6,500 is a hard total for tickets. I can't see there being 8,500 staff. Perhaps 1,000 at a very long stretch.

An article in Oxford Mail says up to 15,000 could attend this yr . This will obviously include ‘crew’ , stewards, stalls etc but would be up on last yr.  Mail may have git it wrong of course.
I am playing a fest on the Sat so I have known for some weeks that I couldnt attend this yr…..
I have seen a lot of these bands before , incl fests last yr but I have been having the stirrings of withdrawal symptoms.

£1m+ for an arena gig by an 84 year old who was past his best 4, ok, maybe I'll give you 3 at a pinch, decades ago?  Sorry, the world's gone absolutely insane...  It is what it is isn't good enough for me.

Is this a good time to mention that we have tickets to see KC and the Sunshine Band in Austin in January 2026?

That’s not that bad for a man of his calibre. You pay more for Madonna….  

Warner Holidays are welcome to him. Other opinions are, as always, available.

PS I'll just add a bit of flesh to the above comment - I enjoyed Digance when he first took over the Saturday lunchtime slot for my 2nd visit to Cropredy in 2002. He was funny in an old-school "this is how they used to do it" kind of way, and I used to look forward to him every year. Trouble is, his act became samey, stale and more "Daily Mail" over the years to the point of embarrassment. He became more thin-skinned ; he could dish it out but couldn't take it. The year he called out the Talkawhile forum from the Cropredy stage for daring to criticise him was the start of the decline. The final straw was probably the "England one day will be great, we just don't know the date..." song...

I'm not knocking those who still enjoy his brand of comedy, however, I'm sure I'm not alone in wishing they'd give another standup a try in that slot, mix it up a bit, keep it fresh and interesting.