My Glastonbury Festival Memories: Chapter 24, 2014

Chapter 24. 2014, Good Golly, It’s Dolly.

The big day had finally arrived. It was Wednesday 25th of June, the sun was shining, and I was heading back to Worthy Farm 35 years after my first Glastonbury Festival. Jacquie picked me up and drove me to the station. I caught the 8.56 train from Westbury to Castle Cary. The train was absolutely packed with excited music fans who were nearly all about 40 years younger than me but I didn't care. It is the likes of me who kept the festival going when it was an unfashionable hippy fest before the word spread about how magical Glastonbury is. I had to stand in the aisle all the way, but it only took about 20 minutes to get to the normally sleepy little station of Castle Cary but today it was busier than Paddington Station in London. About 1,000 people piled off the train and traipsed to the front of the station to the fleet of buses that took us to the festival site. I was sitting next to a man from Italy who had never been before, and I pointed out Glastonbury Tor to him and he was in awe when the huge festival site came into view. We disembarked at the bus station by Red Gate A and I collected my wrist band and crew pass. I didn't have to queue up to get in which saved time and I was soon back in my spiritual home in the Vale of Avalon.
I hauled on my rucksack, picked up my tent and began the long familiar walk across the site to Tom's Field right up by the farm house which is where the recycling crew are camped. I think it must have taken over an hour to get there with rests along the way. I got registered and found a nice spot to put up my tent and I was all sorted in my little home for the next 5 days by 12.00. Then I took a long lazy walk down what is traditionally known as Muddy Lane and met my sister Margaret and her partner Wayne at the Bread and Roses Bar in the Market area. The sun was beating down so Margaret bought me a rasta hat to keep the sun off my head. We had a couple of drinks, took photos and watched the world go by.

They were working that evening as stewards on pedestrian gate B so eventually we took a slow walk back. That evening I went for dinner in the workers marquee where free food is provided for the workers. It was all vegetarian, but I must say the food this year was delicious. Well done to the caterers. After dinner I went for a long aimless wander around the vast site. I walked up past the Leftfield and Arcadia to the Park and up the hill past the Ribbon Tower right to the top of the site where the Glastonbury sign is. You could see most of the site below. The view was incredible, and I shot a couple of minutes of footage. I had a T Shirt on which said 'F*ck Google, Ask Me' and lots of people stopped me to ask questions which was really amusing. One man asked me what the capital city of Azerbaijan was, and he was amazed when I told him it was Baku. Eventually I wandered back and stopped at a few bars along the way. I was quite sensible this year and stuck to the same drink every day which was Thatcher’s Gold Cider. That was another good thing about being a worker. In the bar in Tom's Field it was only £2.50 a pint. I don't know what time I crawled into my tent, but it had been a long and enjoyable day.

I didn't have to go to work till Friday, but my mate Dave had lent me a really good alarm clock which was set for 5.00 because I wanted to get in the habit of getting up early. After breakfast I walked along the old railway track and visited Permaculture and Green Futures and Field Of Avalon. I love this area because I think it is the soul of Glastonbury and reminds me of the old hippy days here. Wandering back who should I spot in Williams Green but Michael Eavis the farmer who has made Glastonbury the best festival in the world. He was chatting to some people and I felt like going over and asking him to book Van Morrison for next year but I didn't like to hassle him, so I just took a discreet photo. Then I met Margaret and Wayne and at 4.00 it started raining just as the weatherman had predicted but a drop of rain doesn't bother us old Glastofarians.

Thursday evening was the traditional recyclers party and lots of people came in fancy dress. There was live music and Michael Eavis was there and I managed to get a nice photo of himself and Fiona who organises the recycling and I had a little chat with Fiona who said she remembered me. She might have just been polite but what a nice lady she is. I also had a chat with Odele who I met here the previous year and at the Larmer Tree Festival. It was great to see her again. I stayed up at Tom's Field that night because it was raining but also because I had to be up early for work and Friday the music would begin.

The alarm went at 5.00 but I was already awake since dawn. The birds were singing in the trees and I had a busy day ahead. After breakfast I pulled on my wellingtons and marched down Muddy Lane which now was living up to its name of muddy. I went to Info in the market where I thought I had to meet my team but at 6.00 there was nobody else there. I was at the wrong Info. I ran to Info near the Pyramid Stage and found my team. We were the team responsible for tidying up the markets area. There were supposed to be 20 of us but only 18 turned up. Our leader was called Sophia and she worked on an alpaca farm near Glastonbury. She had the wheelbarrow which was laden with our bags for putting the garbage in. I was easily the oldest by decades but after four days I had made friends with all of them. My favourite was called Dani who had just left university and came from Liverpool. We each took a bag of each colour and tore into the work starting at the Cider Bus which is one of the filthiest areas, but we soon had it looking pristine. When we filled a bag up it was left by the side of the road to be picked up and taken to the recycling centre. The time went quickly and by 12.00 we had all the markets looking really tidy. We were lucky with the weather as well. I think in the whole four days we only got caught in one big downpour. I volunteered to push the wheelbarrow back to base, Sophia gave us our meal tickets and our first shift was done. I had a quick shower, another benefit of working is that there are great showers and no queueing for them unlike for the normal festival goers. Then lunch which was a delicious Greek salad that day and then it was finally time to hear some music. I walked down to the Pyramid Stage and there was a band on called The War Against Drugs. I had never heard of them before, but I think they are American. The singer sounded a bit like Bob Dylan to me and they had a great guitar sound. That is one of the great things about Glastonbury, discovering new music. After that I wandered off to get a drink and then came back for the next act. It was Rodrigo Y Gabriela who are a male/female guitar duo from Mexico and they are quite amazing with some of the most incredible guitar playing I have ever heard. I think De La Soul were next and I know they are a really influential band, but I got bored after a while and made my way to the Acoustic Stage which has always been my favourite stage at Glasto. Hozier was on when I got there. I wasn't that impressed on that occasion, but I like him now and have an album.

Later I saw Holly Williams who is the granddaughter of the legendary Hank Williams. From a distance with her long straight blonde hair she reminded me of Johnny Winter, but she was great. My favourite song was Angel From Montgomery written by John Prine. I should have written down the setlist, but I didn't bother. Another great singer I saw that afternoon was Tony Joe White who sounded like he had crawled out of a Mississippi swamp and I didn't even know he was still alive. Eventually I made my way back to base and caught a bit of Rudimental’s set as I walked past the Pyramid Stage.
At dinner I met up with Margaret and Wayne again who told me that they had met people who knew me and lo and behold it was Viv and Julie who were the best friends of me and Kim on our recycling team back in 2005. I hadn't seen them for a few years. I think that is because they got promoted to working in the crew office. It was brilliant to meet them again and we took a couple of photos. While we were talking a thunderstorm began which strangely was the worst storm I can remember here since 2005 when Kim, me, Viv and Julie were caught in it. This year lightning hit the Acoustic Stage and the ground near the Pyramid Stage which caused a delay in the music but it stopped after a while and Viv, Julie and I headed back to the Acoustic because Doctor Feelgood and The Blues Band were due on but when we got there because of the delay it was some shanty singers from Cornwall called Fisherman’s Friends which wasn't my cup of tea at all so I said cheerio to the girls and wandered on and went for a walk through the Theatre and Cabaret area and had a drink in the Theatre Bar.

I strolled back to the Pyramid via West Holts field and Lily Allen was on. Lily has been coming here since she was two and used to camp here with her dad and Joe Strummer so she loves Glastonbury and the crowd love her. I was really enjoying her performance until she started making a speech saying " This is Glastonbury Festival of music and performing arts, not Glasto. It doesn't need abbreviating so stop calling it Glasto". Well I have been calling it Glasto for years, so I don't need any lectures from young Miss Allen thank you very much. Later I saw a great performance by Manchester band Elbow. They obviously love Glastonbury as well. It was emotional and the perfect band to see as the sun was setting on a glorious evening. Then I returned to the Acoustic Stage to meet Margaret and Wayne again who had just finished work and had got drenched in the storm. We watched a great band who I had seen before called Tinariwen who are Tuareg's from Mali or Niger or somewhere like that. They had all the Tuareg costumes on and they were brilliant. Eventually I made my way home and listened to a bit of Arcade Fire as I walked slowly back up the lane.

It was Saturday morning at Glastonbury and another day was about to begin. As I pulled on my wellies I couldn't believe that I had been here 3 days already, the time had gone in a flash. I didn't bother with breakfast today because the queue was too long so a quick wash and a cup of coffee and I was good to go for another long day. Our team met up by the cider bus to begin work. It was a bit tougher today because of the mud but at least it wasn't raining which is the main thing. Two of the lads in our team turned up late because they had been out all night long raving and they were all loved up. I don't know what they were on, but they wanted a group hug before starting work but fair play to them because they got stuck into the work and managed to complete the shift. One incentive on the litter picking is that you find things. Other years I have found a few quid on the ground especially where people have been sat down and along the fronts of the markets but this year I only found six pence in total. I did find a bag one day in the Acoustic area which I handed in because it might have had something valuable in it. I found some drugs as well, but I put them in the rubbish bin because I'm too old for all that carry on. Cider is my drug of choice nowadays. Anyway, our little gang soon had the markets looking nice again and the time flew by. We got caught in quite a heavy shower of rain but luckily it was right at the end of the shift, so we didn't care, and we were provided with waterproof ponchos anyway. After lunch which was a tasty bean chili I bought a couple of cans of cider and headed off for a day of music. I caught the end of a set by Aofie O’Donovan. With a name like that I thought she must be Irish, but she is an American singer-songwriter from Brooklyn I believe. I thought she was pleasant without being brilliant, but I had never heard her before. I'm not familiar with the songs of a lot of these people. On the main stage I found a female singer-rapper called Angel Haze. Usually this isn't my type of music at all, but I thought she was great had a good band and the nearer you get to the front the better the music sounds as it pulsates through you.

I met up with Margaret and Wayne again at Bread and Roses who were chatting with some people from Norway. They were nice and wanted to know what the American Indian head dresses that were all the rage this year were called. I didn't know but I think it might be war-bonnet. Anyway, that's by the by. After a while we said cheerio to them and took a slow walk to the Field of Avalon stopping off at the Tiny Tea Tent for a bit of a sit down. We had a couple of drinks in the Avalon Arms and listened outside to Larkin Poe who I'd never heard of. Then I went inside the Avalon Stage tent to hear some of Irish folk legends Dervish who were good. I arranged to meet up later and took a slow walk back home. On the way I watched Lana Del Rey who I was looking forward too because I have her album. I was disappointed I'm afraid. She is a beautiful girl but seems lacking in personality. At Glastonbury you must engage with the audience like Elbow had done so brilliantly the night before. Her songs began to sound samey to me. I think she might have been a bit overwhelmed by the huge crowd and she ought to cheer up a bit. I missed Thea Gilmore as well who I really like to see Lana, so I was a bit miffed about that.

I tried to tidy myself up a bit back at base because I was beginning to look like a bag of poo. I had a shave but there were no mirrors and I cut myself on my nose. Never mind. After dinner and a bit of a rest I wandered down and caught the last 15 minutes of Robert Plant who has a great new band and sounded good. Then we met up again to see Nick Lowe at the Acoustic. I'm a huge fan of his and have a few albums. I wandered up to the front and met my friend Dave who is even a bigger fan and I think Dave lent me one of Nick's albums many years ago which turned me on to him. Dave thought Nick was great and he was good but although I didn't tell Dave I was slightly disappointed that it was just Nick and his guitar. It would have been great to have a band to fill the sound out a bit. After that we wandered through the Theatre Field and saw some crazy sights in there. I had forgotten my camera so it's hard to describe without visual evidence. We met Dave's wife Sarah by Bella's Bridge. She had been to see the Bad Shepards and said they were good. We wandered on and met a man in Dickensian garb on a bicycle playing a piano as an example of the craziness. Dave and Sarah were off to get some food, so I said cheerio and wandered on. The sun was setting now and on the various stages I still had the choice of Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Jack White, Pixies, Jake Bugg, Goldfrapp, Brian Ferry, or Metallica. I couldn't move though, I was too tired, so I had another drink and just sat there and watched the world go by. Eventually it was dark, and I thought I had better be going home. I walked through the Pyramid Stage field where Metallica were just about to start. The Rolling Stones had this slot last year and the field was packed but Metallica didn't attract half that audience. I think a lot of people had been put off because they had heard that this band go bear hunting which isn't the ethos of Glastonbury. I bet the other stages were busy because the audience were somewhere if not here. I'm sure some people enjoyed Metallica but not me because I went back to my campsite. When I got back I should have gone straight to bed but I didn't, I sat outside the marquee drinking and talking to some people, god knows who they were.

One of the things that bugs me about Glastonbury is that when you get home the only thing that people who weren't there seem to want to talk about is rain and mud. I blame the media for that. I bet the BBC get the news reporter to stand in the biggest puddle he can find and report from there. There was a helluva lot more sunshine than rain this year. If the weather was so bad how come my nose was peeling from sunburn? Sure, there was mud but if you have the correct footwear what's the problem? Anyway, when I emerged from my tent at 5.00 Sunday morning it was a beautiful sunny day and all I had on was t-shirt, jeans and wellies. The perfect day to welcome a legend from Tennessee to Glastonbury. We had lost another member of the team so now we were reduced to seventeen brave soldiers as we began work. Of all the four shifts I did this was the toughest because of the mud. As I was saying to Wayne you get three types of mud. When it has just been raining and the mud is fresh and slushy it is easy to splash through it, no problem but when it starts drying out it gets more difficult as it sticks to your wellies and is quite tiring walking through it. Then when it is nearly dry and trodden down it becomes easy again and you can just bounce across it. Today, we had the second type. It wasn't pleasant picking the rubbish out of it but we had gloves so who cares.

I like Glastonbury mud anyway. It is special mud with healing powers. We soon had the markets looking spick and span again. Other teams thought they might be the best, but we knew we were the best. One thing I was pleased about was that even at my age I proved that yet again I had just as much stamina if not more than the youngsters. We made a mistake though of being too good and finished our area too early and were sent to help other teams who were struggling. By the end of the shift we were miles from base camp right over the other side of the Glade on the old railway track. Dani and I made the mistake of volunteering to take turns to push the wheelbarrow home and that was the most difficult work of all because the mud got caked on the wheel, so it wouldn't go round and we had to keep stopping to remove the mud. It was 12.45 when we got back to base, and I had arranged to meet people at 2.00 Margaret and Wayne turned up. We sat outside the Acoustic stage enjoying the sunshine and chatting. I went inside to see who was on and it was another American singer-songwriter called Galia Arad who was ok, but I don't think she will bother the album charts much. She was followed by someone called Sturgill Simpson who meant nothing to me at all at the time, but I have heard good reports of him since. We were just waiting patiently for Dolly. Finally, at about 3.50 we decided to make a move. The walkways were jammed with tens of thousands of people heading for the Pyramid Stage, but we are clever see, we walked up past the Acoustic, past the top of Kidz field, across Muddy Lane and approached the Pyramid Stage from the top of the field. The crowd was vast, I said to Margaret that it looked even more crowded than for the Stones last year, but she pointed out that they had extended the field last year for the Stones. Even so I think that there must have been over 100,000 people there for Dolly Parton. We even bumped into the Norwegian people who we met the day before.

At 4.20 Dolly came on stage looking dazzling in a white suit covered in rhinestones. I have never bought a Dolly record in my life and probably never will, but I think she is great, multi-talented with a huge personality who really knows how to get a crowd on her side, Take note Lana Del Rey. She was the perfect choice for a sunny Sunday afternoon at Glastonbury. Dolly played a brilliant set of one hour and ten minutes. I didn't think it was loud enough where we were, so I moved nearer to the front and during Jolene I was dancing with four police women who were enjoying it just as much as everyone else. Dolly sang lots of my favourite songs including Coat of Many Colours, Here You Come Again, Banks Of The Ohio, 9 to 5, and Islands In The Stream, She said that she had been brought up on a farm in Tennessee so she was well used to a bit of mud and she sang a song that she had written especially for Glastonbury called Mud. Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi joined her on stage to play guitar on Lay Your Hands on Me from her new album Blue Smoke and it was great, but I hoped he wasn't there to check out Glasto for Bon Jovi the following year because I don't like them much. Dolly ended her set with the classic I Will Always Love You. 

In the evening we met up again and Clannad, Alison Moyet & Suzanne Vega were playing in the Acoustic and Yoko Ono on the Park Stage. We couldn't be bothered watching any of it. I was weary by now, so we just chilled out in the Theatre Bar for a while. There was one last band I wanted to see. Last year when I saw my friends Stuart and Michelle at the Albert Hall Michelle told me that they had been listening to the Black Keys and they were good, so I made the supreme effort to go and see them. I was glad I did because they were great. I can only remember one song which was called Fever, but they were possibly the best band I heard all weekend. After that I made my way home and could hear Kasabian in the distance. I think my niece Lee really likes them, so I would have liked to hear more but I was too tired. Next morning it was another hot day and our team tore through the work again cheerfully. The mud had dried so it was a lot easier and finally at 12.00 we were all finished and threw our gloves in the wheelbarrow for the last time. I took some photos and said cheerio to our little gang who had bonded well over the four days, but we were glad the work was over. Margaret and Wayne had offered me a lift home and were waiting by my tent when I got back. I got my tent down and had one last delicious vegetarian meal of pizza and salad. I hadn't eaten any meat for days now and was determined to keep it going. 

We loaded up Wayne's wheelbarrow with my stuff and Wayne lead the way to the car-park. It wasn't too bad getting out this year, we had to crawl along the lanes but as soon as we hit the main road it was easy. We listened to Bob Dylan and Jackson Browne and I sat in the back.  I was totally exhausted mentally and physically but not spiritually. Soon Westbury White Horse came into view and I was home safe and sound and I bought Wayne a well-deserved drink in the Ludlow Arms. Coming out of the the pub we saw a lady with two raccoons on leads coming out of the vets across the road.. I had never seen a raccoon in my life before but after Glastonbury nothing surprises me anymore.

My Glastonbury Festival Memories: Chapter 23, 2013

Chapter 23. 2013, It’s Only Rock And Roll.

There was no festival in 2012 but I wouldn’t have been able to go anyway because that was the year that Kim passed away. In 2013 I wrote to Fiona and was accepted back onto the recycling team, It was Wednesday morning; the sun was shining, and I was excited. After four long years I was returning to my spiritual home, Worthy Farm, Pilton, Near Glastonbury, Somerset in the beautiful Vale of Avalon. The home of the world-famous Glastonbury Festival. Since my first Glastonbury in 1979 I think I have spent several weeks of my life down on the farm so after all the trials and tribulations of the previous few years it was great to be returning. My taxi arrived and took me to Westbury station. The platform was packed with hundreds of excited music fans waiting for the 8.30 train. How we all managed to squeeze on the train I don't know because it was already packed as it had traveled from London. It was like being on the Tokyo subway in the rush hour. We all had to stand in the aisles, but nobody cared. About two thousand revellers piled off the train and onto the endless stream of shuttle buses to take us the six miles to the festival and soon we arrived at the festival bus site.

 I collected my workers wristband from the cabin at Red Gate and was ushered through the workers entrance which was a lot quicker than for the tens of thousands who had to queue at the turnstiles. I hauled my rucksack onto my back and began the long walk across the huge site to my camping field. I headed for the Pyramid Stage to get my bearings and then found the roadway known as Muddy Lane for the walk up to Tom's Field. I registered for work and received my recyclers T-shirt, my gloves and my free programme and then found a nice spot to put up my tent. This proved a bit tricky at first as I hadn't used it for four years but a lady from the next tent helped me put it up. People are so friendly at Glasto. I arranged my belongings and my sleeping bag inside and I was sorted out by mid-day, brilliant. Then phoned my sister Margaret who was camped in the next field reserved for site crew only fifty yards away from me. Her and her partner Wayne were both out, so I decided to go for a long walk around the site. This was the year when they had the Phoenix atop the Pyramid Stage stage. This had been made out of reclaimed steel by a man from the Mutoid Waste Company who had been associated with the festival since the early 80’s. At night it was spectacular when it came to life and breathed fire.

I meandered slowly towards the area known as The Park right at the top of the site where Margaret was working and thought I might spot her. The Park is one of the nicest areas of all. Mick Jagger himself came for a visit up here. The Glastonbury sign is here and the Ribbon Tower which you can go up and take in the whole vastness of the site. I bought some nice vegetarian food. The free restaurant for the recyclers was vegetarian so I decided to be veggie for the whole festival. I loved the spicy veggie Cornish pasties and the falafels. In fact, I stayed veggie for quite a few months when I got home, (apart from once when I forgot) which is a little example of how Glasto can be a life changing experience. I didn't spot Margaret so had a nice relaxing pint of cider, sent a couple of postcards to my friends Smithy and Jacquie and watched the world go by. Walking back down who should drive by in a land rover but Wayne. He had been on site for a month putting in the plumbing and was on call troubleshooting to sort out any problems.
"See you at Bread and Roses at 6.00", shouted Wayne.
"Righto", I replied as he drove on.

Ambling back down through the market areas I noticed a place selling fold up chairs for only eight quid, so I bought one because at my age you need a bit of a sit down every now and then. Also, it would come in handy for the Larmer Tree Festival and Village Pump Folk Festival. I wandered back to my tent because I thought I’d have a little nap before the evening but that proved impossible because it was too hot in my tent so got up again, sat in my chair and read my programme and planned my itinerary of bands to enjoy, which turned out to be nothing like what I actually saw and got a girl to take my photo sitting outside my tent. At about 4.30 I walked down the avenue again and had a refreshing drink in the Bar on The Green where they were showing Wimbledon on a vast screen and later arrived at the Bread And Roses Bar and found Margaret waiting. We had a chat and a drink and then Wayne turned up who had just finished work. We socialised for a while and then I had to walk back for my recyclers meeting at 8.00. This only lasted about ten minutes. We met our team leader and were told to meet at 6.00 outside the marquee. These meetings make one thirsty. The workers bar was a bit empty, so I set off yet again down Muddy Lane and returned to the Green and had a couple of pints. Then walked to the Cockmill Bar at the Acoustic but now was feeling tired so after one pint I wandered back. I crawled into my tent and set the alarm for 5.00 and fell asleep by 10.30 which must be some kind of a record for me at Glasto. What a nice day it had been but as Van The Man once said 'The best is yet to come!’.

Our supervisor that year was called Neal who was a great bloke. We were the ‘Naughty Corner’ team. It had that name because we were responsible for Shangri-la, The Unfairground and those sorts of areas where all sorts of strange things go on all night long. We couldn’t do one area first thing in the morning on the first shift because there was an all-night party still going on. I got chatting to this girl called Odele who was very friendly and before long I was telling her all my life story. Odele was to become one of my best friends at Glastonbury ever since.
On Friday afternoon I met up with Margaret &Wayne again and we watched a few bands. I was particularly impressed with an American girl guitar band called Haim who played on the Pyramid and also a young kid from Nottingham who had just burst on the scene called Jake Bugg. He reminded me a bit of a young Johnny Cash. Margaret had to go to work in the evening so me and Wayne went for a wander. As he had been on site for a month working, Wayne had managed to acquire backstage passes for nearly every stage on the site. We ended up backstage at the Acoustic courtesy of a friend of ours called Rob. He had a marquee company and provided the marquee for the backstage bar. I took some photos of the three of us which I deleted later. I really regret that now because Rob died less than a year later. Anyway, Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings were on when we got there but I don’t remember a lot about that because we were too busy drinking and talking to anybody and everyone. I do remember going around to the front later on to watch Sinead O’Connor.

Towards the end of our shift on the Saturday Neal sent four of us off to tidy up a certain area and to meet the rest of the team by the John Peel Stage but when we got there the others were nowhere to be seen. We caught up with Neal later back at base so that ended ok. We watched Stevie Winwood later who was good, but most people were just passing time waiting to see The Stones. Finally, about an hour before The Stones were due on stage we knew it would be a human traffic jam approaching the Pyramid via the market area, so we started making our way up past the side of the Acoustic Stage and arrived at the top of the Arena. This area would normally be a camping area, but they had extended the field because they knew that this would be the largest audience that Glastonbury had ever seen. Wayne was really excited because The Stones were his favourite band of all time and he couldn’t believe they were actually going to play at Glastonbury. The anticipation was electric, and they were quite a few minutes late arriving which just added to the excitement. Finally, they appeared. This is the setlist from that historic night. Jumpin' Jack Flash, It's Only Rock 'n' Roll, Paint It Black, Gimme Shelter, Glastonbury Girl, Wild Horses, Doom and Gloom, Can't You Hear Me Knocking, Honky Tonk Women, Happy, Miss You, Midnight Rambler, 2000 Light Years From Home, Sympathy for the Devil, Start Me Up, Tumbling Dice, Brown Sugar, You Can't Always Get What You Want & Satisfaction.

It was a magnificent performance, for some songs they were reunited with former Stone Mick Taylor, Keef did the vocals on a couple of songs, Bobby Keys was fabulous on saxophone, he sadly died a few months later. Mick had done his homework on Glastonbury. He had been here a couple of days, had a good look round and had his own luxury yurt to live in. I think some of Mick’s children had been to Glasto quite a few times, probably with Mick’s brother Chris’s family because Chris lives in Glastonbury town. Mick had changed the words of the Stones song Factory Girl to Glastonbury Girl which the crowd loved. For the penultimate song You Can’t Always Get What You Want they had a huge gospel choir to help them out which sounded fabulous. I had left Margaret & Wayne after a few songs because I didn’t think it was loud enough where we were and worked my way down the side till I was quite near the front. After a while I fancied a drink and went to the bar quite near the cider bus. It was then I realise the huge extent of the crowd. It stretched right back into the market area. I managed to get myself a triple whiskey & coke and watched the rest of the show standing on a bench with some girls who were dancing and watching the Stones through a gap in the trees. They will never get another act to top that appearance by the Stones in 2013.

The main thing I remember about Sunday is getting lost while watching Kenny Rogers in the afternoon. It was a sweltering hot afternoon and there was a huge crowd watching Kenny. I didn’t particularly like him but thought I’d wait to hear Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love To Town, The Gambler & Lucille. After a while I needed to go to the loo which wasn’t too far away. I took my bearings off an ice-cream van that was parked between us and the urinals and said I wouldn’t be long. I was only gone a few minutes and was wandering back, and I looked up and there was 50,000 people and I suddenly realised I didn’t know where Margaret & Wayne were. I wandered round and round in circles for about 20 minutes getting more and more frustrated and fed up and people started looking at me. I finally sat down and talked to this lady who was as concerned as me. I couldn’t phone Margaret & Wayne because I had left all my stuff with them including my phone. I was getting sick of hearing Kenny Rogers by now. Finally, I had one last walk and they managed to spot me. I think a lot of the time I had only been about ten yards away from them. It was a relief to find them at last.

On Monday morning I up packed my tent and my stuff and went round to the next field when Wayne & Margaret were nearly ready to go. There was a traffic jam in the lanes and it was a long slow crawl until we hit the main road. That was the end of Glastonbury 2013.

My Glastonbury Festival Memories: Chapter 22, 2009

2009, Rockin' In The Free World.

The ancient double decker bus arrived at the temporary bus station at pedestrian gate 2 and we headed for the entrance. The day before it had been chaotic with 90,000 people arriving two days before the music even started and even now early in the morning thousands of people an hour were still pouring in. Luckily for me when I showed my site crew ticket I was ushered through without having to queue for a wrist band. I was back in the hallowed fields of dreams, it felt great. My next task was to haul my heavy rucksack and my tent to my camping area at the very top of the site right up by the farmhouse and uphill all the way. I was sweating like a piglet when I finally arrived. I reported for duty at the office and received my wristband, laminate, ID and my recycling crew T shirt, and was told to report back at 7.00 for a meeting. Even Tom's field was wedged with tents, but I managed to find a space to put up my little home for the next 4 days. I threw my rucksack inside and went for a walk down Muddy Lane looking through the hedge as I went to spot my friends colourful bunting that they always ring their circle of tents with. Walking up the lane coming towards me who should I meet but my sister Margaret and her partner Wayne. I had found them in about 10 minutes. I was gagging for a pint, so we went to the Queens Head Bar and sat on the grass and chilled out and Margaret and Wayne spotted a friend of theirs called Mary who had just arrived. Later that day I was to meet up with the rest of the gang from England, Ireland and South Africa. I decided to go for a long walk on my own and strolled all the way up the hill until I reached the Sacred Space and the Stone Circle and the Healing Fields. The sky turned black and it turned dark and still, and then the western wind blew up the hill and I got caught in a violent thunderstorm and saw great flashes of lightning. I ran for cover under a tree and thought "Hang on a minute, trees and lightning are not good bed fellows”. I walked back down to camp and got soaked, I was colder than a well diggers ass but I didn't really care because although I was wet I was happy to be back at Glasto. At 7.00 I went to the meeting and our team leader didn't turn up. We were assured he would be there in the morning. I can't remember what I did for the rest of Thursday evening except it involved alcohol, campfires and jokes. I fell into my tent at about 1.00, set my alarm for 4.30 and fell asleep immediately.

The alarm woke me at 4.30 to the pitter-patter of rain on my tent. “OH No”, I thought as I struggled to pull on my wellie boots, "Here we go, another Glastonbury mud-fest”. I had a slug of water and an aspirin and headed for the workers marquee for breakfast which was the best meal of the day here. It was all vegetarian food this year and I don't mind being veggie but most of it was bland and not much choice. Still, it was free, and it must be difficult catering for the 1,200-recycling staff. 6.00 arrived and all the other teams set off for work. There was still no sign of our team leader, I found the other members of our team, there were eight of us in all. I was the only old git. The friendliest was Bev from Manchester, then there was a nice girl from Falmouth, Cornwall called Stacy who I called Spacy Stacy and her boyfriend Joe, Eric and his girlfriend Becca from up north somewhere and a couple of lads who didn't say a lot but were nice people, I think one was called Chris and I can't remember the other one’s name. I find the older workers have more stamina than the youngsters and after a lifetime of menial work this was no problem for me. We were supposed to be Rear Markets A Team which I had applied for because I knew from doing it before that it's a good number. We all went to the office to complain and they told us to go and join the Pyramid Stage team. This is the worst job of all, so I was very disgruntled as we trudged down the hill through the fields all misty wet with rain. The sun was coming out and steam was rising off the grass.150 people were put in a long line in front of the Pyramid Stage and given 3 types of bags, Green for cans and plastic bottles, white for organic such as paper cups, plates, beer cartons, cardboard, newspaper, wooden knives, forks and spoons etc and thrown away food. This is all made into compost. Black bags were for anything that can't be re-cycled. I stuck a few bags in my belt and the line moved slowly up the hill away from the stage. As no bands had played on this stage yet it wasn't too bad, but I could imagine the mess tomorrow after 100,000 people had watched Neil Young and I didn't fancy it one bit. Everyone had been wondering who the surprise guests were who had been advertised in the programme and as we worked I heard Bev say, "What about Michael Jackson”. I turned around and said, “They wouldn't have him as surprise guest”, and she said, “No, he is dead”. I didn't believe it and thought it was just one of the many Glastonbury rumours that you get every year. It soon became apparent that it was true as everyone was talking about it. That very morning Michael Jackson R.I.P. T shirts were on sale in the market areas. Later it emerged that Farrah Fawcett was dead as well. There wasn't a sombre atmosphere though, in fact quite the reverse, Michael Jackson jokes spread like wildfire across the site.

The shift went quickly, and we ended up helping out the crew who were cleaning up the stone circle area which is where most of the partying had happened the night before. We found thousands of laughing gas containers. This was the craze sweeping the nation, inhaling nitrous oxide. The containers are made from steel so quite valuable as scrap. We were finished by 11.00 and our little band were told to report to the office the next morning at 11.30. I had 24 hours now to see some bands and have some fun. It was going to be a long day
 

After I finished work I strolled down Muddy Lane and visited my friend’s campsite. My niece Katherine was there. Katherine has been coming to Glastonbury since she was about two years old and she gave me a can of Stella from her and her husband Laurence's brand-new tent. Laurence is a writer and has had several books published and is very knowledgeable about music. There was also Sacha and Sean from Bournemouth although Sean is from South Africa originally. Then there was Chris and Jill who are Irish and now live in Bath. They got married at Glastonbury and there was Bernadette who comes from County Clare in Ireland which is the home of great music. We sat around chatting about the day ahead and the Michael Jackson news and reading the free daily paper all about Glastonbury which I thought was crap that year and should be stopped because it just made more litter. After a while I thought I ought to go hear some music as this is what we were here for. The first band I saw at Glasto 09 were Bjorn Again who were belting out Abba songs on the Pyramid Stage. They were really good fun and the girls looked great in their miniskirts and they put the crowd in a good mood for the day. After that I took a stroll to the Acoustic Stage which over the years I have spent almost as much time at as the Pyramid Stage. There was an American girl singer on called Alyssa Bonagura who I had never heard of and I didn't think was that great. Then I thought I better start on a slow walk across the site to the Park Stage to see James Hunter who I was really looking forward to seeing after all the recommendations from my friend Colleen. It took ages to get there but I was in no hurry. You entered the park through this huge ancient stone gateway which they must have bought from a stately home somewhere and transported to Glastonbury. It is nice up in the park far from the madding crowd with people just relaxing and sitting on the grass in the sunshine. The stage faces away from the festival towards the facing green hillside, so the bucolic surroundings were just perfect for the soulful sound of James Hunter. It was easy to get to the front just a few feet away from James who looked natty in an electric blue suit. His band are great, and I had never seen such a likeable bunch of characters since Ian Dury & The Blockheads. James has a great voice and is a superb guitarist and has great moves that would be the envy of Chuck Berry. He is English, from Colchester but almost unknown in this country which is a travesty of justice because he is a star. I have seen James before when he toured with Van Morrison in 1994 and appeared on two Van albums. Van knows talent when he sees it. I hoped after this Glastonbury appearance that James's reputation would continue to grow.
 

After James set I did intend to return to the Acoustic tent to see Hugh Cornwell but couldn’t be bothered. I just sat on a bench and had a pint and watched the world go by. I got chatting to this nice bloke from up north somewhere who had been a teacher for 30 years but gave it up to be a potter and he had gone to his first festival at the age of 60. That’s another great thing about Glasto, it's not ageist, there is something for everyone. Also, the festival is about meeting people as well as music, there is no point dashing from stage to stage, it’s best to relax and take it steady because it’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon. Eventually I said cheerio to my new buddy and walked back down to the Pyramid where the surprise guests were just finishing. It was N.E.R.D who I had never heard of but are very popular apparently. Then a band I was really looking forward to seeing, The Fleet Foxes. They had burst onto the scene in the previous year and I really enjoyed their album with its Brian Wilsonesque sound, but I had expressed doubts to Laurence earlier that they might not be suited to the Pyramid Stage. When they were announced they shuffled on stage and proceeded to start tuning up. You don't do that at Glastonbury, you should be ready and go out there and grab the audience. They ummed and arred for about 3 minutes and the singer announced that they were terrified. You could smell the fear. The acoustic opening number was Sun Giant I believe but I’m not that familiar with the song titles. Sun It Rises, Drops in The River, English House, Oliver James and White Winter Hymnal were amongst other songs I think they did. I think their management made a big mistake putting them up there. They would have been much better off on one of the smaller stages. I wondered if this band had another great album in them or if they would fade away. When I got back to camp I found that other people thought they were good so there you go. 

I decided to go back to my tent and have a rest before the evening. From my tent I could hear Lily Allen in the distance and I regretted not seeing Lily because on Sunday my nephew Dominic told me that he thought Lily was the best he had seen. Like Katherine and Dominic, Lily has been going to Glasto since she was about two years old so she has a great pedigree for the Pyramid Stage. I thought I would have a nap but couldn't sleep so had a shower and some food and felt a lot better and walked down the avenue again. That evening I was to see one of the greatest performances ever witnessed at Glastonbury. I could hear The Specials on the Pyramid Stage who were going down a storm especially when they slagged off the BNP. I had nearly an hour to kill before Neil Young so had a choice between The Doves on the John Peel Stage or Fairport Convention on the Acoustic. I opted for Fairport because it was nearer and because they used to be one of my favourite bands. I arranged to meet Margaret by Info at the front of the pyramid at 9.45 and dashed off to the Acoustic. Fairport Convention are one of the most important groups in British music history, they invented the folk-rock genre and had such people as Sandy Denny and Richard Thompson in their golden era of the early 70's. They first played Glastonbury in 1971 when they were in their heyday. I think they still had two members from that era. I think I recognised Simon Nicol and Dave Pegg but might be wrong. Like me they are a lot older now and I hadn't seen them for 30 years. I stayed for about five numbers including Walk Awhile from the Full House album. It was great to see Fairport after all this time but I wished they had a girl singer to do justice to the great songs of Sandy Denny.
I got to Info a bit early and got chatting to this youngster who was getting excited about Neil Young, "Neil is gonna blow this f***ing place apart", he exclaimed. That’s one of the many things to like about Neil, of all the survivors of the 60's he is the one who continues to draw new fans. I suppose it is because of his influence on people like Kurt Cobain and Pearl Jam and being 'The godfather of grunge'. I have been a fan ever since first hearing After The Gold Rush in 1971 and although I had lost track of his work in the last 10 years or so I still rate him up there with Bob Dylan and Van the Man as all-time greats. Along came Margaret and we got right up close to the barrier. On came Neil and began with Hey Hey My My. It was brilliant and a real thrill for me to see Neil on stage because this was my first time of seeing him in nearly 40 years of being a fan. Mansion On The Hill followed and then Are You Ready For The Country? which was really appropriate on this beautiful summers evening. Spirit Road followed and then the epic Words, Down Through The Line Of Age which was awesome. It lasted about 10 minutes, boy does Neil love that electric guitar. I'm not sure but I think he did Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere next. We decide to move back a bit and join the others near the mixing desk because at our angle we couldn't see the band, so we headed through the vast crowd. As we were pushing our way through somebody said, "Hello", it was Sharon from Trowbridge who I hadn't seen for donkey’s years. I stopped to say hello and in a split second had lost Margaret, I shouted but although she was only about three yards away she couldn't hear me and disappeared through the crowd. When I reached where I thought the others were I couldn't find them. Lots of people bring flags so their friends can find them but those flags get on my nerves. During another epic performance the following night I could hardly see the stage for the bloody flags. I think they should be banned.
I was left to enjoy Neil’s epic performance on my own. Cinnamon Girl followed and then Mother Earth and an acoustic The Needle And The Damage Done which Neil wrote for his friend Danny Whitton. Comes A Time followed and then Unknown Legend, one of my favourite songs from Harvest Moon, "She rides a Harley Davidson", I sang along. Neil’s only UK hit single Heart Of Gold followed which the vast audience joined in with. Down By The River was the third song from the Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere album. Get Behind The Wheel was followed by the awesome Rockin' In The Free world. I thought this must be the end because he was due to finish at 12.15 and I wanted to get a drink before 100,000 people had the same idea. I stupidly missed A Day In The Life which back at the campfire they told me was magnificent. It was a great song to end with because with the Michael Jackson news 'I read the news today, oh boy', it took on new meaning. I have seen some great performances at Glastonbury over the years and knew this Neil Young show was right up there with the best of them. It was 2.30 when I made my weary way back to my lonely little tent. I had been up for 22 hours, I was mashed. The next day I was to witness two more performances by North American acts that would rival even Neil for sheer brilliance.

Saturday morning at Glastonbury I was awake at 6.00 and knew today was going to be a hot one as there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I hadn't brought a hat with me so after breakfast I got myself a straw hat in the market area for £10.00 which I begrudged because I knew I’d never wear it again after Glasto. The morning passed quickly and at 11.30 our team met up at the office to find out what had become of our leader. Bev had christened our group 'The Rejects' because nobody seemed to want us. We were assured that we were doing the rear markets area which was a relief and told to report back at 1.00 and we only had to work till 6.00 which I was pleased about because I wanted to see Crosby Stills and Nash at 6.00. While waiting for 1.00 to come around I managed to catch a bit of Tineriwen who are a band of Malian tribesmen who sounded really good and must have felt at home here in the blazing sun and the Tuareg campfires. Finally, at 1.30 they found someone to take us to the market areas. I think the other team members were really pleased when they realised what a good job this was because most of the stall holders were good at keeping the back areas tidy and we just had to pick up a bit of garbage and tidy up the cardboard bins. Passing the Other Stage, we heard some of The Script’s set. I had never heard of them at the time, but I have now.
A little later we leaned on one of the market gates and watched some of Pete Doherty's performance. I think he was drunk as usual but who am I to criticise anyone for that? Walking along the roadway near the Pyramid Stage we passed by this huge black bus and on the front seats there was Graham Nash and Dave Crosby looking out of the window at the sights of the festival. They were smiling and looking well. I found out later that Bruce Springsteen had already arrived and was soaking up the atmosphere. Bruce turned up at the John Peel stage and joined fellow New Jersey band Gaslight Anthem on stage and stayed to watch Passion Pit. I couldn't wait to finish work that day. At the end of the shift we were told to report for work at 6.00 the next morning.

As soon as possible I dashed to the Pyramid where Crosby, Stills & Nash were already four songs into their set. It was still hot and I stood by the mixing desk area because it's shadow gave some relief from the sun. The first song I heard was Rock And Roll Woman and it was great to see them on stage. I was especially pleased to see Dave Crosby because it is a miracle he is still alive after his liver transplant and Steve Stills looked well and he looked a lot better than in recent photos I had seen and he is still a great guitarist. The next song was dedicated to Jerry Garcia, Uncle John's Band which was great. Then one of my favourite CSN songs, the alliterative Helplessly Hoping followed by a beautiful version of Guinevere, 'had green eyes, like yours, milady like yours', I sang along as this music was just perfect for the sunny weather, terrific harmonies. I wondered if they performed that song because they had done their homework and knew that Queen Guinevere had been buried alongside King Arthur in Glastonbury Abbey only seven miles away. Then a real surprise for me when they sang The Stones Ruby Tuesday which took me right back to the Melanie concert I had seen only four weeks before but seemed like a million years ago. Then Dave Crosby said, "Steve Stills writes great Rock n Roll, Nash writes the anthems and I do the weird shit". A version of Deja Vu followed from their great album which they made with Neil Young and I thought what a shame it was that they were at the same festival as Neil but on different days. The heavy political message of Chicago followed and seemed as relevant now as when they wrote it all those years ago. A great Dave Crosby song, Almost Cut My Hair was next and made me decide to grow my hair again and let my freak flag fly. Steve Stills classic Buffalo Springfield song For What It's Worth followed and was quite brilliant. They left the stage and Michael Eavis could be seen at the side of the stage giving them warm applause. Then they returned for Wooden Ships which Crosby wrote with the Jefferson Airplane and it took me right back to their historic appearance at Woodstock in 1969 and I wondered if this appearance was their biggest festival appearance since. They finished with Teach Your Children and I had a bit of a dance around on my own to this one. They really milked the applause, but they deserved it. In some ways I enjoyed this performance even more than Neil Young, probably because I was sober as a judge and could recall it all. Neil’s performance seemed like a blurred dream because I was so tired and drunk, and it was only by quizzing people that I could remember all the songs afterwards. Back at the campsite I told Laurence that I thought CSN was one of the all-time great appearances. After that I just chilled out for a while and then Katherine, Laurence, Sacha, Sean and I made our way towards the front of the stage. The stage was set, it was time for the man they call The Boss.

Laurence led our way towards the front to see Bruce. The first obstacle to overcome was the sea of fold up chairs. This is another of the things that bug me, as well as the flags. People are so soft these days. In the old days people didn't need chairs to sit on at festivals. They were happy sitting on the ground. I don't mind the chairs on the campsites but in front of the stage is out of order. It is a scathing indictment of modern-day society. They sit there on their fat arses, staring at video screens, stuffing their faces, and claim they have been at a festival. At my first festivals I didn't even take a tent. Anyway, I digress, we eventually arrived at a good spot to the right of the stage where the ground dipped away in front of us, so we got a great view of the stage. We chatted away to pass the time. Sean was really pleased because his team South Africa had beaten the British And Irish Lions in the Rugby match which they had shown live at the Queens Head bar. Sacha had a flask of Jack Daniels mixed with some fruit juice that was lush. I think I had more than my fair share. We guessed what we thought Bruce's opening number would be. I said it would be Hungry Heart or Dancing In The Dark. Bruce eventually came on stage and I think Clarence Clemens was the only other. He sang a song called Coma Girl which just shows how thoughtful Bruce is because this song was recorded by Joe Strummer And The Mescalero's. Joe is a Glastonbury legend and there is a memorial to him up near the stone circle. The lyrics seemed really apt to festivals, ’I was crawling through a festival way out west, I was thinking about love and the acid test, but first I got real dizzy with a real rockin' gang, then I saw the coma girl, and the excitement began’. The next two songs were Badlands and Prove It All Night which I think were from Darkness On The Edge Of Town. You will have to forgive me for any mistakes because I’m not a Bruce expert. In fact, I have only ever bought one Bruce album which was Born To Run. Lots of people have raved about his live shows though which I think is his forte more than the albums and I was beginning to see why. Apart from Clarence I didn't know who else was in the band except Nils Lofgren who I recognised and used to have an album by him as well, Cry Tough. I listened to a few more numbers including The Ghost Of Tom Joad but couldn’t concentrate, because I was desperate to go for a wee. When I couldn't bear it any more I took my bearings off a nearby flag and told the others I would be straight back. I could see where I needed to get to, but it was hell getting through the jam-packed crowd. The relief when I finally got to the urinals was something else. I decided not to even contemplate re-joining my comrades, as it was just too much hassle so headed to the Mandela Bar to get a pint. It was 20 people deep at the bar. I was tired and irritable now. "I can't be doing with all this hassle” I thought to myself. Then I had a bright idea.

 

I decided to go to the Acoustic Stage and chill out. A quick bit of power walking across the top of the field and I was there in no time. It was almost deserted except for about 200 people digging the Kilfenore Ceili Band. "Brilliant”, I thought, "This is the life", and got myself a pint with no trouble, it went down without even touching the sides and I ordered another. The Kilfinore are from Clare and have been going about 100 years. I saw them here 5 years before and they are superb, all eleven of them and the small audience were having a great time dancing to them. I had a little jig myself, but I kept spilling my pint, so I sat down. When I went just outside the tent to have a smoke the strange thing was that you could hear Bruce as well from about 300 yards away. Wouldn’t it be funny if the Ceili band had recorded a live album at Glastonbury with Bruce in the background? After about 20 minutes I thought "This is crazy, I am missing the greatest show on Earth sitting here” and headed back. This time I watched from a more sensible position and saw Bruce do The Promised Land, The River, which was superb, Radio Nowhere, The Rising, Born To Run, Hard Times, which I love, Thunder Road, Land Of Hope And Dreams, American Land, Glory Days and Dancing In The Dark which I had a dance to as well. It was great. I can't remember a lot about what happened after Bruce except I think I left my friends at about 2.30.I bought some coffee on the way home and saw some people sitting around a fire and thought I’d join them. When I sat down though they cleared off which is the effect I have. I sat there on my own staring into the flames and I realised it was only one week to the night since I saw Van Morrison in Bristol. It seemed like a faraway childhood memory. I reflected on the events of the last few days and something Margaret said earlier quoting Dickens Great Expectations "Such larks Pip, such larks". There was to be more larks tomorrow.
 

It was Sunday morning at Glastonbury 09 and I woke up at 5.00 after only about 90 minutes sleep, I really did not fancy work at all, I didn't have a hangover, just completely exhausted but still buzzing from the events of the night before. The Rejects were seconded to the team cleaning up the front of the market areas starting at the cider bus which was one of the filthiest areas of the site. I have got true grit though and got stuck in. A woman was in charge who tried to jolly everyone along, “guys, we have a lot to do today and I am losing my voice, I’ve only had an hour’s sleep", "You’re not the only one", I thought to myself. I made myself busy though, even pushing the wheelbarrow carrying the rubbish bags. It was especially bad around the litter bins which had overflowed and there was all sorts of crap to be picked up. Never mind, somebody has to clean up the mess and I don't mind doing it. Because we were so busy the time went quickly. I met two nice Australian girls who were back packers and somehow ended up at Glastonbury. We even got into one of the hospitality areas for drinks. When the shift ended I walked past the Pyramid and Status Quo were on stage. They were on at the first festival I ever attended at Lincoln in 1972. I didn't like them then and I don't like them now. Walking up the lane who should I meet but Dominic my nephew. “Do you fancy a pint?", I asked, and we headed for the surroundings of the beer tent at the Acoustic and met up with Margaret, Wayne, Katherine, Laurence, Bernadette and Mary. What a great little gathering it was, sitting on the grass in the sunshine and chatting about the events of the night before. In the background was the music of Lucy Wainwright Roche, Martin Harley and Katie Walsh. We weren't really listening though, having more fun chatting and telling jokes.
All things must pass and eventually I thought I better get back to base and have some grub and clean up a bit. I had been friendly with Danny, my neighbour in the next tent since Thursday when I lent him my hammer to bang his tent pegs in with and I got Danny to take my photo outside my tent and I took one of him. Then we had a stroll down and watched a bit of Tom Jones who was going down well with the audience who were in the mood for a sing song to Delilah and all his other hits. Tom isn't my cup of tea at all, but I quite enjoyed his version of You're Unbelievable, a hit for EMF I think. Danny wanted to see Madness, but I wasn't bothered about that so just went for a walk and sat in various beer tents. I did catch the opening 20 minutes of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. They sounded great and dedicated their set to Farrah Fawcett who had also died that week, so no mention of Michael Jackson there then. I wanted to see Roger McGuinn and met up with Margaret and Wayne again. I always imagined Roger as a real big headed arrogant git but I don't know where that idea came from because he came across as a nice guy. He started with You Ain't Going Nowhere and Pretty Boy Floyd from one of my favourite albums Sweetheart of The Rodeo when the Byrds and Gram Parsons invented the genre of Country Rock. In between the songs Roger told lots of interesting anecdotes about how the songs came about. He did Tambourine Man, All I Really Wanna Do, Eight Miles High, Chestnut Mare, Bells Of Rhymney, Ballad Of Easy Rider, Wasn't Born To Follow, Turn,Turn,Turn and lots of other songs from the soundtrack of my life. I know he is just a folk club act these days, but I really enjoyed the peace and quiet of the smaller stage away from Blur and The Prodigy and all that carry on.

 Georgie Fame was the last act on the Acoustic Stage. He had his two sons on stage with him to start with. Tristram was on guitar and James Powell on drums. The second song was Help Me, and Georgie sang ‘If you don't help me I'll get Van Morrison out here to help me, cos I can't do it all by myself'. I suddenly got really interested, "He's going to bring on Van the man", I said to Wayne. “No, he's not”, Wayne replied. “What odds do you give me?", I asked. "50/1”. Wayne replied. One by one other band members came on stage. Alec Dankworth on bass, Guy Barker on trumpet, Alan Skidmore and a brilliant vibraphone player whose name I can't remember. There were at least four former members of Vans band on stage, but sadly I realised there wasn't going to be Van. Like Roger earlier, Georgie told some interesting stories such as when in the 60's he was invited by Chas Chandler of the Animals to go along to Ken Colyer’s Jazz club to see a young guitarist who had just come over from America. Georgie took along his drummer. Half an hour later Georgie's drummer Mitch Mitchell had joined the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Tristram then did a brilliant version of Jimi's Red House. Georgie then said he was going to do a song by his former boss and still very good friend Van Morrison. The band then did a superb 15-minute version of Moondance that veered into Blue Moon and a Paul Robeson song and finally returned to Moondance. It was a helluva lot better than many of the Van live performances of this song I have heard. Still, I was really pleased that the very last song I heard on stage at Glasto 09 was written by the singer I rate above all others.

 Afterwards, I tried to blag my way backstage with my All Areas wristband and my Site Crew laminate, but the security wouldn't have it. It was worth a try though. Then I went back to my friend’s campsite. It was a bit subdued because we knew the festival was coming to an end, but we had a bit of a sing song. Katherine sang a Fleet Foxes song and Bernadette sang a brilliant version of Delirium Tremens by Christy Moore which we all applauded. At 1.30 I decided to knock it on the head and went back to my tent. There was just one day to go.
Monday morning arrived at Glastonbury to the sound of rain on my tent. It chucked it down, but it only lasted about 20 minutes and then it was nice sunny weather for the rest of the day. Our little band of brothers and sisters known as The Rejects had one more shift to do and as if by magic they had finally found us a team leader. He was called Andy and was a nice bloke and he took us off to do the job that we had signed up for. It was great and put us in a good mood. The stall holders were friendly and one of them brought us out 9 cups of coffee and nine cakes. He was Welsh, and the kindness of strangers is always welcome. Monday morning is the best time to go shopping at Glastonbury because you can haggle and get some good bargains. I knew I had to get Kim a present and we got to a clothes stall and they were giving away stuff they couldn't be bothered to take home. It was good quality and I got Kim a nice jacket, dress and skirt which saved me a lot of money. I didn't tell her I got them free.
The shift past quickly and was good fun apart from one dodgy moment. We were walking along, and I wasn't paying attention and we met the Pyramid Stage Crew coming the other way and I looked up and suddenly I was lost in a crowd of 150 litter pickers all wearing the same T Shirt. Luckily Andy sent someone to find me and all was well. We finished early and helped another team and finally at 12.00 we all chucked our gloves in a black rubbish bag and we were finished. It was sad to see the end of our team that stuck together despite everything.
Bleary eyed revellers were leaving the site by the thousands every hour. Apparently, there were five-hour delays in the car parks to get out. I was in no hurry to go though and went to visit my friends who were all taking their tents down. I said I’d call back later and went back to camp and had a shower and a shave and put on my cleanest dirty clothes, so I didn’t go home looking like a complete bag of s..... Then I used up the last of my meal tickets and went back and said cheerio to all my mates who were leaving. Finally, about 4.00 I started taking down my little home of 4 days and packed my rucksack and headed back across the site to the Bus Station. The elderly bus was waiting and as it creaked its way onto the main road I took one last lingering look back at Worthy Farm. The magical kingdom was already fading once more into the mists of Avalon. Soon the Pyramid Stage and the fence would come down, the clean-up operation would go on for weeks and then field by field Daisy, Buttercup, Ermintrude and all the other cows would return and start munching contentedly on the lush pasture and peace would return to Worthy Farm until next year. When everyone would meet once again down by Avalon in the long grass in the summertime. Sadly for me, due to some tragic events it was to be another four years before I returned.

My Glastonbury Festival Memories: Chapter 21, 2005

Chapter 20. 2005. Surf’s Up!

We had failed to get tickets for the festival in 2005 and were desperate to go because two of my musical heroes of all time were on. I wrote to the farm and asked if Kim & I could be on the recycling team and I got a nice letter back from Fiona who organises it and to our relief she gave us both jobs. Thus, began the recycling years. This was the year of my favourite ever performance at Glastonbury. The bus driver was funny and gave a running commentary as we drove through the Somerset countryside.
"If this is your first time in Somerset make sure you drink some scrumpy, I've drank it all my life and I’m 70 and fit as a fiddle".
When the first sight of the five-mile-long security fence came into view the passengers gasped with excitement. The fence glistened in the sun like a great silvery snake and inside you could see the great sea of tents. It looked fantastic. When we showed our workers tickets I was pleased to find out that we didn't have to queue up for wristbands and just walked in quickly. The recycling workers and the Oxfam workers campsite was in Tom's Field right up by the farmhouse. It was a long slow trudge up there but camping on the higher ground was to turn out to be a life-saver. We reported for duty and got our ID's, meal tickets and wrist bands. The facilities were great, there was a restaurant, great showers, bar, music, and they even showed films on a small screen after dark. We camped right opposite the catering marquee. Once we were sorted out we went for a long walk and headed to the Glade which is a stage set amongst trees and shady from the hot sun. Later on, we had our recyclers meeting and met our fellow team mates. Our team leader Dave was a great bloke. He came from Stoke On Trent and was a New-Age Traveller. He had a house in Stoke but every Spring he left his mum to look after his house and he headed for the West Country. He did agricultural work such as picking daffodils down in Cornwall and in the summer, went on the festival circuit doing various jobs. His van was parked behind the office in Tom’s Field and he was a real handy guy to know because he had a good supply of cheap tobacco and wine. Our team were great, a lot of them were university students who were a lot younger than us, but we made good friends with two women called Viv & Julie who were more our age group. After the meeting we just chilled out in our field and sat around the camp fire drinking and telling jokes. We went to bed quite early for Glastonbury, about midnight and fell asleep unaware of the horror that was about to unfold.

The next morning there was an horrendous thunderstorm which lasted four hours and we were working in it. The festival site was like a disaster zone of biblical proportions and some areas became huge lakes. At the bottom of Pennard Hill Ground people were literally swimming to their tents to retrieve their belongings. In the market areas we were wading through lakes of muddy water which came up to the top of our wellies. I was really pissed off because I hadn’t brought a proper raincoat and was soaked to the skin. My packet of cigarettes got soaked as well, which added to the misery. Lightning struck several of the stages and we wondered if the festival could go ahead because the first bands were due on stage at 12.00. The rain finally eased off just as our shift was coming to an end. It didn’t rain again for the rest of the weekend, in fact it was hot and sunny, but the damage had been done. It was a mud-fest. At mid-day Michael Eavis at a hastily arranged news conference announced the festival would go ahead. The Undertones were the first band on stage and Glasto 2005 was underway. We had survived, some poor souls camped in the lower ground just packed up and went home. We were lucky to be camped on the higher ground. Glastonbury 05 got better and better after that. I was really pleased with Kim because I thought that she would rebel during the storm and demand to go home but surprisingly she never complained once. We met our friends in the Leftfield Bar at 3.00. There was a Cuban band on stage in there who were quite good, I haven’t got a clue who they were. Then we headed for the Acoustic Stage to see who was on. It was Alison Moorer from Alabama USA. Steve Earle came on and accompanied Alison on mandolin. Time was getting on however and we had to rush to the Pyramid Stage to see Declan McManus, better known as Elvis Costello. He was brilliant, the second-best act in my opinion all weekend. That night Kim went to bed quite early but I wanted to stay up for a bit so I sat by the fire with a gang of people drinking and telling jokes.

We slept in on Saturday morning till about 9.30. After breakfast my big priority was to get Kim some wellies because the market areas were a sea of mud. It was a beautiful sunny morning as we set off. I didn't think there was a chance of buying any. The day before, a lorry load of wellies were delivered and the police had to control the crowd who were desperate for boots. By a miracle though I managed to get Kim a pair at Joe Banana's blanket stall. When I handed her the precious wellies I went up in popularity a hundred-fold. The rest of the morning we sat in the sunshine and chatted to our friends until it was time for work at 1.00. As we sloshed through the mud from market to market we did manage to see and hear little bits of the music. We heard a bit of the Kaiser Chiefs and Ash who were old Glasto favourites. We saw a little bit of KT Tunstall who was very popular in those days. The Levellers were singing It’s A Beautiful Day on the Jazz stage. In the evening we went to the Acoustic Stage to see an Irish band Jerry Fish and The Mudbug Club. I love the acoustic tent because it is in a huge tent so no mud and not so overwhelming as the Pyramid Stage. We took a long slow walk home while New Order and Coldplay played in the distance. I don’t think I particularly liked either. As we fell asleep that night I knew that the next day was to be one of the greatest ever at Glastonbury and was to be proved right. When I crawled out of our tent on Sunday morning I just knew that today was going to be special. I'd liked Brian Wilson ever since I Get Around had stopped me in my tracks in 1964.I hadn't seen Brian since 1980 at Knebworth when he was in a terrible state and I had been a Van Morrison fan since 1973.They were both on the same stage at Glastonbury. It was almost as if I had chosen the bill. There was a lightness in my step as our little band headed down Muddy Lane following our leader Dave to work. We tore into the cardboard with gusto to get the work done as quickly as possible. At 9.00 the sun came out and I knew that Brian had brought the California sunshine to Glastonbury. We had all our work finished by 11.30 and headed back to camp. After a shower and a bite to eat I put on my Jelly Roll Soul T Shirt, grabbed my flag and set off for the Pyramid Stage. Jools Holland was on stage when we reached the Cider Tree where we were to meet up our friends at 3.00. Only Andy and Alex showed up. Andy and Alex didn't want to see Van, they set off to see The Beat on another stage and me and Kim headed for the front of the stage. We met some Irish guys from County Monaghan who had a long flagstick with some little flags on it and we added our Irish flag to it. 

Van came on stage at 3.45 to a huge Glastonbury welcome. This was easily the biggest audience he has played to in Britain. The festival had changed a lot in the 8 years since his previous appearance. There must have been 100,000 people in front of the stage. Van looked quite relaxed and dapper in a new suit and even Ned seemed to be enjoying himself. The audience seemed to really enjoy what was served up, a gang of mud people near us danced in a big circle. I must say though that i was disappointed with Van's choice of songs. There was only one song off the new album and the rest were greatest hits type fare. He gave this particular audience what they wanted which was upbeat danceable music. It was filmed because we were watching the big screens as well as the stage and the mud men from Monaghan told me they had seen us on the screens. I found out later that Van refused to allow his performance on the television. I don't understand it. With a huge telly audience, he could have sold thousands of albums. I estimate his performance lasted 75 minutes or so and he left the stage to huge applause, but it could have been so much better. He didn't do Summertime In England or any other reference to Avalon. For me it was the least enjoyable of all his performances at Glastonbury and I didn't think the Pyramid Stage suited him anymore. If he ever does Glasto again I think one of the smaller stages might suit him better. Van hasn’t appeared at Glastonbury since 2005 but he has played at Glastonbury Abbey three times since. Michael Eavis has said that Van has told him he prefers the Abbey to the festival. Perhaps he can’t stand all the flag waving. 

I didn't have time to dwell on Van's lack lustre performance because I was about to witness not only the best show I have ever seen at Glastonbury but one of the best shows I have ever seen anywhere in my life. After Van's performance we dashed back to the Cider Tree and looked for our friends and got a drink. Then I heard in the distance 'Then I Kissed Her'. "Come on Kim, he’s on!" and we dashed back to the front of the stage. I got my first glimpse of Brian in 25 years. It was great to see him and his wonderful 10-piece band on stage at this famous festival. Brian looked really well. Then it was Don't Worry Baby which to me is the greatest B side to any single ever. Then Dance, Dance, Dance from the Beach Boys Today album. Somebody once said that side two of that album is Brian's finest work and I almost agree. Its comparable in greatness to side two of Van’s Into The Music album. Then it was Darlin’ followed by two ballads, In My Room and Surfer Girl. The harmonising on these songs and all the songs was simply stunning. Brian was the triumph that Van could have been. Brian did about 20 more songs including The Little Girl I Once Knew, Wouldn't It Be Nice, All Summer Long, Little Saint Nick, I Get Around, Sail On, Sailor, Marcella, Our Prayer, Heroes and Villains, God Only Knows, Sloop John B, California Girls and Good Vibrations. Then two encores, firstly Do It Again, Help Me, Rhonda, Barbara Ann, Surfin' U.S.A. and Fun, Fun, Fun. Finally Love And Mercy. Every one of them a hit and the crowd loved it, which summed up the most joyous performance I have ever witnessed. There were even people standing on surfboards being carried through the crowd. Brian left the stage to rapturous applause after winning thousands of new fans. As the crowd dispersed I knew I had just seen one of the most enjoyable performances of my life. After Brian’s amazing performance we met up with Andy and Alex and we couldn't decide what to watch next so went on a long meandering walk to the small Avalon stage where Sharon Shannon was playing. I love her music, she is to the accordion what Jimi Hendrix was to the guitar although she doesn't set fire to it or play it with her teeth of course. Her Irish jigs and reels are the perfect infectious music for a festival. One thing that marred her performance for me though was a lady with no clothes on got on stage and started dancing. It was a real distraction from the music and Sharon must have been quite embarrassed. We bumped into an old friend called Pru but by now I was tired and emotional (Drunk) so I'll draw a veil over the rest of the evening which is a bit of a blur anyway.

Monday morning was another hot sunny day as 150,000 revellers began to make their way home. The high point of the morning for me was when Michael Eavis came up to our campsite to thank the recyclers for their hard work and to do a radio interview. Wayne took a photo of me and my sister Margaret with Michael and he signed a programme for Kim and me. I reminded him that we had met twice before and asked if he remembered and he said, "No". In the radio interview which I heard later he said he would like U2 for 2007 but he wouldn’t ring them again, they must phone him. We had one last shift to do which we tore through really quickly and then our team had our photo taken. I felt quite sad that our little team was breaking up. I threw our gloves in a bin and the work was over. Afterwards we went shopping with Viv and Julie and discovered a stall run by some people from Kathmandu in Nepal. I bought Kim a skirt and she bought me a striped black and red Dennis The Menace type hoody coat which I still have to this very day. Margaret and Wayne offered us a lift home and Wayne played a nice mix of Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Nils Lofgren and Eminem as Kim and I sat in the back drinking organic raspberry wine. It would be two years before the magical city rose once more from the mists of Avalon. What we didn’t realise as we drove home that afternoon was that 2005 would be Kim’s last Glastonbury.