What was it like in the olden days?

[dingbat2]

You could arrive Thursday evening and still get a decent camping spot above the Pyramid

I used to love checking the programme Thursday afternoon/evening, most of the bands I had never heard of so just picked out bands performing the kind of genre I liked and seeing what they were like

Or just wandering from stage to stage, some of the best acts I saw were purely by chance. Now I 'have' to study the line up using Spotify or something and know before I arrive what I will be seeing. I probably see more band I like these days, but I rarely find the hidden gems/surprises of earlier years. Still it's just as enjoyable, It's just a bit pre-programmed nowadays for me, and more predictable. The bulid up is better though, far more exciting than years ago waitinng for the next announcement, thanks Neil for that. I must admit it, although I use it as much as anyone, I do wish there was a mobile phone/social media blackout during the festival, there are few real secrets these days and I do spend too much time looking at my phone rather than enjoying what's in front of me. But that's my own fault

[verrymerry]

Even in the relatively short time I've been going its changed, night time is much less centred around Kings Meadow where it was crowded with people making bonfires, Lost Vagueness was there but it wasn't anywhere near as big as what's there now

[Fishman]

I can't really remember .... good though.

[Flysheet]

A flavour of things way back

In 90 I remember one of the original postees on here, Mighty Upsetter, riding his motorbike round the corner from the cider bus into the Pyramid field and clipping a rock with his footrest in the mud. Bent the footrest and spent ages sat in said mud battering fuck out of the rest to straighten it!

Same year, helicopter landing in the crowd in front of pyramid stage to lift out a very ill girl during the Cure's set.

Circus Archaos providing late night entertainment juggling flaming chainsaws and riding motorbikes over the roof of the Pyramid (or something - it's a bit hazy!)

92 Carter USM having headline set plug pulled at about 1am (?) as every set had over run that day

Outdoor cinema screen showing films all night

[sime]

56 minutes ago, scaryclaireyfairy said:

@sime to thread!

Ha ha! Ahh yes Clairey! In the good old days, one could (and did!) walk around the festival naked quite happily! I do still nude up around my tent with no bother but the festival security around the festival nowadays have no understanding of what it means to be free... 

I still have my naked Thursday up at Lost Horizons though, so all's not lost!  

Ya know, I've been nude all evening, watching the election debate, the news and new season of House of Cards and it's been simply fabulous. Nudin up rules!

[eFestivals]

7 hours ago, rzwodezwo said:

had a proper look at the website. The areas, stage design etc. look absolutely excellent. I'm not into Reggae though so I would have to look at the Folk / Soul, Jazz / Balkan stages for daytime and Techno / House at night (not into DnB or Psychedelic either). What else is there to do? 

Take in the spectacle, in a similar way to Glasto.

By the sounds of it you'd get enough out of going once and enjoy it a lot, tho you might decide it's not really for you enough to go back. I reckon most people would enjoy it once, unless they absolutely demand mainstream shite.

[eFestivals]

7 hours ago, Pinhead said:

Yep, I'll buy that. So it sort of still has that 'unscripted' and 'spontaneous' feel that Glasto has less of these days? Stewards say it separates the men from the boys - most of your time is spent calling up medical or taking people to welfare apparently...

Yeah, it has a more spontaneous feel (tho can feel a little too contrived at times). 

A mate of mine works for a drugs project, and they were involved with Boomtown. He only did it the once. It didn't sound like fun.

[eFestivals]

6 hours ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Vietnam's not as good as it used to be, in the good old days before all the kids with their selfies and their hashtags and their soy milk lattes.

holidays in cambodia aren't what they were, either.

 

[musky]

2 hours ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

In the olden days you could just walk in to a record shop and buy a ticket to the festival. No queues, fuss, no not getting a ticket.

As bexj said, there were a LOT more camp fires. Hanging around them was very much the late night entertainment for a lot of people.

Then we used to get up before we went to bed, and lick streets clean. Then it would be time for a nice slice of butter with some Hovis bread on it. Ee by gum, they were the days! 

Actually e by gum has pretty much been with us all along.

There was a fair bit of not getting a ticket.

 

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

34 minutes ago, musky said:

There was a fair bit of not getting a ticket.

 

I could never bring myself to just enter without a ticket, even back then when it was much easier to do. I blame a savage Roman Catholic upbringing for that failure. I'm the kind of person who tells check out people that they've got it wrong, and that I should be giving them more of my money. I immediately can think of three people I know, who don't hesitate at all in these conditions. They just take all they can. 

I've had one friend find that the cashier has only scanned the box of the 6 bottle wine carrier, and then just proceeded to scan his other items. Not only did he walk away Scott free with six bottles of red, but him and another mate went back the next day to see if the same cashier was on duty, but they weren't.

[sime]

I can take a down vote but I would love to know why I got one for my talking about going nude at Glastonbury. That's made me feel a bit sad if I'm honest.

[russycarps]

6 minutes ago, sime said:

I can take a down vote but I would love to know why I got one for my talking about going nude at Glastonbury. That's made me feel a bit sad if I'm honest.

I've seen the fellow who down voted you on the politics thread. He's a self confessed and proud Tory. 

Treat his down grade as a badge of honour, you clearly upset his sad conservative view of the world.

If you're lucky he'll become your pet stalker. I've got one called wonker. He's great.

[sime]

22 minutes ago, russycarps said:

I've seen the fellow who down voted you on the politics thread. He's a self confessed and proud Tory. 

Treat his down grade as a badge of honour, you clearly upset his sad conservative view of the world.

If you're lucky he'll become your pet stalker. I've got one called wonker. He's great.

Thanks Russy. Good to know! Completely out of context, I just had a look on the webcam. The site is looking lovely right now!

[musky]

1 hour ago, sime said:

I can take a down vote but I would love to know why I got one for my talking about going nude at Glastonbury. That's made me feel a bit sad if I'm honest.

I've given up trying to fathom why some posts are given down votes. Have another up vote anyway.

[simian_mobile_mushrooms]

Old man Peabody had this crazy idea about breeding pine trees

[Fishman]

6 hours ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

I could never bring myself to just enter without a ticket, even back then when it was much easier to do. I blame a savage Roman Catholic upbringing for that failure. I'm the kind of person who tells check out people that they've got it wrong, and that I should be giving them more of my money. I immediately can think of three people I know, who don't hesitate at all in these conditions. They just take all they can. 

I always bought a ticket too ... even though most of my group didn't bother and treated the bunking-in as the first part of the fun. I think I felt that as a working London-type that I needed to contribute some funds to ensure the festival would continue. They had to sell all the tickets first and then you can add on the free-loaders to bolster numbers. That first year after the super-fence went up was very odd .... and felt very empty.

The world of no mobile phones made it much more random. It was not unknown to set up camp with some mates and then not see them until the car park on Monday. Our brekkie meeting point for daily planning was always the sadly departed Nutters Cafe.  

[Gwladboy]

10 hours ago, dingbat2 said:

"I must admit it, although I use it as much as anyone, I do wish there was a mobile phone/social media blackout during the festival, there are few real secrets these days and I do spend too much time looking at my phone rather than enjoying what's in front of me. But that's my own fault"

I make a point of taking the crappiest old school Nokia type phone that does nothing other than calls and text.  It is supposed to be there for when we want to hook up but I either don't hear it ring or can't remember how to type in predictive text because I've had too much.  

I'm all for a 3g/4g blackout,  maybe just an internet cafe somewhere would suffice.

[Gwladboy]

2 hours ago, sime said:

I can take a down vote but I would love to know why I got one for my talking about going nude at Glastonbury. That's made me feel a bit sad if I'm honest.

If I wanted to see your arsehole I'd buy you a drink.

 

It actually wasn't me who downvoted.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

44 minutes ago, Fishman said:

I think I felt that as a working London-type that I needed to contribute some funds to ensure the festival would continue. They had to sell all the tickets first and then you can add on the free-loaders to bolster numbers.

I always had that feeling too, at the back of my mind. I was always able to afford a ticket so bought one, but it never bothered me that many many others just jumped the fence. I guess it's a different situation nowadays with the festivals licence being at stake if there were serious over crowding from people getting in without a ticket. 

[maelzoid]

7 hours ago, Yoghurt on a Stick said:

I've had one friend find that the cashier has only scanned the box of the 6 bottle wine carrier, and then just proceeded to scan his other items. Not only did he walk away Scott free with six bottles of red, but him and another mate went back the next day to see if the same cashier was on duty, but they weren't.

If I could down vote your friend, I would!

I knew a guy ('friend' is too generous), whom I was with at Bestival. Not only was he selling packets of smokes he'd picked up on the cheap in Dubai (and clearing about 4 grand per festival) but his wheeze was to stand expectantly at food stalls and after a while complain that he hadn't had his chips or whatever yet that his mate had paid for him, usually to the youngest-looking server, and often scored free food that way. Was always very proud of himself too.

Prick.

[clarkete]

10 hours ago, Flysheet said:

 

Same year, helicopter landing in the crowd in front of pyramid stage to lift out a very ill girl during the Cure's set.

Circus Archaos providing late night entertainment juggling flaming chainsaws and riding motorbikes over the roof of the Pyramid (or something - it's a bit hazy!)

92 Carter USM having headline set plug pulled at about 1am (?) as every set had over run that day

Outdoor cinema screen showing films all night

Yes, even with my awful memory I remember all of those, indeed I look back on Archaos as one of my highlights, they actually rolled a car down each side of the slope of the pyramid :-)

Also before the police were on site,  the big frame tents by the paths way up the hill looking down on the pyramid flogging "black 'ash, sensimilia, etc", with cardboard signs outside.  Big geezers, sometimes the sight of the occasional machete. 

People who never had a problem finding anyone I can only think either they didn't part or weren't worried if they did.  Those who wanted to find their pals it was a blooming nightmare, hence there were several meeting points, each with scores to hundreds of little notes from those who were searching.  Sometimes you'd adopt people with your group as they were hanging around the meeting point going back every few hours to try and hook back up.  They would usually be sorted at end of the day when going back to their camp, although of course if it was their first day they may not even know where that was, their pal could be broken or whatever.  

[scaryclaireyfairy]

I remember amusing myself for a good while reading the pinned notes at the meeting point.  Lots of folks trying to contact their friends via scrawled, semi-literate ramblings or looking for a lift out on the Monday.  And the "hash, speed, mushrooms!" vendors round the campsites.  Oh and the special truffle sellers somewhere in the region of the Stone Circle (those were lush).  That was only 14 years ago but kind of a world away.

[Flysheet]

14 minutes ago, clarkete said:

Yes, even with my awful memory I remember all of those, indeed I look back on Archaos as one of my highlights, they actually rolled a car down each side of the slope of the pyramid :-)

Also before the police were on site,  the big frame tents by the paths way up the hill looking down on the pyramid flogging "black 'ash, sensimilia, etc", with cardboard signs outside.  Big geezers, sometimes the sight of the occasional machete. 

People who never had a problem finding anyone I can only think either they didn't part or weren't worried if they did.  Those who wanted to find their pals it was a blooming nightmare, hence there were several meeting points, each with scores to hundreds of little notes from those who were searching.  Sometimes you'd adopt people with your group as they were hanging around the meeting point going back every few hours to try and hook back up.  They would usually be sorted at end of the day when going back to their camp, although of course if it was their first day they may not even know where that was, their pal could be broken or whatever.  

Those frame tents were still going strong in 93 IIRC!

I lost my mate in 90, turned out he'd bumped into a girl from home...didn't see him for 36 hours. Same time I also bumped into a group of lads from home on the Friday night straight after I lost him and spent a very wobbly 36 hours myself ending up somewhere in the green fields area at an all nighter

[philipsteak]

17 hours ago, Pinhead said:

Yep, I'll buy that. So it sort of still has that 'unscripted' and 'spontaneous' feel that Glasto has less of these days? Stewards say it separates the men from the boys - most of your time is spent calling up medical or taking people to welfare apparently...

Last year's was a lot quieter on that front. (I did it two years previously too) Still more than at other festivals but way down on previous years. Even over night and Oxfam were covering Downtown. Everyone I spoke too thought the same

[Pinhead]

21 minutes ago, philipsteak said:

Last year's was a lot quieter on that front. (I did it two years previously too) Still more than at other festivals but way down on previous years. Even over night and Oxfam were covering Downtown. Everyone I spoke too thought the same

What sort of positions do Oxfam do at Boomtown? I also seem to remember hearing that they only cover certain districts as well?