Final thoughts on Glastonbury 2013

[PDAD]

Reading all this just makes me want to go next year even more. Sounds like a very special week!

[John_P]

Quality event, a mega highlight was going to the Vodka Jellies karaoke in the rabbit hole Thursday afternoon and the first singer was Michael Eavis singing Suspicious Minds. Brilliant. The tent was bouncing the whole set as well.

[amfy]

Positives -

We had more space than we have had for a couple of years, and the toilets were better - especially the new long drops in Dairy.

Personally managing to get the mix right between bimbling & focussing, the offbeat and the mainstream, political & fun, day & night. Yet at the end of the festival - I knew I'd given it everything.

Meeting a fellow veteran from the message boards who, despite only knowing me from the internet, had trusted me with her bank details to get tickets when I could get a booking page and she couldn't, and ending up feeling so proud that I had managed to bring a group of true Glastonbury characters through the gate. What a great bunch of people - I need to laugh like I did with Nikki & her friends way more often!

The new Reggae areas in Dance Village - especially The Blues - I properly loved it in there in Saturday afternoon. What a great vision here - it just had a great feel on a sunny afternoon and I danced my socks off.

PIL - I expected them to be interesting, but not that good!

Feeling rewarded for sticking with quite a dull first half of Jessie Ware's set to see her really get into her stride in the second half. Loved it.

Spirit of 71 - a great place to dance.

Talking to our young tent neighbours about Billy Bragg & the polictical history of the festival & finding out later that they'd made a point of going to see him. It was great to feel that I was doing something to keep the old spirit alive with the new younger crowd who are now really visibly coming through (which is a good thing)

Generally a vibe that just got better and better as the weekend went on.

Negatives

The litter again.

'Don't Think' being cancelled at The Pilton Palais.

K-ed up knobheads at the Wow Stage

Pyramid crowds talking right through every act, virtually no matter how far forward you get, particularly annoying during more acoustic type acts........and why do they allow people to park rows of camping chairs inside the front circle? I know some people are less able to stand, but it was more than this - literal PARKING of whole groups, and not just for The Stones. There's a level where down the front is down the front - if you are going there you need to be into what ever's on.

Overall though - one of my favourite Glastonburies, felt the festival had evolved really well in the break.

[Andeeroo]

Good stuff:

- Musically - Rufus Wainwright. The Stones. Billy Bragg. Evan Dando. XX. Hives. Tribes. Peace. The Staves. Alabama Shakes.

- Good atmosphere up at The Park and the Avalon.

- Did plenty of rambling this year. Saw very few full sets of bands.

- Good camping spot in Rivermead.

- The weather. Thursday aside, it was pretty perfect. Sun out, not too hot, warm at night. Happy.

Bad Stuff:

- Totally apathetic crowd. Worst since I've been. Everyone friendly but far too many people having really loud conversations at the front making it hard to actually hear the music. Really pissed me off. Fuck off if you're not interested in listening. Don't ruin it for the rest who actually want to hear what we came to see. Ruined so many sets I was looking forward to.

- Ending up in East car park when we were going to camp in the west side. Hellish walk.

- Dance village was poorly designed I thought. Pretty dangerous crowding at times due to the placing of some of the stages. Stages just seemed to drown each other out as well.

- Musically. Beady Eye - Dogshit. The Strypes - Don't see what the fuss is about, could not take them seriously whatsoever.

Edited July 1, 2013 by Andeeroo

[Mr. Cowbell]

Wanted to ask how many of them were actually Native American/Hindu. For some reason, it's okay to treat other people's cultures like fancy dress while you're at a festival.

[rmcoboy]

Another fantastic glasto for me.

Pros - all of it. Stones (including the woman who went into labour near the back of the crowd straight after - best wishes!), circus fields, West Holts vibe, chatty peeps in the CV field, my daughter getting on the website dressed as a skeleton, Park lounging on Saturday avo, the Strypes who ripped up JPs tent and last but not least The Hives ('where's my fucking ladder!!?!). Jean e arse.

Negs- i am now at home

[markm69]

Pros-

Atmosphere. Seemed like a lazy Sunday afternoon each day.

The Greenfields. Glastonbury spirit of old kept alive .

SEC. I'm mid 40's, and spent most nights there until late. The visuals,acts,arenas, all great.

Lots more, but i'm too tired to think.

Cons-

Pass outs everytime and the search/ticket check.Maybe there were a lot of dodgy wristbands

being handed about, i don't know, but it all seemed a bit excessive.

Middleclasstonbury, that is exactly how it has become. Hardly any crusties or travellers, but

i guess the price may have something to do with that.I agree with a comment earlier concerning

folks 'ticking the box'' . Had the 'pleasure' of some middle class tory twat early one morning telling all around how he'd

signed up to post leaflets door to door for the Con party. Fack orf Tarquin.

Gas cans. Well, not much more to say.

[grumpyhack]

Nice to have to put on sunblock instead of a poncho and excellent first time at Glasto with the caravan. Lovely to take a newbie who skipped and danced her way round the site in a mixture of joy and amazement.

Some good musical discoveries who, I'm sure will be back, but more a festival of pleasurable bimbling than music. Great entertaining walk round little acts like the Tea Ladies and Men at Work in the Circus Fields and Bill Ferguson's juggling act in the outside Circus Stage was superbly funny.

Some excellent, very well prepared and polished performances, including The Stones, but no really emotional, heart-tugging music for me.

[TheBoz]

First Glastonbury after a few Reading Festivals and I loved every minute of it from catching a glimpse of the site arriving on the wednesday morning to the antics until the early hours last night in the SE Corner.

Highlights were Thursday in William's Green, The Hives, Arctic Monkeys, The Staves, Rolling Stones, Ben Caplan, Palma Violets & Vaccines (William's Green) and Smashing Pumpkins plus the atmosphere and little exciting things around site.

Negatives were the amount of 'Scene Kids' there in their snapbacks killing the atmosphere at some of the sets but they were harmless and the deck chairs right at the front of some of the stages.

Also, thank you to the Kiwis i met in the queue to the temple last night for Rudimental. You guys were awesome and it was a pleasure meeting and partying with you!

[Tomo18]

best out of 3 for me,

explored more,shangri la is awesome,

still people pissing on your legs though in crowds..not just once but 3times? dirty bastards

Edited July 1, 2013 by Tomo18

[Riggins]

5/10

Some great sets and places but overall far too many idiots and a weak line up ruined it

Plus the £6 burgers and the commercial side of it, makes it dreadful

[Alf Tupper]

For Alf Tupper and any others wondering why Native American headdresses are contentious, this is a good article to read: But why can't I wear a hipster headdress?

If you consider all of those arguments against it and still feel comfortable wearing a warbonnet, then fair enough; it's a free country and you can do what you want. But don't deny that there are reasons why it could be offensive to some people. I don't think anyone is saying that clothing should be policed, just that people should be aware of the subtext of what they're wearing.

Personally, I love that Glastonbury is a carnival where people go all out and dress in a way they never would do at home. By all means, people should wear big dramatic headdresses, and decorate themselves with feathers and beads. But you can do those things in a more imaginative way than aping a serious part of another culture by wearing a full-on fancy dress warbonnet. You can be inspired by the way Native Americans wore (and wear) feathers without straight out copying it.

Edited July 1, 2013 by Alf Tupper

[Pipine]

I loved it.. seemed massively busy compared to 2011 though, anyone else think that? Maybe I just spent more time in busier areas than previous years, almost every band I wanted to see was in the John Peel tent.

Really pleased to see hardly anyone pissing in hedges (I only saw 2 people doing it all weekend) and the campsite looked much cleaner as we left this morning. The toilets seemed way worse though and rubbish was left uncollected up at South Park pretty much all weekend.

Loved the new location for Arcadia, really works there I think and it was very impressive this year - loved the projections and the lords of lightning were AMAZING!

Highlights were the Staves (at Avalon), The XX (amazing light show), the wandering entertainment in Bellas field, the glorious weather and how quickly the mud dried up, the telephones in Silver Hayes which were genius (you called other phones in the field and talked to random strangers), and the whole of the naughty corner which gets more impressive every year... oh and the food was pretty awesome as always.

[fatyeti24]

no fuss getting there or getting in, i saw some bands, danced my feet sore, dressed up as a cat for chic and had my fur stroked by two pilled up guys, ate loads of good food, stood under arcadia, got into heaven, woke up wearing a pink wig, dozed in the sun at the back of the pyramid field, met Mr eavis, Fatboy Slim and Neil from this very website, drank cocktails, laughed my self silly around the cabaret area, fell in love with the staves and, and, and..

still didn't see a single act on the other, the JP, the Park, the acoustic. still didn't find the underground piano bar, still really trying to piece it all back together really.

loved it.

[carrie2]

Good stuff:

- Musically - Rufus Wainwright. The Stones. Billy Bragg. Evan Dando. XX. Hives. Tribes. Peace. The Staves. Alabama Shakes.

- Good atmosphere up at The Park and the Avalon.

- Did plenty of rambling this year. Saw very few full sets of bands.

- Good camping spot in Rivermead.

- The weather. Thursday aside, it was pretty perfect. Sun out, not too hot, warm at night. Happy.

Bad Stuff:

- Totally apathetic crowd. Worst since I've been. Everyone friendly but far too many people having really loud conversations at the front making it hard to actually hear the music. Really pissed me off. Fuck off if you're not interested in listening. Don't ruin it for the rest who actually want to hear what we came to see. Ruined so many sets I was looking forward to.

- Ending up in East car park when we were going to camp in the west side. Hellish walk.

- Dance village was poorly designed I thought. Pretty dangerous crowding at times due to the placing of some of the stages. Stages just seemed to drown each other out as well.

- Musically. Beady Eye - Dogshit. The Strypes - Don't see what the fuss is about, could not take them seriously whatsoever.

[Helencholy]

Does that also mean people shouldn't stay in tipis over the weekend? They're of native american origin and staying in them at a festival in your opinion would surely mean that is disrespectful as well? What a load of crap, people shouldn't wear fez's either? Or hula necklaces and skirts?

Stop looking for any old excuse to have a moan.

[alframsey]

Easily the best Glastonbury yet for me, truly amazing! It is such a magical place and not once did I ever feel like going home. I did see a lot more people pissing everywhere though, much more than normal.

[pie_and_a_pint]

Plus points:

• The gobsmackingly easy entry on Wednesday - no traffic queues, drove straight in to E8 at about 6am. Got into a fast-moving and well-managed queue in east car parks and serendipitously bumped into our friends in the queue. Was through Gate C by 8.10am and all set up in a great spot on Big Ground by 9am. I assume the gates opened before 8am, as there were people already wristbanded and leaving for their second car run by then.
• Weather - apart from Thursday's rain it was lovely - and how quickly did the mud dry up?!
• Musically - Portishead - WOW. Other highlights were The Orb, Django Django, Haim, and Frightened Rabbit...
• The circus fields - seemed extra 'random' this year - SO much going on all day every day that it was very difficult to leave for fear of missing the next brilliant thing
• Phill Jupitus's comedy poetry in Leftfield
• William's Green - it works really well
• Greenpeace Farmers' Market area - lovely!
• Pennard Organic Vineyard wine - also lovely!

Negative points:

• So. Much. Fucking. Litter.
• Still no screens at West Holts
• Silver Hayes. Meh.
• Sunburn. My fault, despite slathering on the Factor 50 I was too stubborn to seek shade on Saturday afternoon (see Circus Field, above). It *really* hurt to have a shower this morning.
• Pieminister being in Random Place not next to the Brothers Bar

[Mud Dweller]

2013 will always be linked with The Stones. Rightly so as well, what a Saturday night at the Pyramid - magical

[holster]

A damn fine Glastonbury, let down slightly by a thin line-up and weak headliners across the board (outside the Stones of course), and rumours that came to nothing (which was caused by the line up being suspiciously thin imo). Extra big congratulations to the Avalon stage which had some really excellent performances and great atmosphere all weekend.

[Pollyloucamper]

I thought I'd given up on Glastonbury in 2007 after three really difficult muddy ones but was persuaded back in a campervan which, made a brilliant difference.

Pros

Super easy entry Wednesday afternoon and super easy exit Sunday night

Hill of death was nothing and getting in and out of cv fields a dawdle

Loved being over on the Greenfields side

Williams green and fields of Avalon

Farmers market and too many fab food choices to mention

Shang-ri La

The Blues - such a great spot

Long drops - was pleased to see so many and so much better than overflowing porta loos.

The weather! Had a great time dancing in wg cafe on Thursday until I saw how muddy it was getting. Can't believe how quickly it dried

Cons

Flags. I know there was less but my view was still ruined on several occasions

Litter - it's been said but it was more like V

In relation to the above, seemed a lot of people who were ticking the list

Even met older people who told me it was on their bucket list!

Pyramid stage camp chair stooges with no interest in the music but without the imagination to head off and explore

The way I am feeling right now

As for the debate about fancy dress, if we were to really dwell on it, most expressions of fancy dress could be deemed offensive to somebody but isn't a festival a chance to escape from everyday reality and have fun? For many, the childhood fun of dressing up is a great part of that and Glastonbury one of the few opportunities to do it. I doubt if anyone who was getting into the spirit of it all cares less if more serious minded people think they look like a tit. I didn't dress up but I love the fact that people make an effort.

[barkley87]

It was the best one in all the five I've been to.

[Riggins]

Properly thought out, bullet pointed answer....

Positives -

• Saw plenty of good bands, Peace, Local Natives, Frightened Rabbit, Drenge, Courteeners and a few more.
• Really loved the vibe of the Park area and sitting on the hill watching everything happening.
• Got to a few secret sets, Alt-J was a highlight.
• Loved the smells of all the different foods

Negatives -

• Encountered lots of rude people, people deciding to walk through you while you're watching a band, or just walking into the back of you and bumping you out of the way. Happened so many times. On the theme of rude people, getting hit by a half full bottle on the back of my head during the Stones wasn't very fun either.
• Stewards constantly telling me to smile ALL THE TIME! Thankfully they seemed to stop doing this after Thursday.
• Few bands were let downs
• Was a lot more commercial than I thought it'd be!
• My tent leaked on the first day of rain, soaking all spare underwear, socks and t-shirts I had. That really sucked.
• Not bringing toilet paper and under packing, maybe naive in that sense
• Seemed to have an allergic reaction to something on the Saturday, eyes were very puffy and sore, increasingly so as the day went on.
• Everyone seemed to chain smoke constantly, I have no problem with people smoking but the amount of second hand smoke I must've consumed will be incredible

Not the best first experience but hopefully I'll be fully prepared and know my way around better, will give it the benefit of the doubt and give it another shot next year.

[Zoso1975]

I'm still not firmly attached to the ground yet, but in a day or so, i'll give my first time glastobury account. Had a huge row with campsite staff regards access to my tent.....bearing in mind me and the wife had two little girls with us.

Watch this space! while i'm on the subject, how can i get my grievances to Michael or Emily?

[Bexxxxx]

Cons-

Pass outs everytime and the search/ticket check.Maybe there were a lot of dodgy wristbands

being handed about, i don't know, but it all seemed a bit excessive.