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Lost Vagueness... the story


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Thanks for this thread, I love all the history of the traveller's fields and late-night areas. It's just all completely thrilling when you first encounter it. I'm definitely getting on board with this kickstarter.

In 2005 (first G for me) I vaguely remember stumbling through the mud into what I assume from the above was part of Midnight's Carnival in 2005 - a crazy Victorian burlesque circus gin bar type of thing then carrying on to the old tip fields (which were magical) and then, after what felt like a long walk, stumbling into Lost Vagueness and Strummerville. Mind blown. Actually felt like a dream the morning after. I think I felt like I 'got' the festival that night.

I can't remember where the diner was in 2005 but in 2007 I remember some beef about the aeroplane nose cone, and a resulting row between LV and Trash City/Glasto? What's the story with the diner then?   

Perhaps nothing can really match up to the first time you 'discover' something at the festival but I remember LV feeling a bit 'flat' in 2007 (probably not helped by weather) . Everyone was just trudging along the railway track rather than bumbling around. I think the late night areas have really picked up over the last few years since though, especially the alleyways era - it's just a shame the rest of my group now are not massive fans (I usually disappear for a solo mission, hoping to explore more this year).

Edited by kh24
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8 hours ago, gooner1990 said:

Lost Vaguness was still there in 2007, like someone else said I remember trudging through some difficult mud in that area.

iirc there was a Casino up there that year?

That's right. The Casino was always a part of LV from the very early days. The first couple of years only crew knew about it.

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Just now, Yokel Again said:

It was much better when it was sort of hidden in the trees and you stumbled on it than being in an open field. Less people able to get to it of course, but I remember finding it the first time (09 for me, we missed 08) and thinking the late night stuff at Glastonbury had got it's mojo back. I remember the last couple of years when LV was there is always seemed to be shut off for being too busy. 

Yeah, we came round the corner from the railway track and *bang*, there it was. A big fire tower with acrobats and a pounding electronic soundtrack, revealed in the hedgerows in a few moments.

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39 minutes ago, Yokel Again said:

Used to love the old tipi field too - I remember in 2000 stumbling on it for the first time, full of acoustic guitars and fires and families... it was awesome. Seeing them all lined up on the hill isn't quite the same. 

Ch-ch-ch-changes.

i have very few photos from old festivals before the smart phone era, but i have this one of me in the tipi field from 2000

6.jpg

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44 minutes ago, incident said:

Afterburner

Looking at the 2007 and 2008 maps, I think you're right and I'm wrong.

Apparently in 2007 Trash City was in the Outside Circus Field and the Tipis were still in their traditional field, which to be honest I don't remember at all but then again I've blotted much of that year from my memory.

So the move of Trash City into the former Tipi Field must have been 2008, and the spinning off of Arcadia into its own field in 2009

Yes, that's right.

 One of the main reasons for all the upset which resulted in the demise of LV was an argument over who owned the aircraft nose cones and who owned the rights to the name 'The Diner' both of which were in Trash City that year, rather than in LV.

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3 minutes ago, fatyeti24 said:

i have very few photos from old festivals before the smart phone era, but i have this one of me in the tipi field from 2000

6.jpg

Awesome, thanks for sharing. I remember it being really smokey and the mist just sitting in that pocket between the trees. A girl jumped out of the trees and took a pic of me and my mate as she wanted a picture of some randoms... magical times! Gonna have to dig out my old pics. 

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I remember (vaguely) the first year of the Arcadia, it really blew me away, wasn't it in a tiny(ish) field where Block 9 currently is? They had no idea how popular it was going to be. It became dangerously rammed to get out of that field, so they moved it a year or two after (i think you could only enter or exit the field through small entrancs from the south and west as you leave Avalon. They also had those lightning rod guys who were really impressive, they don't do that anymore do they, I cant remember seeing them the last few years, but I might have just not been there at the right time

I also loved the lanes in Shangri La when they first appeared, they used to be great places to explore and find secret doors and passageways leading to dead ends or some DJ in a tiny room, they seemed much bigger in those days, proper places to explore, again my memories might be playing tricks with me!

 

 

 

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16 minutes ago, dingbat2 said:

I remember (vaguely) the first year of the Arcadia, it really blew me away, wasn't it in a tiny(ish) field where Block 9 currently is? They had no idea how popular it was going to be. It became dangerously rammed to get out of that field, so they moved it a year or two after (i think you could only enter or exit the field through small entrancs from the south and west as you leave Avalon. They also had those lightning rod guys who were really impressive, they don't do that anymore do they, I cant remember seeing them the last few years, but I might have just not been there at the right time

I also loved the lanes in Shangri La when they first appeared, they used to be great places to explore and find secret doors and passageways leading to dead ends or some DJ in a tiny room, they seemed much bigger in those days, proper places to explore, again my memories might be playing tricks with me!

 

 

 

The lightening is part of a show "lord of lightning", but it's not quite at the spider, it's off to the side and only at scheduled times. Wasn't it more integrated to the music when it was with the old rig?

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11 minutes ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

The lightning guys still there last couple of years. 

Lords of Lightning - think they're usually on during headliners (roughly).  One good thing they added while arcadia was beside other was the fire tornadoes - have they been a part of it more recently?

On the SE corner expanding and taking up extra staff camping, I remember at the time they seemed to be taking everyone on here's favorite camping spot in the Dragon's Field.  Consternation with every new map release, everyone's now moved westward

Edited by p.pete
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13 minutes ago, dingbat2 said:

I remember (vaguely) the first year of the Arcadia, it really blew me away, wasn't it in a tiny(ish) field where Block 9 currently is? They had no idea how popular it was going to be. It became dangerously rammed to get out of that field, so they moved it a year or two after (i think you could only enter or exit the field through small entrancs from the south and west as you leave Avalon. They also had those lightning rod guys who were really impressive, they don't do that anymore do they, I cant remember seeing them the last few years, but I might have just not been there at the right time

I also loved the lanes in Shangri La when they first appeared, they used to be great places to explore and find secret doors and passageways leading to dead ends or some DJ in a tiny room, they seemed much bigger in those days, proper places to explore, again my memories might be playing tricks with me!

 

 

 

I still remember the first time I came across it too, I was on my own and under the influence of...stuff.... and had to try and explain what I had seen to my mates. I wasn't sure what I had seen ffs!

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I really liked the old Arcadia stage with the actual stage, when the dj booth was right up the very top.  We first saw it in 2010 in that relatively small field and it was perfect in there, lots of sleazy drunken ska going on around the place too which is always very much appreciated.

I liked how dangerous it looked, as if at any moment the big centre bit might drop down and squash a band flat.

I like the spider too, but it's a shame that it's a DJ only thing now.

Oooo found a video

 

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2 minutes ago, p.pete said:

On the SE corner expanding and taking up extra staff camping, I remember at the time they seemed to be taking everyone on here's favorite camping spot in the Dragon's Field.  Consternation with every new map release, everyone's now moved westward

Yeah I used to camp in Dragon every year and I'm still slightly sore that I can't anymore. It was a great spot. We turned up in 2009 to find that the Shangri-La crew had fenced off (and then underused) a large chunk of Williams meaning it was a lot more difficult to find space in Dragon - I think we got the last remaining patches of land. This definitely wasn't expected as it wasn't on any map, and from what was said at the time I don't think it was pre-approved by the Festival.

The following year there was the big expansion of late night areas which displaced a lot of staff campsites, so Williams and most of Dragon were officially turned over to staff camping, then the following year the rest of Dragon followed.

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12 minutes ago, p.pete said:

Lords of Lightning - think they're usually on during headliners (roughly).  One good thing they added while arcadia was beside other was the fire tornadoes - have they been a part of it more recently?

On the SE corner expanding and taking up extra staff camping, I remember at the time they seemed to be taking everyone on here's favorite camping spot in the Dragon's Field.  Consternation with every new map release, everyone's now moved westward

I saw the Arcadia show at headline time last year and the Lords of Lightning were definitely involved.

They had the bolts coming out from their suits at different tones (I assume using different voltages or something) which matched the baseline of the music. One of the most incredible things I've seen at Glastonbury. I'd really recommend heading up there for a 'headline' slot if no one on the main stages tickles your fancy.

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I only remember the Casino (with costumes for hire in a little annex off to the left, where there was also a little bar and tea room), appearing in 2000. After that there was a brief flirt with a roller disco wasn't there? 2002 perhaps?

Before LV I remember the field having a little sign on its entrance from the railway track pronouncing it the "Weird beard Field". Within round the corner to the left was a bar that I seem to remember had been there for a few years and did really sound breakfasts and late night spirits. This was replaced in location by the Casino and later the Diner iirc.

LV ended in 2007 to my memory after the bust up over who got to use the aircraft, the last hours on Sunday being spent sheltering from the endless rain in LV in a little theatre.

Camped in Dragon's from 2007 onwards I think up until 2010 - each year it got more of a challenge to camp there in what was left open (unofficially) for the public - the last time I did so I was up on the shelf of land right next to the fence perimeter, about where the Underground Bar is now. Miss it.

Also miss the original Tipi field - I don't think they were best pleased about being kicked out in 2008 to make way for the afterburner.

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Lords of Lightening were on as part of the 'show' last year but not the year before (I believe). I think it's because 2014 was a cut-down show, with the 'Glastonbury Landing Show',  because the 'full' show was exclusive to another festival (or maybe the Bristol run?) that year.

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12 minutes ago, DeanoL said:

Lords of Lightening were on as part of the 'show' last year but not the year before (I believe). I think it's because 2014 was a cut-down show, with the 'Glastonbury Landing Show',  because the 'full' show was exclusive to another festival (or maybe the Bristol run?) that year.

Oh, ok that explains it - I saw them in 2014.

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Going back even further, the field that is now Shangri-La was once the experimental music field, where legend has it Orbital first got together. Not forgetting all the traveller parties out beyond the fence in that direction too. Lost Vagueness was more of a continuum of stuff happening in that area than the beginning of anything new. It might have just been me, but personally I always found Lost Vagueness a bit exclusive and cliquey, especially with all the black tie and ballgowns. I much prefer what's in that area these days. Do really miss the old tipi field though, it was such a special little place.

The only other thing I'd add to all this is the fact that Strummerville grew out of Joe Strummer's own backstage camp for friends and hangers on. I was one of those hangers on (well, a complete blagger) in 2000, when it was a massive circle of straw bales around a campfire in the interstage area behind the pyramid. Still see a few familiar faces from around that campfire in Strummerville to this day.

Edited by G1T
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19 minutes ago, Pinhead said:

Camped in Dragon's from 2007 onwards I think up until 2010 - each year it got more of a challenge to camp there in what was left open (unofficially) for the public - the last time I did so I was up on the shelf of land right next to the fence perimeter, about where the Underground Bar is now. Miss it.

 

I'm another one who squeezed himself into the Dragon Field around this time - location, location, location!

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Ah yes, I remember the "Travellers Lane", which sort of ran up the East side of Undle Ground towards King's Meadow I think, used to be a gauntlet run for insults from pissed up crusties outside their vans in the mide to late '90's. The Green Fields 'secret' parties were always something to aim for to crash at late at night when there used to be far less going on around the site (other than say the Joe Bananas / Milk Bar / Babylon Soundsystems).

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