Glasto 1997

[Harebell]

WARNING: Nostalgia ahead…(because it's a cold, January day)

 

20 years ago it was 1997, let’s set the scene…Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal is born in Scotland; Channel 5 in launched; Labour under Tony Blair wins by a landslide; the UK transfers sovereignty of Hong Kong to China; the new Oasis album, Be Here Now, is released – selling a record of more than 350,000 copies on its first day; Princess Diana dies and her funeral takes place at Westminster Abbey, watched by over 2 billion people worldwide….

 

In 1997 I was only 12 years old and too young to go but I think it was the first year I properly became interested in Glastonbury Festival (was it the 1st year it was broadcast on BBC TV?)  While many of my girlfriends liked the Spice Girls, the Backstreet Boys and Hanson in 1997 I was starting to get into The Manics, Mansun, Oasis, The Charlatans, Radiohead, Super Furry Animals, The Bluestones, Supergrass and Seahorses etc and bought Select and Q Magazines with my pocket money, ha! My big brother was 18, about to go to Leeds Uni but was nice to me and let me borrow his music; he had been to Oasis at Knebworth the year before and seemed so grown up and cool to me.

 

Did you go? Did you love/hate that year? I know it was ‘the year of mud’ causing the Other Stage to literally sink but the line-up was right up my street as a young’un. 

What was your favourite performance…Radiohead, Beck, Supergrass, The Prodigy, Republica, Cast, Dodgy, Ocean Colour Scene, The Levellers, Van Morrison, Placebo, Ash, Reef, Chemical Brothers, Kula Shaka, Super Furry Animals, Mansun, Seahorses, Finlay Quaye, Lamb, Massive Attack, Aphex Twin, Primal Scream? (among other)

Paint me a picture of your 1997 Glasto memories.

 

Short clip from 1997 - BBC coverage was a bit different back then. Spot Lauren Laverne being a bit miffed that her band Kenickie was cancelled due to the sinking Other Stage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu-jiHkc8x0

[eFestivals]

1 minute ago, Harebell said:

(was it the 1st year it was broadcast on BBC TV?)

Nope. I think 1994 was the first, tho it might have been earlier than that. But I know 1994 was definitely broadcast on channel 4.

3 minutes ago, Harebell said:

Did you go? Did you love/hate that year?

Yep, those mostly (like all of them) it's a bit of a blur. Mostly I remember it because my kid was 9 months old and came with us, but because of the mud we had grannie come and rescue him on the friday morning.

[stuartbert two hats]

13 minutes ago, Harebell said:

was it the 1st year it was broadcast on BBC TV?

 

8 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

Nope. I think 1994 was the first, tho it might have been earlier than that. But I know 1994 was definitely broadcast on channel 4.

So - yes then?

[The Red Telephone]

I went in 1997. Seem to remember bright sunshine on the Wednesday afternoon before the heavens opened. Mud was far worse to deal with then than 2016...mainly due to my unsuitable footwear. Very cold. Seem to remember wearing lots of layers, but forgot to take a coat (see photo below)

Best acts I can remember: The Prodigy, Radiohead, Chemical Brothers, Ray Davies, Beck

Worst acts: The Seahorses, Live, Echo and the Bunnymen

 

Mate had his tent stolen on the Sunday afternoon from Big Ground. Think we left about 11pm. Also seem to remember listening to the Mike Tyson fight where be bit Evander Holyfield's ear in the early hours of the morning. Cue plenty of conversations the day after about whether we really did hear that or was it because we were off our nuts.

Edited January 19, 2017 by The Red Telephone

[Homer]

Only Glasto I've missed since 94. Not gutted about that. Though sadly I did go in 98!

[justperfect]

My first time. Spent the majority of it at the stone circle on acid (the stone circle was so much better back then). Payed a group of scousers a tenner to use their hole in the fence (for both me and my mate). 

I felt very uncomfortable down at the main stages, like it could kick off anywhere at any time so I spent the majority of my first chilling in the green feilds and hanging in the smaller tents.

 

[fatyeti24]

It was my 2nd. I remember more the people i was with than acts that i saw, but can confirm both The Prodigy and Primal Scream were rubbish.  Maybe The Prodge were not entirely to blame for the sound cutting out as they headlined the Pyramid, but letting Dennis Pennis come onstage to rap in hebrew to fill time was unforgiveable. 

[stuartbert two hats]

7 minutes ago, fatyeti24 said:

It was my 2nd. I remember more the people i was with than acts that i saw, but can confirm both The Prodigy and Primal Scream were rubbish.  Maybe The Prodge were not entirely to blame for the sound cutting out as they headlined the Pyramid, but letting Dennis Pennis come onstage to rap in hebrew to fill time was unforgiveable. 

Primal Scream were great!

[Harebell]

10 minutes ago, fatyeti24 said:

It was my 2nd. I remember more the people i was with than acts that i saw, but can confirm both The Prodigy and Primal Scream were rubbish.  Maybe The Prodge were not entirely to blame for the sound cutting out as they headlined the Pyramid, but letting Dennis Pennis come onstage to rap in hebrew to fill time was unforgiveable. 

Haha, WTF?! I did not know that.

[stuartbert two hats]

13 minutes ago, Harebell said:

Haha, WTF?! I did not know that.

Yeah, it wasn't brilliant.

[matt2007]

Muddy but good too, Primal Scream were good I think and so was Van Morrison

[rseamer]

Was my 3rd.

My highs / lows / memories (from a diary I used to keep)

The mud. Before we Ieft for the festival the weather forecast suggested a bit of wind and a tiny bit of rain. By the time we were on route it had changed to rain everywhere. It was my first muddy festival. It was bloody hard work putting the tent up due a a bloody gale blowing. I also remember using sun block as hand lotion as our hands got so dry due to the mud and wind.

Turning up to the Other Stage on Friday lunchtime to find it had been shut. 'For safety reasons there will be no music on this stage till further notice' was the announcement - so missed Kenickie, Audioweb, Embrace, My Life Storey and Sneaker Pimps who all got cancelled, so hundreds of pissed off looking people headed off to the dance set to see Monkey Mafia, which at least was warm inside.

Dennis Pennis having to fill for The pRoddigy when their sound cut: "Talk to me, sing to me," he said. "F off" shouted the audience. "Give us an R, give us an O give us a D, give us an I give us a G, give us a Y - what does that spell?" he continued "F off" shouted the audience again. He also did some hebrew chanting (I think it was hebrew anyway) which everyone sang along with.

Radiohead being amazing and totally suiting the atmosphere.

Travis played at lunch time on the Other Stage. A few years later they would headline. 

Bentley Rhythm ace being a hell of a lot of fun.

Daft Punk in the dance tent. Seems amazing now that I saw them in such a relatively small space. I remember there was some woman climbing the columns that held up the tent at the end and the more I danced the more the (now drying mud) fell off my shoes

Symposium inviting the audience to throw mud at them.

My trousers actually having steam coming off them at one point.

At the end saying "It can never be as bad as that again." The next year it rained even more and was worse.

 

Edited January 19, 2017 by rseamer

[Sawdusty surfer]

That was when I was a performer. Had a camel called Gerald that used to ride two unicycles at once on all terrain .... bloody hard going that year!

[paulshane]

97 was my second one, went in 95 and it blew my mind, so I vowed to go every year after that, and so far I have

 

only got a few pics (from a disposable/single use camera) but I do remember the mud

not sure where this one is, possibly the market area in between the stages

 

the other stage, probably taken from the metal track

 

obligatory drunk people mud wrestling

This was the first year I took my van, we left friday morning and parked up on the 'killer hill'

view downhill on monday morning

 

 

 

[fatyeti24]

1 hour ago, stuartbert two hats said:

Primal Scream were great!

Oh yeah that's right. You made the correct choice

[stuartbert two hats]

4 minutes ago, fatyeti24 said:

Oh yeah that's right. You made the correct choice

I thought I did right up until I saw the faces of everyone who stayed at the Pyramid!

[baggienick68]

1997 was my first and changed my life in the sense that I have been Glasto obsessed ever since.

I was in two minds whether to go and left it too late. When I heard it had sold out and didn't know the exact price I sent a begging letter and a blank cheque to Michael Eavis. Over the moon when the ticket arrived.

I went down on the Thursday and parked real close to the pedestrian gate. It was raining hard so I walked all through the site and camped up above Pylon. I was an older punter then as I was in my 40s and had several conversations with the younger festival goers about why I was there. The answer was the music and Radiohead in particular.

I remember the Friday night had a really good line-up and I was commuting back and forth in the mud between the Pyramid and Other. Don't think I would have the energy now.

The weather was pretty awful but I had my wellies which most people didn't then. The mud was bad but I just soldiered on. The site was quite a bit smaller then.

The atmosphere was more edgy as the travellers and drug dealers were very much in evidence.

It was a bit tough with the weather and being on my own but I met up with a real nice group on the Saturday at the cider bus and shared a couple of ciders and a naughty ciggy or two and then went to watch Radiohead for the first time and they were amazing.

As I say, been hooked ever since.

[bexj]

97 was my 3rd Glastonbury and my husbands 2nd, but it was special cos it was our first one together.  Of course, we all remember the mud and hubby was full of man flu so he spent a lot of time sulking in the tent.  Music? Memory is a bit sketchy, definitely saw radiohead and enjoyed it immensley, think we saw ozrics, kristen hersh but they could have been in 98. Was the new bands tent somewhere round by where the Greenpeace field is now? Gosh my memory is shocking!

[justperfect]

I remember being blown away by the dance tent. There was loads of massive inflatable things all lit up in the darkness hanging from the roof and it was LOUD !!!

[rseamer]

Also remembered how good Beck was. 

 

1st 2 songs there was lots of mud being thrown at him, but from that point on he had everyone grooving and really lifted the mood on the Friday which up to that point had been pretty downbeat.

[sedra]

1997 was my 4th - 95 had been glorious weather so was looking to it after the fallow year of 96. when it started raining the days leading up to the festival my friend decided to wait til Thursday to drive down with me and a 8 year old. Another friend took the teenagers down on the weds in the camper van with our stuff. By Thursday lunchtime rain torrential rain had caused flooding in Pilton ( a bit like this year) so by time we got there we were re- directed to the west car parks. We then had to walk with the rest of our stuff across the whole site which was flooded and very muddy and up to East Camper fields. We then had to find our friends VW - not an easy task in a field full of VW's !!! These were the days when very few people had a mobile phone! 

It was very hard going in all the mud. I can't remember who I saw on the Friday- I think Ash on the Other stage once they had got it shored up? Saturday mainly pyramid- Nancy Griffith, Cast, Dodgy, OCS and then Sadly got dragged away from Radiohead so the girls could see Kula Shaker  

sunday I think we stuck to Pyramid again- but I know we left early Sunday evening having had enough of the mud. When I look back at the line up in the programme now I can't believe some of the acts I missed! 

[The Red Telephone]

10 minutes ago, sedra said:

got dragged away from Radiohead so the girls could see Kula Shaker

Oh my.

[guypjfreak]

9 hours ago, Harebell said:

WARNING: Nostalgia ahead…(because it's a cold, January day)

 

 

 

20 years ago it was 1997, let’s set the scene…Dolly the sheep, the first cloned mammal is born in Scotland; Channel 5 in launched; Labour under Tony Blair wins by a landslide; the UK transfers sovereignty of Hong Kong to China; the new Oasis album, Be Here Now, is released – selling a record of more than 350,000 copies on its first day; Princess Diana dies and her funeral takes place at Westminster Abbey, watched by over 2 billion people worldwide….

 

 

 

In 1997 I was only 12 years old and too young to go but I think it was the first year I properly became interested in Glastonbury Festival (was it the 1st year it was broadcast on BBC TV?)  While many of my girlfriends liked the Spice Girls, the Backstreet Boys and Hanson in 1997 I was starting to get into The Manics, Mansun, Oasis, The Charlatans, Radiohead, Super Furry Animals, The Bluestones, Supergrass and Seahorses etc and bought Select and Q Magazines with my pocket money, ha! My big brother was 18, about to go to Leeds Uni but was nice to me and let me borrow his music; he had been to Oasis at Knebworth the year before and seemed so grown up and cool to me.

 

 

 

Did you go? Did you love/hate that year? I know it was ‘the year of mud’ causing the Other Stage to literally sink but the line-up was right up my street as a young’un. 

What was your favourite performance…Radiohead, Beck, Supergrass, The Prodigy, Republica, Cast, Dodgy, Ocean Colour Scene, The Levellers, Van Morrison, Placebo, Ash, Reef, Chemical Brothers, Kula Shaka, Super Furry Animals, Mansun, Seahorses, Finlay Quaye, Lamb, Massive Attack, Aphex Twin, Primal Scream? (among other)

 

Paint me a picture of your 1997 Glasto memories.

 

 

 

Short clip from 1997 - BBC coverage was a bit different back then. Spot Lauren Laverne being a bit miffed that her band Kenickie was cancelled due to the sinking Other Stage

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pu-jiHkc8x0

 

Mud.... Pills.. Mud... Being asked to leave where we were camping cos we upset the real drug dealers lol....... Longstory that involves  polo mints and the police.. Was a good festival from what we have pieced together.. 

[Oldredeyes]

Radiohead and the smashing pumpkins were amazing that year. Radiohead at  t in the park 1996 was the best gig I've ever been at and glasto was v close.

Ocean colour scene pulled off a radiohead support slot with good singalongs - the day we caught the train specifically.

I remember the wine bars blaring out pop hits all night and we were camped about 50m from one which ended any chance of sleep. 

The mud was dreadful but 1998 was maybe worse as wet all the time. 

I miss the years where it was piss easy to get a ticket and no one had an iPhone permanently glued to their hand. Lots more chance to lose yourself.

 

[CaledonianGonzo]

8 hours ago, Oldredeyes said:

Radiohead at  t in the park 1996 was the best gig I've ever been at and glasto was v close.

For a generous and positive statement that's still one of the most contentious things I think I've ever read on here.