amfy

Probably my favourite festival now. Will definitely be back next year.

For most it makes no difference. Applications become active early next year. You will only be registering an interest before then. ……Unless you can do 2 Oxfam festivals before the end of this festival season which would give you priority and make it ALOT easier to get a place for Glastonbury next year.

I think for us it was difficult because our shifts meant that Saturday was our only day off during the festival proper, & that was on the back of an overnight shift. The heat just after Aitch was too much & we’d wanted to go to Woodsies but had to hide in the woods instead! I had suncream, water, a good hat, but still my head was absolutely thumping! We really wanted to make the most of that day and just couldn’t. I was dreading our afternoon shift on Sunday but the heat calmed down and it was pleasant.

I guess you could always put a little tent up in the awning!

Sounds like I was a supervisor on your gate too. Ollie doesn’t want to be a supervisor, but if I was asked for feedback, I’d say he’s a brilliant person to put alongside an inexperienced supervisor. He managed to be someone who knew absolutely everything without ever being patronising! (I didn’t want to be a supervisor but ticked the box by accident!) it was a brilliant team!

We got caught in that too - 12 hours to get home!

Pretty much. We talked when we got home, decided we were leaning towards not going again. Then an hour later decided we weren’t ready to let go. Then watched the highlights and just felt nothing. Last year it felt too busy and not like the Glastonbury I loved, & I thought we’d give it another go, & it was better this year. Overall though, just not enough. I didn’t feel the old excitement on the way there, but I had a great time at TWFTPU, having attempted a couple of flavoured vodkas for the first time, I enjoyed sharing them and chatting drunkenly to random strangers. We got fun shifts on PGC which flew by even if the overall shift pattern wasn’t the greatest. I enjoyed music from Panic Shack who I’d never heard of or seen before, through to Elton John who’s been famous almost my whole life. I had a Glastonbury cry at Raye. I loved that I spoke to loads of young people, and people who hadn’t been going for as long as me who described it as magical. I’m so happy that it’s still magical for so many people, but it just isn’t for me anymore. It’s just another festival that I love, but with loads more walking, and with so many people wanting volunteer places let alone tickets, it just feels like it’s time to move over and let some other people experience the magic. Don’t get me wrong, I had a great time, I wasn’t wandering round with a face like a slapped arse, but it’s the people who think it’s magical that bring the magic, and that’s who should be there! Finally, for a quarter of a century Fat Boy Slim has always clashed with someone we wanted to see more, or appeared at a stage we couldn’t get anywhere near, but this time we saw him at The Park, a great Glastonbury sunset setting, and he was better than we ever thought he would be. It felt like a sign - Glastonbury - completed it mate. x

Apart from being smaller as shown above, Sziget is on flat parkland so is much easier walking. However, the size doesn’t tell the whole story because there is a lot less camping and far more people who stay in city apartments and local day trippers. There is good space between stages in the main, and it is great for a good wander.

Coming out of The Park after Fatboy Slim was incredibly slow. Everyone knew it was funnelling to a small exit and there was a really good sense of patience in the crowd, but on a wet year, that section of the site does become very slippy and I worry that this volume of people, with people falling over, could become really dangerous. It could have been managed better. There were still people coming in and I think entry needed to be blocked until the crowd had cleared. When we got to the bottom, there were 6 security basically hiding behind the tree and doing nothing to manage the crowd. If the Park has big attractions, the crowd management needs to be better. This time around, it was fine, people took their time and shuffled their way out eventually. Overall though, it relies too much on people being sensible (it can only take one group of idiots to start a panic, or to start others thinking they’ll push through too) and the weather.

I wished he’d just sung his original version of Sacrifice as she wasn’t appearing. He did Rocket man separately so he could have done Sacrifice properly and just shown his own back catalogue but I guess they felt they needed to throw the recent hit in.

Have you been before? If you haven’t and are tempted, just do it. Everyone should do Boomtown at least once, even if you hate it, you’ll know you’ve experienced something that’s very else!

Latitude often has a great line up and has all the ingredients of a great festival but ‘soulless’ is the right word for it. I’m sure loads of people have a great time there, but it’s very much not Glastonbury!

I had this with Raye. She did ‘Ice Cream Man’ very early in the set and her voice was breaking even as she introduced it so I was crying before the song even started. Then, due to sun cream running into my eyes I cried for the whole of the rest of her set!

Of all the festivals I’ve done I’ve found Sziget to tick the most Glastonbury boxes whilst still being a completely different festival! It has the whole ‘lots of different areas to explore’ thing going on. They do a little passport that you can get stamped as you go to places to encourage you to look round. You can’t take your own alcohol in but of course you can smuggle spirits and the beers (& even cocktails) are cheap compared to UK festivals. Musically it’s very broad but you won’t find the heritage acts you get at Glastonbury. Tends to be very mainstream headliners, then around the other stages lots of stuff from different countries & you find yourself throwing yourself into some Spanish band alongside a load of Spaniards who are bang into it and know every word! It’s really like a world party, every next person you speak to is from somewhere else and that is one of the things we love it for. Also very LGBTQ friendly. Very young but didn’t feel out of place as an older visitor. Theres lots of different types of camping but an apartment in the city for 10 days can be only about £200 & it’s great to experience the city too. Weather usually very hot so camping is hard. For the other end of the Glastonbury vibe - Acoustic/Avalon - Bearded Theory and Beautiful Days are both lovely festivals - small but perfectly formed, an older crowd, heritage and alternative music….& you can take your own alcohol. Boomtown has the edginess of Glastonbury’s earlier years combined with the modern production standards of the SE Corner - a film set. D&B heavy but reggae/punk/folk is around too.

Loved it. Hadn’t been to Castlefield Bowl before and I really liked it and would definitely see bands there again in the summer. I’d not seen Pulp with that kind of visual ‘show’ before and the effect of the iconic Jarvis silhouette against the orange lit steps was quite something. Missed Glory Days though!

I did this too, then realised that everyone else was just dumping their stuff in the programme section at Gate C itself, and avoiding the whole queue situation. Have used the nearest lock ups to shift every other time though as there’s rarely such a safe spot on shift to leave your stuff.

This year I got a much better location on PGC, which was much nearer to base than what I got last year (anything would be!) & it was busy and the time went fast. I was really happy with the location and would choose PGB or C every time I think if I was able to choose. I was an accidental supervisor. Somehow I had ticked the box, and I got a Gate Organiser role. It could’ve been worse because that role places you with 4 other supervisors and a Team Leader, so I didn’t really have to make any difficult decisions on my own, and I worked with a really great bunch of stewards, but starting and finishing an hour earlier than my OH was awkward and I did a lot of running about. We also got the dreaded D shift pattern! This means going on shift before the headliners on Friday for our overnight, & pretty much writing off Sunday, although we did get to see the vast majority of Elton. Only Saturday as a full day off but this follows the Fri/Sat overnight shift & with the high temperatures in Saturday it was hard to make the most of it. Still we did pack in a fair few acts. It’s hard work and my feet do suffer. Taking the weight off them as much as possible is a must, especially in the kind of heat we had. I miss just wandering and with the time off we had I felt the need to focus in making the most of it, which isn’t how I’ve seen Glastonbury in the past, but I think that’s maybe changed a lot regardless of working due to the crowds.

See you there!

Can you take your own caravan to Lovefields and, if so, does anyone know about how much it would be?

I’m a Social Worker. The only good reason not to work is being in a coma or dead!

I was working and so I accepted I wouldn’t see loads, and I also had quite a tough shift pattern but we saw: Fri - Texas, Panic Shack, Lottery Winners, Laura Mvula - before going into our overnight shift at 8.45 Sat - Raye, Aitch, Lizzo, Leftfield, Fat Boy Slim. (Had to set the alarm after the overnighter & just go to Raye in last nights clothes, and then go back to wash & dress for the rest of the day!) Sun - just Elton cos I was on duty from 12.45 - 9. Managed to get quite a good view from near the cider bus exit at the bottom of the field despite obviously arriving late. However, on my very first Glastonbury in 1986, with no work commitments and the energy of youth, I only saw The Housemartins & Ruby Turner! (& there was loads I wanted to see!)

The reason I would test is simply that I’d be expected to come into work with a cold but expected to at least work from home if so had Covid. I don’t really want to be at work with, or spread, either of them, but that’s how it works so I’ll take the opportunity not to spread Covid. Also - I’ve had Covid 4 times now, probably due to the nature of my work (high levels of public contact) & I also came back from Bearded Theory with it. I know from experience that it impacts on me much worse than any flu I’ve ever had, leaving me with breathing difficulties, extreme fatigue, and an erratic heart rate for 3-6 months afterwards each time I’ve had it. I’m more than happy if other people test and inform me, because I’ll avoid it if I can, but I will still risk exposure in order to live my life and go to gigs, festivals and football. That’s a balance.

I was working at PGC & one woman ran through with a water pistol completely unchallenged, but I had seen her going out only about 15 minutes earlier so I think she might have been one of those ‘Mystery shoppers’ who check we’re doing our job properly. If so, it was a fail for us!

I remember being at V festival in about 2004 and in the build up to one band people just pelted the flags with paper cups until people put them down! By the time the band came on stage none were left! The crowd would chant a description of each flag in turn and target it until it went down! People either enjoyed the challenge of trying to keep their flag standing, or put theirs down before the crowd got to them! I have to say it was quite fun too!

The Japanese Bento place opposite the cider bus was expensive but amazing! I’ve never had such good food that close The Pyramid,