Chapter 11. 1993. All Tomorrow’s Party’s.
If anyone tells you that it is always rainy and muddy at
Glastonbury don’t believe them because after 1990 it didn’t rain again until
1997. In 1993 we were all back again in the same area of the site and it was
another scorching hot year. Near us in 93 there was a burger van, it was
designed to look like a great big burger. A man served burgers from it for
about six days. By Sunday night he looked completely frazzled. I think anybody
would after spending nearly a week inside a burger!
Lou Reed was back again for the second year running but
this time as part of a reformed Velvet Underground. We were really looking
forward to seeing one of the most influential bands of all time. Sadly though,
they didn’t live up to expectations. To me they sounded tinny and dated.
Thousands of people had gone along to see them after reading about how
important they were, but after a few songs people started leaving to go to
other stages. It must have been very disappointing for the band seeing the
audience start to leave. The other thing for me was that there was no Nico
because she was a major part of what made them great but unfortunately Nico had
died five years earlier. At Glasto John Cale did all of Nico’s vocals but it
wasn’t the same. The setlist included Sweet Jane, All Tomorrow's Parties, Venus
in Furs, Beginning to See the Light, Heroin, White Light/White Heat, Rock &
Roll, I'm Waiting for the Man and several others that I can’t remember now. The
Velvets broke up again shortly after that tour of 93 and Sterling Morrison died
in 95.
I went to the Theatre Tent with Dominic to see Attilla The
Stockbroker with John Otway. I had Otway’s autobiography on my bookstall and I
thought if I got Otway to sign it I would get more money for it, but I didn’t
get the opportunity. They were hilarious though. The highlight for me was Otway
singing ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’ and Attilla translating it into German. At
the end Attilla said that he had heard that Otway had voted Conservative in the
election, so he gave him several headbutts by bashing his head into the
microphone. Another act that I really enjoyed was Christy Moore who was on the
Pyramid Stage before Lenny Kravitz and The Kinks. Christy’s first song was
‘Welcome To The Cabaret’ and Christy said in his self-deprecating manner. “Thank
you very much ladies and gentlemen for coming along to hear The Kinks and Lenny
Kravitz and Christy Moore, I’ve never heard of him before!”.
The stone circle had been put in place in Kings Meadow in
92 which became a very popular area for watching the sunrise from. We used to
spend a lot of time up at that end of the site which was much more peaceful
than down in the Babylon of the main arena. There was a nice wine place in the
Field of Avalon. I think it was called Avalon Organic Wine which was cheaper
than from the other wine outlets which charged £8 for a plastic half size
bottle. The other place we really liked was the Acoustic Stage which was nice
and shady from the hot sun. I enjoyed lots of bands in there but often I didn’t
have a clue who they were. Sharon Shannon was playing in there though on her
accordion. I was so impressed I bought one of her albums called Blackbird.
There was a band on in 93 who we knew from Wiltshire called
Citizen Fish. The singer was Dick who was also in the Sub-Humans. I think they
played on the Avalon Stage. I never saw them, but we met Dick wandering around
in the crowd one evening and had a bit of a chat. There were lots of great acts
that year such as Robert Plant, The Verve, The Orb, Midnight Oil, Stereo MC’S,
Teenage Fanclub and many more but my memory of it all is very hazy. Van
Morrison did his usual Sunday afternoon slot and one thing I particularly
remember about that was Kate St John doing the G-L-O-R-I-A elocution lessons
during Gloria. I think Van finished his usual brilliant set with All In The Game,
In The Garden and Daring Night. I always used the feeling that musically the
festival was over for me after seeing Van. Nothing could top Van The Man.
People had continued to pour over the fence in 93. If the
official figure was 100,000 people, you can be sure the actual attendance was
at least 150.000. It was hard for people to find room to put a tent up. It was
so crowded, tents were being put up right near the smelly toilets. In order to
get a licence for 94 Michael promised to build a double fence. This was to
prove both dramatic and painful for me personally. We were back again in 94 and
that year had another of my most memorable performances ever.