Glastonbury Festival has sold “a few thousand less tickets” this year, following concerns about overcrowding in 2024.
Festival organiser Emily Eavis is keen to see whether the reduced ticket sales, meaning the spectacle isn’t using its full 210,000 capacity, “can make an impact on some of the busier times”.
She told the ‘Sidetracked’ podcast: “It’ll be interesting just to see how that affects the dynamics on site.
“Interestingly, people have moved slightly differently since Covid.
“So, they tend to move more in a herd.
“So, my main thing really this year is just to communicate that there are like 10 routes to anywhere.”
While some fans voiced overcrowding concerns last year, Emily admitted none of the 250 festival staff she recently held a meeting with agreed with that.
Explaining that nobody put their hand up when she asked the 250 workers if anyone thought the 2024 festival was overcrowded, she said: “And I was like, [that’s] interesting, because there’s a lot of talk, some people think that it was.”
Emily admitted Glastonbury have forked out “a lot more” for this year’s performers than they have in the past, but pointed out the festival also turns down several commercial offers.
She explained: “We are paying people a lot more than we ever have but it’s not as much as you would get doing Hyde Park.
“It’s such a corporate world, especially in the music industry. We are offered a lot of things that we turn down.
“The whole thing is based on goodwill.
“Imagine if we tried to sell it out [to commercial brands]. It would be awful, it would be the end. I’d rather literally die before that happened. It just can’t happen.”
Olivia Rodrigo, The 1975 and Neil Young are headlining this year’s Glastonbury, which takes place from Wednesday June 25th to Sunday June 29th.
Charli XCX is expected to draw a huge crowd when she headlines The Other Stage on the Saturday night of the spectacle.
The festival has forked out for extra land to ensure there will be more space for fans around the stage.
Last year, thousands rocked up to The Other Stage to watch Avril Lavigne perform, and some fans took to social media to voice overcrowding concerns.