261 replies to this topic

[Monkismo]

hotwaterbottle, on 20 June 2011 - 02:54 PM, said:

How can he not take offence to being called a "boring clone"?!
Everyone is boring until you get to know them. : (

Spot on. Everyone that says the festival isn't what it was probably sees themself as a free spirit and fairly liberal but it's actually them who are more closed mind than us topshop* wearers.

*I'd like to point out that I don't own a single item of Topshop clothing (I'd have to buy everything in an XXXXXXXXXL when I fit a medium everywhere else) but just by wearing average clothes like a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, I probably get labelled as such.

[plainlazy44]

There's always gonna be people at the festival who you would rather not be there. But atleast nowadays its some spoilt teenagers in stupid clothes rather than some violent, opportunistic thieves.

And freting about the "safety of the event" seems like nothing but common sense to me. There's a reason i don't go to reading anymore, the violence and crime make it an unpleasant place to be and shouldn't be over-looked for the sake of "character".

Some people need to realise that stereotyping groups of people based on the way they look is not justifiable. Some travellers are thieves and scroungers, some are not. Some middle class kids are spoilt and self-obsessed, some are not. Some black people are violent gangsters, some are not. Its all prejudice and its all unacceptable.

[Spindles]

Good thread and a well thought out post to kick it off (albeit delayed) which largely represents my own views.

<snip>

Then I removed almost everything I wrote because I thought it sounded a bit bitter and resentful.  That is not me.

Edited by Spindles, 20 June 2011 - 03:18 PM.

[elias]

I first went in 1985 (I think, could have been 84, maybe 86. I'm old and the memory plays up! I just remember it rained non-stop), anyway, if you gave me the choice between going back to those days or staying with the present set up I'd choose the more sanitised version we have now.
I think it's easy to look back with rose tinted glasses and forget the edginess and downright danger to be found at Glastonbury at that time. Sure, some things are missed, especially around the 'green' and 'alternative' areas, but I'd prefer to be safe and happy.

Of course, I'm a bit (lot) older these days and I'm more than happy to attend somewhere we can go as a family (wife and daughters) and not worry too much about the more risky elements that used to be present.

Just my view.

[Gregcharlie]

Society has changed, Glastonbury has changed etc.

Glastonbury turns 41 this year, so obviously it was going to get middle-aged and dull wasn't it? If I actually said to any 41 year old they'd probably get a little p****d off, and yes I know Glastonbury isn't this living, breathing entity but as with anything, things have to change and 'grow up'. You can't be an angry teenager forever and Glastonbury couldn't be that anarchic, hedonistic festival that it used to be.
So maybe Glastonbury is having its "mid-life crisis" according to some, let's just prevent it from having a tragic death shall we?

[ukslim]

You can be a fully employed office drone on their weekend off, and still not be a boring clone at the festival. All it takes is to contribute a bit. Fancy dress, face paint, some creative campsite decorations, anything like that gives a little bit back to the festival. Even wearing a stupid hat.

Now, you might justifiably say, that having paid £200 for the weekend, you're not obliged to give anything back at all. And that's true. But the more people do it, the better the festival is for everyone.

It needn't be much.

In 2009 (I think), after the headliners, we came across a couple of teenagers standing next to a bright light. They hailed us "We're having a shadow dancing competition, do you want to join in?" -- they were taking it in turns to dance in front of the light, while admiring the long shadow it cast on the ground and fence. So we joined in, and had a bloody good time, and that was Good Festival Spirit.

Last year, on Posh Friday, a few of us wore suits, and after a couple(*) of drinks, decided to audit strangers ("Excuse me, sorry to interrupt your evening of fun, but I just wanted to check whether you'd filled out a PR-22/11 form for possession of that glowstick". You could tell from people's reactions which ones had some spirit about them, and which ones were drones with a rod up their arse.

I'm sure there were plenty of crusties who soaked up the entertainment and gave nothing in return too. For a while there was a slightly dodgy aspect of "normal" people gawping at crusties as if they were zoo animals. You might argue that this got formalised by Lost Vagueness and later Shangri La.

[eFestivals]

elias, on 20 June 2011 - 03:11 PM, said:

I think it's easy to look back with rose tinted glasses and forget the edginess and downright danger to be found at Glastonbury at that time.

what time are you referring to?

To my own mind, Glastonbury only started to become 'dangerous' in about 1995 (perhaps a year or two earlier). Until then it was very edgy but never really dangerous to my mind.

[hotwaterbottle]

I'm dead working class and I don't get any help when paying for my glastonbury ticket/money, I pay for it all myself with my part time cleaning job.
I got a tent bought for me this year as a birthday present, thats it.

So yet again, don't stereotype all young people into the same camp of "my daddy paid for everything!" I love glastonbury, and I'm willing to give up three months of pay to go each year, as shown by the past three years.

SO  

[Spindles]

I think it was only really dangerous in 2000.  There was alot of thievery in '99 (halfway up lower kings mead was a camp full of thieves whose tactic was to just pick up dome tents and carry them back to their camp) but I never personally saw anything threatening or frightening that year, in the years before that I attended I was just a stoned kid and frankly compared to the 2 summers of acid house I'd just experienced it was just more of the same, with largely the same group of people attending (good times!)

I had a bad time in 2000, I didnt go for a few years, I was glad of the fence, personally.  Sorry.

[strudders]

eFestivals, on 20 June 2011 - 03:17 PM, said:

what time are you referring to?

To my own mind, Glastonbury only started to become 'dangerous' in about 1995 (perhaps a year or two earlier). Until then it was very edgy but never really dangerous to my mind.

This. ^^^^^

I have never had any issues with Glastonbury till 94. As a kid going I never had any issues. I took my oldest in 2002 when he was fifteen. I went with him because there was no way I was letting him go on his own, same with my daughter in 08 when she was 14.

If the festival was as it was in 86 when I first went on my own would I let them go on their own? Answer is yes.  

Not saying that Glastonbury is in anyway dangeous, but it does have an edge that was not there years ago and the edge comes from the people who attend.

[ukslim]

Gregcharlie, on 20 June 2011 - 03:12 PM, said:

Society has changed, Glastonbury has changed etc.

Yes, this is true.

However, I think in the 95 (as far back as I go) Glastonbury was quite dramatically different from mainstream society, and now the difference is less pronounced.

... and I think for the most part, it's Glastonbury that's moved towards the mainstream, and not the other way around. It would have been lovely for mainstream culture to have gravitated towards many of the values evident in Glastonbury at that time. There was hedonism, which was good. There was also a lot of social conscience.

[Vanderlyle]

Problem with these threads is that a lot of good people are going to end up sounding like dickheads....


Glastonbury has changed of course. As has been said, this was primarily needed in order for ME to keep his license.

I think the crucial thing is that for the majority of people going who are left-leaning, friendly, up for a good time and (for many) bored as hell slogging their brains out at work 5 days a week, it is by far and away the most enjoyable, liberal, friendly week of the year.

I've been to a hell of a lot of festivals, and Glastonbury continues to be unique. Best set of people, best atmosphere, best variety. Of course there are more middle-class people... bankers/lawyers/politicians etc. But these people aren't necessarily bad people, and I would far rather know that at least some of the people 'running the country' were coming and seeing what joy real community can bring, rather than them being hounded out for having £100 wellies...

[Mikeydread]

Only 18000 people and £8 (I think) when I first went! Now too many flags!  Still love it to bits 32 years on!

[skaggman]

russycarps, on 20 June 2011 - 02:25 PM, said:

I saw the glastonbury film the other night, seeing all the different characters on there, listening to people viewpoints etc. It was like a different worlk. The current festival is an obsenity compared to how it used to be.

I'd genuinely like to see it renamed. The Pilton Pop festival or something. It was steadily changing, but in the last couple of years I'd say the "old" glastonbury is pretty much completely gone.

The blame lies with the fence and the super high entrance fee. The demographic is utterly changed. It is the domain of the spoilt middle class rich kid nowadays.

Will I go in 2013? Probably not.

I could not disagree with you more.

Compared to reading or leeds glastonbury is a bargain! £200 for the amount that glastonbury offers campared to very similar prices for much smaller festivals (£140 for Hop farm for example) is a good price and they always try to keep tickets prices as low as possible. If prices were lower the quality of the experience will also drop.

Glastonbury is definitely not the fashionable place to go for people under the age of 21 and your "middle class rich kids" you will find reading attracts far more.

It is also the most "festivally" music festival of any UK festival, and it still has the biggest range of alternative music. Yes it has far more "Pop" acts than it originally did but that is because music is changing so the festival accomodates for that.

You strike me as somebody who cannot deal with change which would make life very difficult as it is full of change, I reccommend changing

[elias]

eFestivals, on 20 June 2011 - 03:17 PM, said:

what time are you referring to?

To my own mind, Glastonbury only started to become 'dangerous' in about 1995 (perhaps a year or two earlier). Until then it was very edgy but never really dangerous to my mind.

Perhaps 'danger' is overstating it somewhat. I'm not really talking about the issues with crowds prior to the super fence, more the unsavoury characters that could be found at times. I'm certainly not trying to tar everybody with the same brush, there were also many interesting and lovely people attending then as well. It's just I would feel much happier about letting my daughters attend alone (which one of them has done) now rather than then.
I realise this is a generalisation, but it's how I feel.

[NunuD]

Possibly, perhaps, its not that the festival changed but that you are seeing it differently? At the age of 6 Iran around and acted silly, ate donuts and fell asleep in front of whoever my parents were watching that evening. I know that when I was 16, if I went at the time, I would have spent the entire festival in front of the Pyramid or Other stage, staring at the popular chart topping bands. And would have thought it 'like totally awesome'. Now, I far prefer to bimble off and take in the Caberet or the Green Fields, try and find the Rabbit Hole or something. Perhaps if Glasto isn't doing it for you anymore, and you have been doing the same thing for the past 10 years, try doing something else?

Just my opinion, please don't take offence anyone!

[robalotalob]

Ok you can make the point that 'everything changes, you've got to adapt' but not everything has to change. You don't have to get loads of big corporations on board and appeal to a larger demographic and expand. You could continue being a non-profit, alternative festival and keep the admission cost low.
In response to the original question, it's not as good as it used to be IMO. I miss the edgy-ness, the diversity of characters from different backgrounds. The festival is now dominated by young, lower-middle class white people who can afford to go. To me this is tragic.
On the plus side, the place itself hasn't changed that much, they've stuck to their roots in keeping the green fields, circus and cabaret. Music has not changed and in fact there is probably more choice music-wise, and primarily that is what people are there for. It's great that you still feel that 'we're all on the same wavelength' thing but it was so much more when you felt that with people from a greater a mix of sub-cultures.
Anyway, hope everyone has a blast.

[arcade fireman]

russycarps, on 20 June 2011 - 02:38 PM, said:

problem is, and dont take this personally, but you, your mates and the rest of "your sort" (for want of a better phrase) bring absolutely nothing to the festival. You are boring clones.

I'd much rather see the hippies of the past than you lot parading around in your hunters wellies and top man tshirts. I'm sorry to say you and your ilk have priced out the former glastonbury goer.

Of course you have every right to be there, but why do you think all the "characters" have gone? Because of the likes of you and what the festival has had to become in order to accomodate you.

I mean no offence by this.

Awful post. So utterly narrow minded in its scope.

One thing I genuinely love about Glastonbury is how so many different types of people - hippies, rich kids, middle class, working class, young, old etc can all occupy the same space, have to endure some shocking weather/conditions underfoot at times, have to jostle in queues or crowds for bands/night time activities, have so many polarising tastes and opinions - yet the festival manages to unite them all peacefully and there's hardly any trouble. No one should feel left out here and no one should feel like they're not wanted.

Personally I wouldn't consider myself in any of those groups. I went to a private school when I was a lad, am from a middle class background for sure, but I work in a job where I serve the entire community and come into contact with them on a day to day basis. Like most people who go, I'm somewhere in the middle.

The type of people I want to see going are the type of people who appreciate the things I've described. The people who keep a big smile on their face through the whole festival, the type who don't go on and on about how things used to be and enjoy the many great things about the current festival. They generate an atmosphere which we can all feed off and that's what makes it such a great festival. Because most people are like that.

The type of people I don't like to see going are they type who turn their noses up at another group of people. That applies to both people like yourself, and the upper class toffs who scoff at the working class. Because you're both essentially two different sides of the same coin. If you genuinely believed in equality you'd realise reverse snobbery was every bit as bad as traditional snobbery; and those born into wealthy backgrounds have as much control over that as those born into working class backgrounds. Neither are worthy of disapproving stereotyping for that alone.

[BigMouthStrikesAgain]

I'm a spoilt, middle class kid attending Glasto for the first time. I'm going to parade around in top man t shirt and hunter wellies thoroughly dulling the whole place up waiting for the Kaiser Chiefs.

[ukslim]

Spindles, on 20 June 2011 - 03:23 PM, said:

I had a bad time in 2000, I didnt go for a few years, I was glad of the fence, personally.  Sorry.

I had a lovely time in 2000, but I still know exactly what you mean.

It would have been lovely for it to have gone back to how things were in, say, 1995. But there's really no way that could have happened. Pandora's Box was opened. There were more people coming (by fence-jumping) than the space could accommodate, and the only way to stop it was by getting serious about security.

After the fence went up, the missing edginess was slightly saddening. But it was more than made up for by all that glorious space. Our group would be stretching our arms out, saying "WATCH THIS!"