Glastonbury faces criticism from attendees due to stage overcrowding

Glastonbury Festival is facing accusations of crowd mismanagement from attendees, amid reports of "overcrowding" at its stages across this year's festival.

The festival saw a record number of attendees this year, with over 210,000 people said to have descended on Worthy Farm from Wednesday (June 26) to Sunday (June 30) — making the 150,000-acre area dairy farm the most densely populated place on earth during its duration.

Though Glastonbury's organisers have been alerted to potential issues, the festival is generally accepted to have a "well-run" crowd management operation by Somerset Council.

However, festivalgoers reported overcrowding at several small stages this year, with security being forced to stop access to fields several performances — while slots at the larger arenas such as The Pyramid Stage appeared at times much sparser.

According to The Independent, some fans reported queues "as long as entry to Glastonbury itself" before the Silver Hayes field was closed off ahead of Charli xcx's DJ set at the Levels Stage on Friday night.

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The South East Corner was also closed off its entirety for a portion of Friday evening due to the "dangerous" overcrowding at Block9's IICON for BICEP — during which the music was halted, and crowds were asked to "take three steps back," due to crush fears.

The duo later described the situation as “completely outside our control," and apologised to fans for the issues during their set.

Jayda G's set at Greenpeace's Rave Tree stage on Thursday was similarly halted to due to concerns of overcrowding, with the producer writing on Instagram: "Some crowd control issues cut my set a little short and I just wanted to say a big thank you to everyone behind the scenes who helped keep everything safe."

The Greenpeace field was also forced to cut short a performance from Confidence Man and O'Flynn, with the latter writing: "apologies for the short cutoff of music, they had to clear the paths because so many people showed up !!"

Though many have criticised the placing of mainstream pop acts, following the closure of West Holts during the Sugababes' set on Friday afternoon, which saw hundreds of fans rejected despite arriving long before the trio were meant to perform.

While Avril Lavigne's set saw people forced to watch along on a nearby campsite after 71,000 people turned up to watch her performance at the Other Stage on Sunday afternoon.

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One Twitter user said, “Absolutely crazy decision by @glastonbury to have SZA on pyramid. There’s more people at West Holts for Justice and they’re not on for ten minutes. Ridiculous overcrowding incoming.”

Another said, “Hate to say it, but @glastonbury need to sell less tickets next year. The overcrowding before, during and after popular sets has been beyond uncomfortable.”

In response to a report in The Guardian, Glastonbury organisers said the festival maintains a "dynamic crowd management plan" that works with authorities to put in place measures "in anticipation of and in response to crowd movements."

“Our plans include close monitoring and the ability to pause and stop artists where appropriate, as was the case for BICEP’s set at IICON, where a swift show-stop was managed effectively," the statement continues.

“Major artists wanting to perform at smaller stages with limited capacities is part of the magic of Glastonbury. This can mean some fans will be disappointed, but our crowd management plan always puts safety first.”

This article was updated at 22:50 on 2/7/2024 to include details of Jayda and Confidence Man's sets at Greenpeace.

Jamaal Johnson is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow him on Instagram