Glastonbury Festival - 50 years old

[Shit Good Nose]

Apparently his bus got stuck in the mud approaching the site - not sure whether to believe that or not.

I can believe it - I've never seen so much deep and sticky mud in my life, before or since, or anything coming anywhere close to it, and it just got worse and worse as the festival went on.  Several acts who were performing Saturday night and Sunday were coming in by helicopter, not to show off but because by then it was the only way you could easily get in and out of the site.  At the end of the festival, tractors had to tow out a load of cars that were parked in one of the large lower fields ("drainage problems surr" etc) cos they'd just sunk a few inches having not been touched for several days.  IIRC, they were still getting cars out of that lower field for most of the following few days.


Several of my friends still go, but all bar one or two say it's a shadow of its former self these days, and since Emily Eavis has pretty much taken over it has apparently lost quite a lot of that personal touch it's always been known for in the world of festivals.  She doesn't like having it there (someone I know on the inside has told me she is almost entirely instrumental in the plans to move it to somewhere like Birmingham at some point in the near future) and has been trying for years to turn it more into a business.

[Harry Badger]

I can believe it - I've never seen so much deep and sticky mud in my life, before or since, or anything coming anywhere close to it, and it just got worse and worse as the festival went on.  Several acts who were performing Saturday night and Sunday were coming in by helicopter, not to show off but because by then it was the only way you could easily get in and out of the site.  At the end of the festival, tractors had to tow out a load of cars that were parked in one of the large lower fields ("drainage problems surr" etc) cos they'd just sunk a few inches having not been touched for several days.  IIRC, they were still getting cars out of that lower field for most of the following few days.


Several of my friends still go, but all bar one or two say it's a shadow of its former self these days, and since Emily Eavis has pretty much taken over it has apparently lost quite a lot of that personal touch it's always been known for in the world of festivals.  She doesn't like having it there (someone I know on the inside has told me she is almost entirely instrumental in the plans to move it to somewhere like Birmingham at some point in the near future) and has been trying for years to turn it more into a business.

The 1997 festival chaos I believe was more down to heavy rain saturating the ground in the week leading up to it but I could be wrong. 1998 started raining on the Thursday night and didn't stop til Sunday afternoon just in time for Nick Cave. Some areas were three foot deep in water. Fortunately me and my mate Howard saw this coming and snapped up the last two pairs of army surplus boots from some scouser's stall, my other two mates who just came in trainers had to leave, one of their dads driving from Bucks to pick them up. We saw it through like real men.

The 2002 one was the first one with the Colditz fence around it following an absurdly high number of gatecrashers in 2000 (rumoured to be as many as had actually paid). It was getting a bit out of hand numbers-wise but it was definitely more sedate in 2002. It now seems to be fully gentrified but it was certainly going that way before.

EDIT - me and a different group of mates did actually get towed out by a tractor at the much smaller Nozstock fest in 2015.

[Shit Good Nose]

The 1997 festival chaos I believe was more down to heavy rain saturating the ground in the week leading up to it but I could be wrong.

No, that's right - it didn't rain that much whilst we were there, and I think from Saturday afternoon (if not earlier) through to the end it was decent weather, but by then the "damage" was done and the fields were never drying because the ground was constantly being turned over by 90000 people.

And the number of mud pools that people were gleefully diving and sliding into, with me thinking "yeah, there'll be a LOT of shit in there - bovine and human".  It wasn't pretty.

[Icehaven]

She doesn't like having it there (someone I know on the inside has told me she is almost entirely instrumental in the plans to move it to somewhere like Birmingham at some point in the near future)

What? Where? Has she ever been to Birmingham? We really aren't that big on green space. Be great if they still offer free tickets to locals too as that'll eliminate the need to sell any.

[Head Gardener]

These are the full scans of the 1979 programme - performers included Peter Gabriel, Steve Hillage, Mother Gong, Tim Blake, John Martyn,
Tom Robinson, UK Subs, Sphynx, Sky, Footsbarn Theatre, Nona Hendryx, Alex Harvey, Leighton Buzzards, The Pop Group/The Slits and The Only Ones.

[Head Gardener]

A friend has just sent me some pics he took when we went in '83 - I've not seen these pics since the 80's!




Neil of The Young Ones


Rik Mayall & Neil

[Shit Good Nose]

What? Where? Has she ever been to Birmingham? We really aren't that big on green space. Be great if they still offer free tickets to locals too as that'll eliminate the need to sell any.

I'm assuming that's Birmingham in the sense that the NEC is in Birmingham, but it's just one of half a dozen or so locations they've/she's been looking at for the last couple of years.  It was looking like the Longleat estate was the most likely location when they entered into talks about holding it there during the fallow year a little while back and, despite what the media reported, it was being looked as a permanent option for the future, but due to various reasons (the main one being local residents not keen on having two things that attract hundreds of thousands of visitors every summer) that fell through.

[ollyboro]

A Glastonbury ticket in 1970 cost about £16 in 2019 prices. A quick Google tells me a ticket in 2019 cost about £250 plus a fiver booking fee. And no free milk.

[Endicott]

I'm not trying to justify the ticket price of £250, but there are a LOT more bands to pay for now, and they are bigger more expensive bands.

[ollyboro]

And fewer cows.

[Icehaven]

I'm assuming that's Birmingham in the sense that the NEC is in Birmingham, but it's just one of half a dozen or so locations they've/she's been looking at for the last couple of years.  It was looking like the Longleat estate was the most likely location when they entered into talks about holding it there during the fallow year a little while back and, despite what the media reported, it was being looked as a permanent option for the future, but due to various reasons (the main one being local residents not keen on having two things that attract hundreds of thousands of visitors every summer) that fell through.

The NEC (or whatever sponsor it's named after this week) is about half the size of the field the main stage is in. And where would all the other stages go? Or is the whole idea to downsize it enormously? It wouldn't be "moving Glastonbury", it would just be a completely different festival with nothing of the appeal it currently has, it makes no sense. If she can't be arsed with it anymore then fine but you can't move a festival named after near where it's held to miles away, completely change how it's staged then try and sell it as the same thing, it'd be a shadow of itself.

[bomb_dog]

If telly footage has been anything to go by, Glastonbury = cunts with flags.

[Shit Good Nose]

The NEC (or whatever sponsor it's named after this week) is about half the size of the field the main stage is in. And where would all the other stages go? Or is the whole idea to downsize it enormously? It wouldn't be "moving Glastonbury", it would just be a completely different festival with nothing of the appeal it currently has, it makes no sense. If she can't be arsed with it anymore then fine but you can't move a festival named after near where it's held to miles away, completely change how it's staged then try and sell it as the same thing, it'd be a shadow of itself.

I think you're taking my "Birmingham" and "NEC" quotes too literally - for "Birmingham" read "greater area" and for "NEC" read "I don't mean slap bang in the town centre".  Plus I never suggested that the NEC itself was an option, I was just using its relevant location to Birmingham town as an example of distance. 

There's a lot of greenbelt all around Birmingham with ample room compared to the current site.  And, besides (and as I said), Birmingham is only one of several options they are looking at.  What she (apparently) wants is somewhere that is more central and accessible and also a bit more futureproof when it comes to expansion of the site - they are approaching the absolute maximum limit of people and things they can have at the current site, and buying up and/or renting surrounding land from neighbouring farms (which is what they've been doing since the late 70s as its got bigger) isn't going to be an available option for much longer.  One of the other big problems is the current health and safety regs limit the maximum number of people relevant to the available responsive emergency services in the area, and the only way they can get around that problem without moving is to increase the local services (that is legitimate services - volunteers don't count, neither does St Johns Ambulance or PCSOs, etc), which obviously they can't do.

The Glastonbury name will be retained regardless of where it ends up being held, as that's now the official name of the festival and the business/organisation.  But then it's never been in Glastonbury anyway, so she won't worry too much about that - it's the brand that's important.


Don't get me wrong, even though I have absolutely no desire to ever go to another one, I've got a very dim view of what she's (allegedly) trying to do with the future of the festival, and it's only her dad's stubbornness which is keeping it at Worthy Farm - he sees people enjoying themselves in a party atmosphere in a goodwill/charity setting, she sees pound signs and corporate sponsorship.

[thugler]

This Emily Eavis stuff sounds a lot like a bunch of crusties making up rumours to be honest. I doubt very much the festival will move or stop being a charitable endeavor in the future, I don't see how they could get away with it really. I'm not that keen on her more youth/pop oriented booking of acts, but I've not seen any reason to doubt her motives. Aren't they pretty loaded anyway?

They could easily have got rid of tons of the more old school/crusty/charity driven elements of the site but they have largely remained, despite not being not hugely popular.

[Shit Good Nose]

This Emily Eavis stuff sounds a lot like a bunch of crusties making up rumours to be honest. I doubt very much the festival will move or stop being a charitable endeavor in the future, I don't see how they could get away with it really. I'm not that keen on her more youth/pop oriented booking of acts, but I've not seen any reason to doubt her motives. Aren't they pretty loaded anyway?

They could easily have got rid of tons of the more old school/crusty elements of the site but they have largely remained, despite not being not hugely popular.

It's not crusties making up rumours, it's from a friend of mine's husband who works on the legal and financial side of the business (and that's giving away more than I probably should).  I never said it would stop being a charitable endeavour, I just said Emily Eavis has plans to make it more of a business.  Plus the Birmingham move was first announced (as a fallow-year alternative) to the media in 2016 - https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/glastonbury-festival-move-midlands-2019-12345255 (which didn't actually happen in the end).  Since then it's being considered as an option for permanent residency.

The festival doesn't make as much money as you think - their "profit" is £1-2million every year/festival, which isn't a massive amount of money in relative terms given the size of the business, and that money is split between running the farm (most people forget/don't realise that Worthy Farm is still a working dairy farm for the rest of the year) and ploughing into the next year's festival.  All of the artists who play it take a massive pay cut as well (Michael Eavis has always said if they had to pay the artists' full going rate, the festival would never happen).  In big business events terms it would be considered as breaking even.

[Pancake]

Was more of a scrotty Reading guy but went once in 2007, loved the whole thing, first half was wetter than yer ma, second half dried out nicely, was never scorching, saw Arcade Fire, Bjork, tried to see Spriritualized acoustic but got lost, can't remember much else, as it should be!

Ending on a slight downer, felt like shite, drizzly monday morning, long queue for coach, ran out of drink, ran out of baccy, starving, coach was bout 400 degrees, and the driver said she couldn't guarantee we'd do a stop (back to london), glory be she stopped at Reading services and I inhaled two Family Buckets in less than 10 mins, bliss

[Pancake]

If telly footage has been anything to go by, Glastonbury = cunts with flags.

The flag cunts hang around in front of the main stage all weekend so you're free to see all the decent stuff without them and their flower crowns and vests with the australian flag printed on the front

[thugler]

It's not crusties making up rumours, it's from a friend of mine's husband who works on the legal and financial side of the business (and that's giving away more than I probably should).  I never said it would stop being a charitable endeavour, I just said Emily Eavis has plans to make it more of a business.  Plus the Birmingham move was first announced (as a fallow-year alternative) to the media in 2016 - https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/glastonbury-festival-move-midlands-2019-12345255 (which didn't actually happen in the end).  Since then it's being considered as an option for permanent residency.

The festival doesn't make as much money as you think - their "profit" is £1-2million every year/festival, which isn't a massive amount of money in relative terms given the size of the business, and that money is split between running the farm (most people forget/don't realise that Worthy Farm is still a working dairy farm for the rest of the year) and ploughing into the next year's festival.  All of the artists who play it take a massive pay cut as well (Michael Eavis has always said if they had to pay the artists' full going rate, the festival would never happen).  In big business events terms it would be considered as breaking even.

Fair play, that's a bit of a shame if true.

[Shit Good Nose]

Fair play, that's a bit of a shame if true.

I should be adding a lot more "ALLEGEDLY"s, just in case...

(I'm sure browsing a music sub-forum on a niche comedy forum for posts about her is what Emily Eavis spends most of her down-time doing)

[Pancake]

Better to kill it off than to move it, trecking down to the arse end of nowhere is part of the Glasto experience

[earl_sleek]

Is it still worth going to? I went to Reading a couple of times in my early 20s, IoW once and decided festivals weren't my thing, but people are always banging on about Glastonbury being different. If that's true I wouldn't mind giving it a punt.

[Head Gardener]

The Smiths were added at the last minute


sorry, no idea who this is



Ian Dury & The Blockheads were outstanding!



The Boomtown Rats were not a big draw on the main stage



Echo & The Bunnymen were a highlight



no idea who this is



The Pogues?



aftermath

[Pancake]

Is it still worth going to? I went to Reading a couple of times in my early 20s, IoW once and decided festivals weren't my thing, but people are always banging on about Glastonbury being different. If that's true I wouldn't mind giving it a punt.

It's more varied, more freaky, more open, more anything goes than the rest with their heavy sponsorship and barriers stopping you take your own booze in to watch bands, but it's still a festival, so I'm not sure it's uniqueness will mitigate that fact if you're not into camping and shitting into a big hole in the ground

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Hey, HG,  were you at the 1986 Glasters? Remember the Pogues set , and the anti-nuclear type CND speakers who came on stage beforehand, who basically got heckled, and some feller came onstage to tell everyone off? Were you at the front for that performance? Did you lose your shoes?
I have fond memories of that Glasters, particularly of being right at the very front of the pyramid stage ( as you've mentioned before, none of that barricade nonsense in them days), and enjoying the performance of That Petrol Emotion, who opened with a cover of Pere Ubu's " Non Alignment Pact ", and having a nice view of the singer's bollocks, as he was wearing quite a skimpy pair of shorts.

[Head Gardener]

Hey, HG,  were you at the 1986 Glasters? Remember the Pogues set , and the anti-nuclear type CND speakers who came on stage beforehand, who basically got heckled, and some feller came onstage to tell everyone off? Were you at the front for that performance? Did you lose your shoes?
I have fond memories of that Glasters, particularly of being right at the very front of the pyramid stage ( as you've mentioned before, none of that barricade nonsense in them days), and enjoying the performance of That Petrol Emotion, who opened with a cover of Pere Ubu's " Non Alignment Pact ", and having a nice view of the singer's bollocks, as he was wearing quite a skimpy pair of shorts.

yes I did go to 86 and saw The Pogues, was it not Bruce Kent the CND leader onstage? The memories which stand out were the lightshows, bands like Level 42 and Psychedelic Furs were just incredible to see down the spiral of a green lazer beam tunnel, just mind-blowing! And the films in the cinema area were good this year too with Dune, Blues Brothers and Monty Python's Meaning Of Life keeping me awake and giggling at 3am, or maybe it was that mushroom tea and thankfully I lost no shoes.

[Lisa Jesusandmarychain]

Cor, was it Bruce Kent himself? I distinctly remember some feller on stage saying " Why are you here? " to the Pogue- awaiting punters, he was not impressed.Plenty of good stuff at that year's festival, along with the aforementioned two bands , you had the likes of the Go- Betweens, Loudon Wainwright the Third, Microdisney, The whole Vindaloo Records lot ( Nightingales, Chippington, Fuzzbox), Gil- Scott Heron, The Inevitable Billy Bragg, Half Man Half Biscuit, Lloyd Cole, etc. None of that BBC coverage in those days.

[Head Gardener]

it's seems ridiculous that hardly any footage has surfaced from the 80's festivals as it wasn't like cameras hadn't been invented FFS

[Shit Good Nose]

it's seems ridiculous that hardly any footage has surfaced from the 80's festivals as it wasn't like cameras hadn't been invented FFS

Even early 90s footage is a bit thin on the ground.  Would dearly love to see Peter Gabriel's 94 set with Billy Cobham depping for Manu Katche on drums, but all there is is about a minute of audience shakycam.

[Puce Moment]

It's not even possible to get the 1994 Channel 4 coverage of the festival, except for some VHS transfers on youtube.

[Cuntbeaks]

It's not even possible to get the 1994 Channel 4 coverage of the festival, except for some VHS transfers on youtube.

Was living in Derby in 1994 and was keen to go that year to see Orbital. Couldn't be arsed in the end, but the Channel 4 footage of Orbital was superb, it seemed to capture the intensity and euphoria the could create as a live band back then.