Glasto veterans - when was the golden age of glastonbury?

[J77]

Do you think there are too many "official" stages these days?

I didn't go this year -- but from the one before, I found that most of the good stuff I'd enjoyed on the Glade (area) in previous years had been moved to the (then new) Lost stage -- which really was at the back of beyond.

I like walking around seeing different shit -- but stuff I want to see shouldn't be so far away.

Tho' again, the weather plays a role in this.

btw: did they have enough toilets up in LV this year? Was a major fuckup in 2005 where everyone just had to use the fences once more

 

[mr steev]

Juts been reading on efestivals, and it doesn't seem like you were the only one to have a run in with wanky security Yetman

Sounds like one bloke has pics of one of the twats and looks like he's gonna take it further

 

[newbie]

Really? I thought it was quite central? Fair enough though, but why advertise Hextatic on at 2.00am then just close it all down at 12? I was fucking well looking forward to them

was that saturday night? if so then the chances are it was the fault of Pete & Kate. Who? some pop star and a model... there was a rumour they were going to get married in LV which caused a massive amount of health & safety angst because of the size of the potential crowd. So there was a pedestrian oneway on the railway line and all sorts of other changes just in case. I've no idea whether or not they did get hitched, like a lot of these things, once the moment was passed no-one mentioned it again.

 

[LDR]

most of us jobsworths are trying to make sure you all have a happy and safe festival. sometimes we have to tell people what to do because otherwise someone may get hurt.

Sorry.

Thanks exactly what the police say.

 

[The_Reverend_M]

Really? I thought it was quite central? Fair enough though, but why advertise Hextatic on at 2.00am then just close it all down at 12? I was fucking well looking forward to them

Same here, mate!!! Didn't bother with their set at midnight becuase I thought I'll just go to the 2am one!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[JTG]

Thanks exactly what the police say.

the difference being that most of us genuinely do look the other way for most things unless it's a danger or a nuisance to other people

 

[William of Walworth]

Was this sort of thing going strong in 1984, newbie, or was it later, in the 'wild years'?

1984 was the miners year, blokes with buckets everywhere. That was a fantastic festival, I think the last one where the market was up on Big Ground (or maybe that was the next, wet, one).

I don't recall any problems really... the real heaviness didn't start until the inner city drugs gangs discovered the festival a few years later, although it changed a lot after the Beanfield meant that all the convoy headed the Glastonbury, instead of just a bit of it.

My memories of 1984 are a bit vague, well it was 23 years ago, but I do remember the Miners' buckets and not at all any dodginess of the type you decribed earlier.

A big part of me wishes I had gone every year (bar 1985 ) from 1984 onwards, but I have heard from others about well dodgy shit in the late 1980s/early 1990s, and read about it too ... but I still wish I'd been to at least ONE round about 1992 or 1993! Or even 1989 ... so annoying, cos I could have done, and most of them were hot and sunny thenadays ... <sigh >

Legends (like newbie, and those retailed in my Glasto library of books) tell me that the old uphill markets were still uphill in 1985, and it was the horrendous mud in the market areas (and everywhere) in 1985 that got them moved to a new market plan the next year ...

 

[newbie]

funnily enough I don't remember any mud in 1985. There must have been some, but I do remember the rain,and have a particular memory of a mate standing on a milk crate directing traffic at the bottom of Muddy Lane in lashing rain. Cars (buses, trucks, vans and all sorts) were allowed onsite then, and Muddy Lane was the main route in and out. Such larks.

 

[118118]

the year before the fence, maaannn.

 

[William of Walworth]

funnily enough I don't remember any mud in 1985. There must have been some, but I do remember the rain,and have a particular memory of a mate standing on a milk crate directing traffic at the bottom of Muddy Lane in lashing rain. Cars (buses, trucks, vans and all sorts) were allowed onsite then, and Muddy Lane was the main route in and out. Such larks.

I've seen pictures though, 1985 looked truly terrible, and the descriptions in Glastonbury Tales are pretty graphic. As was my friends' account (their truck got stuck axle deep and had to be towed ... )

One of several aspects I've totally forgotten about from 1984 is the free for all re vehicle access. There must have been lots dotted round the site, but I can't remember ...