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I was there more for the company and environment than the music, so stuck to whatever my mates were aiming for... which unforunately meant that I missed some of the music I'd have liked to have heard (missed the One World and Leftfield stages entirely), but, seeing how truly ... er... what's the word... vivified I felt by the company I was keeping, I wouldn't have traded.
Saw Jon Carter (good remix of "Down to the River to Pray") and Chemical Bros. Damian Rice, Sigur Ros and Moby. Moby I know will get some sighs and shaking of heads; I think he put on a fantastic closing show, it was just fun pure and simple. And that fantastic little bandstand around the corner from Other Stage which they kept filled with folk bands. And whatever drum or didgeridoo was playing in Greenfields.
But, as said above I really wasn't there for the music.
Moments like:
Walking up through the sculpture gardens to the stone circle on the Saturday night. We plonked ourselves down with a load of garden candles, danced a bit to the 30 or so drummers and trumpeteers and watched the sun rise over the mountains. Each ray of light sparking off more cheers and celebrations from the crowd until the disc just pierced the sky... and the crowd goes wild! (at which point I accidently kicked some guy square in the head... He was lying down wearing a black robe in the shadows of the stones and I just didn't see him. On the offchance he happens to be reading this, I'm really really sorry!)
... or... wrapped up in sleeping bags and warm from the torches, stayed up watching the Rocky Horror in a big field at 3:30 on Sunday night. Dancing the time warp to anyone who emerged from the portaloos on the way back up to the tents.
And just chats and hugs with fantastic people, both familiar and strange... were the things I was looking for and, of course, found. So, yup gertrude, I hope that thought is sustainable.
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Advertising:
Actually it was the lack of advertising really struck me. No international franchise chains (well, apart from Budweiser but I don't think a micro-brewery could have handled the quanitity). Most of the food stalls were small owner-run businesses, I recognised a lot of them from Spitalfields or the Camden market, the water company getting the huge liscence deal was 'Glastonbury water'. The huge screens around the main stage didn't show any adverts between performances but instead showed short documentaries and music videos by Greenpeace and Oxfam.
The Orange tents I was perfectly happy with. I thought it was a sign of a well-executed compromise. Without their recharge facilities I don't think I would have been able to find my mates on the Sunday night. So they put up big Orange tents, they still provided an excellent and useful service.
Even the Q magazines I didn't really mind. They were free and someone always handed me one when I crawled out of my tent looking for coffee at about 8 or so each morning (irregular insomnia, my body didn't seem to mind the fact that I had only gone to sleep an hour or two previously). I was happy for the read, and to laugh at the personal ads ("Lost: One black and white cat. Partially deaf so please shout his name, answers to 'Bollocks'"). The magazine's 'outside world' section highlighted just how isolated the event was as well. I kept coming accross people wondering whether or not Hussein had actually been captured in a Greek resort.
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But yeah Shifter, the nature of the event did certainly change the further one went from the Pyramid Stage, no matter the direction. I was very surprised to see cops actually give someone a hard time about smoking a spliff in that area, but I guess they knew it really wasn't worth the hassle to go any further out.
But, this was my first one, I don't really have anything else to compare it to. But most of the people I spoke to felt that things had improved over recent years. Was there really that much of a change in the 'spirit' of the event?
Who/What did you guys see? |
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