My Glastonbury 2023: Part 2, Love & Peace, Old Friends, & Old Cars.

Deepak Chopra

It was Thursday morning at Glastonbury. I didn’t have any work today, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and all was good. The gates had now been open for 24 hours and there were about 200,000 people on site. Although the music didn’t start on the big stages until Friday there were already events happening all over the site. After breakfast I took a long slow walk to the Park Stage where I had arranged to meet up with Odele. 

At 11.00 there was a guided meditation for thousands of people led by Deepak Chopra. In case you haven’t heard of him, he is an Indian / American best-selling author of books on alternative medicine, mindfulness, and healing. He was very influenced in his early days by meeting Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and discovering Transcendental Meditation. He became famous after appearing on television with Oprah Winfrey. It was a wonderful experience to take part in this event which gave a great feeling of peace, unity, and togetherness in the audience. I was so inspired that I resolved not to drink any more alcohol for at least three days until I had finished my shifts at work on Sunday. You don’t really need booze to have a good time, and also it could make you quite ill in the hot sun.  I hope next year they might get Eckhart Tolle to lead a similar event, especially since Eckhart used to live in Glastonbury town before he moved to Canada and wrote The Power Of Now.

Louise Stewart Daisy (Pure LSD)

After the meditation, we took part in the Peace Procession which was led by large puppets, flags and CND banners from The Park to Kings Meadow by the Stone Circle where 10,000 people formed the world’s biggest peace sign while a helicopter hovered above taking aerial pictures of the scene. There was a group of Mexican Indians there performing a ceremony as well. Their leader looked like an Aztec in his strange garb. The crowd then moved to a small stage where Deepak said a few more words. Then a poet called Louise Stewart Daisy (Aka Pure LSD) recited a long moving poem about peace accompanied by some strange beguiling atmospheric music. 

Highwire.

As she spoke, a man walked across a high wire 40 feet up in the air without even a safety net, just carrying a long pole for balance. When he reached the middle of the tightrope, he started performing head stands. It was truly awesome to behold. Finally, he reached the other side to the cheers and relief of the audience. When this mind-boggling experience ended, me and Odele had a little chat with Louise Stewart Daisy and had a photo taken with her. She told us that she was staying and appearing in the Tipi Field. What a nice lady she is.

Human Peace Symbol.

After that me and Odele went our separate ways. She wanted to see something else, and I wanted to catch an old friend Tony who was appearing on the Bandstand in the market area at 2.00. I have known Tony for about 40 years since he lived near me in Trowbridge. He lives in Bristol these days, but I always catch up with him at Glastonbury. He plays with his friend Steve in a folk duo called Hodmadoddery. By 2.00 it was scorching hot, but luckily, I managed to find a shady spot by the side of the Bandstand to listen to their set. I stayed for the whole performance. 

Hodmadoddery.

I think the first song was called Ladies of Spain, Other songs included Dylan’s Girl From The North Country, Painting Box by the Incredible String Band, Deep Blue Sea, Will Ye Go Lassie Go?, Roy Harper’s Tom Tiddler’s Ground and many others including their own songs which I can’t remember the names of now.. If you like bands like ISB or Tir Na Nog I think you would love Hodmadoddery, and if you live in the Bristol or Bath area then I urge you to see them. I took a few photos and had a chat with Tony afterwards who introduced me to Steve. I said I’d like to buy their CD. Tony wouldn’t accept any money and he very kindly gave me a free copy of their CD which I am listening to right now as I write this. It is excellent, and I might review it on my blog page before too long. Tony said they were playing again at the Avalon Café & Toad Hall, but I didn’t catch those gigs.

Carhenge.

I wasn’t bothered about what I saw after that. I wandered up to William’s Green and had a look at Carhenge which is an amazing structure built from 24 iconic vintage cars. There has been a Carhenge previously at Glastonbury in 1987. Thatcher’s nasty government had banned people from holding the Stonehenge summer solstice festival, so the Mutoid Waste Company built their own replica of Stonehenge at Glastonbury out of scrap cars. Their leader, the underground visionary designer Joe Rush has gone on to be world famous. On the Glasto website it says, ‘Carhenge is a tribute to the pillars of Counterculture and the free festival movement, the heroines and heroes from the margins of society, the non-conformists, punks, and visionaries whose courage and energy has shaped our culture from the underground out. From Quentin Crisp, pioneer of the trans community and author of The Naked Civil Servant, and legendary rock’n’roll guitarist, Chuck Berry, to fashion and environmental icon, Vivienne Westwood, and Hawkwind’s pioneering Sax player Nick Turner, who sadly passed away this year’.

After that I was getting hungry and tired, so wandered back to base. Thursday night is the traditional recycler’s party. I usually go to it because Michael Eavis always used to come along to thank everyone for their efforts. He hasn’t enjoyed the best of health recently, so I didn’t expect him to attend. Also, I wasn’t drinking and wanted an early night to make sure I was up for work in the morning. I was asleep before the sun had set over Avalon. I had now been on site for five days, and finally on Friday the music on the main stages would begin, and what an incredible day of music it would turn out to be.

To be continued…………….

Avalon Sunset.