Original pyramid stage

[custard 1966]

I was looking through archive photos of Glastonbury festival and there are lots of photos of the original pyramid but has the position changed or is the present pyramid stage where it all began ?

[Brave Sir Robin]

I think it's in the same or virtually the same place, but they have rotated it to look up to the far corner of the field rather than the farm.

[Spindles]

When they laid the foundations for the permanent stage they dowsed the site again and reset the position accordingly.

[glasto-worker]

I was looking through archive photos of Glastonbury festival and there are lots of photos of the original pyramid but has the position changed or is the present pyramid stage where it all began ?

if you mean this one then ' that is not the original stage ' the first one was a temp affair.

Brave Sir Robin is correct as it is rotated - Don't believe all the claims as its funny where its now aimed at ' it gives a larger area ' than any other way it can be pointed so I reckon it was shifted for health and safety reasons.

[glasto-worker]

if you stand where the camera is ' you will see you cant see the width of the stage '

Edited May 13, 2015 by glasto-worker

[Spindles]

In the film 'Glastonbury man' they show the dowsing. I personally hold no faith in such practices, just saying that's how it came about from that documentary. I'm sure the actual orientation was designed to best fit the field of course.

[JayBalls]

if you stand where the camera is ' you will see you cant see the width of the stage '

It's now in front of the tree on the right isn't it?

[DeadAmos]

if you mean this one then ' that is not the original stage ' the first one was a temp affair.

Brave Sir Robin is correct as it is rotated - Don't believe all the claims as its funny where its now aimed at ' it gives a larger area ' than any other way it can be pointed so I reckon it was shifted for health and safety reasons.

Could you tell me what year the pic was taken Bryan

[Guest]

In the film 'Glastonbury man' they show the dowsing. I personally hold no faith in such practices, just saying that's how it came about from that documentary. I'm sure the actual orientation was designed to best fit the field of course.

PMSL

[glasto-worker]

Could you tell me what year the pic was taken Bryan

cameras did not have a date function then but I can work out a few things without a doubt it was the 80's

its not 1979 { CND was not involved that year }

its not 1981 { first year for CND but the actual sign kept falling down }

I know for sure it was not 1985 due to the fact the shot was taken - it was very bad mud that year so there is no way would I have taken out a very expensive pro camera { it was either a Nikon F2 or Nikon F3 - Mega Bucks and really only used by professional photographers }

I know for sure it was not 1987 as it rained most of the time - lots of Mud { not as bad as 85 but getting there }

so it could be 82,83,84,86 - I joined the WBC in 1989 and a friend in the negative was not there that year so that ruled out 1989.

so take your pick - I have to dig out all my old negatives as I have many thousands of images taken of the 80's so I can work out the year as many friends ' never went after 1985 ' { even if they were given free tickets and a winnebago they refused to go back as the mud was so bad }

so middle 80's I would say

a even closer shot - what looks like rubbish { on the right } is two people sleeping - they must have been crazy but it was common to run into people who had jumped the wall with no tent at all { or paid a Gang to let them use a tunnel and when they got to the other side there would be a second gang taking money of them - so much for the peace and love }

[glasto-worker]

It's now in front of the tree on the right isn't it?

this is where it gets complicated

That tree that used to be there was removed due to tree blight a few years ago - I was well pissed off when I found it had been removed - they planted a mature tree in roughly the same spot except its a completely different species - I suppose they thought one tree looks like another tree and why I asked a friend to take this shot.

from where that shot was taken if we wind back time the old stage ' would have been square on { and pointing up to the farmhouse } but well over to the left

look at the old image and you can see the stage ' is left of the tree ' when now its right of that tree - I have seen claims it was supposed to be lay lines etc etc - by placing the current stage where it is ' it changed a square field into a diamond shape.

I used to stand in the back area of the Mandela and would be able to see the acts on the pyramid stage but since it was rotated that is no longer possible.

I can understand why they did it but its not the same.

I always feel that I am standing in the wrong place.

[DeadAmos]

cameras did not have a date function then but I can work out a few things without a doubt it was the 80's

its not 1979 { CND was not involved that year }

its not 1981 { first year for CND but the actual sign kept falling down }

I know for sure it was not 1985 due to the fact the shot was taken - it was very bad mud that year so there is no way would I have taken out a very expensive pro camera { it was either a Nikon F2 or Nikon F3 - Mega Bucks and really only used by professional photographers }

I know for sure it was not 1987 as it rained most of the time - lots of Mud { not as bad as 85 but getting there }

so it could be 82,83,84,86 - I joined the WBC in 1989 and a friend in the negative was not there that year so that ruled out 1989.

so take your pick - I have to dig out all my old negatives as I have many thousands of images taken of the 80's so I can work out the year as many friends ' never went after 1985 ' { even if they were given free tickets and a winnebago they refused to go back as the mud was so bad }

so middle 80's I would say

a even closer shot - what looks like rubbish { on the right } is two people sleeping - they must have been crazy but it was common to run into people who had jumped the wall with no tent at all { or paid a Gang to let them use a tunnel and when they got to the other side there would be a second gang taking money of them - so much for the peace and love }

Cheers mate

[glasto-worker]

Cheers mate

it just shows you how times have changed - this is before I started working there - my friend { the guy on the right } and I was walking and heard a helicopter land - there was no Security and we did not require a special pass - we just walked into the field and right up to the helicopter - the pilot had walked into a tent.

this was behind the stage { and very small backstage area }

impossible to do that these days - I reckon that one was 86 as I went to Thailand in 1988 with that guy and some other friends ' but he stayed in Thailand ' and has never returned to the UK.

[JayBalls]

Love your old pics and very informative as always

[verrymerry]

I love these stories! My uncle used to work at the festival, I don't know who with, he doesn't think they're involved anymore but they sound like the sort if people down in the South East corner

They did a parade through the festival & he was dressed as a devil using his fork to keep people back, and another year had a jellyfish costume with hundreds of lights on it, he was forever known as John the Jellyfish after that

They once arrived 2 weeks early to set up all their stuff & after a week someone told them this marquee which had been empty was actually theirs, they had a big party one night & Eavis came down, they were expecting him to say it was too loud & late but he said he couldn't hear it from the farm so to carry on!

I need to get his photos really

Edited May 14, 2015 by verrymerry

[BigPapi]

Amazing pictures. Would you have a link to somewhere you have posted more of these before?

Absolutely love it.

[eFestivals]

there's a massive archive of old UK festival stuff (including lots of Glasto stuff) at http://www.ukrockfestivals.com

(it's nothing to do with efests, tho efests does give the hosting for the website for free to the guy who runs it)

[BigPapi]

Beautiful. Can't wait to get home to have a browse. Nice one chief.

[matt2007]

there's a massive archive of old UK festival stuff (including lots of Glasto stuff) at http://www.ukrockfestivals.com

(it's nothing to do with efests, tho efests does give the hosting for the website for free to the guy who runs it)

That site is amazing could be lost there for hours.......

[Padgey]

Glasto-worker has some great knowledge, he's like the oracle of the festival, also love his old pictures.

[JBarbour]

From the glasto website (yes I'm that bored at work today)....

The first pyramid stage was built in 1971 by theatre designer Bill Harkin and his crew from scaffolding, expanded metal and plastic sheeting.

In 1981 a permanent structure doubling as a cowshed and animal foodstore during the winter months was built on the same site using redundant telegraph poles and surplus box section iron sheets from the Ministry of Defence. This Pyramid grew to symbolise the magic of Glastonbury Festival.

In 1994, shortly before the Festival, it burned to the ground.

In 2000 the phoenix rose from the ashes. Using designs based on the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt, Pilton villager Bill Burroughs constructed a Pyramid Stage four times the size of the original. The glittering 30m steel structure now covers 40m x 40m, uses four kilometres of steel tubing and weighs over 40 tonnes. All materials and processes passed a Greenpeace environmental audit.

[glasto-worker]

Glasto-worker has some great knowledge, he's like the oracle of the festival, also love his old pictures.

Don't know about that but here is one no one has ever seen on here

you will wonder who the hell is this mob

the guy with the glasses was the one who got me going in the first place

He had a small folk group and they used to play at the Half Moon in Putney and sometime before Glasto 79 a booker for the festival spotted them playing and asked them if they wanted to play at Glastonbury Fayre - none of us had ever heard of it { as we lived in London and after all the last official festival was in 1971 } but as they had never played at a festival they agreed - I was dragged in as the only the other driver with my own car - the guy did mention Pilton but we could not find it on a map - anyway they sent him a rough map with a few roads marked on - enough information to get us there

1979 was the first three day event at Glastonbury

those two shots was when we were driving down { there is two girls missing as they went to the bog and I took the shots } - cant believe its 36 years ago.

only the guy with the glasses and his two sisters { the ones missing } were in the band but the rest of us got in as roadies.

If it was not for the booker I cant say when I would have heard about it as after all it was not on TV and right after 79 the festival went bust hence why there was no event in 1980.

its only from 1981 with CND getting involved was it getting publicity Country wide - tickets were £8 - you paid your money and the tickets were placed in your hand.

the 80's was full of scams - people would drive down the lane and jokers would show up with ' Security jackets on ' - as most people had never been before they did not think anything about being asked for their tickets so they handed them over and then Security would vanish ' with the tickets ' and then pass them down the line and sell them to people who showed up to buy tickets { they could be bought at the gate in the early years }

They asked me for ours I told them to piss off { does help having a Glaswegian accent } and I would tell others not to hand over their tickets but there must have been lots who got caught out.

Inside the festival there was lots of enterprising people all flogging god know what

the best thing I ever saw was a guy walking and this guy ' was out of it ' he was flying - this was not someone acting - this guy was really tripping and what cracked us up was a guy walking behind him with a small sign - with something like ' I am the dealer who sold him the Acid ' - now I cant say if the dealer was on a scam { as after all he may only had one genuine tab of Acid } but he was doing a roaring trade ' except he did not think ahead ' as he lost the guy on acid when he stopped to sell some - this was getting better and better - he had lost his best walking advert -

But then it changed - someone worked out { under the law at that time } they could sell fake acid { and not get arrested } - they were hiring people to sell rubbish but by the time people had worked out it was rubbish that seller would have been replaced - now how true the next part is I cant say ' but I was told that one year there was 30 shipped in from Wales by one Organiser ' - all working for their ticket - have no clue how much the Organiser made but it went on for a few years - one has to wonder how many people took what they thought was a microdot that had no effect at all.

Please note I would never advise anyone to buy any drugs at Glastonbury as you just cant be certain what you are taking.

By the way as far as I know none of them went back after 1985 as the mud was a killer that year - no one had any clue the ground would turn so bad - only people who were there that year will know what I am on about.