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.