First Timer Not Impressed

[robith]

first time for me too, but overall enjoyed it. The main pain in the arse for me was the bloody unsupervised kids roaming around, spending all of their time texting/phoning each other and generally just trying to push in under the guise of "we're cute kids see, so f**k that fact that you've been here for hours, we're coming in".

Also, I only heard 2 accents over the course of the whole week - scousers and upper class white teenage girls. Where is the diversity!

[Denip]

I thought the atmosphere was really good this year. The rain and mud were a bit of a challenge occasionally but the Glasto spirit always kicks in and people were lovely to each other.

Re the chair thing - I took mine up to the Park Stage yesterday because I was there for 5 hours seeing a fab line up of Jonny, James Vincent McMorrow, The Bees & John Grant. It was boiling hot and by Sunday everyone's a bit weary but I sat right in front of the sound board and didn't obscure anyone's view. Plonking a chair in the middle of any arena or tent is just daft & selfish.

[KaleidoscopeEyes]

I had a really good festival! This was my second Glastonbury and the first with the mud which people were moaning about too much! Although in-between west holts and the other did get pretty bad.

Me and my two friends made friends with 2 women from south London, one 37 and one 50 as well as a pair of 25 yo from north Wales.

[Big Vern]

I actually have to say I saw the most racial diversity I have seen in the five years I've been going this year

[tekno_teacher]

first time for me too, but overall enjoyed it. The main pain in the arse for me was the bloody unsupervised kids roaming around, spending all of their time texting/phoning each other and generally just trying to push in under the guise of "we're cute kids see, so f**k that fact that you've been here for hours, we're coming in".

Also, I only heard 2 accents over the course of the whole week - scousers and upper class white teenage girls. Where is the diversity!

[TwistedReligion]

I actually have to say I saw the most racial diversity I have seen in the five years I've been going this year

[fatyeti24]

I actually have to say I saw the most racial diversity I have seen in the five years I've been going this year

[magicmojo]

Its clear to see on photos of Glasto going back to the start of the festival, groups of friends and families setting up picnic blankets and chairs...

[Migraine]

It was my first time too and I had an incredible time and that was even before the music, it seems to me that with so much going on you only get out of it what you are prepared to find. I didn't see anyone at the pyramid and only saw three acts at the other stage so I can't really comment on much there.

The dance village did seem quite lord of the flies however.

[DJL]

OK now I know this may result in a slating but here we go!

I've been following these boards for the last few months in anticipation of what should of been my greatest festival experience after going to Reading and Isle of Wight over the last 8 years. Back home now and overall not impressed with what I have just experienced, from the ridiculous amount of chairs in front of stages to the "first time away from mummy and daddy" crowd to the loutish idiots (the kind doing laughing gas then urinating on my other halfs leg in the U2 crowd!!!).

I was looking forward to fairly d*ckhead free 5 days with a bit of community spirit but I don't feel I saw it once. Maybe I'm just being negative and a pessimist but when I left the site today I thought to myself I don't think I'll ever go back.

Please tell me I just had a bad experience or this year was a bad year!

quote

Don't write it off. I went for the first time 11 years ago and it didn't really grab me for whatever reason. I then became a teacher, it was difficult

to get time off for subsequent festivals and haven't been back since. Returned this year, had the time of my life and am kicking myself for all the years I missed.

[Alcatraz]

Its strange what peoples perceptions are. I mean if you went to see Plan B or spent all day in the Dance Village, I'm not surprised if you only saw white-middle class youngsters "getting down with the dubstep", all with the same clothes on. But if you went and saw say Lee Scratch Perry, I'm thinking that you didn't see said people. I certainly didn't

Also agree, this was by far the most racially diverse Glastonbury I've seen

Edited June 27, 2011 by Alcatraz

[harriet]

I took a mates who have never been they had a great time and all want to go again

[FestMonster]

THIS

[MEGABOWL]

I actually have to say I saw the most racial diversity I have seen in the five years I've been going this year

[Ohinever]

My mostly heard accents were Irish and Antipodean. Lots and lots of Antipodeans.

[phil the shrew]

Think you have too look at the festival like a city - there are some areas that are busy, noisy and a bit scary, but there are also quiet areas where you can go for a bit of peace and quiet

First time I went I got a bit over whelmed by the size of the place and made the mistake of going to the dance village late at night so first impressions of the festival weren't good. Next day I explored a bit more and found bellas field and had a wonderful morning there, and it's still where I head to if I need a couple of hours to chill out.

Think the key is to try lots of different stages and find which suits you best - some people love being at the front of the pyramid for the big acts, others never go near the main stages.

[TwistedReligion]

agreed.

there were a lot of posh kids too though!

[EasyUserName]

unfortunately though, that was just Beyonce's entourage! There was even an article in the Firelighter about the lack of ethnic diversity at the festival in general

[fatyeti24]

Shouldn't that be just lots of 'festival chic' white kids?

[Ferret]

I was quite looking forward to sitting at the back during Paul Simon, but it was too crowded, way too crowded. Last time I went the back half of the field didn't fill up during the day, but now there are too many people.

[Leedspete]

Disagree about the accents.

On the Thursday night we met two separate groups of Dutch people, all in the UK solely for Glasto. Two separate groups of Aussies and one group of New Zealander's, a group from Ireland, a couple of Scots and some Welsh girls.

Yes there are a lot of Geordies (could also be from boro or Sunderland), Scousers (could also be from North Wales) and middle England types (who knows with that accent).

Also met lots of people from Leeds, I just notice the accent, hence striking up conversations with them.

[**claire**]

It's not people taking chairs to the stage that annoy me as such, it's the attitude of some of them - one woman spent a lot of time bitching & moaning at me when I dared to stand within 2m of her chair, and then she sat down anyway after one song & stayed there for the rest of the night staring at the backs of people's knees.

I understand some people need chairs, but windbreaks as well... and blankets... and suntents... taking up the space of about 16 people for a family of four is a bit of a joke when everyone does it.

Also, it all got a beachtowel, with several groups of at least 8 chairs near us for Paul Simon being left entirely empty for at least two hours - have we reached area reservation levels now?!

OP - don't write off the idea of ever going again, there is so much more to see than the few main stages & it's on return visits that you often get to see more of these areas.

[mkgirl1981]

i agree i think it depends what areas you go to for example this was my third glastonbury, the first 2 times i camped in dairy ground and found it quite chilled and quiet at night and this time camped in park and seemed to be surrounded by people by people blowing up ballons every 10 seconds till 5am. this didnt really bother me cos when i want to sleep i will sleep through anything but it did annoy alot of people i was camping with.

but i think if you camp near somewhere with things going on all night (like the park) your gonna end up camped near people whos aim it is to stay up all night enjoying themselves

[Glasto fan]

One thing I noticed this year was the growing number of annoying people, who just sit/stand at the Pyramid and have really loud conversations with their mates while the acts are on. They are not listening to the music and many of them don't even face the stage! Last year I didn't go to see any of the Pyramid headliners but being a fan of both U2 and Coldplay I was there on Friday and Saturday night. During Coldplay a group of people were stood behind me and were talking very loudly about how rubbish they thought Coldplay were and how all their songs sounded the same and were a rip-off of other people's music. They then proceeded to start singing U2 and Radiohead songs (badly!) during Coldplay's set and when they weren't singing they were talking very loudly. We glared at them several times but they didn't seem to take the hint, so we ended up having to move as they were ruining my experience.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but if they hate Coldplay so much, what the hell were they doing there? It's not like there weren't things going on in about 60 other locations around the site at the same time! I think for a lot of people, their Glastonbury experience goes no further than the Pyramid stage and they will stay there no matter what, even if they don't like the acts.

I also agree with what people have been saying about Paul Simon. It was rammed but mainly due to the space taken up by chairs and picnic rugs! A group of women to my left were sat on the floor talking the whole way through. They clearly couldn't see anything and probably didn't even know who was on! The person in front of me was sat in her chair reading a copy of the Daily Mail for the entire performance and didn't look up once! If people just want to sit and read the paper there are far nicer areas to do it, away from the Pyramid stage, rather than taking up valuable space if they are not even watching the act!

Fortunately I didn't spend a lot of time at the Pyramid other than this and noticed the crowds for acts I saw elsewhere were much more polite and actually had an interest in the music - for example Eels on The Other Stage and Suzanne Vega in the Acoustic Tent.

[desperateicon]

i didn't mind the chairs at all. i think maybe plonked right central of a stage may be a bit daft, but at the end of the day, if you want to get a good spot, get there early & stop moaning someone got there first & decided to take a comfortable set up. during radiohead it was stupidly crowded & we stood behind a family on chairs at back near the tower, & i was quite disgusted with some of the attitudes toward the chair family (it included some guy climbing over a young boy's head to get over the chairs, & nearly knocking him out of the seat.

the moment i felt it was ruined a little was the stone circle sunday evening watching the sun set. there was a group playing some instruments & dancing which was nice, but all you could hear was people having bloody laughing gas. a bit sad. ruined the moment for me.