BIG, big decision made. 2016 was 21 & 50 combined... It's time to hang up my Glastonbury gladrags.

[beodeejay]

Not looking for a million reasons to keep going or 'dont be silly' type posts, btw - just decided that posting here will help me seal the deal, mentally.

2016 was the 21st year since I first went to the best party ever....   haven't missed one since, due to good luck, good planning and - in the past few years - Oxfam.   

In 2016, I was also 50.

These two anniversaries seem to be a nice convergence, and a suitable time to bow out with (most of) my dignity remaining.   

Will I miss the festival... yes.  It genuinely and quite deeply feels like some sort of spiritual return when I get close to the site - even though it has gown exponentially since my first visit.

But I have decided to spend the time/cash at a few smaller events (we really like Bearded Theory, Shrewsbury Folk Festival, Moonbeams and a few others too) and to take the double whammy of 21/50 as being a suitable time to call it a day at Worthy Farm.

Might still lurk here too, just to take away the Glasto blues....   I am guessing not being there in June will be a bit like those weeks in July when the post-festival feeling lands heavily.  

Anyway, that is that.   Onwards and upwards. 

I haven't posted much here in recent years (life got in the way!)  but from the late 90's onwards, I have been a regular poster and/or lurker .... in fact, I was one of those (few) who used Neil as an ISP back in the day (about 1999 I guess).   Bought the T-shirt, mug & mousemat.  At the time, I had a few torrid years around the millenium working under a few bosses I didn't like/respect, and a few weekly visits to efests before and after various festival trips was always a sneaky F.U. to them (had full access to unmonitored internet even in the late 90's despite one director in particular thinking he was Mr Time & Motion).

 

There.  Said it in (sort of) public.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 20, 2017 by beodeejay

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

I would have held on for one more year @beodeejay, Michael said 2017 is gonna be the best one yet!

Seriously though, I would have given anything to have gone in the mid-90s to the early 2000's and it sounds like you've had a good run. Enjoy your Glasto-retirement, let's hope your ticket goes to someone as enthusiastic and appreciative as yourself

[mjsell]

Excuse my impoliteness, but why are you not going anymore? You didn't really ever put any reasons.

If you still love it and will miss it then what is your motive for calling it a day? You only mention your age and going to other festivals. Neither of which, in my head, amounts to needing to definitively retire.

This isnt me questioning your decision btw, just wondered if there was anyhing more to it than turning 50?

Edited February 20, 2017 by mjsell

[beodeejay]

3 minutes ago, SPTFRE said:

I would have held on for one more year @beodeejay, Michael said 2017 is gonna be the best one yet!

Seriously though, I would have given anything to have gone in the mid-90s to the early 2000's and it sounds like you've had a good run. Enjoy your Glasto-retirement, let's hope your ticket goes to someone as enthusiastic and appreciative as yourself

There is ALWAYS a reason for this year to be the last though...   believe me!  

I've seen off the 10, 15, 18 yr anniversary years.   My 40th.   Various kids reaching 18 & 21...  a fallow year... or ( like 2017) one last hurrah and then a fallow year. 

BUT.... it just seems right to choose not to go (I have the option for 2017)  rather than to rationalise not being able to get there with not going back...    

 

[beodeejay]

10 minutes ago, mjsell said:

Excuse my impoliteness, but why are you not going anymore? You didn't really ever put any reasons.

If you still love it and will miss it then what is your motive for calling it a day? You only mention your age and going to other festivals. Neither of which, in my head, amounts to needing to definitivitely retiring.

This isnt me questioning your decision btw, just wondered if there was anyhing more to it than turning 50?

It isn't turning 50 - that was last year, well before Glastonbury.

 

I think I have decided to quit whilst I'm ahead, tbh.  

A large part of the decision is that I don't want my last visit to be a nightmare... and I have seen a lot of people crash & burn - particularity having worked the gates  for Oxfam the last 4 visits (which is brilliant & very rewarding, btw)  - in a blur of cider, mud and overly optimistic attempts to have a 'large one' one last time.

I have enjoyed every single trip there  - despite many 'challenging' situations (mud, cider, children, wine, rain, Old Speckled Hen and those crowds...) so I think I will call it a day with only happy memories, and not risk having a horror-story year to tarnish the experience.

The 50/21 thing that combined in 2016 is just a handy way of rationalising it.

 

 

 

Edited February 20, 2017 by beodeejay

[MilkyJoe]

34 minutes ago, beodeejay said:

Not looking for a million reasons to keep going or 'dont be silly' type posts, btw - just decided that posting here will help me seal the deal, mentally.

2016 was the 21st year since I first went to the best party ever....   haven't missed one since, due to good luck, good planning and - in the past few years - Oxfam.   

In 2016, I was also 50.

These two anniversaries seem to be a nice convergence, and a suitable time to bow out with (most of) my dignity remaining.   

Will I miss the festival... yes.  It genuinely and quite deeply feels like some sort of spiritual return when I get close to the site - even though it has gown exponentially since my first visit.

But I have decided to spend the time/cash at a few smaller events (we really like Bearded Theory, Shrewsbury Folk Festival, Moonbeams and a few others too) and to take the double whammy of 21/50 as being a suitable time to call it a day at Worthy Farm.

Might still lurk here too, just to take away the Glasto blues....   I am guessing not being there in June will be a bit like those weeks in July when the post-festival feeling lands heavily.  

Anyway, that is that.   Onwards and upwards. 

I haven't posted much here in recent years (life got in the way!)  but from the late 90's onwards, I have been a regular poster and/or lurker .... in fact, I was one of those (few) who used Neil as an ISP back in the day (about 1999 I guess).   Bought the T-shirt, mug & mousemat.  At the time, I had a few torrid years around the millenium working under a few bosses I didn't like/respect, and a few weekly visits to efests before and after various festival trips was always a sneaky F.U. to them (had full access to unmonitored internet even in the late 90's despite one director in particular thinking he was Mr Time & Motion).

 

There.  Said it in (sort of) public.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, see you at the cider bus then yeah?...

[Eks101]

Was thinking similar after the utterly dreadful conditions last year.  Glastonbury is a young persons game when it's a titanic effort to trudge miles through thick mud and not be able to sit down anywhere.  Then came October....

[russycarps]

I wouldnt worry too much about it. The last of the magic seeped away years ago.

It's a place to have a good laugh with your mates now. That's it. Only nostalgia keeps a lot of people going back over other options.

 

[FrancisH]

2 minutes ago, russycarps said:

I wouldnt worry too much about it. The last of the magic seeped away years ago.

It's a place to have a good laugh with your mates now. That's it. Only nostalgia keeps a lot of people going back over other options.

 

I don't know, I suppose at face value it is a piss-up in a field but it still feels like it has more to it than any old piss-up in a field. You still get a crossover of a wide range of ages and cultures interacting with each other, for me at least that's one of the few remaining elements that give it an edge over other festivals - and also why It'd be a real loss if attitudes were to change and people started not going because they thought themselves 'too old'.

Just my opinion though, everyone takes away different things - I've got mates who say it's the same as any other festival!

[bennyk]

3 minutes ago, FrancisH said:

 

Just my opinion though, everyone takes away different things - I've got mates who say it's the same as any other festival!

they're only saying that to try be different. There's no other festival that compares in my eyes

[waterfalls212434]

Id say you think to much.....why on earth do you have to almost `announce a retirement` from Glastonbury? or any festival for that matter, if its burning you out just dont go for a few years and then come back when/if you fancy it, hell I hope to still be doing gigs and festivals well into my elder years, Glastonbury included,.....planning way to far ahead id say, you might see a fantastic lineup in a few years and try again.  Dont mean it in a nasty way, just think you may be `overthinking`.....you dont have to retire from anything you love doing after all.

Edited February 20, 2017 by waterfalls212434

[Giraffe Man]

After years of lurking this prompted me to register. I am 55, first went in 82 then right through to early 90`s. Took a break whilst the kids grew up & have been going again every year since 2014 & the kids (20&25) come with me now. We always work now so we definitely get a ticket. A long break makes you appreciate it all the more & sometimes you can take it for granted. There really is nowhere else like it. Its also a lot better now than it used to be although it was only £8.00 for the ticket I think!

[1waveydavey]

22 minutes ago, russycarps said:

I wouldnt worry too much about it. The last of the magic seeped away years ago.

It's a place to have a good laugh with your mates now. That's it. Only nostalgia keeps a lot of people going back over other options.

 

I guess its a context thing. and that's yours.

I first went in 1990 and all of the ones in the 90's and 2000. Then kids and pretty shitty life threatening illness stopped me until 2009 when I came back again. Only missed one since then when I couldn't get a ticket. My context is the place still has all the magic it had for me in the 90's. Its different in many ways but still the same.

I love the place, love the place to bits.

[waterfalls212434]

7 minutes ago, 1waveydavey said:

I guess its a context thing. and that's yours.

I first went in 1990 and all of the ones in the 90's and 2000. Then kids and pretty shitty life threatening illness stopped me until 2009 when I came back again. Only missed one since then when I couldn't get a ticket. My context is the place still has all the magic it had for me in the 90's. Its different in many ways but still the same.

I love the place, love the place to bits.

Likewise, Im often told I missed the `best years`......but you know what? I couldn't give a shit, ive had a blast at this festival every year ive gone since my first one in 2013 and im sure thatll carry on into the future-if I wasnt confident of that I wouldnt be trying for a ticket everyyear.....these people seem to be the festival version of the `back in my day` old folks and you know what im sure theres just as much bad about the festival `back in the day` as good....ive heard some horror stories as well as great stories, from major flooding due to poor drainage on the site back then to a lot more crime etc.....so it wasnt all `rosy` back in the day however its swung as with anything. Its all about perspective and mine is Id rather enjoy whats good about the now and there is still plenty of good and (absolutely fucking awesome) when it comes to glastonbury festival

 

Edited February 20, 2017 by waterfalls212434

[beodeejay]

18 minutes ago, 1waveydavey said:

I guess its a context thing. and that's yours.

I first went in 1990 and all of the ones in the 90's and 2000. Then kids and pretty shitty life threatening illness stopped me until 2009 when I came back again. Only missed one since then when I couldn't get a ticket. My context is the place still has all the magic it had for me in the 90's. Its different in many ways but still the same.

I love the place, love the place to bits.

Me too.   And I would hate to see that tarnished by a bad year.  

So, bow out on a high is the current plan. 

All my kids went as youngsters, spending idyllic days in the Kidz Field and loved it.  I went before and after them.  

Appreciate all the views, and I know you should never say never...  

[Charm]

Mr Charm recently asked me what I will do when he no longer wants to go, I said I'll be going on my own, he did seem a bit miffed but I'm glad we had the conversation, I can't see myself ever retiring from the festival, it makes me too happy. 
Charm x 

[Osama Jim Laden]

58 minutes ago, russycarps said:

I wouldnt worry too much about it. The last of the magic seeped away years ago.

It's a place to have a good laugh with your mates now. That's it. Only nostalgia keeps a lot of people going back over other options.

 

I don't think the magic has seeped away entirely. Only been going since '09 but there's always been a great energy to the place.

There's no other festival like it.

[russycarps]

54 minutes ago, Giraffe Man said:

After years of lurking this prompted me to register. I am 55, first went in 82 then right through to early 90`s. Took a break whilst the kids grew up & have been going again every year since 2014 & the kids (20&25) come with me now. We always work now so we definitely get a ticket. A long break makes you appreciate it all the more & sometimes you can take it for granted. There really is nowhere else like it. Its also a lot better now than it used to be although it was only £8.00 for the ticket I think!

So you missed all the best years, then claim it's better now than it used to be.

OK.

 

[CaledonianGonzo]

Feeling pretty lucky that the best years of everything - music, culture, movies, art - happened to coincide with my late teens / early twenties.  It's a gigantic cosmic coincidence and the chances are infinitesimally small, but I guess I was just born at the right time in the right place #blessed

[Alex DeLarge]

13 minutes ago, russycarps said:

So you missed all the best years, then claim it's better now than it used to be.

OK.

When do you think the best years were Russ? I always see people list the 90's as some of the best so I was surprised to see this response.

[stuartbert two hats]

13 minutes ago, russycarps said:

So you missed all the best years, then claim it's better now than it used to be.

OK.

 

Completely coincidentally, the best years all happened when you were young and not jaded, true?

Seriously Russy, be unfaithful to the old girl for a few years, try other festivals, or don't go to a festival at all for a few years.  You might surprise yourself how much you love it when you return.  

1 minute ago, Alex DeLarge said:

When do you think the best years were Russ? I always see people list the 90's as some of the best so I was surprised to see this response.

He means the mid-late nineties when he was a teenager and in his early twenties  

[russycarps]

4 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

 

He means the mid-late nineties when he was a teenager and in his early twenties  

This fellow said he stopped going early 90s until 2014. So he missed 20 years! 1993 - 2013. 

20 years!!

I was a teenager to early 20s for 20 years was I???

 

 

 

[stuartbert two hats]

Just now, russycarps said:

This fellow said he stopped going early 90s until 2014. So he missed 20 years! 1993 - 2013. 

20 years!!

I was a teenager to early 20s for 20 years was I???

 

 

 

Deliberate misrepresentation of the facts on my part, of course  

Out of interest, which were the best years of the festival?

[henry bear]

Never say never again! I first went in 1983 but haven't been back since 1999. I always thought we would go back eventually and this year was the first time it was really feasible - and was so pleased to get tickets. You may change your mind in the future, you never know. 

[russycarps]

11 minutes ago, stuartbert two hats said:

Deliberate misrepresentation of the facts on my part, of course  

Out of interest, which were the best years of the festival?

People's favourite year will vary from person to person, but 99% of people who have been going for a few years will NOT put 2014, 2015 or 2016 at the top. That is a certainty.

Anyone that does so is a rotten liar. And a scoundrel.

I'm sure we've had a "favourite year" poll on here before. I suspect 2014-2016 were not in contention!