Glastonbury 2008
- Thread starter pagan
- Start date
wiskey
Albatross Admirer
from my experience of leeds they are already pretty similar in terms of corporate stuff - but security is nowhere near as invasive, and at glasto they actually trust the punters enough to decorate the place, rather than expecting it to get destroyed.
and once you're in you dont have to pay for much else if you dont want to.
and once you're in you dont have to pay for much else if you dont want to.
I think a lot of people are simply fed up over the fact that you just don’t seem to be allowed to enjoy yourself at the festival anymore. The special Glastonbury feeling of anarchic freedom has gone. There has never been a need in the past for the packs of security that we saw inside the fence this year or the aggressive searching that went on at the gates. So why now? Whether or not somebody pays £150 for a ticket they still deserve to be treated with respect rather than suspicion or, in several reported cases, overt intimidation & outright hostility.
If you start treating the punters like criminals then lo & behold they start behaving that way too. I saw it at Reading when Mean Fiddler took over in 1989 and the similarities between that scenario and what we had at Glastonbury this year really were quite alarming. God forbid that Glastonbury ever degenerates into the junior pyromaniacs’ convention that we see at Reading nowadays, but too many punters already seem to be turning up purely so that they can sit on their rows of interlocked camping chairs & say “look at me I’m at Glastonbury” rather than really immersing (no pun intended) themselves in the experience.
I’m just glad that the apparent demise of the atmosphere that I loved at the festival has coincided with such a resurgence in small festivals where the organisers appreciate that it is the people and the alternative experiences they glean from an event that are the most important factors rather than seeing how many more thousands they can cram in through the gates in order to pay for whichever mega-star pop band happens to be flavour of the month in the NME at the moment. I’m afraid biggest does not equate to best any more. Quite the opposite in fact……
If you start treating the punters like criminals then lo & behold they start behaving that way too. I saw it at Reading when Mean Fiddler took over in 1989 and the similarities between that scenario and what we had at Glastonbury this year really were quite alarming. God forbid that Glastonbury ever degenerates into the junior pyromaniacs’ convention that we see at Reading nowadays, but too many punters already seem to be turning up purely so that they can sit on their rows of interlocked camping chairs & say “look at me I’m at Glastonbury” rather than really immersing (no pun intended) themselves in the experience.
I’m just glad that the apparent demise of the atmosphere that I loved at the festival has coincided with such a resurgence in small festivals where the organisers appreciate that it is the people and the alternative experiences they glean from an event that are the most important factors rather than seeing how many more thousands they can cram in through the gates in order to pay for whichever mega-star pop band happens to be flavour of the month in the NME at the moment. I’m afraid biggest does not equate to best any more. Quite the opposite in fact……
wiskey
Albatross Admirer
Tort said:
problem is the sheer size - even if the company is reputable they dont know each and every one of the thousands of people working for them, and that cant be helped. and now that theres no single security company big enough to cover the entire event, and it gets split up between a few they become even less accountable unless the proof is concrete.
however, what they do when they realise they have a wrong un should be more evident, and where they recruit from in the first place could be improved.
aqua
made of cheese and gin
I think, and I'm sure I talked about this to some of you, is what seems to me as the difference in punters' attitudes. There are those who are there as part of the festival, they bring a head full of ideas and share with people. Then there are those who go as customers, "I've paid my money now entertain me", it's almost like the difference between students, some go to learn, discuss, and develop, others feel that for their money they should get a certificate in exchange
Catching up ....
Not listening!!
I'm good at blanking out twats at festies or moving away from them or better still never going near them in the first place. Non wankers at Glasto far outnumber tossers IMO. Of course there are some conspicuous twats, as you'd get in any city that size, but for me more than enough nice people, old school nutters, creative n' original people even, still going.
I notice you mentioned Lost Vagueness for (well justified) criticism in another post, but Trash City was also there and a lot more lively ....
Just a matter of picking the most lively/parting/chilled/friendly areas (take yer pick!) to hang out... as you well know ....
Glass half full and that ...
William of Walworth said:
wiskey said:
Not listening!!
I'm good at blanking out twats at festies or moving away from them or better still never going near them in the first place. Non wankers at Glasto far outnumber tossers IMO. Of course there are some conspicuous twats, as you'd get in any city that size, but for me more than enough nice people, old school nutters, creative n' original people even, still going.
I notice you mentioned Lost Vagueness for (well justified) criticism in another post, but Trash City was also there and a lot more lively ....
Just a matter of picking the most lively/parting/chilled/friendly areas (take yer pick!) to hang out... as you well know ....
Glass half full and that ...
And as everyone knows I still go to plenty of smaller more alternative festivals anyway ... I want the all round variety of different kinds of festie, and any comparison between Glastonbury and Leeds is well too harsh on Glastonbury for all its faults, Glasto's faults I'm well aware of but still but!!
I still have a fuckin good time in Somerset -- even this year -- and as long as that remains the experience, I still go.
In 2007 I was not very happily single at Glastonbury and at times felt unfamiliarly alone and even at times lonely. Next year I very much won't be alone, and I'll be sharing the whole experience with a fellow old school Glasto veteran. Big difference!
nevertheless, thinking possibly/maybe of stopping after 2010, gap year due in 2011. 2010 will be my 15th
I still have a fuckin good time in Somerset -- even this year -- and as long as that remains the experience, I still go.
In 2007 I was not very happily single at Glastonbury and at times felt unfamiliarly alone and even at times lonely. Next year I very much won't be alone, and I'll be sharing the whole experience with a fellow old school Glasto veteran. Big difference!
nevertheless, thinking possibly/maybe of stopping after 2010, gap year due in 2011. 2010 will be my 15th
aqua said:I just want to do something new. I'm new to glasto (only been a few times) but there is more to see out there than falling into the routine of going just cos its there - I'm allergic to that
big world, lots to see, only so much leave from work and pennies in the bank
Thats totally cool, I respect and understand your reasons as I said
See you at some of the smaller ones!!
Tort said:
Edit, fucked up ... more later ...
TopCat said:Maybe the day when glasto insists on no booze to be taken into the site will be the day when even WoW says "no more"?
Maybe. That would be well extreme and yes bang out of order. But also, it would be very difficult to enforce given the site's size and layout, without a lot of very radical changes. Not saying those can't happen, equally monstrous changes have happened before, but I'd say, on the basis of informed
speculation combined with experience, that such a ban is still pretty unlikely.The difference is, you want it to happen, to score a point ....
aqua said:
I agree with this. I also agree with what wiskey's said in the past about the old spirit of create your own vibe and entertainment -- the old mad DIY spirit has declined for sure.
But as aqua hints, there are STILL plenty of people going with ideas and creativity. Not all old schoolers by any means either.
I speak as someone who crosses the boundaries, I've been going for years, but have never often really got off my arse to actually do stuff, just joined in with various other scenes when I can. I was never simply a passive consumer thiough -- talking, chatting, asking questions, listening, learning, wandering, exploring, mixing with as many different types as possible, is still a lot of what Glastobnbury is about for me.
I expect there were plenty of similarly reticent people needing a bit of encouragement to emerge from their shell back in the old days as well.
As I say to my brother, a professional standard musician, if it wasn't for the non performers, you'd have no audience! And he just plays pubs, parties, weddings, club tent at Cambridge, etc. ...
Fail!
There wasn't one in 1996 man ....
<looks sternly at pupil >
Oh by the way, see you down there next year
firky said:1996.. best one for me - too young to go further back
There wasn't one in 1996 man ....
<looks sternly at pupil
>Oh by the way, see you down there next year
pagan
Guerilla Gardener
firky said:1996.. best one for me - too young to go further back
Good post guys (Firky, stand in the corner and feel the shame
)Valid points everyone, but for those wanting more...participation....save your cash, stop winging and go to Burning Man. Now there is a festival. But even there, those who were there in the early days are bitching 'it's not as good as it used to be!'
Well, surprise, surprise, nothing is as good as it used to be. Things change, people change, that's the nature of evolution.....
Despite everything (and that includes this long time festie goer having half his entire stash stolen by over zealous security before I'd even entered the site this year) Glasto remains the flagship, the benchmark, the industry standard. If it wasnt for Glasto, there would be NO other smaller festies. Maybe it's up to the old timers
rolleyes: ) like me and Will to keep the faith, fly the flag and keep the last weekend in June free. For us, Glasto is like your first trip, the day you lost your virginity and your favourite old moth-eaten jumper that you refuse to throw out rolled into one. Yes, there are better festies...but the combination of history, nostalgia and the finest festival site in the world will keep us optimistic and keep us going back, year after year
