Glastonbury 2008

[Looby]

Was that the wine place? We walked past about 3am on Sunday morning and they were belting out Oasis and there was two lads on the top of the van, one playing Noel strumming a sweeping brush and the other being Liam, to a crowd of about 100.

Could have been the wine bar.

 

[mwgdrwg]

Said to a child who looked about 3 that was kicking up dust outside a tent -

"Odin, stop making a mess"

Child tuns to younger child and whacks him round head.

"And leave Thor alone".

I shit you not.

 

[paolo]

Only at... Etc

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Said to a child who looked about 3 that was kicking up dust outside a tent -

"Odin, stop making a mess"

Child tuns to younger child and whacks him round head.

"And leave Thor alone".

I shit you not.

That's awesome

 

[mysterygirl]

What happened?

It was hinted at in the press that crime was significantly up compared to last year, how did it seem to those of you actually there?

I was happy to see someone in the back of a police car on Thursday morning in Cockmills, who'd been caught. I saw security & the police emptying a tent in Pennards (I think) on Friday and the stuff they were pulling out of it was incredible - not just in volume (they already had what looked like 3 black bin bags of stuff in the back of the car, with more empty black bags to hand) but also what looked like things intended to be used as weapons, something metal that looked a lot like a blacksmith's tool was the object of considerable amazement to the 10 or so security in attendance.

I also heard that security in Cockmills had the police move on a couple of young lads seen going into various tents, although nothing could be proved so they were moved on from family camping rather than removed from the site, which was a shame.

I always bring an old phone to festivals so a) the battery lasts and b)it's no big deal if I lose it.

I take an old phone with 4 spare batteries, along with my newer one that only had the one battery

Also - props to those 4-pint cardboard carry handle things, made going to the bar a much less painful experience

Are they new to Glastonbury? I've seen them around at other festivals for what seems like ages. *confused*

I have a similar picture from almost the same spot, but I think yours is better.

My only moan would be the horrendous thumping bass from the Queens head absolutely trashing Newton Faulkners set which I was trying to enjoy and failing
Bad planning on the part of the schedule maybe???

That bass was bad. It was Ladyhawke & I've read a couple of reviews since I got home that said all that could be heard anywhere - inside or outside the tent - was the drums & the bass and that she was almost completely inaudible. Not the best sound engineer then? I didn't particularly notice any problems for the rest of the weekend in that respect.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Ooooh, they're showing the Ting Tings set again on the red button right now.

They really are bloody brilliant



(anyone actually see them this year?)

 

[mysterygirl]

Ooooh, they're showing the Ting Tings set again on the red button right now.

They really are bloody brilliant



(anyone see actually see them this year?)

Yes, although 'see' is a relative term. It was Friday in all the mud, a million miles away, with 2 teens (neither of them mine), totally RAMMED. They said it was the biggest crowd they'd ever had round there. We managed to sneak into the tent at the back by the disabled platform and 'watched' through the mesh underneath the sound engineers platform next to the disabled platform......... not a bad spot actually, apart from the view through the mesh, and the 12 & 13 year old were thrilled!

I thought they were good, as well.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Yes, although 'see' is a relative term. It was Friday in all the mud, a million miles away, with 2 teens (neither of them mine), totally RAMMED. They said it was the biggest crowd they'd ever had round there. We managed to sneak into the tent at the back by the disabled platform and 'watched' through the mesh underneath the sound engineers platform next to the disabled platform......... not a bad spot actually, apart from the view through the mesh, and the 12 & 13 year old were thrilled!

I thought they were good, as well.

Watching it now, it looks rammed, you can see the crowds of people going off for ages beyond the tent and the entire crowd is singing along word for word to "That's Not My Name", it looks and sounds fucking brilliant

 

[Mr.Bishie]

Ooooh, they're showing the Ting Tings set again on the red button right now.

They really are bloody brilliant

You're goin' soft

 

[Kanda]

I always bring an old phone to festivals so a) the battery lasts and b)it's no big deal if I lose it.

El Jefe has my old phone... bastard

 

[Firky]

Leonard Cohen - words fail me. Beautiful, awe-inspiring, uplifting, phenomenal. He is such a gent, and such a legend and he looked so chuffed. And there wasn't a dry eye in the house when he did Hallelujah. 10/10

I wish I hadn't of read that. LC is sublime.

 

[Tank Girl]

really glad you had a good time! What did you do work wise?

I was doing welfare in the greenfields, it really was ace

one of my party casualties looked me in the eyes and said "you're from my planet aren't you?"

 

[Tort]

Aren't you forgetting something?

What about your pink skirt, fairy wings and jewellery

OK it was the only thing of financial value. I'm considerably more gutted about losing my bespoke pink tutu! Who the hell would want to nick that!!!

 

[Tank Girl]

Watching it now, it looks rammed, you can see the crowds of people going off for ages beyond the tent and the entire crowd is singing along word for word to "That's Not My Name", it looks and sounds fucking brilliant

I really fancied going to see them, but because I knew it was going to be rammed, not only because they're ace, but also cos it was raining - I went to see the gossip instead. I watched the ting tings on telly today and thought they were great, but am glad that I made the decision I did, it looked far too packed for me!

 

[JTG]

Best GM (Glastonbury Moment) was probably the whole of Roni Size's fantastic set, just fucking mad.

It was fantastic wasn't it? Saw them do the same set earlier in the year but this one seemed so much more polished and confident. Si John is a genius, Dynamite and Onallee clearly loved doing it all again and whatever Roni was doing at the back there, it was obviously working. Quite a few old uns in there (myself included) who remembered it all from first time around and it was good to see the young uns getting a close up view of how we used to live

And that 10 minute bassline medley was the nuts

Was that the wine place? We walked past about 3am on Sunday morning and they were belting out Oasis and there was two lads on the top of the van, one playing Noel strumming a sweeping brush and the other being Liam, to a crowd of about 100.

I can never understand the wine bar late at night, all these brilliant things to do and people want to stand around dancing to Spandau Ballet, Oasis or whatever other dreadful bollocks they're pumping out.

 

[mysterygirl]

I really fancied going to see them, but because I knew it was going to be rammed, not only because they're ace, but also cos it was raining - I went to see the gossip instead. I watched the ting tings on telly today and thought they were great, but am glad that I made the decision I did, it looked far too packed for me!

It really was. I was in two minds, there was some sort of clash going on for me, but the girls were desperate & the little boy was desperate to see the Hoosiers, so I said I'd take the girls to the Ting Tings.

I was terrified, not for myself but for the girls (they're not my children to break!), they were desperate to get into the tent but I made them sit on the bins outside for ages, wicked person that I am! But I could barely see the stage myself, and they kept saying that if they strained they could see the lights. I felt quite sorry for them so I put the brain in gear & we sort of snuck in to the afore-mentioned spot

 

[DJ Squelch]

I had a great time like everyone else.

I saw -
Standing in the pissing rain watching the Levellers play "Beautiful Day"
MC Xander in the Chai Wallahs tent. Not as good as last time I saw him but still amazing.
Wurzels - fuckin loved it. Whole of the Avalon field bouncing about singing along to "I've got a brand new combine harvester", women throwing their knickers at them.
Amy - obviously she still has problems but it was great to see her.
first half of Jay Z - first few songs were good but after that I gave in to my longing to go see Massive Attack who were excellent.
Mark Ronson - really enjoyed it,especially Valerie & the second track he did with Lily Allen.
Eddy Grant - great stuff, the stage manager had to practically drag him off stage to stop him.
Had a good old stomp to Zub Zubs & Lucus on Glade.

Does anyone know when Dizzy Rascal played I went there when he was sceduled & Franz Ferdinand were playing an unannounced set?

 

[mysterygirl]

Does anyone know when Dizzy Rascal played I went there when he was sceduled & Franz Ferdinand were playing an unannounced set?

I don't know when but Franz Ferdinand were one of the Special Guests, we missed some stuff as well though due to timing changes/acts not turning up.

Can any of the info people throw any light on whether it's possible to find out about this sort of thing before we discover we've missed stuff rather than when we turn up to see *whoever*?

 

[Paulie Tandoori]

i watched La Winehouse on catch-up tv earlier on and she was doing alright in retrospect, give or take a couple of wobbly moments. was on the ball and smoochy for most of her set, allbeit clearly struggling for some of her range and top notes. hope she gets some R&R.

 

[Strawman]

Worst overheard conversation (and I promise this is verbatim).. queuing for a shower in Dance crew camping on Thursday morning, heard Tobias and Tabitha (and I know this cos a friend came up and said hello) talking about their crazy 'antics', and heard Tabitha say that the one downside is the lack of sushi, because "sushi is just the BEST thing for a champagne hangover"

Aha, funny thing is that there WAS a sushi stall in the park area

Like most others here, I think this was the best glasto in a looong time. This year was make or break for me, it proved it was the rain and mud that dampened mine and many others enthusiasm for the past few years.It was bliss to be able to walk round in trainers and sit anywhere and the smoking ban wasnt a problem either. I dont think I could handle another quagmire so heres to a few years of "poor" lineups and great weather!

 

[madamv]

See? I knew there was a reason i was grumpy Thursday morning.....

I shouldda been there

Glad everyone seems to have had the best time...

Next year for me then........... yey!

 

[William of Walworth]

Chatting to a fellow info worker, we had the same conclusion (retail tix) re the thefts. Sounded like security and police did a great job of putting a stop to it. Although obviously would have been better for it not to have started.

Our tent got turned over too, but on Sunday night!

Nothing whatsoever taken, we're far too much old hands to leave anything valuable there. But we still felt fairly violated.

I appreciate (from having heard the same as you) that most of the tent robbing scum were caught relatively early, but there must have still been a few chancers around throughout.

But did this spoil our fest? No fuckin way ...

I think I agree about the late tickets sales theory re the robbers, but I need to go back and catch up with this thread ... ahem ...

 

[Sunray]

Went to see Spiritualized and got glad as my legs were very tired. No need to stand to watch them. They might as well unfurl a large photo of themselves an put the CD on.

Still good.

 

[spitfire]

Went to see Spiritualized and got glad as my legs were very tired. No need to stand to watch them. They might as well unfurl a large photo of themselves an put the CD on.

Still good.

That's a relief. I felt I'd let myself down by staying up till dinnertime that day and missing them that night. Shame though, they used to be one of the most electric live acts around.

Didn't see many of the main stage acts, saw my mate's band Dubious in the Rabbit Hole Saturday night. Blinding. Followed by the fabulous penetrators (new to me), also very good.

Alabama 3 were good both times, large crowd at the jazz world stage to see them.

Anyway I'll post a link to some photo's in the next couple of days, other than that, back to lurking. Maybe next year I'll get to the cider bus and meet some Urbanites.

 

[paolo]

I've now just watched the footage of Jay-Z. And watched again. And again. Blimey there's some choice moments. The crowd - front 3rd anyway - were having a bloody good time. Fun to see the man smiling through lots of it too... it's as if it all caught him by surprise as much as many of us. Brilliant.

 

[wrysmile]

BEST. THING. EVAH.

That is all.

 

[spitfire]

I've now just watched the footage of Jay-Z. And watched again. And again. Blimey there's some choice moments. The crowd - front 3rd anyway - were having a bloody good time. Fun to see the man smiling through lots of it too... it's as if it all caught him by surprise as much as many of us. Brilliant.

Yeah, I just watched the first couple of tracks and it was good. I was always fairly sure he would be.

BTW did anyone else see the man at the stone circle two mornings running, sitting on a stone shouting, "RED HOT, IT'S GONNA BE RED HOT. RED HOT".

 

[El Jefe]

Followed by the fabulous penetrators (new to me), also very good.

Excellent band - DJed for them in the past and saw them on Friday. Liam the frontman rocks

 

[William of Walworth]

Scrumpy and ale highlights ... no particular order ...

Not musical ....

1. The (mostly) excellent weather ... and consequently the very obviously greater levels of chilledness/happiness/smiles/friendliness/positivity around, over 2007.
2. Working (loved that job) and getting onsite so early -- we were there from Monday (see also 1, the beginning of the week was very summery). Fantastic!
3. The expanded site with the stunning views. I'd already seen them when training a fortnight before, but with the fest in full flow the difference was huge. That new 'lounging area' above the Park was WELL worth the arduous climb (after several pints) that I made on Sunday while Deb went off to Neil Diamond, I opted instead for a long wander all over the top of the site in the sunshine, wonderful!
4. Selling those frankly not very good Q Festival Reviews on Monday morning. I thought I'd hate it, but you don't get to drink cans and smoke spliff in the sunshine before breakfast while working too often, and my knowledge of East Street market traders banter proved very useful, shifted loads of copies!
5. Trash City at night
Great link to a monster picture
(lifted from elsewhere)
6. Shangri La, especially Nomads Land (for me) but also most of it ... SO much better than the poor, tired, old. nearly dead horse that was the tail end of Lost Vagueness last year.
7. Flags and random artwork, more to be seen than ever ....
8. Being presented with a fab 'No Rain No Mud No Compromise' tshirt by a crazy (but lovely) Italian efests poster who'd designed it -- a tribute to my weather geekish obsession!!
9. REAL ALE TENT in Acoustic field -- more choices than ever and the range scarcely diminished throughout the weekend ...
10. View from the Acoustic Hill in the sunshine, lateish Sat and Sun afternoon, my favourite hill .... Never got to sit around there last year!
11. Blagging an early pass for backstage at Avalon, those blokes running the (new) bar (Bar Humbug!) were very friendly, had chosen some unusual ales and ciders (also bizarre vodka cocktails!), and were playing fab music when we went ... and were very nice about promising to stock up more on beer next year.
12. Friends old and new round Green Futures and nearby fields.
13. Crazy dreadwoman selling cold spicy scrumpy (it worked! -- different from the bus's wares) in the Pyramid Field for £2= a pint just before Leonard Cohen, and her FAB coach -- battered and old in classic style -- in Green Crafts ...
14. Vehicle porn heaven ... who said there's no Travellers/ex Travellers at Glastonbury?
15. Sams Magic Hat Sauna -- rejuvenating and lovely!
16. Already mentioned this in 1. ... but worth another mention -- how nice and friendly nearly everyone was, whether we were on or off duty. Even slightly stressed people coming for Info -- we only had one 'fuck off' throughout the weekend ...
17. Food choices as plentiful and lovely as ever, veggie heaven! We had a great Sunday lunch, well worth the price, at the new Hurley Burley bus ..
18. All the circus-wandering open air randoms coming back and out in force ...
19. Being there (and working there) with the woman of my dreams .... who enjoyed it all as much as I did! She is Teh Festographer ....
20 .... leading to me being genuinely able to say that my half formed plan from earlier on to retire after my 15th (2010) has now been SACKED!

Rubbish lagerish lowlights (nothing too serious, and far fewer of them)

1. Tent turned over. See earlier post.
2. Weather on Thursday night and during the day on Friday -- not so terrible at all compared to last year, but because of the fear at the time that condititions would get far worse.
3. Ever-upwardsly creeping priceyness of so many bars and foodstalls. We knew enough to know where to find alternatives, and had budgeted for a lavish holiday anyway, but still!
4. Intense crowds in some places, especially late at Shangri La, were a bit scary. Although TBF, in general, the site was FAR less crowded than last year in most places -- no mud = much less dense crowds because people spread out so much more).
5. My £3= umbrella (ahem!! false economy alert!) broke during the worst of Friday's rain ... a girl had offered to buy it for £5= during the earlier rain on Thursday night, glad I refused, she'd have been ripped off otherwise!
6. Missing too many Urban people ....
7. Nothing much else ...

 

[William of Walworth]

OOPS! Apols for monster wide pic above -- mods please feel free to reduce it. (ETA -- have altered it to a link now ).

Music stuff coming up ...