u/Tatt1es_1875

There are so many posts on this sub complaining about working in the CS. it just absolutely screams that they have never had a proper job elsewhere. The conditions and benefits are phenomenal, working hours are great and pay is (for most of the lower roles at least) extremely generous.

Obviously there are exceptions, but if all you do is moan about the civil service then I suggest you try a few years working somewhere else and check how you feel about your 40% wfh, 35 hour weeks and reasonable targets.

That's it over for another year. What did you think of the festival?

My thoughts,

Friday and Saturday were the quietest I've ever seen the place, the wolf Alice set in particular for a sub headline set was... Wow, so quiet. I walked into the front pen for the headliners on those two days after they had already started and watching them back on TV (even from the camera angle from the stage which is the most deceptive camera on the planet) it was clearly pretty empty.

The Sunday was noticeably much, much busier but didn't sell out. Closed Tuts for Skye Newman and a big crowd for any Macdonald. Two door cinema were a very enjoyable booking for the afternoon and Lewis capaldi is alot more rock and roll than his studio music suggests - I was pleasantly surprised.

I spent very little money on the tickets and was a big fan of a fair few of the undercard - red rum club, brogael big standouts - so I had a great weekend as always. It was also nice for a change to feel like I had lots of space - the shape of Glasgow green on a sold out year makes it feel very cramped, especially the west side where the young'ns hang out by the doof doof stage. But it was clear that this year was a letdown by the organisers standards. I don't know enough about the economics of festivals to know if the poor sales from the first 2 days in particular mean DF lost money, or if they just made less.

After last year I got very excited when DF concerts omitted their usual Monday announcement + presale for the following year. I went off long and loudly on here (and longer and louder in real life to people who I am sure had no interest). I'll say only that this felt like the last edition of a declining festival, and I reckon something different is around the corner. I don't trust Mr Ellis to build it, so it might not be better, but that's what I felt when I was there. Ide be happy to keep something at Glasgow green roughly the size of what we had this year, but the days of a national flagship event in that cramped city park feels gone. Fingers crossed for some kind of announcement soon, whatever their decision is. Last year we had to wait until November for any word.

Also wasn't the football a total missed opportunity? The cheesy DJ, unsynced sound and annoying quips? Just put the game on the screen and let me hear the game. What a bizarre decision, totally over engineered. They surely could have rented a larger screen.

Just been sent a buy one get one free offer for summer sessions by DF concerts. Unlimited uses and across multiple concerts (e.g. buy Biffy Clyro get prodigy free)

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TRNSMT tickets arrived at least £20 cheaper than last year and £40 cheaper than their peak 2 years ago. They were almost immediately slashed (Fri+sat for £99). I got a Sunday resale for £45, but now ITISON (a legitimate company that DF will be cooperating with) were selling every day for £49, 2 day combos for under 100.

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What they're doing isn't working. It does not matter how many times Geoff Ellis repeats that people don't want camping festivals, when you can look down south and see that 50k (trnsmt sized) camping festivals like Kendal Calling and Boardmasters, are thriving, massive 100+k festivals (T in the park sized) like Reading and Leeds, Glastonbury, download are as big as they've ever been, in some cases bigger than ever.

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The already pitifully small (for a national music event) TRNSMT has stopped selling out. Last year on the Sunday they shuttered half the bars because it was so tragically undersold. DF concerts aren't far from giving these tickets out for free this year and still nobody wants them.

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What they're doing *isn't* working, no matter how much they repeat that it is. Up until now they've had the cover of ridiculous profits (up until this year they have charged reading and Leeds prices for a festival experience more similar to tramlines) but surely that is about to be punctured this year. People don't like this. They have to change and build something new. The trnsmt brand has run it's course. The venue, the idea, the city festival. It's had its day.

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Anyways I'll see you there as always because what else am I gonna do. I'm gonna enjoy the space we'll all have down the front 😎