but apparantly it's already out of date and so people have been requested not to publish it on the internet so as not to raise issues which may have already been superceded in subsequent versions. I'll make sure I stick a link on here as soon as I'm aware of one being available.

I would LOVE and A1 copy of the Glasto map to stick on my wall.

My work has a plotter to print that out on too.

Gimmee Gimmee Gimmee

 

[DrRingDing]

There was one given out in A1 size at the license hearing but apparantly it's already out of date and so people have been requested not to publish it on the internet so as not to raise issues which may have already been superceded in subsequent versions. I'll make sure I stick a link on here as soon as I'm aware of one being available.

I would LOVE an A1 copy of the Glasto map to stick on my wall.

My work has a plotter to print that out on too.

Gimmee Gimmee Gimmee

 

[William of Walworth]

It worked better 2005. But clearly you shouldn't criticise Glasto on the Glasto thread

Ludicrous comment! You yourself noticed Sunray's earlier comments on the SeeTickets systems and process ...

We'll be a monothought Eavis worshipping clique next!

where do I sign up to that?

 

[William of Walworth]

How do I square the days of yore with customer service? Thats actually a really interesting question. I wonder if the days of yore, on balance, had better customer service? I think the whole massive problem with Glastonbury as a festival is that its taking a long time to reconcile itself with the fact it is now a corporate entity. The festival can't square its selling point of being a big hippy fest with the good customer service that a big corporate festival should have. By customer service I mean everything including the toilets, the drainage, the crowd control, the security, the camping and the tickets. As well as the music and all the entertainment. I think the festival needs to step up a notch. Maybe it will this year, it remains to be seen. But the ticket thing doesn't bode well. what I mean is now that the days of yore are just that, its time for the festival to improve at a greater rate.

All of this, including the ticketing actually, has improved massively over the last few years IMO... as I said, if you want to compare the drainage in 1997 and before with that now, there's no comparison ... the 2005 mega storm would have had far WORSE effects but for all the work, and site drainage has been further improved since 1005 fior this year.

The tolets are a lot better, more numerous, and a lot more frequently cleaned than they used to be.

I could go on ...

 

[Badgers]

All of this, including the ticketing actually, has improved massively over the last few years IMO... as I said, if you want to compare the drainage in 1997 and before with that now, there's no comparison ... the 2005 mega storm would have had far WORSE effects but for all the work, and site drainage has been further improved since 1005 fior this year.

The tolets are a lot better, more numerous, and a lot more frequently cleaned than they used to be.

I could go on ...

I have been to a good few and agree with William...

2000 was a good year but carnage and if the festival had not made changes it would no longer be running. The toilets have improved ten-fold since I started going, the ticket system gets better each year and the festival has improved each year since the superfence.

 

[bluestreak]

my friend claz managed to buy 18 tickets and my brother get 10. the urbanite who got mine i believe got about 8. almost no-one else in my social group got through, but fortunately we'd arranged it with military precision (ish) so only a couple of people didn't get in. if anyone says to us we were being unfair i'd say, well, i'm sorry if you don't have the friends or the smarts or the experience to have arranged something like that, but that's life. it's not fair or unfair, the system is a mad scramble really and we do what we gotta do.

 

[Giles]

Has anyone else not had their bank account debited yet? *creeping panic*

Mine still hasn't as of this morning. Except for £84 which is obviously 2 x coach tickets???!!!

Giles..

 

[Giles]

In a way, I would rather that none of our group got in, or we all did.

If they do some sort of truly random lottery or something, it will be a bit sad if 2/3 of my mates can't go.

Those who plan ahead, co-operate, swap details, etc, in other words spend the most time and effort and determination, tend to get tickets. What's wrong with that?

Someone has to lose here, if there are going to be 400,000 chasing 130,000 places.

Maybe the "bigger picture" would be for some of the other biggish festie organisers to look at what Glasto do that they don't do, etc, and make their events more popular, then Glasto won't be so oversubscribed......

Giles..

 

[Badgers]

In a way, I would rather that none of our group got in, or we all did.

Tough one....

I know a lot of people (50+) that go most years and would be great if they could all get a ticket. That said I spend 90% of my time there with about 6-10 people and although I would be gutted if 50% could not go it would still be an amazing festival!

Not doing Glasto this year and the best thing about that is not having to stress over tickets!! Got my Beautiful Days tickets all sorted and really loved it last year

 

[belboid]

It worked better 2005. But clearly you shouldn't criticise Glasto on the Glasto thread

oh feck off! What isbeiong criticised is your entirely ignorant comment, one that shows you haven't got a clue about how such events work. Christ, I used to spend longer on the phone to Manchester Apollo to get gig tickets (back in the day when you could actually get tickets straight from the venue).

What do you want, someone to call you at 9 in the morning asking in which field you'd like to reserve a space for your tent??!!
.........

 

[bouncer_the_dog]

All of this, including the ticketing actually, has improved massively over the last few years IMO

I agree that there has been an overall improvement in the facilities over the years. But I still think the ticketing is rubbish. NONE of my friends got through apart from one lucky one who got a ticket bought for her. I had no idea that people had organised groups via buleltin boards and so on. In 2005 I got a set in a kitchen on a laptop with no extended network. This year had three comps on the go to no effect. In 2004 it was awful getting through. I also think there are other criticisms of the festival to be had. But overall its still one of the best.

 

[Kanda]

We didn't organise via bulletin board or anything. We just got up, fired up our laptops and phones, all our friends were on MSN Messenger cos they were doing the same... and got about 30 of us tickets, it still took 90 mins to get them and was a bit hairy...

Thats not really *that* organised surely?

 

[Crispy]

We didn't organise via bulletin board or anything. We just got up, fired up our laptops and phones, all our friends were on MSN Messenger cos they were doing the same... and got about 30 of us tickets, it still took 90 mins to get them and was a bit hairy...

Thats not really *that* organised surely?

A hell of a lot more organised than most, I reckon.

Not everybody's on MSN or even has internet access at home. Jeez, if you're a hippy living on your own in the country with a landline, you were pretty much fucked weren't you?

 

[Kanda]

if you're a hippy living on your own in the country with a landline, you were pretty much fucked weren't you?

No, not really. Not all our tickets were internet ordered. The ones we got through on the phones were just as much a lottery as the hippy in the country no??

 

[Crispy]

Well, not fucked as such, but at a disadvantage.

We only got our ticket through one of those 0115 numbers, not the official 0870 one (which was engaged al the way through) - we never once got through on the internet. My dad was buying tickets for my brother, and he never got through on phone or net. He didn't have networks of friends helping him out or supplying him with phone numbers, so he didn't manage to get tickets. The system is unfair, but I can't see how it could be made fairer, without restricting some legitimate situations.

 

[tastebud]

when i called the official 0870 number it just went buuuuuuuuuurb, as though it wasn't even a working number.
(i definitely dialled the correct number).

 

[SubComandante]

About money coming out of accounts, I spoke to See today and they said most people haven't had money out yet as they're sorting out double bookings and things like that. I've had a few people who've told me the same so if it's still the case for you then don't worry .

 

[paulet]

Does anyone know where the coaches will depart from for those of us with combined coach+entry tickets?

I had the good fortune of a firend getting through and being able to buy me a ticket but he was a but vague about the actuall practicalities and the official website doesnt contain much detailed information.

I guess if its not national express it wont be Victoria Coach Station but will it be another coach place (eg Hammersmith?) or might it be random car park somewhere in london? In which case I hope its close to SE5!

(all this reminiscing - I remember the first glasters when I bought tickets for myself (had relied on friends previously) which was 2002 and tickets were available all through April into May, just turn up at Tower Records or book online... ah happy days)