I told you that Michael Eavis wants to get young people back through the gates at Glastonbury. Eavis feels that this year’s Glastonbury was noticeably short of about 30,000 to 40,000 young people, and that the tickets had generally been bought by older people.
He said “The problem with the clientèle at the moment is that they’re becoming a bit older and a bit more clever and they’ve got the gear to buy the tickets as they have fast access to the ticket system and can buy more”, he said. “These people are perfectly nice and adorable, but we want the late teens because they help to make the character of the festival so it’s really important to get them on board.”
These comments have created quite a debate, which has resulted in eFestivals writing an open letter to Eavis.

Neil Greenway, in his open letter to Eavis that Eavis’ attitudes aren’t the only thing that’s changed at Glastonbury. Greenway wrote “It’s true that there are more people of a greater age attending now. Just as you’ve grown older, so have many people that have fallen in love over the years with what you’ve created, such as me; and while I don’t feel I have any divine right to attend your Festival, I’d certainly miss it if I could no longer attend. It’s normal nowadays to find a wide age range of people at any gig, so why should festivals be different? I’m aware you’re often seen checking out the latest hot band - how would you feel to be told you were too old to be allowed in to watch them?”
On the topic of age, Greenway notes that “Each and every year, a number of oldies ’step aside’ and a number of new people start to attend. The difference now is that whereas in the past the newbies were all youngsters, there’s now people going for their first time aged 30, 40, 50, 60, even 70 - this is a symptom of the Festival’s success. To fill it with youngsters would make it a virtual identikit of every other festival, when it’s the fact that it’s not like every other festival that makes it special.”
He also touches on how Glastonbury is no longer a cutting edge festival, rather, it has become mainstream, and any acts clinging on to the old values, namely politics, messages tend to fly over the festival goers head due to living in a more “settled” political climate. It would seem that, Glasto was once a diverse and exciting festival, and now? Well, it’s overrun by white boys playing with guitars.
The cost and organisation of the festival is also discussed, which I feel takes the biggest share of responsibility for turning ver yoof away. Greenway closes with “Michael, you don’t need to bring young people to Glastonbury; you need to bring Glastonbury to young people.” To read the full letter, click here.

Possibly related:

1. Eavis to sell 40% of Glasto tickets over the phone

2. Glasto to make carbon footprint contribution

3. Glastonbury roundup: Eavis speaks about joining the establishment, Hard-Fi added to headliners

4. Hadouken! think Glasto might just be a bit middle class

5. Free bum paper at Glasto 2007

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Posted by Stuart Waterman on Friday July 13th, 2007 at 2:39 pm