Glastonbury 2007 pt1: the build-up
- Thread starter J77
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corporate whore
oh, thought you were dead
Of course, the gates used to be slung open on Sunday allowing peeps to come in for the last 12 hours or so for nothing.
Mind you, nostalgia's not what it was..
Mind you, nostalgia's not what it was..
wiskey said:
Good point, I never thought of that. They did day passes to Phoenix festival, but IIRC that closed at night (albeit very late) and the camping aera was seperate. If glasto is all in one, that would explain it.
Thats a good post JTG and I agree with all of it, but I still think there might be a bit of mileage for people who have no or limited experience of camping festivals, to try a smaller one first, to try and get the flavour of it. Of course Glastonbury is so much bigger and thus hugely different as you say, but I'd say a smaller festival would help someone to acclimatise to some extent at least.
I prepared for Glasto 1994 (ca 70,000 or 80,000 people) by going in 1984 (c. 30,000 people)
The difference was huge, but even after a ten year gap, going to the hugest event I'd ever been to up til that point, was helped by my having been to another one half the size, ten years before ...
I prepared for Glasto 1994 (ca 70,000 or 80,000 people) by going in 1984 (c. 30,000 people)
The difference was huge, but even after a ten year gap, going to the hugest event I'd ever been to up til that point, was helped by my having been to another one half the size, ten years before ...
Can I have a link to that tent pitching advice please wiskey??
Cos obviously I know nothing about tent procedure at festivals ..
Cos obviously I know nothing about tent procedure at festivals ..
Lisarocket
In bed with me dinner
wiskey said:you must remember though that lots of people HATE it, they leave site an hour after they arrive and they never go back. you can also have a great festival until the other 100,000 people arrive and suddenly it fills up and theres nowhere to go to sit down without being surrounded by people. and often being surrounded by lots of people having (what seems like) a fantastic time when you arent can be even more depressing.
things can and do go wrong (you have to accept that statistically with 150 thousand people something will happen), you can be prepared and hope they dont happen to you and you can do your best to avoid them, but they might. and people deal with such stresses differently - so your tent is below 7ft of water, do you go and get pissed and forget it or do you worry about all your posessions and your doorkeys and stuff. i'm probably the latter as are most people to a certain degree.
even the most capable and experienced people have found glastonbury overwhelming in a not very nice way. you can feel awfully alone in a crowd of 150 thousand people. and because of the 'out of the comfort zone' feel to it when you have a steaming row with your partner/best mate/sibling on the first day it can all seem so very important and little things become mountains. and then its just so BIG, if you dont have a 'festie-wise' attitude you end up queing for food when everyone else does, trying to go to the same thing everyone else is when they are and being on the wrong side of site for your nice warm sleeping bag. if you can find your tent
it can be the best weekend fo your life. but its all a bit of a knife edge and it depends as much on your personality as it does on the weather.
not meaning to be negative but i think a lot of the people i end up dealing with had a rosy great view of glasto that just isnt real.
wiskers
oh and forget B&B's - its a rural farm and the beeb have hijacked all the close ones.
Much as i love Glasto i agree with you. A friend of mine went last year for the first time and hated it. It was a big shock for her- the site was far bigger than she thought, she was overwhelmed by it and she's not keen to go again. Her bloke was pushing her to "find the REAL Glastonbury" from Wednesday onwards. By the time the festie started and the biblical flood happened she was knackered already and ill equipped (mentally and clothes-wise) to deal with the outcome. It was a shame and i'm trying to persuede her to give it another go next year
She'd only been to one festie before that, which was Guilfest. She had a fab time there, because it's a small friendly one and not too challenging. Glastonbury as the next step was a bit too much even though i tried to warn her about the size of the place and what to take well beforehand.
wiskey
Albatross Admirer
William of Walworth said:Can I have a link to that tent pitching advice please wiskey??
Cos obviously I know nothing about tent procedure at festivals ..
its a bit old and rusty but here you are do not pitch your tent up a tree
if anybody knows where the drugs one is i'd love to find it (and cringe)
cyberfairy
http://unicycle-emptiness.co.uk/
she needs to try the wickerman festLisarocket said:Much as i love Glasto i agree with you. A friend of mine went last year for the first time and hated it. It was a big shock for her- the site was far bigger than she thought, she was overwhelmed by it and she's not keen to go again. Her bloke was pushing her to "find the REAL Glastonbury" from Wednesday onwards. By the time the festie started and the biblical flood happened she was knackered already and ill equipped (mentally and clothes-wise) to deal with the outcome. It was a shame and i'm trying to persuede her to give it another go next year
She'd only been to one festie before that, which was Guilfest. She had a fab time there, because it's a small friendly one and not too challenging. Glastonbury as the next step was a bit too much even though i tried to warn her about the size of the place and what to take well beforehand.
wiskey
Albatross Admirer
wiskey said:
found it tips for substance takers (that should go straight to the post - sadly the rest of the thread was trolled to death).
circlesquare - I'd still recommend giving the whole camping thing a go. For years I said I'd never do it, wanted my creature comforts etc. All the same reasons perhaps as you. Then I was finally persuaded to go in 2004 and was blown away.
And despite all the "war stories" people come back with, it's only as manic as you want it to be. If you want 8 hours of sleep a night you can get it if you camp in a quiet field. You can chill in the green fields in the day if you want to be away from the crowds. You can eat fantastically well and you'll get a load of excercise and fresh air.
And if it does rain then the fact that everyone's in the same boat helps - and even gives it a comedy element. You don't feel so wet and muddy when you can see the inevitable "mud people".
It's not for everyone, but very few first timers find it too much.
And despite all the "war stories" people come back with, it's only as manic as you want it to be. If you want 8 hours of sleep a night you can get it if you camp in a quiet field. You can chill in the green fields in the day if you want to be away from the crowds. You can eat fantastically well and you'll get a load of excercise and fresh air.
And if it does rain then the fact that everyone's in the same boat helps - and even gives it a comedy element. You don't feel so wet and muddy when you can see the inevitable "mud people".
It's not for everyone, but very few first timers find it too much.
Lisarocket said:
Being dragged around the festival by someone else could very easily ruin it. I'd hate it. There's times when you get tired and you need to able to go and rest as you see fit (as I'm sure you know). It's not a place to have a schedule.
And being ill equipped is also a recipe for disaster if the rain comes. Even though glasto is the best known (potential) mud bath in the world, people still go with one pair of trainers, some jeans and a hoodie. That always amazes me.
Get her to leave the boyfriend at home, and buy her some cute wellies for christmas.
paolo999 said:
clandestino
no llevar papel
The first year after the ring of steel went up, I remember thinking how lovely Glastonbury was because there was a lot less people packed into the site. There was room to camp, room to wander around, no huge crushes, all very civilized. But last time we went - year before last - the site seemed crammed with people. We went down at our usual time on Thursday, got to our usual spot where we always camp - Pennard's Hill - and it was packed. We ended up in the farthest spot in the very upper right hand corner (if the Standing Stones are at the top of the site), literally at the corner of the fencing. The site was full of football fans because they'd decided to show the fucking football that year, and so everyone had got down early to watch the match on the screen. I remember fuming, thinking "this is what I come to Glastonbury to avoid".
My question is - are there more people let into the festival these days? How did last year compare to the year before?
My question is - are there more people let into the festival these days? How did last year compare to the year before?
beesonthewhatnow
going deaf for a living
Off the tracks is the best "beginner" festival IMHO - great atmosphere, small crowds, proper toilets and showers, does day tickets. Sorted
clandestino
no llevar papel
JTG said:
Yes, fair enough, but football is rife in British culture and day to day life. It's on every weekend for most of the year. Glastonbury's on for one weekend a year. I think screening the matches was a mistake - it let the real world into Glastonbury. But then I guess you could argue that - via the increased onsite advertising, BBC coverage, etc - that that happened a long time ago.
Excuse me, I suddenly feel a need to hug a tree.
Crispy said:
Agreed. I got down there just in time for extra time. I'm not English but wanted to watch it. It was great being in a crowd that big watching football on a big screen. It was a 'moment'.
I don't think it affected the vibe of Glasto at all. It was on the Thursday night so it didn't clash with any bands. The fact that England got knocked out and the crowd were still in good spirits was a credit to everyone there (and what they were allegedly smoking).
felixthecat
are we there yet?
Bear in mind that Glasto can also be an event that you settle into. Young Master Felixthekitten initially found it a bit daunting - trying to maintain his cool geezer-ish persona wasn't too comfortable for him.
But then it rained. And things changed. Its impossible to remain a cool geezer when you are covered in mud - he had a fabulous time! We met up a couple of times a day but did our seperate things - great for both of us as we weren't tied to doing something someone else wanted to do. I really enjoy having just myself to please at Glasto as it doesn't happen very often in my usual life .
But then it rained. And things changed. Its impossible to remain a cool geezer when you are covered in mud - he had a fabulous time! We met up a couple of times a day but did our seperate things - great for both of us as we weren't tied to doing something someone else wanted to do. I really enjoy having just myself to please at Glasto as it doesn't happen very often in my usual life
.clandestino
no llevar papel
I've no doubt that watching it on the big screen was an intense experience...it's just the effect it had on the site overall that annoyed me. As we were walking in from the car, instead of passing by the usual groups of merry festival goers excited about being at Glastonbury, there were pockets of lads acting exactly as they would at a match - boorish, chanting, being morons, basically. And that feeling permeated the site for me. Fucking football chanting in the evenings, bloody St George crosses everywhere. As I say, I've been going to Glastonbury since 1992, so I'm sure the festival's co-incided with World Cups and whathaveyou before. I even vaguely remember a match being screened on a previous year. But the difference then I think was that it was during the festival, so it just got subsumed into everything else. Because this was on the Thursday, there was no other "official" entertainment going on, so the site just became about football. Not what I go to Glastonbury for, as I said. It would have been far braver - and much closer to the festival's original counter culture ideal - to have not screened the match.
Ironically, during the match was fantastic. The rest of the site was nice and empty, and it was a cool, relaxed vibe. We did the usual thing of chilling out at the Jazz Field and meeting up with mates. It was fun.
Last Saturday, I went to see Wolfmother support the Kaiser Chiefs at Ally Pally. We stopped at Papagone Pizza on Stroud Green Road for a bite to eat first - and had to make our way around a mob of pissed idiots chanting football songs outside the pub next door. While we were having our meal, we watched Black Marias and then a ton of riot police show up to deal with the cunts when it all inevitably kicked off. It made me really glad that we don't have a football ground near us in Brixton. Give me geezers mumbling "skunk skunk" over violent goons with zero IQ any day. I'm not saying that every football fan is like this, far from it, but I just hate the atmosphere and behaviour that live matches seem to engender - like it's permission to act like a neanderthal for some blokes. I just don't think Glastonbury is the place for it.
Anyway, sorry for the slight derail.
Ironically, during the match was fantastic. The rest of the site was nice and empty, and it was a cool, relaxed vibe. We did the usual thing of chilling out at the Jazz Field and meeting up with mates. It was fun.
Last Saturday, I went to see Wolfmother support the Kaiser Chiefs at Ally Pally. We stopped at Papagone Pizza on Stroud Green Road for a bite to eat first - and had to make our way around a mob of pissed idiots chanting football songs outside the pub next door. While we were having our meal, we watched Black Marias and then a ton of riot police show up to deal with the cunts when it all inevitably kicked off. It made me really glad that we don't have a football ground near us in Brixton. Give me geezers mumbling "skunk skunk" over violent goons with zero IQ any day. I'm not saying that every football fan is like this, far from it, but I just hate the atmosphere and behaviour that live matches seem to engender - like it's permission to act like a neanderthal for some blokes. I just don't think Glastonbury is the place for it.
Anyway, sorry for the slight derail.
beesonthewhatnow
going deaf for a living
I'd be happy for Glasto to be a footie free zone tbh.
But then I'd be happy for it to be a Coldplay/Radiohead/this years dull megaband free zone as well
But then I'd be happy for it to be a Coldplay/Radiohead/this years dull megaband free zone as well
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