My Glastonbury Festival Memories: Chapter 22, 2009

2009.

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.

My Glastonbury Festival Memories: Chapter 20, 2004

Chapter 20. 2004.

 The gates opened for the festival on Wednesday morning but when we got up that morning and looked out of the window we made the decision not to go that day. It was pouring with rain and the weather forecast predicted gale force winds. The music didn't start till Friday and although it’s nice to get there early and find a good spot for camping we decided to wait till Friday which the weatherman said would be sunny. Friday morning arrived, and it was a beautiful day. We said cheerio to our cat Murphy who our neighbour Stephanie was going to look after and got a taxi to the station and caught the train to Castle Cary and then the special buses that took people to Worthy Farm. The first sight of the festival is truly awesome, 900 acres of land accommodating 150,000 people. I had now been coming to Glastonbury for 25 years but I still got a thrill when I arrived. Amazingly almost the first person we saw on going through the gates was the organiser Michael Eavis and his daughter Emily. She was only about 23 or 24 back then and running the most incredible festival in the world.

We made our way across the site, past the New Bands Stage and the Dance Tent, past the Other Stage, through the Glade, across the old railway line to our new favourite camping area on Pennard Hill Ground. The trouble was that it seems to have become everybody’s favourite area. It was packed but Luckily, I managed to find a small space by a walkway and we put up our little tent. As soon as the tent was up we threw our belongings in it and set off to have some fun. It was a really hot day (Little did we realise what lay ahead!) so our first port of call was The Bread and Roses Saloon on the green and then we made our way to the Pyramid Stage where Wilco were performing. I thought they must be American judging by the accents and although I had never heard their stuff before I thought they were excellent, great guitar playing. After that we went for a bit of a stroll and ended up in the Theatre Field. We sat in a wine bar and watched the world go by. Two girls came in the bar, they were about 12ft tall. That’s because they were on stilts. They had long Spanish type dresses on and flowers behind their ears, one played the clarinet and the other accompanied her on bongos and they entertained the customers in the bar. This is the joy of Glastonbury, there is strange and wondrous things going on all over the place. After that little interlude we ambled up to the Acoustic Stage where we watched a band from Montreal called Taima. They had a very attractive girl singer called Elsapi Isaac. We listened to them for a while but got bored eventually and my boot heels wanted to go wandering. We walked up past Kidz World and into the family field where I wanted to say hello to a friend from the internet. I found his tent, but they were all away, so I left a message. We carried on walking and arrived back at the Pyramid Stage to find we had just missed Nelly Furtado, another Canadian.  Groove Armada followed Nelly, but I wanted to go back and check the tent was ok. I kept worrying that it would be robbed, in the past you used to get a lot of petty thieving going on but I'm happy to say that by 2004 there was hardly any which is good news. After a bite to eat we were back at the Acoustic Stage for The Kilfinore Ceili Band all the way from County Clare in Ireland. The band was founded almost 100 years ago, and they are still going strong. They made the whole audience get on their feet and start dancing. They had a guest singer as well called Kathy McCormack and also Liam from the Hot House Flowers sat in with them. They were followed by the legendary Love with Arthur Lee. Apart from himself was a brand-new line up but they were brilliant and included most of the songs from their seminal album Forever Changes. In the market area afterwards, we got chatting to a bloke who had a bottle of vodka on him and he kept giving me dirty great goblets full of neat vodka which is why the rest of the night became a bit of a blur. I remember seeing Oasis, everybody I spoke to thought they were great but there is something about them that I don’t like. I don’t remember walking back to the tent that night, but I must have done and passed out blissfully unaware of the drama to come.

When I regained my senses on Saturday morning Kim was already up and gone. I felt like death warmed up and thought I was being machine gunned, then realised it was the sound of rain on the tent. Emergency action was needed, and I reached into my bag for my secret weapon for such occasions. I pulled out a bottle of brandy I had been saving and washed down two paracetamols with a couple of good hits of brandy. I pulled on me wellies and went to find Kim. On crawling out of the tent I realised I had made a grave error of judgement camping by a walkway because the tent was being splattered with mud. I found Kim easily enough, sitting in the nearest cafe having breakfast. I ordered a coffee and added another lash of brandy to it and started to feel a bit better. I passed the time by reading the Glastonbury Daily which is the free paper they give away. I always enjoy the article by Roger Melly from Viz comic in this because he always comes up with some good festival slang terms. For instance, Blind Man’s Porn that’s the sexual noises you hear coming from adjacent tents, or Sonic Bog Lock, which is the whistles, coughs, hums and songs people do when they are in a toilet with no lock, or Biggie Smalls which are fat girls knickers, or Electric Lemonade which is another term for West Country Cider or Scrumpy, also known as Tone Vale Tonic. Also, French Accordion Player, which is a bloke who doesn't know much about sex, so he just presses and squeezes everything as quickly as possible. The markets were being reduced to a mud heap, but even so were not as bad as the legendary muddy years of 97,98. We bought a book as a present for Stephanie and wandered through the Jazz World field, but the constant drizzle was too depressing, and we found a table in the organic wine bar in the Field of Avalon and stayed in there for about 3 hours, watching the rain, chatting and sampling the variety of locally grown wines. Finally, we decided we better hear some music, The Scissor Sisters were going down a storm on the Pyramid Stage, but I couldn't stand the rain, so we went to the Cabaret Tent and watched Attila The Stockbroker who put across a strong political message with lots of humour and he was followed by the great John Otway who is on nearly every year and always cheers me up. In the late afternoon we decided to go back to the tent for a bit of a nap, but it was impossible with the constant noise of people sloshing past, just as you were about to crash out someone would shout out something silly like “Wibbily Wobbily”, Finally I gave up trying to sleep. Standing by my tent having a ciggie I suddenly heard a familiar voice.

"Hey Patrick!", It was my sister Margaret, I didn't even know they were coming but her and Wayne had managed to get tickets at the last minute and had arrived at midnight on Friday. In a crowd of 150,000 they were camped only 30 yards away from us. What’s the chances of that? It was great to meet up with some family and friends and we ganged up for the evening ahead. The sad thing was that Damian Rice and Toots And The Maytels both clashed with Paul McCartney It had to be McCartney. When we made our way slowly to the main stage The Black-Eyed Peas were on stage, but I was more concerned with getting a drink. At the bar people were standing ten deep trying to get served but I managed to squeeze my way through and bought as many drinks as I could carry. Macca was quite simply stunning. It was the last date of his world tour and he has played 3000 gigs in his career but maybe he was amazed by his reception at Glastonbury. I enjoyed every song, it was great hearing the crowd singing along with All My Loving and other classics, Long And Winding Road was great as was Penny Lane and Hey Jude. Afterwards we got some food and went for a drink in the Leftfield tent and went back to the campsite. It was dawn before I went to bed. The birds were singing in the trees. It had been a great day and there was another one to come.

When we got up on Sunday morning the sunshine had returned so I put on my Christy Moore shirt and we set forth, ready to give it one last lash. After breakfast we went to the Pyramid Stage and caught the end of English National Opera's performance of part of Wagner's Ring Cycle, including The Ride Of The Valkyries. There was a 98-piece orchestra with them and it was quite spectacular. The original idea was to have a fleet of helicopters fly in and circle the stage just like in the film Apocalypse Now. This was refused on health and safety grounds and because Michael Eavis didn't think it was the right image for Glasto on a Sunday morning. I enjoyed it, but they got on my nerves a bit by coming back at the end about ten times and bowing over and over to milk the applause. Our next agenda was to meet our friends Anthony and Sally at the cider tree, a well-known meeting place. They live locally and were just coming for the day. We had a bit of a chat and a couple of pints of the electric lemonade. Nearly all the English National Opera were at the bar. You could spot them because they were wearing their posh opera clothes and wellies. Then to pass the time we strolled to the Glade to listen to some dance music. I usually hate dance music and hate it played in pubs and I’d never listen to it at home but in its right setting its good fun. In among the trees of the glade with hundreds of people all getting into the rhythm the atmosphere is quite amazing. 

It was time to make our way to see one of my personal favourites Christy Moore. We got there good and early to get right at the front. Before Christy played The Bishop of Bath & Wells came on stage and gave a short speech which was well received. He reminded the audience that during the three days of the festival 90,000 children will have died worldwide because of lack of the basic things we take for granted and he urged the audience to support the charities that the festival supports.  What many people forget, that Glastonbury is a fundraiser. Each year it gives millions to groups such as Oxfam, Greenpeace, Water Aid, Amnesty International and many others. I had seen Christy three times previously at this festival. The previous time was 1993 when he came on before Lenny Kravitz and The Kinks. On that occasion when he sang Welcome To The Cabaret  Christy said something like, "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for coming to see Lenny Kravitz and The Kinks and Christy Moore, I've never heard of him before!". Christy has always been a big supporter of the festival so it was great to see him back on the Pyramid Stage at 4.00 Sunday afternoon. He hadn't enjoyed the best of health in recent years, but seemed fighting fit again now. It was also great to see him arrive on stage with great support from Declan Sinnott and Donal Lunny. We were in for a great show. Christy began with Before The Deluge, a Jackson Browne song that Christy has made his own. I wondered why he chose that song to open? Had he gotten word backstage about the storm brewing? He followed that with North And South Of The River, a very moving song about Northern Ireland. This set the tone for the show with Christy opting for songs with a strong political message rather than love songs or the whimsical humorous songs for which he is noted.  I wasn't taking notes so can't remember every song that Christy sang, but he did the following for sure, After The Deluge, North And South Of The River, Black Is The Colour (Christy does requests even at Glasto), Missing You, Viva La Quinte Brigada (Awesome, My Favourite), Burning Times, City Of Chicago, Go Move Shift, Hiroshima/Nagasaki Russian Roulette, and Yellow Triangle. A few minutes into the set it began to rain and got heavier until it became a downpour, the crowd stayed though even though they were drenched which is a huge sign of the affection the audience had for Christy. I think the rain even made him more determined to entertain the crowd. “I know it’s hard but thanks for staying with us, you created a great vibe to work off," Said Christy. We all knew what the finish would be. It was of course Lisdoonvarna which was superb, and I always like it when Christy name checks my other hero Van Morrison. The song evolved into I'll Tell me Ma and the crowd danced in the mud. All three of them took a bow and walked off in triumph. What a show. As we left John C Scott from the official Glastonbury Website took our photo. I looked like a drowned rat. we went back to the tent. where we found a huge pool of water in it because I had not done the zip up properly. I made a decision. "Shall we go home?", I said to Kim.  "Don't you want to see James Brown?". Neither of us were that fussed about seeing the Godfather of Soul, so we put our possessions in a couple of bags and walked away, leaving our little faithful little tent in a rubbish bin. It had done a good job for four years, but it was knackered and caked in mud. I wouldn’t do that these days, I would take it home even if I didn’t want it any more. Love The Farm, Leave No Trace!. We got the bus to Castle Cary and the train and were home about fifty minutes after leaving the site. That evening I went to the pub and watched the Czech Republic play Denmark in the football. then watched about two hours of Glasto on the telly. Bonnie Raitt sounded great and Morrissey and we began to regret coming home early. I felt that we had cheated. That was the only time I have come home from Glasto before Monday. The next day I washed my wellies with a hosepipe in the garden because they were covered in mud and little bit of Worthy farm became forever part of my back garden.

My Glastonbury Festival Memories: Chapter 19, 2003

Chapter 19. 2003, Wonderful World, Beautiful People.

From the organisers point of view the 2003 festival was probably the most successful so far. The gate-crashers were kept out, crime had dropped dramatically, the weather was nice, and they managed to give over £1,000,000 to charity. We really enjoyed it as well. We were back in Pennard Hill Ground and had a big gang in our encampment.  This was the last time we had a large gathering. Margaret & Wayne had an inflatable globe hanging in their gazebo to show we represented one world as opposed to all the national flags all over the site. Katherine had a group with her from Ireland & Bournemouth & my other niece Lee was there with some friends. Lee was looking forward to seeing the Electric Six singing Gay Bar which was a big hit at the time. It was the last time I can remember Dave from Nottingham going to Glasto. My brother Paul brought along this girl called Liz. It was so hot I had a bandana on my head to keep the sun off. Liz said I looked ‘slightly pirate’ so that stuck for the rest of the festival.

One memory of that year is that one night this man who was camped near us went bonkers. He must have had too much acid and couldn’t handle it. He was ranting and raving about there being dragons in the woods. Security were called, and the medical services and they roped off the area around him and eventually took him away. That shows how organised everything had become. In the old days at festivals it would have been down to his mates to talk him down off a bad trip. He came back the next morning as right as rain but looking a bit sheepish. We all thought it was hilarious. The thing is that he was right all along. He must have gone for a walk out of his head and stumbled across the stone dragon in the stream near Kings Meadow and thought it was real.

2003 was the last year that I had my little bookstall which I had done most years since 87. It was getting to be too much hassle transporting the books and carrying them in. Also, the festival goers had changed a lot since the 80’s. There wasn’t really the same demand for my hippy type books anymore. The other thing was now that the gate crashers and thieves had been sorted out the security had time to close down any unofficial traders, so I was constantly on the lookout for security. It wasn’t as much fun anymore. Never mind, all things must pass as George Harrison once said.

Musically I don’t think it was a vintage year, but it did have its moments. On the Friday evening there was an amazing set by David Gray just as the sun was beginning to set over Avalon. He sang Please Forgive Me, Sail Away, Babylon, This Year’s Love and his own version of Whiskey In The Jar. Lots of others as well that I can’t remember now.

 On the Saturday afternoon I was right at the front of the stage with my sister Margaret to witness a splendid performance by legendary reggae artist Jimmy Cliff. It was just perfect for the sunshine. Classic songs by Jimmy included Many Rivers To Cross, You Can Get It If You Really Want It, Wild World and Wonderful World Beautiful People. I wish I could remember more of his set because I think Jimmy Cliff 2003 is one of my top five performances that I have witnessed at Glastonbury. The Sunday night ended for us at the Jazz World stage with another great performance by members of the Buena Vista Social Club. I think they must have had an average age of about 80 but this was the perfect romantic Cuban music for a warm summers evening. We did have one mishap during their set though. Kim didn’t like drinking wine out of cardboard cups so for years she had brought along a pair of pewter goblets. One person said we were stylists for using them. That evening I managed to lose one of them. Somewhere out there somebody has a nice goblet which they found at Glastonbury.

My Glastonbury Festival Memories: Chapter 18, 2002

Chapter 18. 2002.

 Two long years had gone by and it was time to return to Glastonbury. There was never any doubt about it, we had to go. It would be unbearable to be at home when the biggest party in the world was going on only thirty miles down the road. Another reason for going to Glasto every year is that there were some people who I didn’t see all year apart from at the festival and we would probably have lost touch if it wasn’t for Glastonbury.

Michael Eavis had not been idle in those two years. He had designed a brand-new steel fence which had cost £1,000,000. The design meant that it was too high to climb, and it couldn’t be dismantled either as all the sections fitted into each other. There was a metalled walkway all around the outside of it as well which made it impossible to burrow under the fence. Glastonbury was now surrounded by a ring of steel. Another change this year as well was that the Mean Fiddler organisation had taken over the security duties. This wasn’t approved of by a lot of festival goers, but it turned out to be quite successful. It was now almost impossible to gate crash Glastonbury. Most people didn’t mind the gate crashers and I don’t think even Michael Eavis really objected to them, but it had to be stopped because of risks to health. Also, even though the site was huge there simply wasn’t enough camping room for an extra 100,000 people. The other major benefit was that it kept out the gangs of thieves who were ruining it for everyone else. Crime dropped dramatically and now you could leave your tent unattended without worrying that it would be pillaged. The organisers and security had overlooked one thing though. The car-parks were still outside the fence and when the thieving scumbags found they couldn’t get into the festival they started robbing from cars outside. When we left on Monday we saw lots of cars with smashed windows where they had been broken into. Luckily, they hadn’t touched Kim’s little Fiat Panda. Other people I know weren’t so fortunate though. My niece Katherine had her car stolen and it was later involved in a  car crash which was very upsetting for her.

With the nice weather and a lot of the problems solved Glastonbury 2002 should have been one of the great festivals but it seemed to fall short somehow. A few months earlier the atrocity of 9-11 had happened, Afghanistan had been invaded and the war in Iraq was being planned. Back in the 1980’s there would have been speeches from the stage warning of the dire consequences of going to war. Strangely though this didn’t seem to affect Glastonbury. It had become a lot less political. A lot of the gate-crashers of previous years were working class people who probably couldn’t afford to buy tickets so from 2002 onwards the audience at Glastonbury became more middle-class and wealthy. They were part of the throwaway society. This is the time when people started abandoning tents and other belongings at the end of the festival. There was a lot more room for camping in 2002 but strangely that seemed to take away from the atmosphere. This was the year we moved our camping area again and moved across the old railway track to Pennard Hill Ground.

I think another reason 2002 didn’t live up to expectations was because the line-up wasn’t that great. Rod Stewart was the headliner on the Sunday. It had been thirty years since I had seen Rod at my first ever festival at Lincoln. Back in 72 he was great, playing with The Faces and he was a great rock singer. Now, he just seemed like a parody of his former self, lost in show-biz. Kim really enjoyed it though. Rod seemed to be enjoying himself and kicked about thirty footballs into the audience. What I really regretted was that Kate & Anna McGarrigle were headlining on the Acoustic Stage when this was going on. I would have loved to have seen them because their debut album of 1977 is one of my all-time favourites. I’ll never get the chance to see them now because Kate has since died. Another great band I would have liked to have seen was the Be Good Tanyas. I wasn’t familiar with their music at the time, but I love it now. I missed all that to see Rod The  Mod. The real headliner should have been Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame. He was good. The sound for his performance was the best ever at Glastonbury with the music coming at you from all directions. Originally, they planned to have plastic pigs descending by parachute into the crowd but that wasn’t allowed for health and safety reasons.

We saw Brian Kennedy play who has a great voice. You could hear the music from the Pyramid during his performance and he asked the audience who it was. When he found out it was Ash who also come from Northern Ireland he didn’t mind. Also, we saw Eric Bibb again and Nick Lowe who always seems to be on at Glasto. The best performance in the Acoustic that year for us was a very emotional set by the late great Richie Havens. 

My Glastonbury Festival Memories: Chapter 17, 2000

Chapter 17. 2000

A few weeks after the festival in 99 Kim and I were back in Glastonbury for the Extravaganza at the abbey which Michael had organised. He does this every year to thank the local people for their support and the profits help towards the up-keep of the abbey. We stayed at the George & Pilgrim which is just across the High Street from the abbey grounds. It is about 600 years old and originally it was an inn for pilgrims going to the abbey. It is also reputed to be haunted. Our room was brilliant, we even had a four-post bed which Kim thought was great. The concert was the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra with guest soloist Evelyn Glennie. We brought along two fold-up chairs and a little table, lots of nice food and a bottle of champagne and had a picnic. Kim was in her element, she liked this sort of thing, she thought it was posh. They even had the local boy scouts there with wheel barrows to carry your stuff to where you wanted to sit. I spotted Michael Eavis as soon as we arrived, and I wanted to go over and thank him for the tickets. Kim refused though because he was talking to people, and she didn’t like to bother him. On the Pimm’s stall who should be serving? none other than Arabella Churchill, Sir Winston’s grand-daughter. We had a bit of a chat with her. What a nice lady she was. Along with Michael, Jean & Emily I think she was one of the main reasons for the success of Glastonbury with her founding Children’s World which evolved into the Kidz Field, also her developing the theatre & cabaret side of the festival.

The concert was fabulous. This was the only time in my life that I ever saw a world-renowned classical orchestra. I’m not an expert on this type of music at all but I particularly enjoyed the Karelia Suite by Sibelius from Finlandia. They even had water features shooting up fountains of water in time to the music. The percussionist Evelyn Glennie was wonderful, especially when you realise that she has been profoundly deaf since birth. She doesn’t hear the music, she feels it. A great evening came to an end with a spectacular firework display. Since that night, I have been back to the extravaganza quite a few times, to see Van Morrison there on four occasions, also Robert Plant, George Ezra, Ray Davies and Brian Wilson. If you want a great night out in beautiful historic surroundings, then go to Glastonbury Extravaganza at the abbey.

I’ll always remember Glastonbury 2000 as the year of the brand-new Pyramid Stage, David Bowie and it being the year I got robbed. The weather was glorious when we set off from Westbury in a two-car convoy. Me, Kim and Kim’s niece Lisa in our car and our friends Andy and Alex in their car. Unfortunately, by the time we got as far as Frome we had lost them in the traffic and didn’t find them for another two days. I think this was probably the biggest Glastonbury of all. We will never know the true figure of how many people were there, but I reckon it could have been as many as 250,000. You could tell that by how crowded it was. If you got there late it would have been nearly impossible to find a space to put up a tent. Everyone in the country knew by now how easy it was to get in for nothing and with the good weather as well, people just poured in. That was a huge problem from a health and safety point of view. This was the year of the disaster at the Roskilde Festival in Denmark when nine people were crushed to death in front of the stage. Glastonbury was lucky that the same thing didn’t happen there. I think the biggest danger was when one act finished on a stage and their fans would be leaving and meet other people arriving to see the next band and a human traffic jam would be created which was potentially lethal.

The other major problem facing the festival was the thieving which had got totally out of hand. You could see gangs of robbers going from tent to tent and if a tent was empty they would be in there robbing whatever they could find. They called themselves ‘The Scally’ but they were just scumbags who were ruining it for the vast majority of peace loving honest people. There simply wasn’t enough police and security to cope with it. The police did have one good idea though. They put up lots of bogus tents and quite a few thieves got busted trying to rob ‘police tents’. I always thought it would never happen to me because I was always careful not to leave anything valuable in my tent. In 2000 I got robbed though on the very first night we arrived. If it had happened on the Sunday night, it wouldn’t have been as bad because I would have spent most of my money by then but on the Thursday night I was still pockets a jingle. It was about 1.00 in the morning and I was wandering back to camp from one of the beer tents and these three characters came along shouting, “Four cans of Stella for a fiver”. “That sounds like a good deal”, I thought to myself, “I’ll take them back to camp”. Like an idiot, I got out my wallet and was looking in it for a fiver when in a split-second I was staring at my bare hands. They had snatched my wallet and ran off in three different directions into the crowd. It was pointless giving chase because I didn’t know which one had my wallet and I would never have caught them anyway. I had lost £200 and my credit cards.

I felt like such a fool when I got back to camp and had to announce that I had just been mugged. Luckily there was an on-site bank and next morning I went up there with Kim’s niece Lisa and cancelled my cards and Lisa lent me £100 which was kind of her. Then we went to the Police Headquarters and reported the theft. Not that it did any good. There was a huge queue to report crimes. I think there was 900 reported thefts that year. I bet the real figure was more like 5000 because most people wouldn’t have bothered reporting it. The police asked me for a description of the robbers, but I couldn’t tell them much except I knew where they came from because I recognised the accents, but I know everyone from that area isn’t a thief. It taught me a lesson I can tell you.

Let’s talk about more pleasant things because we still had a great time in 2000 despite that bad experience. It was the year of the brand-new Pyramid Stage. The gleaming silver structure had been christened by Robert Plant when he visited the farm a couple of weeks earlier. He christened it with some of Worthy Farm’s own milk. It was great to see the Pyramid back again and it is the same stage that is used today and makes Glasto recognisable around the world. 2000 was also the first year of The Glade which pumped out dance music among the trees non-stop from Wednesday till Monday morning.

Before I talk about the music I just want to tell you about one funny incident. Me and Kim were walking through the Theatre/ Circus field and we were approached by this dodgy looking geezer. He was wearing check trousers and a nasty coat with a fur collar and he had greasy combed back hair and a little mustache. He reminded me of Private Walker from Dads Army.

“Scuse me mate”, he said, “Would you be interested in buying a car?”

“Not really”, I said, “We’ve got one, where is it?”

“I’ve got loads of them for sale”

“Well, where are they then?”

“Here they are”, and he opened his coat to reveal lots of little dinky cars sewn into the lining of his coat. It was hilarious. He was part of the street theatre that wander about in that area of the site. That is why you don’t need drugs at Glasto because reality is weird enough.

It was a good year musically in 2000. On the Friday night we saw Macy Gray. What I remember most about Macy’s set was that the security allowed two naked people to climb over the barrier and run across the front of the stage. This prompted Macy’s two backing singers to remove their knickers to show solidarity with the nudists. It might have all been part of the act for all I know but it was very funny. Later that night we saw some of Cypress Hill. They are an American hip-hop rap group from California. This isn’t usually my type of music, but I thought they were good. When there was all the furore about Kanye West headlining at Glastonbury a couple of years ago, people were saying that this isn’t suitable music for Glastonbury, but they forget that this type of music was on the Pyramid Stage many years earlier. Don’t forget the success of the dance tents either which played a lot of hip-hop.

The main act I remember on the Saturday was seeing David Gray on the Other Stage. I had discovered his music the previous year at the Fleadh in London and had bought his album White Ladder. The next day Burt Bacharach was supposed to be playing but he pulled out and David played another set on the Pyramid Stage which made him a superstar overnight and White Ladder shot up the album charts. You can always tell who was a big success at Glasto by looking at the charts a week later. People can become world famous overnight. The only band I watched on the Pyramid that day was Ladysmith Black Mambazo. When we were around the campfire that night I was singing the song Homeless which they recorded with Paul Simon, but I changed the song to Hopeless and was leaping over the fire which seemed quite funny at the time. Some of the best fun was around the fire, drinking and telling jokes. When people are really spaced out after partying for days and with sleep deprivation they will laugh at anything, such as, “What do you do if you see a spaceman?” “Park in it man”, and other silly stuff like that. The Pet Shop Boys, Reef, Ocean Colour Scene, Semisonic, Brand New Heavies, Travis and Asian Dub Foundation were also on that day, but I don’t remember any of that. A lot of those bands slipped back into obscurity. I don’t think the Saturday line-up was that great in 2000. One good thing though, that evening we bumped into our friends Andy & Alex who we had lost two days before, so that was good.

Sunday was a lot better musically. Sharon Shannon was on the Pyramid Stage and a bit later it was American country music legend Willie Nelson. I knew his importance in the history of music, but I wasn't a big fan like I am these days. He was good, and I recognised quite a few of the songs. I insisted that we leave before the end of his set though because I wanted to see someone whose music I had discovered around that time which was Kate Rusby aka The Barnsley Nightingale who played on the Acoustic Stage. She was great, this was the first time I had seen Kate and I’ve seen her lots of times since. My favourite song of her performance was her version of Iris Dement’s Our Town.

The highlight of the whole festival was David Bowie’s performance. This was his second Glastonbury. The first was in 1971 when he was relatively unknown and now he returned 29 years later as a music legend. It was the second and last time I ever saw him live. The first time was in the mid 70’s when he was the thin white duke and Station To Station was released. He seemed really pleased to be back. I can’t remember all the songs, but I know he began with Wild Is The Wind because one of our friends Alex was a huge fan and was really pleased about that. It was mainly greatest hits set including China Girl, Changes, Life On Mars, Ashes To Ashes, Rebel Rebel, Golden Years, Fame, All The Young Dudes, Man Who Sold The World, Station To Station, Starman, Under Pressure, Ziggy Stardust, Heroes, Let’s Dance and many other songs that I can’t remember now.

That brought Glastonbury 2000 to a triumphant end. There was no festival in 2001 and when it returned in 2002 the huge problems of gate-crashers and thieving would finally be addressed.