..As Glastonbury is such a mega-event and is so close to us here in Wells , and my 2 daughters (`Mandi and `Beck ) insist that I go with them .. (..San and Little Joe do not want to experience the `notorious` Glasto` latrines ever again having done so once ..! ) .. I thought it would be interesting to get a locals view of the whole event and put up here on our website.. and also say who was really good and put up lots of pics too...well I think it would be interesting.. so i`m gonna do it! .. `Beck has done a great pastel of the above picture which I will put up here soon and I should start to do some too..
this is the infamous Glastonbury `Ring of Steel` going up - surrounding `Worthy Farm` ..a huge steel wall totally enclosing the festival site which supposedly you cant get over or through or under!..though many still try! The security is a bit like `Colditz` ! But a few years ago before all of this security on one Sunday afternoon tens of thousands of locals and others all piled in through non-existant borders and there was about 200,000 people there.. not very safe !
Friday:
Heres the view again on a manky Friday morning..
..1`st band on as the clouds gather..cant remember who they were but they were ok!
..Gogol Bordello were the excellent Gypsy punks and they started in a little sunlight but then the clouds opened and we were soon drenched and frozen.. and couldnt even stay till the end of Gogol because we decided to take refuge in the John Peel tent miles away..
..where from our soggy seats this was all the view we had of `Good Shoes`.. but they sounded real good
....and outside it was still like this so we were quite happy with our seats..
Luckily the sun started to come out
..but now the entire festival site was like this! A total smelly swamp..( Beck in her new Glasto` top )
.. So back to the music and one of the best of the day was The Coral on `the Other stage`
..Going to be a long day for this one ..not sure I`d recommend it
but it became a super evening with a lovely sunset , just a bit cold and damp..and only 3 more hours of sloshing about in the swamp to go then hoping the van wasnt stuck in the mud at midnight.!
Phew.. 2 more days to go..
Saturday:
More rain in the morning - more rain drowned us as we arrived whilst the Guillemots were on - the mud was much worse than yesterday - really thick and cloggy - tens of thousands too many people -and the van was stuck in a muddy field again - spent a couple of hours trying to move it to somewhere more sensible , then found we had to finish some work for a client who was calling at 7.30 Sunday morning and so left the girls - worked 4 hours -set of at 8.00 and finally got in at 9.40 at night..very trying ..so managed a few muddy night shots as follows:
..This is where and when we finally met up again by the `other` stage
a gateway through to another stage..( the glade apparently according to `Mandi )
one of the enticing and salubrious `al fresco` eateries!
..and the view available to `Beck as she finally had her supper of `mash & Yorkshire `pud`
..very tempting late at night , cold and grubby...not!
although this bar looked pretty tempting..
.. some of the performers attempting to move their instrument..
..and a robotic drummer in the Kids field ( along with loads of other creations)
and the last band on the smallest stage on the way out at midnight to gate C ( rather sparsly attended compared to tjhe Killers on the pyramid stage !)
Sundays weather forecast is not good.. Its like a 3 day assault course..oh well..
Sunday...
..started with bucketfuls of rain again ! So `Beck and I decided the best course of action was to stay home for the big Sunday roast lunch on offer and then head off to the battlefield - I mean `Festival` suitably well-nourished.. This worked out real well because we ended up in one of the last `parking` fields left right next to the main road and not miles away in the middle of nowhere in a swamp!
..So as we arrived loads of people were already leaving because it was work again next day
..and as we arrived there was this last glimpse of the Sun..before
..the rain clouds started to gather again..At this point `Beck said that the Go Team were starting soon on the other stage so we trudged off 1/2 a mile through the mud to find the little `blighter had tricked me and it was `Mika` on instead.. to stay there for the entire set was above and beyond the call of duty...never have I had to suffer such unmitigated purgatory.. 45 minutes suffering a screeching , posturing , appalling prancing nincompoop with such obnoxiuos peurile songs..
AARGH!!!! ( I admit I did boo a bit and yell `get off` but it didnt work and `Beck was pretending she didnt know me )
..this was the view the other way! Rather an uphill battle!
so now the Go Team were on and the rain was settling in for the night..the high ground was not much better than the low ground.. We left `Mandi (in green ) here as night was falling to watch the View ( of which she had the same opinion of as I did of mika!) whilst `Beck and I went to the Dance tent East for Pendulum..
...so whilst the music was good , noisy and raucus and the lighting was great and we were out of the rain , unfortunately we were also in a haze of a variety of smoke fumes, both normal nicotene and the more `herbal`and illegal varieties ..
..so after Pendulum out for some fresh air and off again along the sloshy track for what promised to be the highlight of the entire weekend and hopefully what would make it all worthwhile ...
No not the boring ` Who`....The Chemical Brothers on the Other stage!..
..And they sure did save the day.. or the weekend! Amazing set - tens of thousands there for them - as good as the final Orbital set here a few years ago..We didnt even notice all the rain with these on.. And at 1/2 past midnight it was like a tropical monsoon with the following Monday having as much rain in the day as is usual for the entire month of June ..phew..
following is a couple of pics by `Mandi ( who camped there for 4 days - brave kid!) on a rubbish cheap Kodak camera but with which she definately took the best `Glastonbury `Pic I`ve ever seen and so there is a big pop-up of it to set as your desktop background!
.. Sunrise on the first day from `Mandi`s doorstep
..either a joke or a very big hole!
and finally ..what a fantastic pic which sums-up `Glastonbury 2007`..It deserves a big prize which is that I won`t make her pay me back the £145.00 for her ticket!
:-) ( Joe did that last bit!)
