Glastonbury 2011

[19sixtysix]

Haha - just remembered Jarvis Cocker telling the crowd that the police had wanted to search through shit samples from the loos to find out whether people had been taking drugs and that Michael Eavis had given them a resounding no

I'm sure there's a pigs in shit joke somewhere there.

 

[fractionMan]

It's not just tents. Go to the local train station and there's a 5 foot high mound of wellies

 

[19sixtysix]

Don't worry about the wellies someone will pick them up and sell them back to the idiots who left them next time.
I unfortunately couldn't carry anymore off site or I'd have a new set of camping kit.

 

[Ranbay]

I love Mondays, i come back with so much stuff, last year about 100 cans of beer

a mate of mine always blags getting his car back on site and stocking up.

 

[19sixtysix]

I love Mondays, i come back with so much stuff, last year about 100 cans of beer

a mate of mine always blags getting his car back on site and stocking up.

The best parties are Monday night. I always meet good people on Monday.

 

[WBC-WORKER]

Well it was murder - due to having cancer treatment I do have a few side effects and one I never ever thought about as its not affected me before in a drastic fashion - I packed my wellingtons boots but discovered that my feet are now far larger than what they were before treatment started and there is no way I could put them on .

Funny enough I don't look at my feet all that often but I can see they are far more fatter than what they used to be and even if I sent someone down to buy a pair its unlikely I would find a bog standard pair that would fit me.

So I was restricted by where I could go.

Photo below is Crew drinking on the Tuesday night when the bar was still reachable.

I went to see Sean Taylor who is a mate of mine although if he was not a friend I would not have
made the effort .

I tried to get to U2 but never got within one mile of it as the mud was that deep it was sucking the boots off my feet { I am not kidding } - I took a few steps but it was pointless so change of plan and went to see Melanie - it really hammered it down but as its not a popular stage the mud was not as bad - the rain was getting heavier and heavier - she has not lost her voice and it was good to see her again.

All the other times I stayed in the crew camp - when the sun came out this triggered another side effect so had to hide in the shade.

So it was a strange Glastonbury having missed so much but we did have a good time in the crew campsite { where I was working very late and most nights did not end until 4am }

I did meet up with Garcia Lorca who was someone I already knew face to face but did not know he was Garcia Lorca { if you see what I mean } - he had his own adventure which I am sure he will post about.

On the coach on the way back a call came in from Sean Taylor who was on a early WBC coach - they had broken down and the driver had left the WBC Contact details at home so he could not call the WBC Onsite office and no one on the coach knew the number so Sean called me - gave him the number and the WBC Office arranged for a coach to pick them up - so its lucky Sean thought about me .

Tomorrow it all starts again - I am working at Hop Farm so will be travelling down tomorrow

 

[Sunray]

Aye we got a few fucking whopper tents when we were leaving, why on earth do people leave essentially brand new tents worth 100's of pounds?? madness

The two twister 3's are 130 quid tents (rrp 250!). Left in perfect condition with the bags. Perhaps people decide that festivals are not for them or its too heavy to carry. The 8 man Vango baffled me as that must cost 300 quid new.

Its not a major issue tbf, security goes off the vehicle gates open at 7pm on Monday. Then the locals with flat bed trucks and vans descend like vultures and collect all that is worth taking. Come Tuesday evening, the place has been picked to the bone and >nothing< worth having is left.

 

[mysterygirl]

Well, despite the mud we had a fab time. Last one for me though. I took our 8 yr old and we didnt see even a quarter of that we usually do because in the mud the sheer expanse of the site made it too much for her to be traipsing all over. So I missed loads, but we always used to miss loads.....

I loved The Low Anthem. I didnt think Don Mclean was ever going to stop singing American Pie chorus, The Pulp 'secret' gig was great to listen to.. I didnt bother trying to see... But I agree that its bloody ridiculous to have the biggest acts as a 'special guest' when they could have played a bigger stage.

Did catch some fun Bhangra band, BB King, Metronomy, Jessie J (for my girli), Plan B, Pendulum and Bouncy... The crowds really put me off though.

The mud was nothing like 05 or 07, but still disabled the site enough to prevent play for me. I have some fond memories though

Sorry I didnt find you mysterygirl, totally forgot after Thursday!!! And Adam was ace thanks Strumpet!!!!

No problem, Im glad you had a good time!
I didn't see half the bands I'd wanted to see but on the other hand I got dragged off to some stuff that I've always meant to get around to by the little terrorist - alot in Circus & Theatre, plenty elsewhere.

We saw the main bands we wanted to see between us though, such as BB King, Coldplay & QOTSA and had some great time sitting in our tents each night up at Wickets looking at the view, watching the fires at the Stone Circle, the chinese lanterns going off, the glow from Arcadie & all the fairy lights in front of us. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get him round to Arcadia in the end, it's about the only regret I have of the weekend, but he was too tired, it was beyond him.

And I learned a lot about my nephew this weekend, more than I could probably hope to in any other circumstances. All in all, despite the mud, the hard going, the heat and the fact that he overdid it in style and made himself quite ill we had a seriously good weekend.

 

[hammerntongues]

No problem, Im glad you had a good time!
I didn't see half the bands I'd wanted to see but on the other hand I got dragged off to some stuff that I've always meant to get around to by the little terrorist - alot in Circus & Theatre, plenty elsewhere.

We saw the main bands we wanted to see between us though, such as BB King, Coldplay & QOTSA and had some great time sitting in our tents each night up at Wickets looking at the view, watching the fires at the Stone Circle, the chinese lanterns going off, the glow from Arcadie & all the fairy lights in front of us. Unfortunately I didn't manage to get him round to Arcadia in the end, it's about the only regret I have of the weekend, but he was too tired, it was beyond him.

And I learned a lot about my nephew this weekend, more than I could probably hope to in any other circumstances. All in all, despite the mud, the hard going, the heat and the fact that he overdid it in style and made himself quite ill we had a seriously good weekend.

That`s great , the fun never seems to come from the direction you expect it to does it ? One afternoon sat lazily up on the hill behind The Park and an hour in front of Mama Rosin in a virtually empty Avalon stage were my unexpected highlights , never would i have predicted that beforehand.

 

[Strawman]

Worst Glasto ever for me. Fell ill on the friday night and was pretty much tent bound for the rest of the weekend. Managed to see a whopping 2 bands - the lancashire hotots and lloyd grossmans new direction...rock n roll! Absolutely gutted i missed out on shangri la and the arcadia show. Still, gotta take the knocks eh? Will still be back raring to make up for it in 2013!

 

[paolo]

Sorry to hear that Strawman... Not a good place to fall ill at for so many reasons.

 

[tarannau]

Sorry to hear too Strawman, but I'm impressed with the sanguine attitude and readiness to go again.

Had a blinder of a time at Glast yet again. I could have done without the thick, energy-sapping mud tbh and heavy rain tbh, but wet years often seem to bring out the best in people, everyone determined to have a good time despite the conditions. Had a few first time Glasto-goers in the camp, all from Spain/Denmark, and they certainly experienced near on the full range of Glasto weather conditions in a single year, from driving rain, 100 different types of mud through to driving rain. They loved it nonetheless, in awe of the sheer scale and variety of the thing.

Highlights for me were Janelle Monae, who blew away my (middling) expectations of her with a unbelievably good set and tight band, a real unexpected pleasure. Almost too slick, but by gum she pulled it off. Loads of decent reggae and sound systems for a change too, plus the late night area had plenty to keep us going. Wu Tang even managed to send the A-team and pulled off a convincing set for a change. And Arcadia was frankly awesome as usual (albeit it could be a lot louder, particularly closer the stage) - managed to spend pretty much of all Friday eve/Sat evening and more dancing there, ignoring the pissing rain and half-welly height mud. Even proposed to LQ there that night, 50ft flames going off above us. Fair to say I enjoyed the place thoroughly.

No real lowlights after that, although I'll mention that Orbital were a little, well, dull. This is the third time that I've seen them since they 'retired' at Glasto a few years back and they've been pretty poor every time. Compared to the live dubsteppy band on Arcadia before, they lost pace and excitement, playing the same old tunes in a mildly rejigged set. I liked them once, but this was really a little too retro and tired, basically two balding old men with daft glasses waving and pointing at the the audience a lot. And yep, they played the sodding Dr Who tune again

 

[ddraig]

awww
did she say yes?

 

[tarannau]

Of course. I doubt it'd have been quite as happy an occasion otherwise.


LQ's a real Glasto veteran and those fields are some of the most special places in the world for her. So it seemed kind of appropriate, particularly after we've had so much fun at Arcadia over the past few years. Not sure if all the relatives will see the muddy attraction, but it was a mighty happy move on my part. And blimey, diamonds don't half sparkle amongst flames and lasers! Pretty darn special all round- cheers again Arcadia.

 

[Voley]

Congratulations.

 

[stethoscope]

Yay tarannau

 

[strung out]

i heard about this but didn't see you later on in the festival to congratulate you both. congratulations!

 

[Kanda]

Soppy fucker, congratulations

 

[madzone]

Who is LQ?

 

[ddraig]

yay
congrats

 

[Kanda]

Who is LQ?

His fiance...

 

[madzone]

His fiance...

No shit?

I mean by using her intials like that is she someone who posts here?

 

[Kanda]

Well I use Moonpig and she doesn't post here...

 

[madzone]

Well I use Moonpig and she doesn't post here...

What do you use her for?

 

[madzone]

Congratulations tarannau - whoever she is

 

[tarannau]

Cheers all. Rest assured that, whilst temporarily becoming a sentimental and soppy fucker, I still near-barfed at Kool & The Gang prattling on about 'fresh ladies' and their helium voiced cheesebaginess. There's a limit somewhere.

 

[spitfire]

I did the same Tarannau, up on the Stone Circle at 7.30 am Sunday morning.

Congratulations, glad she said yes, so did mine. : )

Anyway, great fun all round. Looking forward to 2013.

 

[tarannau]

Many congrats too. I suspect we may not be the only ones mind, not that negates that special moment.

Some bloke in the camp next to us proposed on Wednesday night. I had a reassuring night of listening him telling the same story again and again till the early hours, word for word, whilst clutching my sodding ring in sleeping bag, inwardly screaming 'shut up, shut up, you thunder-stealing knob'

Anyway, all's well that ends well

 

[spitfire]

I read of one guy who managed to get to the top of the tower during Radioheads set, (it was closed at that time but he blagged it), out comes ring, lady swept off feet. Hooray!

 

[Boycey]

i'm back! and bloody knackered... which was the theme of the festival for the most part- 10 days of 12-15 hour work in the pissing rain took it out of me before the festival began, hope you liked the cube towers at casa greenpeace.

arcadia was utter amazing this year, the move to the common's old field made so much sense and meant that many more people got enjoy the show... great to see how they've gone from a relatively small field to the biggest single arena on the southeast side, fill it and utterly tear it up. maximum respect to those involved

musically i enjoyed a guy called gerald at spirit of '71- tony andrews ambisonic rig got put through it's paces... metronomy and wu tang at the pyramid... dj moneyshot at chai wallahs utterly utterly smacking it to a tiny crowd at chai wallahs... the chems at the other stage followed by orbital at arcadia

sunday didn't really happen for me, too tired, too hot... so i dropped some acid and staggered round shangri-la giggling at the casualties, much fun.

i didn't see half the acts i wanted to, missed most of the people i usually meet up with but was a fucking amazing festival