Sorry @nottarf-krap - great post on the history. Not so great on the detail.
Aggressive security guards? No altruism?
I’ve met one twat of a security guard in three years of going. She stopped me because I looked like I was off my head (I was), and pretty much all of her peers thought she’d overstepped the mark. Otherwise, I’ve been incredibly impressed, not least when a member of this aggressive post 2002 security did a 100 minute round trip to get my lost daughter back to our campervan site.
Before I did general camping, I might have agreed with your point on altruism. Going in and out everyday made us feel like part-timers and outsiders, especially since most of the people around us on the glamping thing were loaded. This year, not a chance. Our camp cluster had a wee barter system set up almost immediately.
Glastonbury got successful and maintained its success. It hasn’t done that at the cost of its soul, and while I haven’t been there to witness the transition, I know plenty of others that have. If Glastonbury is as good to them, or better, than it was before, I really don’t see why the modern festival needs to pander to romantic notions that probably didn’t exist then anyway.
I don’t know if I heard him, Barry. That’s probably because I’ve seen more acts by accident in one festival than you’ve managed on purpose in the last two years overall.
Let’s be nice to Steve and say “yep I did see it and it was fucking awesome, especially the part where he bit the head off a Tory politician”. Well done Steve!
Great post @nottarf-krap and hits the nail on the head for me … only been once since they built the 2nd fence but before that I probably did 10 or 12 of them and everyone one of them was a unique experience for a variety of different reasons, I can still remember clearly so many off the wall ‘Glastonbury moments’ and tho I couldn’t tell you what year such and such happened, I could tell you who was playing, be it the Oasis year or the Pulp year or the 808 State year or the Hawkwind 9 years lol
I couldn’t really compare those times to nowadays because it’s been years since I went but I’d imagine todays Glastonbury is a different kettle of fish completely.
… getting a bit nostalgic now, I miss being a nipper
A real festival has one stage a list of legendary figures, you turn up with an air of blind optimism, wearing a combat jacket carrying a large piece of folded polythene. You have a Bluet gas burner, a small saucepan and a tin of Heinz baked beans with cocktail sausages.
You sit in the drizzle under your piece of polythene and when the weekend is over you’ve seen…Canned Heat, John Mayall with Peter Green, Steppenwolf, Johnny Winter, Pink Floyd, Fairport Convention, Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, Frank Zappa, Byrds, Santana, Dr. John, Hawkwind, Moody Blues…all on the same stage.
Just imagine all that rubbish left in bins for a councils to collect on their “monthly” or “insh’allah” collectionsinstead of being processed so quickly by the Glasto team
Been catching up with Glastonbury downloads tonight and it has occured to me that this is, annually, the biggest and best festival on the planet every year. FFS why knock it?
