Glastonbury 2009

[alframsey]

Right, I'm 20 and have been to every Glasto since 1990. Clearly I had my childhood in the 90's and as a result I couldn't possibly say what any of the Glastonbury festivals from that decade were like apart from odd memories. I didn't really start to appreciate the festival until about 2003 and this is when Glastonbury started to come into its own for me. My point is I have many fond memories from the 90's, but for me Glastonbury has been at its best since about 2003. And I'd say the best was 2009 for a number of reasons such as;

The fantastic weather we had, 2008 wasn't bad but 2009' weather topped that and was better than 2010 purely due to it being bearable.

We had a brilliant line-up and 3 of the best headline sets I can remember from Neil Young, Springsteen (debatable, but definitely the best set I've ever seen) and Blur (even though I didn't see them, from what I've heard it was pretty good).

The overall feeling of the festival just topped any I can remember. I'd be interested in how you think/feel 2009 compares to the other years?

[BlackHole2006]

2009 was my second year going to Glastonbury. In 2008 I wanted to see every single thing on every stage and tried to cram in as much bands as possible, this made my first experience of Glastonbury in 2008 a bit stressful at times but in 2009 I realised that you didn't have to see everything so I only picked five bands each day and spent the rest of the time wandering around the site/soaking up the atmosphere etc. Glatonbury 2009 was a great year for me as like you said not only was the weather but it was the most relaxed time for me. 2010 surpassed it however and I'm pretty sure 2011 will be even better.

[Toilet Duck]

Along with '05, my favourite of the '00s....missed '04 mind you and woulda loved to have seen Macca (possibly why I loved '05 despite the weather!). '09 really did have a lovely feeling to it though.

[rubenz]

Only been for the last three years but I would say that 2009 was my favourite one. It was the first time I had really checked out the afterhours areas and the atmosphere was electric at times on the site!

Everyone seemd to be really going for it and the various thunderstorms etc added to the atmosphere I thought.

Seeing Blur blow the pyramid stage away followed by sitting up on the stone circle when a massive rainstorm came in was a memorable way to end things.

2010 was great but more subdued due to the heat and there seemed to be too many people everywhere!

The great thing is you never know how your festival will pan out and what could happen.

[Bradders]

'09 was my first one and just pipped '10 by the tiniest of margins. That was mostly because one of my two best mates was missing that year, though. Also, Blur played

[norainplease]

2009 was amazing most probably because of blur who were awesome, but I'm afraid 2010 was my ultimate so far...my favourite band (Muse) at my favourite place in the world! Can't beat that!

[JC-Mo'Fucka]

Blur, the specials, madness, kasabian, tom jones!

Even bloc party pulled off a cracking set

Yeah it was a cracking year

[Poliwhirl]

Only been going since 2008. As someone mentioned above they went in 2008 and crammed to much in, being their first year. 2009 was brilliant imo. Saw Bloc Party on the friday, the day I had my first pill experience seeing Annie Mac in the day time. Saw Bruce on the saturday. Seeing Blur was probably the best thing I've ever experienced.

[Wooderson]

Along with '05, my favourite of the '00s....missed '04 mind you and woulda loved to have seen Macca (possibly why I loved '05 despite the weather!). '09 really did have a lovely feeling to it though.

[Bort]

2009 was my first. Phenomenal sets from Blur (their best set ever, it seems), Bat for Lashes, Emmy the Great, Neil Young, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Metric, Nick Cave, plus all that crazy shit in the latenight areas...I had to come back for more last year!

[Mardy]

Just me then? I preferred 2008to 2009 , but 2010 was my best one ever, I reckon. Lot of it (for me) is about the people you're with.

[Spliffman]

For me 2009 was slightly better from a musical perspective. With a shed load of top class acts and bands on.

But we took 4 virgins with us and I sacrificed some of my festival time on making their 1st time extra special.

2010 was imo just about perfect(slightly too hot, but I'm not really complaining). This was the 1st Glastonbury that I have been truly relaxed and chilled at .

The 09 virgins took great pleasure in showing the the new virgins everything that they discovered the year before.

Leaving Mrs Spliffman and myself lots and lots of time to hang out around West Holts, leftfield and Avalon. It really is good just to do nothing sometimes.

So less was actually more for me in 2010, and thus it gets my vote for the best year.

P.S. 2004 also rates very highly aswell. ;-)

[Guest blackcockerel]

Me and my mates had taken a year off in 2008, which may have been a factor, but we all thought 2009 was a great year. Probably the best, most eclectic Pyramid line-up for some time and finally for us some decent weather.

[MattL80]

I watched it on telly. It was alright.

[JC-Mo'Fucka]

I hear 2011 is meant to be alright to.

[MattL80]

I hear 2011 is meant to be alright to.

[Straight Through]

2007 was my last Glasto before 2009 and the rain had made me question my resolve for going, I missed 2008 due to financial reasons but I decided to give it another chance in 2009 and it resorted my faith completely.

1) Usually we go in a massive group but due to various reasons our group was down to about 20 people for 2009 and that seemed to make it a bit less hectic.

2) Friday was one of the best days musically I've ever had at the big G,

N.E.R.D

Fleet Foxes

The Specials

The Streets

Doves topping it off perfectly in the JP

3) Blur coming oh so close to knocking Radiohead 2003 off my top spot of best performances ever (and to think I was contemplating going to see The Prodigy on Sunday night )

4) The weather was spot on, bit of rain every now and again was not enough to make it hard work but just enough to cool it down.

So yeah out of my 6 Glastonbury's 2009 wins hands down.

[fullfathom5]

Blur - that is all I have to say.

[niceandfriendly]

oh 2009! thanks for bringing it up 2009 was my first, and it served up an endless amount of magical moments. pendulum, maximo park twice in three days, blur.. BLUR FFS!!!, bloc party. actually, no need to mention the best bits, glasto 2009 changed my life. so it was awesome.

i can't believe 2009 was my first. for years i've said that i'd never enjoy going to a festival. how f**king wrong was i?

although all this was said before i started smoking weed. so, sort of makes sense.

[MEGABOWL]

Aye, 2009 was sensational. The line-up was brilliant-in terms of stature and significance (putting aside personal taste) has there ever been a better set of headliners than Young, Springsteen and the Blur comeback? Also having the likes of The Specials, Spinal Tap, Madness and Nick Cave (and that's just the Pyramid) was great.

Plus the vibe was sensational. I think the rain on the Thursday night helped in a weird way. It was similar to 2003 when Thursday into Friday was overcast/rainy which meant people were preparing themselves for a weekend of mud and hard work. Then when the sun came out there was a real positive uplift in peoples moods.

[FunkyDenz]

2009 was good, but not as good, for me, as 2010. It was a short festival to me.

I overdid the partying on the Thursday, I'd been heading back to my tent around 3am, and was persuaded by some amazing randoms to head up to the Stone Circle with them for probably my favourite non-music moment of Glastonbury ever, getting back to my tent as it started raining on the Friday morning, but couldn't sleep (too much coffee on route back to the tent ) and when the sun finally came out from the clouds around 11am I couldn't even have a mid day doze, so Friday was a write-off.

The Saturday was fantastic. Rolf, Crosby, Stills and Nash, Lonnie Liston Smith and Bruce made for a memorable day, another all night party at some randoms tents, then my mates (and lift home) decided by the Sunday lunchtime that they'd had enough, and we headed home.

[anoldhippie@60]

for me 2009 was better than 2010. It was my first year so that might have something to do with it.That and seeing Neil Young. Was worth the money just for that.

[denwyn]

For me 2009 was perfect...Neil Young was my highlight, and i even enjoyed Sprongsteen,Weaher was ideal,plus no sodding football at all. I found it far to hot in 2010,and did not think much of the headliners at all, although Flaming Lips blew me away,it made me explore a bit more though which was a good thing. looking at what they are saying to headline this year will mean more exploring,just hope the weather is more like 2009,

[amfy]

2009 - the weather was great. A bit of rain over Thursday night friday morning really didn't do any harm. In 2008 when it did pretty much the same we all thought it would be ruined even if the rain stopped because the mud wouldn't go away, but in 2009, we knew that if it would just stop we would be OK and we were!

To refer to another thread - I spent a lot of time at the Pyramid in 2009, ther just seemed to be loads there that I wanted to see. This did leave me with the impression that Glastonbury was particularly overcrowded & litter strewn that year but I definitely had a great time.

I have a great time in different ways every year though. If I had to pick a favourite it would be 2007, but that's definitely just me!

[bhafcseagull]

2007 was my last Glasto before 2009 and the rain had made me question my resolve for going, I missed 2008 due to financial reasons but I decided to give it another chance in 2009 and it resorted my faith completely.

1) Usually we go in a massive group but due to various reasons our group was down to about 20 people for 2009 and that seemed to make it a bit less hectic.

2) Friday was one of the best days musically I've ever had at the big G,

N.E.R.D

Fleet Foxes

The Specials

The Streets

Doves topping it off perfectly in the JP

3) Blur coming oh so close to knocking Radiohead 2003 off my top spot of best performances ever (and to think I was contemplating going to see The Prodigy on Sunday night )

4) The weather was spot on, bit of rain every now and again was not enough to make it hard work but just enough to cool it down.

So yeah out of my 6 Glastonbury's 2009 wins hands down.