At Glastonbury this year, NME interviewed Two Door Cinema
Club about what they thought about the festival. In the interview, lead singer
Alex Trimble declared that he believed the over 250 hours of live footage
provided by the BBC of the festival was stopping Glastonbury from being “as
special”. That isn’t quite that high on the “Wiley-o-meter of ridiculous things
said during Glastonbury weekend”, but it’s certainly on there, making a
significant mark.
In all disclosure, I did not go to Glastonbury this year. I
was unable to get tickets because, when they went on sale, I was on a train
going through the countryside trying to use what little 3G connection I could
on my phone to give it a shot. Obviously, I failed, though I did surprise
myself and get shockingly close. I did end up watching a lot of the coverage of
the festival live and kudos must be given to the BBC for the sheer amount of
coverage they managed to put out online, on the radio, on TV, and on the red
button. Sure, the quality was often not too great, with glitches here and
there, but on the whole the coverage was pretty great.
But now back to Trimble’s comments. I can sort of understand
where he is coming from. Although he doesn’t explicitly mention this, it could
be seen that it is unfair on those that have paid full price for a ticket to
the festival to then have thousands sat at home also experiencing the same live
performances they are but for the price of the TV license and the electric
bill. But he misunderstands the whole ethos of a music festival; the
togetherness and the memories created. He even discusses how festivals are an
experience shared with the people around you, the friends you make and the
memories you create, but then argues that those watching at home “poke their
heads in”, seemingly as a distraction or a deterrent from making these
memories. This is a comment I don’t quite understand. I can’t grasp how exactly
a group of people you can neither see nor hear, whose presence is only marked
by the existence of the BBC at the festival, can impact your enjoyment of a
festival. They’re not getting involved in your memories. They didn’t experience
that time your mate got mashed on pills and started dancing with a bunch of
hippie folks in Stone Circle as the sun went up. They didn’t experience that
time you lost everyone in Shangri-La and so hung out with some girl and her
friends that you met by the pizza van earlier in the day that you bumped into.
There’s nothing like experiencing an event first hand. It
feels like I’m stating the obvious here, but there’s a huge disconnect between
experience an event and watching it on TV. Watching it on TV, for me, was about
watching bands I really like perform fantastic sets, but I don’t get swept up
in the atmosphere of the crowd. I can see that the crowd are having a great
time but it doesn’t have the same effect on me at home as it would if I were
there. I can create a bit of atmosphere myself by turning out the lights,
whacking on a strobe and necking several bottles of gin over the course of the
day but it wouldn’t be the same. For people watching it at home, the broadcast
is about the performances themselves; seeing moments like R Kelly hopping on
stage during Phoenix’s set at Coachella or Nile Rodgers and Chic doing every
amazing number 1 hit he’s ever had his prints on. For those actually at the
event, there’s a whole other dimension to it. It’s the meeting people, the food
(sometimes horrible, sometimes great), the plethora of other things to do if
there isn’t a band on you fancy watching.
It’s still special in spite of the ability to watch it on
TV, same with any live show that is broadcast. I didn’t feel a connection to
the artist or the audience during my viewing, something I know for sure I would’ve
felt had I been there live. Broadcasting takes very little away from the
performance, apart from there perhaps being more cameras around. It sure isn’t
going to stop ticket sales as I, and many others, having watched the broadcasts
are perhaps more keen to experience it for ourselves. It’s a gateway for people
at home to see a world that they did not manage to gain access to. This has no
bearing on the people at the actual festival. Sure, you might have people
when you get back taking the piss because they had a nice warm bed with access
to nice food and a good toilet, but did they really meet as many interesting
people as you did, or really experience the performances how they were meant
to? The answer is obviously no. Broadcasting, put simply, does not reduce
anything about the festival experience for those that are there. And to say it’s
“ruining the world” is just ridiculously hyperbolic.
