A slot is a stage, a day and a window of clock time. Everything else about a festival booking follows from those three facts.
What decides it
Programmers build the day backwards from whoever draws the biggest crowd at the end of it, then place the rest by draw, by genre flow and by which stage suits the sound. An artist's slot is a public statement of where the festival thinks it stands.
The times that matter
- Get-in, and the time the stage is free for a line check.
- Set time, printed in the programme and rarely movable.
- Curfew, set by the licence, which the closing artist has to respect.
- Changeover, often 15 to 30 minutes between artists on a festival stage.
What to check in the offer
Ask which stage, its capacity, and who plays before and after. A 16.00 slot on the second stage against a big name on the main stage is a different show from the same slot at midday. Ask whether the set time can still move, and how late the festival will tell you if it does.