Did I go to a different festival to everyone else here?

[sjb310375]

Oh at last. At last! Grumpyhack and this thread have restored my faith.

I had an absolutely wonderful festival, most brilliant 4 days of my life. Wonderful music, friendly people, lovely food, great atmosphere...

...then I came on these forums on Tuesday & thought the world must have ended! All the moans about litter, chairs, other human beings... it wasn't like that at all at Glasto... everyone was chilled out, having fun, families, young people, oldies, everyone. Sure there are the odd obnoxious types everywhere, but blimey! It's hardly sitting at your desk in a dead-end job, is it? Glasto is an escape from real life, a huge great adventure.

I saw about 20-25 bands, loved almost all of them, even the ones I thought were a bit meh was still fun to try them out and see them, discovered new music, saw three terrific Pyramid headliners, and generally had a fantastic time. The disconnect between that and the whining, bitching and general complaints on these forums is amazing!

[FunkyDenz]

The festival was brilliant, a really enjoyable experience, however it could have been slightly better. The people moaning are moaning about things which could be done to improve Glastonbury, rather than saying (for the most part) that these things ruined their experience.

Is it wrong to moan about the vast piles of rubbish at a festival which has such a strong built-in environmental ethos? Or to complain if you've been robbed?

[Roger Explosion]

My feet hurt still... ummmmmm, thats the only complaint i can think of!

[drewsstrat]

Hi Pete 'grumpy hack'

Well as we had the pleasure of your company , and that of the other gang members this time it improved my experience from 2007 no end!!

The only moan I have that it was too short - I didn't plan much and in retrospect wished I saw some more new bands with you guys rather than the tried and tested, but you can't have it all; BBC coverage not too bad and hopefully will relive the missed moments

Flushing toilets good...shhh

Roll on next year

[ukslim]

My first time back on the forum since the festival - I haven't seen the moaning posts yet. I suspect they will anger me.

For me it was probably in my top 3 Glastos of the last 14 years. Great weather, great acts, great 'crazy crap around the site', great atmosphere, plus for the most part things were really well organised.

I witness only one major crowd management cockup - we left Trash City intending to go to The Park, and stewards insisted we turned left to join a HUGE crowd heading into Shangri La. Obviously that crowd was only going to get rammed into Shangri La. Eventually we just disobeyed orders and turned back, by which time it seemed like some senior steward had seen sense, as we were allowed through.

Trains and shuttles: excellent on the whole.

[glosoli]

Its the 'moaners' who persistantly try to kill the Glastonbury vibe! I couldnt go this year and i cried like a little girl But every year i have been - i have never found one thing that i could complain or moan about! In 2007 i was in the Glastonbury hospital with......some issues that have left some permanent damge now and they offered to fly me out to Bristol hospital for treatment....(it was quite serious) but i told them straight 'do you know how long it took to get this ticket!' and refusd any treatment in the end! like i said, it was a move that has left some permanent damge and to be honest, i have never once regretted that choice. Walking away from Glastonbury Festival is an unthinkable option and i cant see why anyone would ever want to complain about it.

I love this festival and its ability to bring people together, and there will always be a minority who will try to take advantage of the good natured masses. Ive been one of the many that have suffered the wettest years of Glastonbury and if Mother Nature cant kill the vibe, a few idiots wont wipe the smile from my face!

[daggermouth]

I had a lovely festival, met and chatted to some great people and saw some good music.

The flush toilets where we camped were spotless to the end. I had no hassle from security, young lads, old people or anyone else.

We pitched our tents without trouble, just about fitted everyone in and had no problems with noisy neighbours.

I didn't meet anyone who was inconsiderate but met a lot of friendly, helpful, kind people.

Reading all the moans and complaints I'm beginning to wonder if I went to a different festival to everyone else.

[Martin Ashford]

I don't have a single negative thing to say about it. My only grumble was the poor phone coverage which meant contacting mates was hopeless but you just get on with it. I didn't see a single argument all weekend let alone a fight. The mood was very relaxed everywhere -about as far away from modern Britain as you can get. The amount of stuff to see and do was pretty overwhelming and I saw some of the best live music I've experienced in 31 years of attending. I didn't have to queue at all to park or leave but then I did arrive on Thursday afternoon unlike the rest of the lemmings :angry: I think once again all credit must go to the organisers for putting together the most impressive gathering of its kind in the world. It's not a cheap weekend and it's bloody hard work when you get to my age but nothing can touch it.

[Bristol Boy]

Firstly let me say that this was my second year after 2008 and I absolutely loved both and can't wait to get tickets for 2010.

However I think some people can't distinguish between moaning and constructive criticism and thoughts on how to make the experience even better.

The music was awesome, food and drink were brilliant, the overall organisation incredible.

Flags/gazebos/chairs are issues that ought to be considered as clearly they concern a lot of people. Litter/waste and travel HAVE to be considered. This is supposed to be an ecological festival!! My views on the former is that there is not enough coming from the stage about it, if every act made a plea to Love The Farm etc then it might just have an impact. On the latter, there has to be an incentive to come by public transport or even group transport (cars £50 to park, minibuses/private coaches free? or cars with two people or less not allowed until Friday?). I'll admit I'm part of the problem here, our group of five came in two cars. Put up the parking charge significantly and we would have come in one. These are all things that ME and EE can address.

Much of the commenting here has been about the type of people who attend. However this issue is not something that the organisers can control and ultimately comes down to us as punters to decide on whether we want to attend or not weighing up all things considered.

Last year we had great camping neighbours, this year we had scum (posh kids on coke one side, chavs who probably considered the festival toilets as "luxury, you were lucky to have hole in the ground" on the other). I also feel that I saw more of a "laddish" culture out and about around the site and the stages (thankfully excepting Theatre, Cabaret, Acoustic and Park).

I chose to come to Glastonbury in 2008 because people said it was better than any of the other big ones and would suit my mentality. I don't go to Benidorm or Blackpool on holiday cos I don't like the sort of person who goes there. Everything I saw at Glastonbury that year made me glad of my decision. I loved it this year but saw a few hints of the things that I had been led to believe Glastonbury wasn't.

I can't wait to come back and hope 2010 is more like 2008 in atmosphere (I accept that getting a good camping pitch will help) but if next year I see a major increase in the "Oasis/Arctic Monkeys" crowd then I might have to think hard about coming back in 2011.

[boover]

We had an AWESOME festival!

(Only minor moan would be that some idiot drunken chav came up to me and shouted lesbian in my face, not entirely necessary - I am quite aware that I am one :angry:)

Nice to see a positive thread!