So here we go. If you read my blog below I expect you would have guessed that a part of me had wanted to dislike Glastonbury. There is something about wanting to hate something after its been overhyped so when I was rudely awakened in the wee small hours of a rainy June morning I must admit I was grumpily muttering obscenities to myself and wondering whether it was all going to be worth the hassle.
We arrived in the car park at 6am the gates to the actual festival do not open until 8 I believe, the car journey onto the site itself was pleasantly pain free so by this point my mood had lifted slightly.
At about 6.15am I unfolded a camping chair and cracked open a can of strongbow (don't judge me please, neither for being an alcoholic nor being one that drinks strongbow, Im at a festival, rules are different :)
Unfortunately this was the low point really, as little did I know at this point that I was going to queue for no less than 4 hours in the rain, to get into the site itself. 4 hours is upsetting on its own but when you are carrying a rucksack with what feels like a ton of breeze blocks inside and attempting to drag a sack truck through the muddiest mud that Somerset can offer its certainly not something that will fill your heart with joy!
still smiling! :)
Finally we did get in and find a space to pitch our tent in an already heaving campsite (on a wednesday morning, bearing in mind the festival does not technically start until Friday).
The first thing I realised that this is a festival in its own league of festivals. The vastness of it is the aspect that strikes you first I think. The size of one of the fields is probably the size of the entire Reading festival arena. It seems to always take an hour to walk between stages, due to both the distance and the volume of people. It is therefore advisable to set off early if there is something specific you want to see!
The best advice I had before I left was, don't expect to be able to plan what bands you will watch, you will have a better experience if you let the festival take you where it wants to. The festival itself is like a small town. There are a variety of bars where you can actually sit on sofas and there is live music. Even if you were to simply sit in one of these for a day and miss the main headliners you would still have an awesome experience.
Also unlike your standard festival there are things to see and do almost as soon as the campsite opens. Usually if you were to arrive on a wednesday am you would be largely confined to your tent until the Friday when the arena opens and the festival officially kicks off. Here however there are bars playing music open from Wednesday eve so effectively you are getting two extra days of entertainment for your ticket price. Glastonbury suddenly was seeming better value for money.
My one issue is perhaps that I would like to see less of the likes of coldplay and U2 and more bands that are more to my taste. I very much enjoyed flogging molly but I would liked to have seen some more of the heavier bands. This is where Reading and Lowlands win for me. However it cannot be said that Glastonbury does not have an extremely diverse range of music so maybe I was in the wrong place at the wrong time I don't know.
If you are a dance/drum and bass/dubstep fan you will however been in your element as there is an entire arena, containing about 5 separate stages all devoted to such music which will keep you busy to the small hours.
In addition to the bars and stages there are the healing and greenpeace fields where you can see all sorts of weird and wonderful things. Perhaps try some dandelion vodka (but only if you have a strong gag reflex if you want my advice). There are also the circus and children's fields putting on an array of entertainment and street theatre until late.
Why not get your face painted especially if you have a friend who is afraid of people dressed up as cats.
Christina, doing her bit to make mullins feel uncomfortable!
Finally if you have the energy after a day of walking miles in the mud (so many miles I actually managed to lose weight!) you shouldn't go home without visiting Glastonbury's late night areas. Shangri-la, arcadia and the unfair ground.
We discovered these on our last night and I wish that we had found them a few nights earlier as they are something else. Nightclubs with buses crashed through the front and all sorts of crazy things
Sadly by this point I was a broken woman and managed only to wander round in awe for a bit before crying off to my tent!
In conclusion I have to concede that Glasto is the most impressive festival I have ever been to. I also heard that Reading was in the region of £190 to attend this year. When you consider that Glastonbury is not only 2 extra days long its probably 5 times the size of Reading - value for money wise its really a no brainer. Sorry Reading...its not you...its me.
In my heart Lowlands will always be my true love festival wise, I prefer its more intimate feel the fact its so offbeat and I've seen a more diverse range of music here without doing a half marathon between stages.
However would I go to Glastonbury again given the chance? Whilst I was so desperate to hate it. Your damn right I would, In a heartbeat.
See you in 2013 Mr Eavis :)
