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While the 2022 Glastonbury Festival was highly sought after for its historic 50th anniversary at Worthy Farm, festival-goers this week shared their fear over the large attendance and crowd control issues at this year’s festival. celebrations, and some participants reported leaving the farm feeling “traumatized. “

This year marked Glastonbury’s first festival since 2019. After a three-year absence due to the Covid-19 pandemic, more than 200,000 more people have descended to Worthy Farm. And this year’s attendance was high, not surpassing the record of another 300,000 friends at the 1994 edition of the festival.

And while most of the revelers returned from the festival to share their highlights from the five-day event, some attendees expressed their thoughts after being “crushed” when the live music began on Thursday night (June 23). Veteran festival-goers said they had never witnessed such scenes before and took to social media to speculate on how many other people would be allowed at the venue in 2022.

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Some festival hot spots, such as William’s Green and Arcadia, were in the midst of crowd trouble.

The public took to Twitter and the eFestivals forum to share their fear after the end of the week. A forum user said: “There are many reports of bad crushes at William’s Green, The Park for Wet Leg, West Holts for TLC and Avalon for Sweet Girls.

“I spent over 30 minutes standing in one of the scariest and most damaging crashes I’ve seen at the junction between the park and Arcadia. There was no protection or signage to see, no one knew what was going on, there was no movement in any direction, even though there are five possible exit lanes. “

Celebrity and actor Tony Gardner also tweeted: “A lot of other people are talking [ . . . of bad crushes at Glastonbury this year. I felt crowded and worried that the crushes would be even more damaging in the mud. I hope you look at them. “

As a member of the Spice Girls, Mel C rose to the level to kick off live music on Thursday night (June 23), the domain surrounding William’s Green Stage is incredibly busy. Routes to William’s Green have been closed, with screens asking for festival – attendees to “look for routes of choice”.

eFestivals user Dennis recalled that moment: “William’s Green on Thursday is a sign of things to come,” he said.

“You know, it’s bad when they block the Pyramid before the Cider Bus to prevent other people from accessing it. It’s an absolute disaster the movement of the big crowd this year. “

Dennis claimed that scenarios like Arcadia have a “bottleneck,” as dominance is now “smaller” in 2022. “You used to have a front and an access point under the bar on the left side. and the output is limited. “

Twitter user Sian Beavers said she had a similar party in Arcadia on Friday night (June 24). crushes. “

And the mother and Twitter user @Saclk1 tweeted: “My daughter got caught up in the hustle and bustle and left traumatized. He left at four o’clock in the afternoon because there were too many people. The butlers were useless. It may have been very serious. “

A spokesperson for the Glastonbury festival said: “After a three-year period since the last Glastonbury, and with the lockdowns and COVID measures that have accompanied that era, chances are that some festival-goers have found themselves among the biggest crowds they have ever been. “some might have found this pleasure overwhelming in itself.

“This is something we anticipate/deal with in advance. The protection and enjoyment of festival-goers is of basic importance to Glastonbury, and our experienced groups strive incredibly to get crowds moving freely and safely. “

“There was a slight increase in our capacity in 2019 for this year’s Festival (as approved by the Mendip District Council), with the number of tickets sold increasing by 2%, from 135,000 to 138,000. Total total capacity (including staff and artists – many who would not have been on site throughout the festival) increasing to 3%, from 203,000 to 210,000.

“As with the crowds along Glastonbury, along with artists many wanted to see, there were times when there were busy routes and places to walk. Our comprehensive crowd control plan was implemented to address this.

“In some events (and as in previous years), this temporarily referred to the final spaces of the site, for the protection of the crowd. These measures worked as planned, and no injuries from the weight of the crowd were reported to our on-site medical center. . “

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