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We heard earlier that the Wax:On Live festival has been cancelled. Now The Zutons have criticised the measures you now have to go through to secure a ticket for Glastonbury, a festival they are actually performing at.
The registration system has been tweaked in recent years and culminated this time around in a complex procedure where fans who wanted to attend had to fill in a load of details about themselves, and send in a passport photo just to have the chance to buy a ticket. This was all done six weeks prior to the tickets actually becoming available, and no-one was actually guaranteed a place.
However, ticket sales have actually hit a record low this year, and the Zuton bassist Russ Pritchard blamed the way it has been slowly but surely turned in to a middle-class affair.
He told Digital Spy:
“The real fuss should be about Glastonbury being made into a middle-class event. I mean, you’ve got to send your passport away to get a ticket now or whatever. It’s a massive pain in the arse.”
“I remember when we used to go and bunk in and that was all part of it. You couldn’t get a ticket because it had sold out, but you still went and it had more magic to it then. There’s got to be more to it than sending your passport details off six weeks before – that’s a bit cold.”
I couldn’t agree more, and must admit I didn’t even bother registering this year even though I wanted to go because I felt it was just too much effort when there was no guarantee of then getting a ticket, even though the line-up looks brilliant.
There were already complaints last year that Glastonbury was now full of middle class 30-somethings and had lost the essential young and energetic vibe that it once had. I now can’t see that changing any time soon, unless of course, the ticketing system gets reverted back to a more first-come, first-serve basis. We can but hope.
[Photo Source: Djenan at Flickr]
