I really thought Glastonbury would be a hard habit to break. But it's not. It was fun. It's not anymore. It's mainstream, bland and full of drunks with attitude. Not going back. No Sirree!
I actually do properly respect some veterans' decision not to go back. At least not this year, but you sound like you don't want to ever! But people have their reasons and that's
I suppose my thinking is that last years' conditions affected people -- I'm talking very generally -- more than they admit. I had a very far from cracking time last June, and it wasn't just the mud either. Although I obviously hated that especially towards the end when the rain and mud got REALLY bad. Even the most experienced veterans got exhausted and fed up.
There's a possibility that a lot of people were drinking a lot more to blank out the truly shite conditions. I personally never saw any real attitude or arsiness as such myself, perhaps where you were working/going that was more obvious. Still I can't deny there seemed more drunkenness than usual. And more crowded paths. Less room to spread out. No chance of sitting around in open spaces. More people getting frustrated at everything .... not an excuse if folks started acting like REAL twats, but you can see what I'm getting at here ....
I think you'd be right to be disaffected by the mainstream-ness of a lot of last year's main stage lineup. It was also a lot harder to wander about and find the alternatives so easily. You did so with the Afrrican Express stuff though. I never managed that one, much to my regret afterwards, and that was mostly because of the conditions. And I missed out on a load of other interesting stuff in more obscure venues.
Also I agree with a great deal of what you've said since 2007 about the increasing corporatism/sponsorship bubbling up. Never as bad as the Carling Weakender and similar shite, but very much there at Glastonbury if less obviously in your face. Freespirit has also said some sound stuff about that, alongside his other solid criticisms of crewing structures and the rest, stuff which I mostly agree with.
But I really do think the shitty conditions made more difference to 2007 festivalgoers' reactions than many of them give (dis)credit for.
Give it a dry and sunny year -- which there's absolutely no reason to think is impossible!! -- and I really AM convinced the vibe will be at least 20 times better.
You know very well
that I like smaller more alternative festivals as much as you
but I'm still detrmined to give the old Glastogantuan leviathan a few more gos even with all its undoubted faults. And I can afford the time which many have other plans for, understandably. And I'm doing something different this year too, with my taking your job!. New perspective and so forth, after all, for this year.
One of the main real reasons : Deb, fellow vet, won't hear of not going and because of that, neither will I! But I doubt I ever intended to give up on it anyway, I'm so damned determined to get at least one more hot and sunny one amongst all the other fucking cool stuff -- of which there's plenty -- that I've found so impossible to give up on over all these years
Lend me that old pullover pagan!!!
