No surprises here then - Glastonbury sold out in record time yesterday - just under two hours. Organisers report that 137,500 tickets went on sale at 9am UK time and were all sold by 10.45am.
The chat rooms were awash with both happy success stories and why-oh-why-oh-why tales of woe as those who had been successful or unsuccessful in securing tickets reported so on their message board of choice. Those who had failed to secure tickets complained of overwhelmed booking lines and websites, though as I think we've said before, when demand for tickets is as high as it is for Glastonbury, there isn't a phone or internet system in the world that won't wobble a little under the pressure - that ain't no one's fault, it's just a fact of life.
And of course Glastonbury organisers really did do their bit this time to try and make things a little more efficient - and because of the previously reported pre-registration system whereby all hopeful ticket buyers had to pre-register supplying their name, contacts and a photo, less people were calling and logging on yesterday, meaning relatively speaking things did run much smoother. That said, there was still 400,000 registered people trying to get their hands on 137,500 tickets - so there was always going to be more sad people than happy.
Commenting on the yesterday's ticket selling, Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis told reporters yesterday: "We had a quarter of a million of people queuing up to get through. It's probably the fastest time we have ever sold out. We had coach package tickets as well and people were forced to buy those at the tail end of the sale".
On the pre-registration system, he continued: "It's a great system. It's the first time it's ever been done - it's just gone so well it's just unbelievable. The system has worked really, really well and it's a first. Unfortunately there will be a lot of people that will be disappointed. Only two in three get through, but such is the demand of the festival - but that is in itself great after 37 years of trying to get it right".
Some further tickets will be available on 22 Apr when tickets from any of yesterday's transactions that fail will be put on sale. The festival itself takes place from 22-24 Jun and will feature The Arctic Monkeys, The Who and Shirley Bassey on the bill.