The Glastonbury 2009 Thread

[Black Rose]

A week to go :D

 

And early weather forecasts look set for the weekend to be lovely

[Open-Politik]

No Muse, Coldplay for Special Guests

[mc_squared]

Rain begins just in time as Glastonbury Festival gets under way

 

By Daily Mail Reporter, Richard Simpson and Simon Cable

Last updated at 6:15 PM on 25th June 2009

 

 

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They were soaking up the sun only yesterday, but Glastonbury fans may already have dampened spirits.

 

Party-goers covered up in plastic ponchos and took shelter beneath the roofs of food tents during a brief shower this morning as the festival got underway.

 

The music fans have been warned to brace themselves for a wet weekend after experts predicted torrential thunderstorms.

Heavy rain is forecast for tomorrow afternoon, with ‘an absolute mudbath’ expected at the 900-acre site.

 

 

Enlarge City size: About 150,000 Glastonbury party-goers and workers pack acres of Somerset fields today

 

 

 

Birds eye map... Our at-a-glance guide to the main attractions and stages, where more than 600 acts are playing, at this year's Glastonbury

 

 

 

Hazy start: Mist rises over show tents as music fans arrive at the Glastonbury Festival site last night

 

 

 

 

Enlarge Calm before the storm: Music fans chill out in their tents last night before the Glastonbury Festival gets underway

 

 

 

 

Enlarge Celebrity welcome: A 100-square metre crop circle of The Streets musician Mike Skinner greets festival-goers stepping off the train

 

 

Thousands of music fans yesterday began arriving at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset, determined to make the most of the sunshine - which was expected to continue today.

 

 

But a spokesman for forecaster Meteogroup said: ‘Unfortunately, on Friday and Saturday Glastonbury could be in the line of fire from thundery showers.

Here we go... A young family covers up from a brief shower this morning in plastic ponchos

 

 

 

Heaven knows I'm miserable now: Pac-a-macs go on

 

‘It could be torrential thunderstorms at times, although there should be periods of sun between the showers.

 

‘It might be the case that the showers won't hit Glastonbury, but it remains a threat from Thursday onwards.’

 

In 2005 storms and flash flooding caused havoc at the site, with many festival-goers having to use their tents as makeshift boats.

 

Festival spokesman John Shearlaw said yesterday: ‘The last thing people are thinking about is the weather. Glastonbury has been going for 39 years.

 

‘What can you do? You can’t sit around waiting for the weather.’

All 137,500 tickets for this year’s event have been sold and up to 60,000 revellers had already descended on the site last night.

 

Festival spokesman John Shearlaw added: 'There are 30,000 people on site now, working flat out to get everything ready,' he said.

'What can you do? The festival isn't God.

 

'People are coming earlier and earlier - maybe at least half will come today. The preparations are sound and we can't wait to start.'

The world's largest live music festival is now officially under way on the usually-quiet Worthy Farm in Somerset.

The three-day festival is headlined by Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and Blur.

 

Critics have dubbed it the year of ‘dinosaur rock’ due to the rather senior age of the performers. Young, 63, and Springsteen, 59, will be joined by a host of veteran acts including Status Quo, Tom Jones and Tony Christie.

 

A wheel of a time! A man keeps two children safely above the awaited mudbath at Glastonbury today

 

Enlarge Sheltering from the rain: Welly-clad party-goers take refuge at a food tent during a brief shower

 

Last year organisers were criticised for abandoning Glastonbury’s musical roots after U.S. rapper Jay-Z headlined.

Festival organiser Michael Eavis, 73, and his daughter Emily, 30, hope the event will bounce back this year after a disappointing year in 2008.

 

The choice of American rap artist Jay-Z as headline act was blamed for slow ticket sales which left 100,000 passes unsold when the gates opened.

 

But this year all 137,000 tickets were sold in advance thanks to a line-up hailed as one of the best in the festival's 39-year history.

 

The three headline acts which will play the main Pyramid stage on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights are Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen and Blur.

 

Also performing are Lily Allen, Status Quo, Lady Gaga, Franz Ferdinand, The Prodigy, Jarvis Cocker, Echo and the Bunnymen, Black Eyed Peas.

 

A record number of revellers arrived before the music had even started yesterday - leading to 30 mile tailbacks.

 

Some 90,000 music fans had made their way to the 900-acre site. The remaining 47,000 were expected to be on site ready for the first acts this morning (Fri), along with 30,000 site workers and musicians.

 

 

More...

 

 

• Comment: why Glastonbury is worth getting wet for
  

 

The rush to arrive early was prompted by the good weather and warnings that rain will follow over the next few days.

 

Yesterday brought the second day of traffic gridlock around the site following massive tailbacks when the gates first opened on Wednesday. A 20-mile stretch of the A37 from Bristol to Glastonbury was nose-to-tail with traffic, with some revellers taking four hours to complete the journey.

 

Sheltering from the rain: Welly-clad music fans take refuge at a food tent during a brief shower

 

Make do: A girl kneels down between some tents as she gets ready to party

 

 

In the opposite direction, queues for the festival began 30 miles away on the M5 near Weston-super-Mare. And a problem with a loose deer roaming the site meant the gates were opened half an hour later than planned - adding to drivers' misery.

 

Festival-goers say the traffic is the worst yet with the three-mile journey from Shepton Mallet to Pilton taking up to two hours.

Avon and Somerset Police had made 40 arrests yesterday for drugs, theft offences and assault.

 

Crime had been steadily dropping in recent years, falling by 90 per cent between 2000 and 2005, according to Avon and Somerset Constabulary.

 

But last year there was a sudden increase of 78 per cent on the previous year, with 751 recorded crimes.

On a lighter note, an airport has installed a 'wellie-washer' so international visitors to the Glastonbury festival can hose off its famous mud before they fly home.

Bristol International Airport has taken festival bookings from customers in 48 different countries and wants to keep its terminal and aircraft sludge-free.

The festival, in Pilton, Somerset, attracts 175,000 people, including thousands of foreigners who ride its Flyer bus service to Bristol Temple Meads railway station and onward to Castle Cary.

 

Enlarge Under cover: Dozens of caravans park up, hoping to escape the worst of the impending mudbath

 

 

 

 

 

Enlarge So long sunshine! Youngsters gather to watch the sunset on a hill above the tipi field as music fans arrived at the Glastonbury Festival site last night

 

 

 

Enlarge

Teepee or not teepee? Tens of thousands of tents and tipis pack acres of fields for the world's largest greenfield music festival

 

Unlikely customer: An Aston Martin squeezes in beside the VW vans and Minis in the car park

 

Forecasters have predicted that torrential thunderstorms could strike over the weekend, which could make the 900-acre site boggy.

Rising to the challenge, the airport has fitted the 'wellie-washer' outside the entrance to the terminal to allow passengers to remove mud from their boots and shoes before heading back.

The device is described as a 'big vat of water' with brushes along the sides which revellers are asked to use enthusiastically.

Alison Roberts, general manager of the terminal at Bristol International Airport, said: 'The week of Glastonbury is always a busy but enjoyable one.

'While we hope the sun shines this time, we have learned from previous years to be prepared for an influx of muddy passengers following the festival.

'If it does rain, the wellie-washer will help keep them and the airport clean.

'Bristol International takes its responsibility as the point of arrival for many visitors to the South West very seriously and we will be making music fans and performers welcome as they fly in over the next few days.'

National Express is also operating a direct service from the airport to the festival site for the first time. Services will run every four hours until Monday.

Adding to the mud, a study released today suggests that Glastonbury will be the summer's sweatiest event with 170,000 people on-site producing half a million litres.

 

According to Professor Ron Maughan, a sports scientist, the famous festival will generate an average of 531,000 litres of sweat a day, if temperature forecasts hold.

The V Festival in Chelmsford should produce 360,000 litres a day, while the Ashes will generate 1,500 litres of perspiration - enough to fill a hot tub.

During the ten rugby matches played in South Africa throughout June, the Lions team will sweat an average of 440 litres and each round of the British Open will produce enough to fill a large bathtub (200 litres).

However, the perception that festivals are also smelly, might not be true, Prof Maughan, of Loughborough University, found.

He said today: 'There is some truth in the phrase "The Smell of Fear". When people are anxious, excited or nervous they produce a different type of sweat which when combined with bacteria on the skin can cause odour.

'So it makes sense that sportsmen are more 'on edge' than when you're happily dancing at a festival - this will result in more odour at the sporting events, but not necessarily more sweat.'

The survey, commissioned by Gillette Deodorant, lists the summer's seven sweatiest events as follows:

1. Glastonbury Festival: 531,000 litres per day

2. Reading & Leeds Festivals: 450,000 litres per day

 

3. V Festival: 360,000 litres per day

4. The Ashes: 1,500 litres per test

5. The Lions Tour: 440 litres (10 matches)

6. The British Open: 200 litres per round

 

7. The British Grand Prix: 40 litres

Glastonbury 2009: Did you know?

 

● An anarchic area called 'Trash City' within the grounds this year will feature a human pinball machine.

● A total of 35,000 workers, from stall-holders to 'green police' will be on site this year. Glastonbury uses 30 megawatts of electricity over the weekend - about the same volume as the city of Bath over the same period.

 

● This year there will be 3,225 toilets on site, as well as 700 metres of urinals dotted around the site, including 'she-pee' urinals for women. The site employs 146 loo cleaners who make sure the toilets are cleaned at least once a day.

 

 

 

LINE-UP FOR TONIGHT

Thursday 25th June

Queen's Head Stage:

 

Smash n' Grab

Metronomy

Kap Bambino

Ebony Bones

Golden Silvers

Alessi's Ark

Liz Green

The Gentle Good

Charlene Soraia

Stornoway

We Have Band

Maximo Park

Dance Lounge:

Altern-8

Jamie Jones

Unabombers

Futureboogie

Beardyman

Raffertie

East 17

Mystery Jets DJ Set

Ella Chi

 

Pussy Parlure

Annie Nightingale Opening Party

General Midi

Paul Arnold

Billy Nasty (Dubstep Set)

The Qemists (DJ Set)

Afghan Headspin

Adsorb

Vent

Groove Diggerz

Ben & Lex

 

Silent Disco

The Kleptones

Jim Masters

Novak 3D Disco

Herne

Silent Disco's DJ

Club Dada

Deathray Trebuchay

Pronghorn

The Destroyers

Cut A Shine

Victor Menace!!r

Brothers Bab

Alejandro and Magic Tombolinos

 

The Bandstand

Kalakuta Millionaires

Syd Arthur

The Mandibles

The Doubtful Guest

The Volt

Kangaroo Moon

Glitzy Baghags

Kieran, John & Amadou

Douglas James

Jump Mama

Mor & Joe

Hodmadoddery

 

Stonebridge Bar

Greco-Roman Soundsystem feat. Joe Hot Chip & Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs

Baggy Mondays

Autodisco

Heavenly Jukebox, Roughtrade Djs and Jonno

Criossant Neuf

The Kingsize Five

Yes Sir Boss

Bimble Inn

The Destroyers

Lovebirds

Stephen Junior

 

Epicentre of entertainment: The main stage will be empty tonight but headliners Blur, Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young will hold court

[Open-Politik]

I s David there now do you think?

[mc_squared]

I s David there now do you think?

 

Yes - he's probably having a mudbath even as we speak!!:lol:

[deaths_friend]

footage is starting to appear on youtube

 

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfO4Zoe8PDg]YouTube - Glastonbury 2009 - N.E.R.D - Rockstar[/ame]

[tauiwi]

Yeah, and it only ads to the jealousy I have of those who are there. I like reading the reports on NME.com too about the performances of the bands.

[mc_squared]

Wonder if David's finished his first mudbath yet............................. :P

[iadamh]

Been watching the highlights on bbc, best ive seen for performance is bloc party tbh, I also enjoyed lady gaga and the tings tings!

[mc_squared]

As swine flu hits Glastonbury, a

 

woman gives birth at the festival... well nearly

 

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 6:21 PM on 28th June 2009

 

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A jovial mood swept across Glastonbury with the news a woman was giving birth at the festival.

The woman, whose name and age are not known, went into labour on Saturday lunchtime and was being cared for by midwives on the festival site.

Festival organisers said she had wanted to give birth on site but was later taken to a nearby hospital to receive medical attention in the early hours of Saturday evening.

Baby joy: A festival-goer went into labour at Glastonbury on Saturday

 

Glastonbury spokesman Crispin Aubrey said it had been 11 years since a baby had been born at the festival.

He said: 'A woman who was pregnant went into labour at about lunchtime on Saturday afternoon.

'She wanted to give birth on site rather than be taken away to hospital, so during yesterday afternoon she was being cared for by midwives on the festival site.

'However, during the afternoon it was decided that she should be taken to hospital where I understand she is still receiving care.

'I don't know how old she but I do know that if she had successfully given birth then it would have been the first baby born at the festival for 11 years.'

The pregnant woman is not the only festival-goer to have needed hospital treatment. Three people have been sent home with suspected swine flu.

 

Two students from Edinburgh and Exeter universities, and a 10-year-old child from a family of four were all taken to isolation facilities after being diagnosed. They then went back to their homes.

 

 

More...

 

 

• This one's for you, Michael: Lily Allen performs white glove tribute to Jacko at Glastonbury
  
• Pixie Geldof shows off her poetic side at Glastonbury as she unveils another tattoo
  

 

Festival spokesman Christo Hird said: 'Three unconnected people were taken off-site, straight to an isolation unit on the advice of the doctor and have now gone home.

 

'They presented with symptoms. All medical staff have been fully briefed. The view of the chief medical officer is that they had this before turning up.

 

'This was anticipated. There is no more risk here than anywhere. The figure of three in 177,000 people is regarded as very low.'

No other revellers had presented with symptoms, he said.

 

A medical team of 600 is on hand to deal with medical emergencies. The medical staff at the festival said they had expected to see people with possible swine flu because of the numbers at the event so were well prepared.

Festival-goers took the news without panic and many felt the news was inevitable.

 

Susan Monaghan, a 45-year-old gardener from Windsor, said: 'I thought it was going to happen. It's not very serious anyway. If I was worried I wouldn't have come here!'

Clare Meins, 30, a housewife from Surrey, said: 'No I'm not worried. There are a large number of people from lots of different places gathered at Glastonbury.

'As with the flu, it will attack the vulnerable. But I don't see myself as vulnerable. Life's too short to live in fear.'

[squareonefivesix]

BBC introducing links...

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/glastonbury/2009/artists/goldheartassembly/

[Black Rose]

Wonder if David's finished his first mudbath yet............................. :P

 

Mud?

 

Apart from a lovely thunder storm Thursday night and some light rain on the Friday it was sunny, by Saturday lunchtime most of the mud had dried up so that on Sunday it was a change of footwear from walking boots to trainers.

 

I arrive on site around 5pm on the Wednesday, along with 100,000 other people and left around midnight on the Sunday.

[Black Rose]

My report on the organised chaos known as Glastonbury festival, I arrived on the Wednesday evening around 17:00 after taking an hour to move the last 2 miles by car due to traffic, and finding a lovely spot to camp in Kidney Mead (http://www.gfhl09.com/data/image/fineguide_09m.jpg), and after camping and resting for a while drinking lots of water because god it was hot with the sun bearing down on the site, but eventually around 7pm I went for a walk around the site, just on a large circle, I can't remember which routes I took, but I ended up around the stone circle and in the viewing area on the edge right at the bottom end of the site, looking over the site with the sunset and just relaxing in the sun and getting bearings where all the stages are this year. I returned to my tent around 10pm, when i tried to go to sleep, getting around 3/4 hours over the night,

 

On Thursday morning I got up and had another walk around the site, sitting down at the meeting point in the village to read the day's newspapers until 10:30 when I went to the cinema tent with quite a few other thousand or so people to watch a film to get out of the sun into a hot closed off tent, originally it was meant to be Madagascar 2 but for some reason it wasn't to be and so the film was Bolt in 2D. After Bolt had finished I went back to my tent to get some bits and bobs and was going to see Maximo Park opening the festival up in the Queen's head, however by 3:20 quite a lot of people was already out by the tent waiting for the doors to open, so I went to see The Boat that Rocked and straight afterwards Yes Man, taking me to 8pm roughly, the next hour or so I can't remember what I did but I ended up in my tent around 9:30 just before the storm, and slept like a log.

 

Until 3/4 when I awoke when I felt wet, i looked around and the ground of the tent was wet, the sleeping bag was wet, I was wet, the pillow was wet, my bags were dry because I had put them in black sacks, I had to get out, so a brief change of clothes to something dry, I went to the wagon shed welfare where I spent for 4/5 hours in a comfy armchair in the dry and warm place. Afterwards I went back to my tent to try and find the source of the leak, which i did, one of the joints at the bottom of the tent had leaked water into the tent which the sleeping bag had soaked up, meaning for the next 2 nights I had to sleep in the church!

 

Right onto Friday day, I didn't fancy any of the bands which were playing on the stages, so I went for a walk ending up in the Green Futures field, which is well worth a visit, after 2 hours or so, I ended up in the Cabaret Marquee to get out of the rain, in which I saw Aisle16; Frank Oliver & The Early Edition. I can't remember much of the first 2 acts, but the Early Edition is where Marcus Brigstocke, Phill Jupitus, Andre Vincent and Carrie Quinlan took the days newspapers and the daily mail and basically spent an hour making jokes out of the news plus Jacko. Afterwards i went out and caught a bit of Regina Specktor on the pyramid stage I went walking towards the other stage for some unknown reason, where I caught the "who's playing" board on the side of a small stage of a cafe, the Dirty Boots Cafe tent, where I saw the end of the girl who was performing (can't remember whom) before watching 7 piece band Broken Records doing their think, and making the rain stop!

 

Afterwards i went up-to the Park, getting lost on the way up there (going right instead of left) where I caught the new Supergrass Covers Project (whatever they are called) doing a "secret" gig, which was pretty good, afterwards I wanted to see who the 2nd secret gig was going to be in an hours time, so I went up the ribbon tower and afterwards relaxed and had a bit of food in a little carriage thingie, when I went to see The Dead Weather where i was overly disappointed with them. After their set I set off on the long journey towards the Acoustic stage where i got there in time to see Jason Mraz start, well I didn't see in as I spent the majority of his set laying down on the grass getting some rest. Same with Fairport Convention, but for Ray Davies I was up on my feet singing my heart out to kinks classics. :D

 

After-wards around midnight, I headed off to the Stone Circle with several over people for a Jacko remembrance by candle-light, can't remember anything of it though, but in the end I ended up in the church getting shelter, and had a good night sleep.

 

I will write up Saturday & sunday later and post pictures later k, but for the meanwhile what I saw on those 2 days

 

Saturday:

The Broken Family Band (Other)

The Low Anthem (The Park)

Early Edition (Cabaret Marquee)

Donald Grant (Cabaret Marquee)

Attila the Stockbroker (Cabaret Marquee)

Fyfe Dangerfield plus band (Queen’s Head)

Broken Records (Queen’s Head)

Get up stand up (Futureheads, Marcus Brigstocke, Tony Benn & Ed Byrne) (Blazing Saddle)

Klaxons (Park)

Bruce Springsteen & the E Street band (pyramid)

 

After Bruce I ended up in Trash City/Shangri-La, until around 2:30, can’t remember anything in these times.

 

Sunday:

Up 3D (Cinema Tent)

The Mummers (Avalon)

Glenn Tilbrook (solo) (Avalon)

Get up Stand up (can’t remember names of the comics doing show) (Cabaret)

Vegabond (Queen’s Head)

A bit of Dodgy (Avalon)

Stewart Pemberton (Cabaret)

Josie long (Cabaret)

Mitch Benn (Cabaret)

The Aliens (Queen’s head)

Glebeland Fire Spectacular

[bjaiken]

Cool, a review from Glastonbury. I was waiting to read about it in a magazine, but this is even better. I look forward to hearing about the other days :)

[mc_squared]

soaked up, meaning for the next 2 nights I had to sleep in the church!

 

 

So this year it sounds like it was truly a "religious" experience!!:P

[Black Rose]

So this year it sounds like it was truly a "religious" experience!!:P

 

You could say that

[Black Rose]

Cool, a review from Glastonbury. I was waiting to read about it in a magazine, but this is even better. I look forward to hearing about the other days :)

 

The majority of the magazine reviews focus on the music side of Glastonbury, and more on the main stages, in which I kept away from this year because I wanted to discover new music, I shall continue my random stuff about saturday/sunday/monday later tonight or so

[Black Rose]

A bit late, but the 2nd half of my glastonbury 2009 report:

 

Right, I left the report action over Friday night, sleeping in the church, so i got up, went to the nice flushing toilet trailers (proper toilets on a trailer), and after collecting my camera case (containing camera, debit card, driving license, cash, car keys, phone, batteries) from the CND property lock-ups where I dropped it off before going to sleep (just to be on the safe side), I purchased a copy of that days Guardian on account of it being the only newspaper for sale, picked up a copy of the day's Q daily thingie, and sat down on on the benches opposite the pyramid stage, watching/listening as the roadies sound-checked the boss's equipment and watching the days litter collection (50 or so people in a line moving down the field picking up the litter from the Friday shows, a never-ending job. This took me to around half ten, when after a quick visit to my tent to pick up some new clothes and drop off the newspapers I went off to the Other stage to see The Broken Family Band. I can't remember much of the band themselves, so lets' move onto the Park, after getting there this time without getting lost, to see The Low Anthem, previewing songs from their new album, the 3 piece who can play a lot of different instruments were pretty good, good enough to warrant the purchase of said new album on my return home.

 

After the Low Anthem, i had 20 minutes to get from the Park to the Cabaret Marquee for the days Early Edition, similar to the Friday set-up, but with more Jacko, and more jokes about how Marcus got booed coming onto the pyramid stage on the Friday after NERD got cut short. After that, I stayed in the tent, because I had nothing better to do, and watched Donald Grant who did something with something, and Attila the Stockbroker who is a poet. After this, I exited the tent and made my way back to my own tent, to pick up some more biscuits, and came across the Lions test match against South Africa being played live on the Village screens, so after getting though to my tent, I gave up trying to get back though to get to the Queen's head, so I did a circle getting to the Queen's head after the first song of Fyfe Dangerfield and his new band (Fyfe Dangerfield from Guillemots, they are having a break as he is doing a solo album), I stayed in the tent for Broken Records, whom I recommend cos they are brilliant.

 

After Broken Records, I had another spot of the day when I didn't really fancy any of the bands on the program, so i went for a walk, and when I was around the Blazing Saddle stage, in the circus arena, I overheard that the futureheads would be playing as a part of an event called "Get up stand up", so after watching the Futureheads, Tony Benn (living legend), Marcus Brigstocke & Ed Byrne talking about stuff. After this surprise, I went off to the Park stage for the special guests, which were meant to be Coldplay, but turned out to be Klaxons, but that a bit later, as I had a good hour or so to make the journey from Blazing Saddles to the Park, so I went via the Viewing Area to just be blown away by the side again, and visited the tea-tree house, which is a tea-house, but in a tree, because I had run out of water. So back to Klaxons, they did an okay set I would guess, nothing special, good outfits though.

 

After the Klaxons, I went to the Pyramid stage to watch Bruce Springsteen & the E Street band, for 2 hours 40 minutes, beating the record for longest set by 10 minutes (beating Travis in Feb 08). At the arena is was a game of getting close to the front avoiding litter, people, and chairs, and getting into an area where I could watch the massive TV screens without too many flags getting in the way. After Bruce had finished, I went to the Trash City /Shangri-La area of the festival site, where I can remember what I did during the 2 hours, as the next thing I knew I woke up in the Church tent around 6am with a need to go to the toilet ASAP.

 

After that I came back, and went back to sleep for another couple hours, before getting up, handing back the blankets, going to the toiler for a 2nd time, cos I had drunk too much water on the Saturday and not enough food, well you get the story as my body was flushing the water out...

 

I signed out my camera case from the lock-up, took a look to see what was in there, and noticed that nothing had gone, which was a good thing, still couldn't remember a thing what happened overnight, I went to my tent, sorted the insides out, packed everything up and exited the festival and went to the car...

 

...Where after getting lost going to the car, and putting my tent, bags etc into the boot, changing clothes for the last time after giving myself a good body spray with some deodorant cos I was smelling, changed my boots to trainers, because all but the really bad mud had dried out and my feet were hurting cos the boots were heavy. I went back to the festival site, with just a day-bag, but forgetting to pack a jumper/waterproof thingie in the bag (more on this later), and went to the cinema tent in the hope of watching Up, the latest film by Pixar.

 

However I was running late due to getting lost, so by the time I got to the tent it was full, which was a disappointment, and so is the end of this 2nd part of my report, which ends now.

 

3rd part later hopefully :D

[Black Rose]

And for the third part which was thrown together at work.

 

Part 3, the Sunday/Monday.

 

Right I left my report on the Sunday morning around 11am, after getting back from the East car-park number 5 (which if you look on a map is pretty much in the middle between gates B&C), where getting to the cinema tent for the Up showing it was full as they run out of the 3D glasses, however they said to come back for 1pm as another showing was going to be put on place instead of the film they were going to show. So I had 2 hours free, and didn’t really have a plan, so walking to the Guardian Lounge to pick up a copy of the days newspaper, plus via a café to get some food, as I was hungry. I sat outside the cinema tent for a good hour or so, just reading the newspaper and all its various parts, and god the guardian is a boring read. So around 12:30 me plus a couple hundred other people lined up to get into the cinema as the litter pickers did their job in picking up the rubbish inside the tent.

 

Up was a great film, although due to my eyes I can’t really watch films in 3D as the 3D effect doesn’t work, so afterwards around 2:30-ish I went to the Avalon tent in the Avalon fields, via the travelling insect circus truck, to watch the mummers, which I can’t remember much as I was there for Teddy Thompson, only to find out that he had pulled out and as a last minute replacement Glenn Tilbrook from Squeeze doing a solo show, playing a mix of Squeeze classics and some songs from his solo albums, plus a Jimi Hendrix cover, for some of the songs he was joined onstage with his 6 year old son banging the bongos (wearing some heavy-duty earphones), which was a good moment. After Glenn had finished, I went back, heading towards the Queen’s Head, but ended up in the Cabaret tent for some stand-up, plus a bloke called Ivan doing hospital radio, which was pretty funny. Afterwards I went to the Queen’s head to see Vegabond who were good, a similar set to when I saw them in Southampton in late June.

 

When I got out of the Queen’s Head it had gotten cold and was lightly raining, so instead of heading back towards Avalon stage straight away, I went back to somewhere I visited on Friday, where they had a lot of ex-military coats, where I quite liked the look of one of the coats, a black ex-German jacket, which was in my size, so after parting with some notes I came out in a lovely black jacket, so I headed back towards the Avalon stage where the problems of the morning made a comeback (never drink 4 litres of water and only eat a handful of biscuits, your body doesn’t like it) so I headed to one of the trench toilets which was not that nice. So after that I headed back towards the Avalon tent, which was fun of people singing to Dodgy (staying out for the summer, good enough etc), which was good to listen to some classic 1990s songs. After this I had the decision to go to either the Queen’s Head for the magic numbers or to the Cabaret tent for Mitch Benn. After thinking for 5 seconds I went to the Cabaret tent because by this time my legs were pretty tired and I wanted a sit-down. In the Cabaret tent I watched Stewart Pemberton who did something and Josie Long a stand-up who was funny. Mitch Benn is someone who writes comedy songs for a BBC Radio show, so a mix of stand-up, Glastonbury related jokes about years gone by, some songs and everything sounds like coldplay these days, which is a bit outdated as some of the bands mentioned no longer exist (RIP Morning Runner), or have been quiet (Embrace) or changed sounds (Keane, Snow Patrol), although didn’t I hear that there was another Thirteen Senses album coming out?

 

After Mitch Benn, I went to the Queen’s head for my final band of the weekend, picking the Aliens (aka The Beta Band Mk 2) over Blur, on account of watching Blur the following Friday at Hyde Park, which was a rave, and a right uplift for the night ahead, throwing out glow-sticks, in which I managed to get 2, which was wicked. After the Aliens I was alive, and going out to the sound of Parklife from the Pyramid Stage, started the long walk back to the car-park, however I watched the fire spectacular at Glebeland, which was something special in itself. So around 23:20 I left the site for another year, however the real fun was to start as heading back to the car-park, I was talking to some other festival goers about their favourite moments, I missed the turning I needed to take and ended up in the campervan fields, so after 10 minutes trying to find a hole in the outside fence to get to the actual car-parks, I headed back, ended up going into a large mud puddle (I think it was mud), and found the path back to the car part of the Eastern car-parks, where it was a fun case of trying to find East 5 and my car, there were lights but the large land-rover I had parked next-to and was looking for had gone, so 10 minutes down the line I finally found my car, yay.

 

But this wasn’t the end of my problems, as my car puts down a lot of torque at low revs, on slightly wet long-grass, my traction control was flashing up quite a bit trying to get out of the grass back onto the track, which is when my bad-luck turned around, as instead of having to turn left and getting stuck in more traffic exiting the car-parks, E5,E6&E7 were to turn right, back along the tracks/metal running wash-board which I came into the car-park on, so 5 minutes later, after the traffic lights had changed to green, I was back on the A37 heading South-West, back home, back to my comfy bed, back to warm showers, back to a massive pile of post and 150 emails (plus 1000+ spam). However it wasn’t all clear-motoring, as campervans are slow, the A37 is an evil ‘high-risk’ road with hardly any safe overtaking points, with speed cameras everywhere. Plus the highways agency had decided on one of the busiest nights of the year (your looking at a good 60,000+ vehicles) heading back along the A303 to do night works on 2 parts of the carriageway causing some lovely tailbacks. Nevertheless at around 1:30 I arrived home, unlocked the front door taking in my camera case, locking the door, going upstairs and into my bed, in which I slept for a 10 hours not waking up until after mid-day, in which Monday was spent doing some shopping, emptying out my car, putting the tent up in the garden to wash it, and washing the clothes, plus having an overdue shave & shower etc.

 

So this has been my rough report on my weekend, trying to go off some of my rough notes trying to remember has been hard with some stuff already forgotten and the time, but as for Glastonbury 2010, hopefully I will get tickets, as my brother says he wouldn’t mind coming.