55 replies to this topic

[freeak]

I had a good glasto that year, didn't experience any problems except for pick pockets appearing to be everywhere, one stole my sisters mobile phone. The crowd for moby was ridiculously busy. I ran through a gap in the fence which had been taken down, everyone that I was there with had also got in for free. I spent a fair bit of the festival raving in the e12 car parks with all the traveller sound systems.

[cornelio]

Jumped the fence 4 times in about 10 minutes to keep getting pass outs for girls that I was with. It was unreal the amount that were going over it. Was my 5th time so was comming into my own and knew the place well. Was crushes going on everywhere though and as somebody said for fatboy slim on the sat night it was scary. Remember a bottle neck at a bridge and did think it could be pretty bad and it was really. People crying and stuff from the crush. But I go to nothing hill every year which used to ne awful so kind of used to it. Remember a massive guy outside the dance tent hitting people with a full size maglight torch and robbing then. Bad. Got totally ruined all weekend and ran around with my ex all weekend in the sun. Bowie on the Sunday night with fires burning everywhere would the site and smoke comming right across the pyramid. Best year for me I think. 98 in the mud was worse I think. It was like armagedon at night time and gangs all over the place. I was shittin it that year more to be honest. 2000. Great year. But I wouldn't take my wife for the first time this year if the fence didn't go up I don't think. It had to change as I was pretty lawless.

[Keef]

2000 was my second year and we were in a caravan we had bought for £50 between us (it was so knackered we left it there in the end - it can now be seen as one of the camp steward shelters!).  Being in a caravan we obviously had to go in and out of the gates each day but by Saturday afternoon even those of us with tickets were climbing over the fence instead - it was just quicker than going through the gates.

On the Julian Temple film Eavis says there were 300,000 on site and I can believe it. The site was noticeably much more crowded than before or since, especially when the crowds were moving between the main stages between the headliners.  It was 'edgier', it was more exciting (frightening?) but I prefer how it is now with minimal crime rather than then when I seem to recall huge numbers of arrests/muggings/thefts.

Thankfully my overriding memory of that year is Bowie. What an amazing performance.  It's up there in the top 5 performances I've ever seen and I'm sure it will stay there until I die.

[fatyeti24]

the only Glasto i've attended where i watched the Chemical Brothers live on a pub TV in Liverpool on the Friday night, though 'feck it, lets go', got the car and was onsite by 6am Saturday.

you just don't have that level of spontaneity any more!

[clarkete]

If you can remember it then you weren't really...what was I saying again?

I think most years got progressively busier until the fence was added.  I don't recall the mood being as dramatically different as I do the year the Happy Mondays came to town (1990 according to Wiki) which was when I spotted someone flogging a second hand car stereo for 20 quid in the Green Fields.

[The Other]

gooner1990, on 26 April 2011 - 12:16 AM, said:

Been looking at the BBC highlights package and the comments on there about 2000 all seem pretty negative about the fence jumpers and what sort of people were indeed jumping the fence.

I only know a handful of people who were there for that year, and even they only jumped the fence for Bowie on the last night....anyone with first hand experience of that year?

Hmm well, 2000 was my first year and I don't really remember alot of it to be honest. However, I do know that it was seriously overcrowded, that I do remember. Plus my mum wouldn't take me the next year it was on, 2002, so it must have been bad enough for her to seriously worry about taking me again.

[Storm_NL]

2000 - Stupidly crowded, our group were robbed on two consecutive nights.
Other people we knew had also suffered from tent robbery and pick-pockets.
Also, the only year I've ever seen aggression and violence flare up at the Cider Bus. Basically, groups of yobs causing trouble. Not a good year in that respect... =:/

[gooner1990]

Well it appears that 2000 wasn't so scary from this small clip........suprised at how low the crowd was for PSB considering the amount of people that had jumped the fence!

[5co77ie]

eFestivals, on 26 April 2011 - 04:21 PM, said:

I had a great time in 2000, without any sight or fear of trouble.

+1 my favourite year, and far more shilled than the exciting edginess of my first in 1990.

[Mahdnyw]

2000 was fantastic, the extra people gave it a certain something that has never been replicated, it definitely wasn't the easy going place it is now, you did need to keep a degree of savy about you - it separated the men from the boys

[glasto-worker]

gooner1990, on 05 May 2011 - 02:41 AM, said:

Well it appears that 2000 wasn't so scary from this small clip........suprised at how low the crowd was for PSB considering the amount of people that had jumped the fence!

Trust me at times it was like the New Year sales on Oxford Street and I have never seen it so packed -

The Pet Shop Boys were due on around 21:00 Saturday 24th June 2000 but of course the main increase in numbers did not happen until the Sunday.

I personally did not encounter any trouble but that is no surprise as most people tend to make a wide berth of Glaswegians but I do know from Secruity who were working that there was loads reported.

[geebus]

I was a fence jumper, but had a ticket; just that it was stuck in the post office and I wanted to go on the Wednesday.
I think I must have been lucky to some degree as didn't see any serious nastiness.  Not massive, but not a small bloke myself.
Camped around Dairy Ground kinda area; never got THAT crowded where we were and everyone around was friendly.

Big crowds, but I was happy near the front of Nine Inch Nails that year - a crowd with some real LIFE, so the crushing aspect wasn't such a worry for me, just that it took ages to get anywhere.
Had to be a little more careful, maybe, but I tend to be careful in such big crowds of random people anyway.

In the years since then, I've seen - security guards nicking my friend's money (2010) and other people's stuff (several years), people nicking our firewood (a couple of years - including 2009 when they stole it while it was still alight - we found some of it a few tents away still smouldering!)  The usual chairs etc being stolen.
Seen a decent few people getting aggressive.  A newer thing is people getting aggressive in crowds if they get knocked - often thanks to the person standing the other side of the people passing giving them a shove.
Seen someone nabbing a crate of beer from some general sitting area and run off - nice to see they then had several large blokes land on the thief.

Overall, I preferred the atmosphere I experienced in 2000 - now there seems to be too many pretentious wannabe hippies and less variety of people.

[p.pete]

geebus, on 05 May 2011 - 11:07 AM, said:

I was a fence jumper, but had a ticket; just that it was stuck in the post office and I wanted to go on the Wednesday.

Tis my money Father! I just didn't want to fill out the forms!

[YetAnotherOldHippy]

2000 was the first time I'd been since '90 I found the atmosphere was far better generally.

Much busier (stupidly busy at times) but it never seemed to me like any large groups would suddenly kick off at anyone near them.   

Nobody I knew got robbed in 2000 (or since) either, unlike 1990 when whole tents seemed to disappear from around us regularly!

[Leedspete]

I only went once before the fence which was 1999.  Other people I know who did go in 2000 said it was OK as long as you were careful.
There definitely was a more lawless feel to it after dark before the fence.  You'd sometimes be approaching an area and just think "we'd better avoid or go the long way round" especially if you had a few girls in your group.  We were generally just three lads so didn't see any trouble.
Just the same as other late night places like city centres I suppose, and something you don't get there now, it seems unbelievably safe at all times.

As to the Scouse debate, the only time I've seen any trouble was 2005 when we knocked around for a bit with a big group of scousers we met on the Friday night, just 1 or 2 girls and about 7 or 8 lads.  On the Saturday one of them peed next to someone's tent (yes very antisocial) and must have slipped and fell over and splashed the tent.  The guy in the tent got out and headbutted him, hard, and the guy came back with blood all down his face. The other lads were obviously "interested" to know who'd done it, and I feared the worse.  They all just called him a dickhead for peeing in the wrong place and said he deserved it, which he agreed as with as well.  It wasn't the reaction I expected, but I all thought better of them for it, as plenty of people (scouse or not!) would have rushed over to cause trouble.

[Douzeper]

Had no problems whatsoever in 2000, apart from some crazy overcrowding at the end of acts, but it was bearable and if you took your time wasn't really an issue.

My worst year was 2009, still trying to work that one out