Here’s how to secure Glastonbury tickets, from someone who has done it 14 times in a row
Get your notepad and pen ready!
The ticket release for Glastonbury 2023 is right around the corner and fans of the music festival are getting ready with a ton of laptops to prepare themselves for a ticket queue of a lifetime. Around 200,000 people attend the iconic festival every year, so there is definitely a fair shot of getting tickets but there is still a way of getting caught out if you’re not careful.
It has recently been announced tickets for Glastonbury 2023 will cost a whole lot more than it has in the past, with tickets starting from £335. Festival goers will have to pay £335 and a £5 booking fee for standing tickets, along with a £50 deposit. Fans have been calling out the festival for the rise in prices as in 2019, Glastonbury tickets were priced at £265 and a £5 booking fee. In defence of the rise in prices, Emily Eavis, the festival’s organiser said Glastonbury is “still recovering from the huge financial impact of two years without a festival because of Covid.”
If you’re still desperate to get tickets for Glastonbury 2023, here is a guide to the best way to secure tickets for next summer. Dan Thomas has attended Glastonbury Festival for 20 years without fail, and he has shared on TikTok his best tips to get tickets to the festival:
1. Festival goers will need to register before trying to get tickets
One key part of getting Glastonbury tickets is to get registered. Registration does not guarantee a ticket but those attempting to secure one will need their registration number to purchase tickets when they go on sale.
To get registered, you will need to choose a passport style photograph, “with a neutral expression, against a plain, light background”. Once uploaded, photos will either be accepted or rejected.
2. It’s important to have a good group of people ready to buy tickets
Dan shared with his TikTok followers that getting a group of people together to try hard for each other’s tickets is a must. He said: “The more spread you can get across people giving it maximum efforts on the day, the more chance you have of going. You don’t want any dead weight here. Everyone trying for tickets needs to be giving it their best efforts on the day.”
3. Put your registration details into a shared Google spreadsheet ahead of ticket sales
Another tip Dan shared is putting your registration details into a shared Google spreadsheet, which will be the “most important tool” on the day tickets are released. “It splits people up into groups, everyone can see the edits as you make them, you can mark off who has got tickets and who still needs them and have contact details to hand if anyone needs them,” Dan said.
If any characters are wrong in the registration details or the postcodes are wrong, festival goers run the risk of the whole transaction failing.
4. Pick Thursday coach tickets rather than Wednesday to maximise your chances of getting tickets
When Glastonbury tickets become available, festival goers can pick to either get there on the Wednesday or the Thursday. While Wednesday may sound more appealing, it could be way more busy as loads more people want to get to the festival a day early. Dan also suggested getting coaches from unusual locations, depending on its availability.
5. Have money ready on the day of buying tickets
If festival goers have a big group of six or more all wanting to attend the festival, Dan suggested having at least two credit or debit cards ready with £300 available on each. Dan said: “Because the deposit is £50 per person and you could be buying tickets for six people, including yourself. You need to have £300 ready in cleared funds on the day for six £50 deposits.”
6. Even after tickets have sold out, keep trying to get them
Dan said: “This might sound counterintuitive, but festival tickets don’t sell out all in one go. What actually happens is that they’re allocated to people on the order form, who then pay and sometimes that payment fails. That means when you get to the end of the Glastonbury ticket day and it says that for example ‘all tickets are allocated’, don’t tell anyone else this but that’s not your signal to stop. Someone else will be going through that process and their card will be declined, some of their details will be wrong or the website could crash.”
All of these issues could open up a ticket slot for somebody else, so don’t lose hope!
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