Bright sunshine and short torrential showers today. As I thought, the loos were an issue and I went to the next field where there were more loos. Today the festival was busier with the weekenders here. Both Rosemary and I queued up to listen the Helen Sharman talk about her selection to be an astronaut. This was then followed (late) by Rankin the British portrait photographer. He was interviewed and commented on the photographs he had taken of various famous people. He was there for the weekend, and you could go and have a portrait taken. He commented that to be a professional now, you had to get into film making as well. The entry to photography has become democratised by the mobile phone. He has 70 people in his production company.
After lunch we were almost caught by a heavy shower, luckily
we were in the Carlsberg area under cover when the downpour hit us during the
early afternoon.
We tried the food demonstrations and watched some chicken being BBQed. The chef originally started out selling wood as the London Log company, got into selling hardwood charcoal, and ended up supplying UK top chefs with charcoal to use in their kitchens.
There were a couple of good bands in the evening, Stereophonics and Underworld. We didn’t see any. R was finding it all a bit hard work, so we walked back to Morrison, stopping at the CO-OP to buy some wine to drink.
Today was the first full day. Rosemary wanted to see some talks in the Faraway Forest, and the talks at the Space Shed looked interesting. I had a few such talks planned throughout the day. I went to see a band play at the main Obelisk Arena. It was an Afro-Punk ban called KOKOKO!. Very interesting band and I was up close to the stage as not many people were watching. The members were all dressed up in orange boiler suits. After they had ended, went back to find Rosemary in the Faraway Forest. She was bitterly disappointed, the Space Shed talk was crap, and geared around kids. We hung around the area but decided not to watch any more of these Space Shed talks. Rather disappointed, ended up eating lunch and having something to drink.
Back at the Obelisk Stage, I watched Anna Calvi, from a distance and then close up. I do think they do add too much bass into live bands, which makes them rather difficult to record. Much of the video I took went blurred when the base came in. It vibrated the phone so hard.
Today was a showery day, we missed most of the rain, darting in and out of tents to listen to people, or to drink some beers.
While wandering around, we tried the Sunrise Arena where we had nice surprise and saw an Irish punk band The Murder Capital
During one rain period, R and I listed to Mystery on the Rocks, apparently a podcast. (Each week a new guest enters the bar and attempts to solve an unsolved real life mystery alongside the regulars. Hosted by Masud Milas, Chris Stokes, and Sooz Kempner.) This was their first live stage discussion. They take some crime mystery, in this case, the death of a man in a room in New York City in 1929, a classic locked-room mystery. They discuss the crime, trying to solve it while making and drinking cocktails and singing. Sounds weird, but it was quite an enjoyable
R and I went to see the band ‘She Drew The Gun’, unfortunately, this was unlistenable to because of the poor sound quality with overpowering bass. So we went off to prepare for George Ezra. Unusually the Obelisk Arena has a number of seated areas at the back where the oldies can sit. Managed to find a place to sit and watch George. The rain held off during most of the performance. It was a good show with fireworks at the end. One new feature of festivals these days are the volunteers who do the deaf and dumb signing of the song lyrics. How on earth can they keep up with the lyrics?? But they do and judging by various faces watching them, it is a very worthwhile service.
We walked back the campsite, over the bridge where moving images are projected into a water spray, and then back to Van Morrison on his pitch. Tired and I think Rosemary found it all a bit of a strain.
I had managed to persuade Rosemary to come to the Latitude Festival at Henham Park, near to Southwold in Suffolk. She was trapped into coming with the promise of several authors who were giving talks.
We set off on the Thursday at 11.20, around the M25 and then up the A12 through Ipswich and onto Henham Park. The last few miles were slow-moving, and we arrived at around 15.30 with a nearly empty tank. We were ushered into the general campervan field and parked in our row. There were plenty of VWs, traditional. the more modern T5s and Californias. Stacks of larger mobile homes, awnings and BBQs. Once parked, and my new 100 Watt solar panel attached to the battery, we made our way to the wrist band exchange.
The camper van site was huge, and the number of toilets was very limited. There were even a set of composting toilets being operated by Water Aid at an extra price. I was a bit shocked at the limited number of loos. I think the presumption is that most of the motor homes have their own toilet facilities. I did often walk into the next campsite field to use the toilets there.
We walked to the main arena, quite a long hike taking nearly 30 minutes. The general campervan site is the furthest away, you pass the general camping, the family campervans, then the posh camping and then through the retail village before arriving at the entrance to the arena.
Quite a pretty place, lots of woods and lakes and pink sheep. We didn’t do much, just wandered around getting our bearings, eating some food. We did go to see Imelda May in the Hallowed, ended up at the wrong stage, realised too late and could not get to see her.
That was it. Glastonbury was over. We showered, packed up and The Love Fields at 7 am in the morning. Stopped off for a Costa and arrived home.
Ravi and Simon stayed over, so we entertained them to some local village life. The Ludgershall Bike Night. Thousand of bikes parked up in the village from 6 to 9. Stalls selling beer, fish and chips, burgers were doing a roaring trade. We opted for the pig roast which was run by a local Kingswood man. Was accosted by the Air Ambulance, who saw we had been to Glastonbury and then talked at great length about the event.
There was a fabulous American truck unit on display. Rosemary saw it pass our house that evening. The event earns money for the Air Ambulance and other charities.
Our last day at Glastonbury, up early to the loo and the showers were still closed. Looked out again shortly before 9 and they were in the process of being opened. Quickly told Simon and Ravi and then I dashed off to the showers before there were any queues. The word spread around the yurts like wildfire.
Today I was heading over to see Jeff Goldblum at West Holts and Vampire Weekend and TheCure at the Pyramid Stage.
Ambled over to the West Holts and stopped in the Circus Field to watch a musical performance. Interested in the patter that got me into the little stage area, anyone walking by who peered in was fair game for the compere, and if you walked on by, you were grossly insulted.
After this brief entertainment, I stopped at the model of Glastonbury, many clay figures on the ground with caricature models of the stages and festival areas. See some of the pictures below. This was at Glastonbury before but looked more expanded this year.
At the West Holts stage, I was in time to see Hollie Cook, a dramatic reggae singer who was a former member of The Slits. It was fun, pop, reggae with a nice dancing beat.
With a Brothers cider beside me, I waited for Ravi and Simon to arrive for Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer band. Jeff was on stage chatting with the audience during the soundcheck, he also had a humorous repartee with the BBC woman who came on stage and asked him when he was starting. His response was he had already started, at which point the microphones were cut off until the official start time. Jeff also did a signing, and despite the long queue, I bought a vinyl album which he signed for me, and I shook his hand.
While I was queuing, This is the Kit played, earthy indie-folk music, and then the Fatoumata Diawars. At this point, I raced back to Love Fields and dumped my Vinyl and headed over to the Hospitality Area. Simon and Ravi had seen Kylie Minogue and I assumed they would be watching Miley Cyrus. I grabbed a drink and a burger, and then found Simon and Ravi in the Hospitality area also eating. They had given Miley a miss.
I headed off to see Vampire Weekend, quite close to the front and then moved further forward for The Cure. While waiting for the Cure, I spotted Mark S (Walkerite) and his daughter across the other side of the barrier. The atmosphere waiting for The Cure was intense. They came on and played for two hours. Just music, no fireworks, no flares, no paper, just music and lights. For the final song ‘Boys don’t Cry’, I was grabbed by a girl who wanted a quick final dance with me. It was such a beautiful and intense moment. All the old classics played. My recording of The Cure on my phone is absolute crap. Good pictures, bad sound. I have now bought an external microphone for the phone, I will be testing it at Latitude.
I waited for the crowd to disperse and said hello to Mark and his daughter while they did the mandatory selfies.
Disaster, the showers were all closed this morning and would remain closed for the rest of the day. The Love Fields and other glamping sites had been requested to close their showers. The water supply in the festival site was in a dire situation, and with a very hot Saturday forecast they did not want the water to run out. My only comment is, who drinks water at festivals when there are Brothers cider and real ales in abundance?
We started the day at the Pyramid Stage to watch The Proclaimers. (Watch and hear Ravi singing along in the video.)
The rest of the day appears to be a haze, spent mainly at the West Holts Stage watching The Ezra Collective, Slowthai and Lizzo. I think it must have been the Brothers cider and the hot weather.
In the evening there was an abrupt change in temperature, the wind changed and the temperatures plummeted, the showers were still closed.
The evening was spent at a bar next to the Acoustic Tent where I had a JD, (no queues) and then some Real Ale. Simon bought some comfort food, Cheese Mac. So simple and so delicious. Suitably fortified we were then ready for Hawkwind. Simple, no graphics just smoke and flashing lights accompanied by their layered acoustics. Not a big crowd, but then The Killers were headlining the Pyramid Stage. You can see the age profile of those attending Hawkwind by looking at the bar photographs. A nice crowd though.
We three then went for a walk around the South-East corner before the crowds arrived, visiting Block 9 East (IICON), The Common (The Temple and Rum Shack), across to Shangrila to read the slogans on The Lanes and listen in at the Truth Stage. Leaving through the Unfairground, we went across into Block 9 West to see the Meat Rack. Was unable to persuade Ravi and Simon to enter the Meat Rack.
We parted ways, so I left R and S to walk through Avalon home, while I headed off down the railway line (busy) and diverted through Green Fields, to miss the crowds, and up to Strummerville where I sat near the fire and listened to the DJ. Headed down to The Park and hopefully Pangea. It was absolutely heaving in that area. I gave up trying to get anywhere near the dance area and only viewed Pangea from the distance. I had wondered what the huge sphere built around the base of the crane was. It was a screen, and what I saw was a huge iris and pupil rotating around looking like an eyeball. Watch at the end of the video. Fabulous, they will be next year, as I believe the crane will be there for four years.
I decided to head back to Love Fields. Showers still down.
Yey, another bright and sunny day, it could though become a problem, because Saturday is forecast to be very hot. Already there are problems with the mains water pressure being low, and not filling the reserve tank for the showers fast enough, resulting in some of the showers being closed early this morning. Still, I was up early, showered and ready for breakfast. Those Pain Au Chocolate are something to die for.
Today was the first day the main stages were open. The first stop for me was to watch the Vaccines on the Other Stage, while Ravi and Simon watched Bjorn Again on the Pyramid. Back into the Hospitality Area for a beer to wait for R&S to materialise. They had been on the front barriers singing along to Mamma Mia and were very thrilled.
We then went onto watch Sheryl Crow and Bastille on the Pyramid Stage. (See Ravi dancing to Sheryl in the video.) S&R departed for dinner at West Holts. This was the last time I would see them until the morning. They had their eyes on Stormzy who provided an epic performance and plenty of Fuck Boris chants.
I moved near to the front of the crowd to watch Ms Lauryn Hill. She was late on and we were entertained by her DJ. Apparently, this is fairly typical. There were gaps between each song as she asked for her sound monitors to be readjusted between each song.
Supper and then I made my way over to the South-East corner to listen to a metal band Gojira, playing on the Truth Stage in Shangri La. Was an excellent choice. Decided to wait for a punk band called The Idles. While I was waiting, another Walkerite texted to say he was heading to the Truth stage for The Idles. Waving phone lights we found each other and enjoyed the show. This was the second time they had played today. Earlier in the day, they played at The Park.
We separated after the show, and I wandered back, stopping at the Unfairground to film a show with flames, and then the Avalon Cafe where there was a Sikh band playing.
The Thursday is another quiet day at Glastonbury, none of the main stages are open, some of the small stages open and areas such as the South-East corner (the naughty corner) and Silver Hayes open. Quiet might be a misnomer because the quiet areas are very full with thousands of people ambling around. They would normally be at the Pyramid Stage. So areas like Green Fields can be busier on the Wednesday and Thursday.
We (Ravi, Simon & I) all met for breakfast at 9.00am after having showers earlier. No queues, water surprisingly warm and fast-flowing, and a large cubicle you could party in (I wish). Breakfast was good, especially the Pain Au Chocolates and Almond Croissants. I emailed Sam’s Kitchens and this is the reply I received. “I was up at 4.30am baking them fresh daily. We buy them frozen from an amazing French company, prove them overnight and then bake for 20 minutes so they are served perfectly. The almond croissants were yesterday’s plain with the addition of our own frangipan and some flaked almonds.” Cooked breakfast as well.
The day was bright and sunny with a strong cool breeze, amazing how much warmer it was when you descended into the festival area. Our first stop was the Tor Lookout, a scaffold construction on the North side of the Theatre Area. This structure is used for abseiling type dance performances. When not used for these you can climb to the top and look over the festival site.
We walked on to the Green Futures area and headed for Speakers Forum to hear Professor David King talk about climate change. David King had been the head of Chemistry at Cambridge University then the government’s Chief Science Advisor. While we waited for him to arrive (rather late), we heard from Gail Bradbrook one of the founders of EXtinction Rebellion. She explained how the XR group operated and their plans for the future. I don’t think I will be booking any air travel in the Autumn when they plan to restart their protests. Quite a few audience members were XR members and some had stuck/padlocked themselves to the Pink Yacht in London.
David King duly arrived and congratulated XR on their rebellion and told everybody how we must start to reverse climate change. The 1.5C and even 1C rises are too much, Greenland ice is melting at a rate far faster than predicted, modelling of some acceleration factors in ice melting had been missed. We must start to remove CO2, and one way they were looking into it, especially after the recent Pacific volcano, was to research the effects of creating algae blooms in the oceans by fertilising the oceans.
The whole discussion was repeated again for the BBC who recorded the show for later transmission.
Afterwards, we walked onto The Park, by way of The Wood, Silver Hayes, the CO-OP, and Glastonbury on Sea, yes a long way round. The Wood was disappointing, because it was busy because it was a Thursday. Glastonbury on Sea was busy with huge queues, so we gave it a miss. At The Park, we went to view a recently unveiled billboard from the anti-Brexit artists Cold War Steve and Led By Donkeys that overlooked the entire festival site. A beer was called for and drunk.
Back now to the West Holts Stage for some ciders and dinner.
At The Love Fields, Simon and Ravi listened to music in the bar, by all reports it was very good. I headed out after dark to meet up with Jon M. Jon worked for Walker and was planning to come to Glastonbury working with other Walkerites, Ed and Mary. Ed and Mary cancelled leaving Jon to come on his own. He was working that evening at the Blues Gully in the Silver Hayes.
I set out to the Silver Hayes via The Wood. It always looks brilliant at night, and this year was no exception. They had mist generators under the walkways adding a spooky look to the lighted ponds. Met up with Jon, so we chatted for a few minutes.
Continued my walk up to The Park, Green Fields and then the South-East corner. I was a bit disappointed by the area this year. It didn’t seem quite so good. The buildings in Block 9 were missing the crashed underground train, I never saw dancers in the windows of the broken down hotels, indeed the whole area appeared rather sanitised this year. I wonder if others thought the same because on another night I could not get near the new Pangea (the dock crane which replaced Arcadia) below The Park.
I am not one of those who queue up at the Glastonbury gates overnight, waiting to be let into the area at 8.00 am Wednesday morning. I can understand those who do, it is the only way to get the best camping spots and to be camped with your mates. I have upgraded to the soft Glamping experience and stay at The Love Fields This year I and two university friends made it to Glastonbury. For Ravi he was ticking of a bucket list item, and for Simon, well he is a musician, and all musicians should visit Glastonbury even if it’s not to perform. For me, it was my eleventh Glastonbury, the 9th in a row.
We set off from here early haveing been forcibly ejected by Rosemary, stopping on the way for a coffee and cakes at the Folly Row Cafe in Kington Saint Michael. After our coffee and loo break, we headed on to Glastonbury, taking the blue route which takes you along Pylle Lane. Very few holdups on the way. Drove into Love Fields and we were soon checked in and had emptied our belongings into the yurts. Simon and Ravi had two double beds while I had the one.
Our next step was to enter the festival site with our hospitality tickets from Love Fields and make our way over to the hospitality area behind the Pyramid Stage. Here we were issued with wrist bands. The hospitality area does allow you a greater chance of seeing some celebrities close up, and also allows you to get between the Other and Pyramid Stages a little faster. It is also an oasis from the outside crowds and a place to meet up.
Our next agenda item was a grand tour of the Glastonbury site, we headed to the Other Stage, then to Silver Hayes and way over to the west side of the campsite, I hadn’t been to the far west side campsites for years, this is where I used to camp. A walk up to the Park Area above the Ribbon Tower and then past the tepees and the new Glastonbury on Sea pier, not yet open. Supper at the West Holts Stage, tour of Avalon and then tried to get into the South East corner. But this was still under construction and was not due to open until Thursday.
Back at Love Fields we stopped at the bar for some drinks and listened to an array of bands who were playing. Unfortunately there was a strong wind which put us in a wind tunnel so we had to wrap up with blankets. The evening progressed with more ciders and some flat-breads with spicy toppings. At around 10.30 the bonfires on the festival site were lit and the firework display began. The Festival was now officially open.
Set off at 12.30 and arrived in a multi-storey car park in Twickenham at 14.00. The car park appeared to be heaving. I thought I would be there in plenty of time and miss all the crowds. After lunch and a long time before the show starts, there should be space. Didn’t quite work out that way, there were masses of fans already in the streets. Parking was crazy, cars driving round and round the car park looking for space. Struck lucky, a woman had arrived at her car with her Waitrose shopping. Grabbed the spot.
Walking to the arena there were crowds of Metalheads walking in the opposite direction. Had to check google maps to see I was heading the correct way. I think these fans had arrived by train and were heading into the centre of Twickenham for a pre-festival drink.
The walk to the stadium was 15 minutes and I arrived in time to check in for my free poster, T-shirt, beer and buffet lunch. There was also a Metallica exhibition and museum containing mementoes from their tours and the original handwritten pages with lyrics of their old songs. The buffet lunch was excellent with shredded pork and beef, vegetables and other accompaniments. Whilst there I spoke with another fan, he was Norwegian and had lived here for seven years. He had seen the same Metallica show recently in Norway. ((Slightly bemused (irate?) R says at the price I paid, I cannot call anything “free”.)
Time to get out on to the pitch. We had a 15-minute start on general entry. I did dither a bit, and when I entered the arena, (you were led through the back stage area by security staff), I saw there were people already on the crowd barriers. The Gold Circle is huge, so if you were late in you could still be miles from the front. In any case, I had only a couple of people in front of me, which ended up as one when Metallica came on.
There were a couple of support bands. Opening proceedings was Lars Ulrich’s favourite new band, Norwegian stoner punk trioBokassa. Then on came the Swedish metallers Ghost.
The sound in the arena was poor, huge echoes everywhere. Whenever the band members spoke, it was nearly impossible to hear what they said, their voice being drowned out by the arena echoes. This was even at the front where we were near to the speakers. What it was like for the rest, I have no idea. Thankfully when music was being played was not noticeable.
Then on came Metallica at about 20.00, and they played until about 22.30. An excellent set. Some issues with the screens, their video screens let the background light through, and until it was dark there were poor images on the huge backgrounds. They used the stage to the maximum, moving out to the wings and up to the front. Lars, though remained hidden, because I was so close to the over 2-metre high stage and he was at the back of the stage. Even this was circumvented by him playing a set of drums which had magically appeared on the runway out at the front of the stage. So pictures of Lars were taken, but all from behind.
After finishing their final song, Enter the Sandman, they did their usual thank you and threw their plectrums and drum sticks into the crowds. So many plectrums, such that I was able to go away with one. Happy days!
Left the stadium, slow progress getting back to the car park with Whitton Road filled with people. Of course, the station platforms became full and this backed up onto the road. Thankfully the pedestrian management did allow me fast access to the car park. This is where it all now went wrong. Twenty minutes before I could pay for parking and another hour sitting in my car unable to move. Exit from the car park was slow, and of course, I was on the top floor, so all the floors underneath had to empty. When I did get out, the roads were empty except for the street where the car park was on. The traffic light lets four cars out onto the A305 at a time, and you then sat there watching no vehicles go by on the A305 for ages. Made it home just before 2.00am. The M25 was empty and no road works.
A quote from one of the music papers about Metallica crowds:
The security guys at Twickenham said the Metallica crowds were far easier and nicer to deal with than the Ascot crowds he was working with the previous day, confirming what we already knew – Metalheads are the best.
I think this sums up the culture of entitlement which pervades some of the events attended by the 1%.
Metallica playlist
Hardwired
The Memory Remains
Ride The Lightning
Harvester Of Sorrow
The Unforgiven
Here Comes Revenge
Moth Into Flame
Sad But True
No Leaf Clover followed by Kirk and Rob’s version of Killers
