Glastonbury 2015

Went for the first time this year. It completely blew my mind. I had high expectations going over and had done all my research but nothing prepares you for the size and variety that this festival offers.

Agree with Mince Pie, starting to feel a little nervous about Ticket Day.

As for who I'd like to see on the bill, some names that come to mind include:

Potential Headliners:
Foo Fighters, Fleetwood Mac, Muse, AC/DC, Led Zepplin, Bruce Springsteen, Prince, RHCP

Others:
QOTSA, Stereophonics, Foals,FATM, Editors, Royal Blood, The Strokes, My Chemical Romance, Bruno Mars, primal Scream, The Kooks, Razorlight

ghostdancer wrote: »

is October 5th the likely ticket day?

Fairly confident it will be.

D33 wrote: »

Was toying of Glastonbury nxt yr as the big summer festival weekend away, is it as awesome as people say or are there any major downsides that might give you second thoughts (travel, access, hassle-levels etc)

The way I'd describe it is - the best weekend of my life followed by the worst Monday and Tuesday of my life...i'm just getting old though.

I don't think I could put my body through it again but I would highly recommend you go.

Duff wrote: »

Haven't even looked into getting tickets before as I know how quick they go. What's the protocol though?

You need to register, send a picture for approval then have nerves of steel come the morning of ticket day.
You can only use a credit card to purchase tickets if you live in Ireland. Tickets ell out in no time. I didn't get one in the October sale and had to nervously await the resale in April when I went for a coach deal and got one straight away. Best moment of my life. Like all your christmas's at once. Nearly passed out from screaming with excitement!

https://glastonbury.seetickets.com/Registration/Register

So wait, I can't use a debit card yo buy tickets?

D33 wrote: »

Was toying of Glastonbury nxt yr as the big summer festival weekend away, is it as awesome as people say or are there any major downsides that might give you second thoughts (travel, access, hassle-levels etc)

One word, YES!! Amazing place, do go!!.
Although it can be tough at the same time. The slightly higher temp and extra tent time (x5 day festival)/ lack of sleep took its toll on me personally (mind you mate in the other tent room seemed to be able to sleep a little bit more) would consider placing the tent in the shade of a Gazebo + some hypothermic foil to reflect sunlight.

I drove, car, (I don't think I could handle an airport or a metal detectors while suffering + have the car there as a base if things go tits up) I generally like driving and found the journey was fine, bit of an experience rather than a chore.
Landed in Holyhead from Dub around 6:30pm (Stena line) on the festival Wednesday.
Was dark for the last part of the 5-6hr odd journey, bit daunting with roadworks everywhere on the M5/M6, but got into Glasto in one piece, around 1am zero traffic! In fact things were so quiet it was hard to believe one of the biggest festivals in the world was on close by! Barely any sign-posts, knew we were on the right road, ended up following bright lights in the distance, got in, parked pink 49 in the NW corner of the site. Slight walk (Mistakenly to gate "D", gate "A" was the direct route).
Then Glastonbury was our oyster! Handed our free neckband + info pack and headed for Rivermead campsite, still plenty of room at that stage.
Tent pitching in darkness wasn't too bad, knew the tent well + came prepared with headlights etc. If I get the chance I'll be going for the above again worked out sweet!
Pitching the tent in the dark was the trade off with the chosen ferry time! Didn't want to be drag out the days by arriving any earlier in the week, didn't want to be too late in getting there for camping spots etc, I knew there would be little festival traffic at this time to minimise journey time, this worked out well. Had considered getting a B&B half way but it was just extra cost and wouldn't have been of any great benefit.
Packed up Monday morning and was on the road by 12pm return ferry was at 8:30pm so left in plenty of time, slight congestion leaving the festival but nothing major. Crash blocked the motorway just south of Birmingham, disaster 2-3 hours delay, ended up bombing it for the rest of the journey but got there by the skin of my teeth (My car can't ever return to the UK!), last on the boat with about 2min to spare.
In terms of cost the ferry was €264 for two ppl and car. Outbound was regular economy, return was flexi.
Used just over a tank of diesel about €100. (€264+€100)=€180 per person to get there.
Bit of cost with the 180 but once this is paid its like a regular festival that you might go to at home, in fact because you can bring drink in everywhere at Glasto, technically you can re-coup some of that cost, offy price €1.25/can Vs €6/pint, 38 drinks to break even on the €180

Sorry for the long post, just thought I'd add this for anyone considering driving over. do it!!!

ghostdancer wrote: »

thanks Fatfrog! trying to decide how to go about it myself and driving definitely seems like the way to go so. probably not much difference price-wise once you work out flights, extra baggage/buying camping gear over there, and travel to/from the site and airport.

Would be great if someone ran a coach & ticket package from Ireland!

Fatfrog wrote: »

Would be great if someone ran a coach & ticket package from Ireland![/QUOTE
Woah that would be sweet. Wonder has it ever been organised?

Yep, 3 of us flew to Bristol and picked up a few stragglers in the airport and we all shared a taxi...was something like €75 between the 5 of us.

Driver was extremely sound and stopped off in Sainsbury's on the way too, journey took about 45 mins.

alastair wrote: »

There's some debate as to whether constantly refreshing actually helps much. The pages should auto update regardless. I just refresh any timed out sessions. What certainly helps is running as many browser windows as possible.

It is a lottery.

I'm sticking with my 3 devices and 2 browsers strategy this year!

Right Turn Clyde wrote: »

How many people register every year, and how quickly does it sell out?

And do they decide on your registration based on the photo that you submit? I've an awful dirt bird's head on me.

No idea about the amount but its sold out within a few hours the last few years (most of the delay caused by the amount of people trying to get tickets).
They dont judge on photos. Once its accepted anyway

The website is fine and better then ticketmasters IMO. Theres not a site I know of that could stand up to the hits generated by the glastonbury ticket sale. Ticketmasters site sh!ts itself for O2...sorry 3 arena concerts. The UK doesnt get prioritised either. Well not on purpose but im pretty sure seetickets is hosted in the UK so proximity could play a part.

Right Turn Clyde wrote: »

How many people register every year, and how quickly does it sell out?

And do they decide on your registration based on the photo that you submit? I've an awful dirt bird's head on me.

In 2014, tickets sold out in 1hr 27 min, peaking at 5,000 tickets per min. There were over 1M valid registrations, and vaguely remember reading 450,000 tried to get tickets, 1 in 3 odds.

Only got them in the resale last year, had lap tops, phones, landlines going. Got to the 'input your registration' bit then my mate called and said he was also in and already in-putting our details. I continued filling in the details just incase. Mate was successful so I abandoned and closed the page, I noticed the other open tab, Internet explorer & fire fox browsers I had open (just left auto refreshing) had all worked! So maybe something to be said for auto refresh rather than manual?

Never ever take your foot off the gas and think you will be fine for a resale ticket, treat the Sunday Sale as if it is the only way through, yes, we got most of our group through on resales last year, but the previous years resales were snapped up in moments.

My best advise is have as many Computers as possible going, Make a word document up with the registrations, names, postcodes etc and also credit card details and have it open on each computer ready to copy and paste should a window open through for entering your details as every second saved is crucial.

If you are borrowing a credit card from a relative or friend - make sure and have any verified by visa etc second level password to hand as though I can't remember if Seetickets require it, think how sickened you would be to have got through and not have it!!!!!

Keep the landline on redial too although in three years of getting tickets, we never once got through on the phone. I remember ringing it one year the night before to check it and save it in my phone and I actually got through to smeone in seetickets who wished me well for the morning!!!

Its total pot luck - we had 9 or 10 computers all over Ireland last year on broadband but it was one of the crew on dial up in rural Donegal who secured our 6 tickets. The remainder were got on the resale.

Best of luck to all once again

Toast wrote: »

Gonna stop you there. The credit card has to belong to the lead booker. You can't borrow a card! It actually doesn't ask for any separate billing details after so it blindly assumes that it belongs to the first person in the booking.

I bought one ticket last year so was the lead booker and used my exes card.

Toast wrote: »

I'm surprised it wasn't rejected. Don't know what to tell you other than any time I've done it it hasn't allowed for different billing information to be entered. Keep in mind I'm talking about the initial payment of the deposit and not the final balance payment which allows you put in any details.

ah right, that will make sense then cos I got mine in the resale when you paid the full balance up front.

Toast wrote: »

I'll try find out for sure. I know I paniced a couple of times when my billing address on my card and the registered address was different and didnt get the option of changing during the deposit booking. It still went through without a hitch though but I'd imagine getting the name wrong would be enough to cause a hold on the payment. I think if the payment fails you will get a call from See to fix things rather than just lose out but better not to have the panic.

I'm going to have to look into this myself cos I don't have a credit card but my friend in the UK is going to be the lead booker so hoping that will be ok. :O