Beaver89

The crowd on Saturday had a very high douchebag percentage. Expected at an electronic day but still felt awful. More than once I was stood in a good amount of space just to have someone walk into me instead of around or stand an inch in front of my face when they had feet of space in front of them. Partner had her feet trodden on countless time. Gorillaz day was much more chill but that'll be both demographic and strikes impact on numbers (getting home was a drag!). Funny moment at Tourist though when some late-teen/early 20s girls next to us kept dropping their drugs on the floor and were very unsubtle and persistent in looking for them. A guy next to us shouted quite loud: "HAS ANYONE SEEN THEIR DRUGS?!" which just sent me into hysterics for a bit. They then all fell out with one another because "I just want you to have a good time" and other cliches. Then the drugs they did have hit and they joined the rest of the above mentioned crowd. Kraftwerk should have been on the main stage. That crowd was ridiculous. Music was great for most of the day but I'll question going to a similar day in future as it's just a bit intense for me crowdwise. That said I may drop by a Luno stand on Friday to nab some Disclosure tickets if there are any going (have seen Disclosure and Fred Again already this year but I can't get enough!). I'm looking forward to the laidback indie crowd on Friday now.

I see George Ezra and raise you Chris Martin

Love this! It was our best find in the run up. Great for vacuum bags with clothes in, pumping up self inflaters and air beds and they have a model that has a lamp in the base too so no need for an extra lamp. Some of their modes even function as chargers! The picture on the screen is closer to life size than you think. It's tiny.

Berghaus 65+5L pretty standard large rucksack - noting outrageous. Mates of mine turned up with a scuba bag on their back - looked like a tank! Tent this year was carried by hand as was the cider. The more is on your back the better and if it is a good rucksack (which mine thankfully is) it makes all the difference for comfort - a lot of weight feels like nothing when it's on. There are inflatable mattresses and inflatable mattresses though. If its an airbed, thats going to be way heavier than a self inflater (I've done both in my time). pillows are bulky I got the inflatable forclaz one from decathlon and its as close to the real deal for an inflatable as I've had yet - it weighs nothing and take sup very little room deflated. I think clothes are my heaviest area and easy to take too much. I take a t-shirt, sock and boxers per day; wear jeans in whatever the weather and have shorts in the bag. Add a jumper / hoody (or as I did this year a down jacket - highly recommend!) and waterproofs and that's about it. Clothes add up the weight fast. I'd even say it could be argued I take too much but it's a balance of weight and comfort through the weekend - no one is taking that fresh sock feeling from me!

I gauge the physical aspect of each year by when the soles of my feet start aching no matter what. I genuinely got to Sunday afternoon this year and I'm stunned. Can only assume dry ground and regular stool use (small one in my bag) were a large part but then I've done years like that before. Some years my feet and legs are done in by Thursday afternoon yet this year, the least fit I've been for any festival and I was fine for 90%. Fluke or maybe karma offset for horrendous sunburn and hangover at the start and food poisoning at the end. I think a large part of the pain people feel could be reduced by simply not returning to the car. Save your protestations - you do not need half of that stuff you think you do. ...no you don't. I'll accept those with little ones who can't carry their own stuff (and similar) are a given needing a truck or two trips. But people doing 2, 3, 4 trips to the car is nuts. Make the beneficiaries do the work or take less. I've always had the rule that if it doesn't go in or on the rucksack (or carried in arms) then it doesn't go. This year I had my comfiest set up yet with a fair few excesses including 13 litres of cider, an F&B 4.1 and an air bed frame in addition to fresh clothes each day, sleeping bag, air mattress, food and a bunch of other bits and pieces - I don't go without otherwise I'd be fucked like everyone else. Sure, getting on site is a little bit of a pain but it is done once. Then when pitched you can recover and not add another 2-3 mile round trip with another bunch of crap. You enjoy more of the festival inside the fence and cover fewer miles saving that physical stamina for more important matters like the 4am trudge back to camp or simply being upright come Sunday lunchtime. I do believe that taking it easier and reducing the distance early makes the latter stages more palatable. Even with that approach I'll be taking even less next time to try and reduce the weight a bit (certainly less cider and food). It's horses for courses I guess but I just don't see how anyone needs that much for the weekend when time out at the festival rather than at camp is the priority. Maybe thats the secret to needing less. No where near giving up. Thought I'd share my one-bag philosophy. It might inspire someone and make the change they need to keep doing what they love.

Probably more that he is a seasoned broadcaster as well so knows the headaches it could cause. I was there and was pretty surprised that the crowd behaved with it too. But then he had plied us with sweets and compliments by then. I was looking forward to bellowing out the uncensored version but it was still cathartic singing about pricks. Better fitting given RvW too.

So I find out that default is 720p just as I finish downloading everything... great. Might do a round 2 for stuff I really care about but not right now. Unsure where to enter the code on the thing I have anyway. eurghhh

Spotted on the end of the highlights! nice one! Also spotted you (or rather the hat) crossing paths to the toilets by Silver Hayes (JP side) at the weekend but didn't seem the time to say hi.

Absolute life saver. Add the inflatable bed frames from decathlon so the bumpy ground isn't an issue and moving from Hitchin Hill to a flat campsite (Bushy this year) meant I got so much more sleep and had so much more energy each day. Loved it. Actually enjoyed camping for once! (new sleeping bag also helped there)

I got food poisoning from the Nacho stand by Other (the one next to Samosas which I should have gone for instead for many reasons!) on the way to Kendrick. All other food memories are deleted. I've only just bloody recovered! I was expecting something like the one pictured earlier in the thread - what I got was slop. It tasted awful too but had no time to course correct. Apologies to anyone who saw a very emotional 30-something throwing up in the corner of the bag pen at Bath and West on Monday (or near the campsite crew area in Bushy earlier on just before Mr. I've Had Too Many Drugs kicked off) - that was why, not a massive last night.

ahhhhh man! wanted to watch that. Hold the faith though, they sometimes upload more sets a bit later.

They were on at 12:30pm. Likely too early for the coverage. They always seen to miss the first couple of acts on each stage.

Going on this year I have to agree. It's been a while since I've been so memory was fuzzy. This feels right instead of the nonsense I spewed above.

Taking 200k as the baseline 1-2% Tuesday afternoon increasing to up to 10% by 6/7am I think it’s then a 40 / 40 / 10 split across Weds, Thurs, rest of weekend (ignoring Sunday day tickets). I’m likely way off but it feels like that from the campsites and judging by how many can get time off work and when they can travel etc. Could be chatting nonsense though. I wonder if the festival has the data? I imagine they do.

My first ever headliner was Jay Z. I was gutted not to see KOL but was at my leavers ball on the Friday. My Dad drove us through the small hours to get there. This year he is coming for the first time while I’m on my 9th. Jay Z was UNREAL. Such a brilliant way to put two fingers up to the detractors, to prove hip hop stars are rock stars, that music is music and he understood what he had to do. That opening video into Wonderwall into 99 problems lives with me always.

All together now: N F R! N F C! And if it does, so what. We’re going home! See you on the farm folks. The gates open TODAY!!!

So ultimately a normal year at the farm then. I’m more concerned about the pollen count than the rain at this point. I don’t even usually suffer but hiding inside today while the weather is glorious.

What is dead may never die

I wish. That would be much better. Sorry I meant Ke dollar Ha. I was only there because my mate’s sister (first time) wanted to see her and it was Thursday so nothing else was happening (back then - 2011). However, I witnessed the best (and most accurate) review of a gig ever at it as there were two guys in front of us were literally keying cocaine and then shortly after, left. It was a gig so awful that no amount of drugs could make good. Later in the weekend my flatmate’s gf wanted to see her and I warned it would be crap and that they should come to Friendly Fires with me (that Hawaiian Air one). I saw them the next day and asked how it was. “Oh the dancing and the confetti and the outfits…” “…and the music and singing?” “Shut up Beaver89!” 😅

I’ve already slipped into “what day is it” mode so didn’t realise it was tonight. We’ll have it on tomorrow. Nice to see good reviews though! (Scary bit is I have work in the morning! Last day before the fun starts!)

Nah I’m on board with that for our summers. I love a warm late evening round a fire pit or something but the freshness of a cooler night to counter the heat of the day is a wonderful thing. (Not mutually exclusive, I know) I’ve long thought that if our summers were just a bit more consistent then we might be a little more chilled out as a nation. But that’s a whole other thing. This will be the only camping most people do in a year (myself included) so hardly surprising that any conditions other than summery clement are feared.

I could very easily see NFT / Blockchain tech being used for Real Glasto ticketing in future. Obviously they would want a layer 1 that is eco friendly and all that but while the million dollar JPEG use of NFT tech is utter nonsense I see concert tickets using it to the advantage of both fans and artists with the smart contract terms you can build in. Do I see the potential for a purely digital Glasto? I was going to say no but honestly given the global brand juggernaut it has become in recent years I honestly can. Would I use it? No. But if it found a way of taking the feeling, ethos, hedonism and long drop smell to those who simply can’t attend attend for real then I can’t see why that’s a bad thing. I just can’t see people spending a weekend watching digital representations of bands or videos in that way. There is a big difference between going and doing the thing and sitting in your living room or study and watching it like a Netflix series or like a video game. (yes we all did that in 2020 but that’s a bit different)

Would it still take half an hour to walk to the Park in the virtual one?

Yea, true. I’m not sure what they did at the Other stage but in fairness it is much better than it used to be and since the new stage shape / design it seems better still. Still not amazing, but we’ll take not having to stand in Shepton Mallet to hear them.

That’ll make it easier to find mine then!