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So...do you remember your first time?


Peroni
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So reading all the threads and seeing the disappointment from many a efester at not scoring tickets yet.   There's seems to be  distinct lack of support for the bucket list folk also attending.. as if this reason is less valid than others....

Got me thinking...those that have been plus those first timers next year.  What is it that made you want to attend your first festival?

 

For me,  I only intended to go one festival (2009)  to show the guy I was seeing I could handle it.... fast forward 10 years and I haven't missed one yet.  In fact I've done the last couple with out him...even though we are now married!!

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Had loved it my whole life, but a young family, living in Scotland, and financial reasons made it impractical. However was Number 1 on my bucket list. Attended my first one aged 51 with my daughter in 2015 and haven’t missed since. I’ll be going as long as health and ticket gods allow. I for one believe the awe struck bucket listers can be a massive plus point for the atmosphere of the festival. Ticket gods are fickle, but it’s basically a fair (if frustrating) lottery. If it’s meant to be, it shall be. Have a blast. Huge sympathies to all who were unsuccessful, and best wishes to them in April. Especially the unsuccessful bucket listers. Never give up.

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Wanted to go since the 80s, met mrs 88, mentioned a few times “I don’t do camping” response. Gave up any notion, kids, age blah blah. Made friends with parents (dad)of our kids school friends, realised we both liked music, 2007 he mentioned Glastonbury, I nearly pulled his arm off. Arguably the wettest ever year, walked out thinking I couldn’t have enjoyed anything more than I enjoyed that. Haven’t missed one since. The two of us over the years turned into two families including the wives going. No tivket this year, need 3 pages, can’t see that happening! Make the most of it if you have a ticket, it ain’t guaranteed by any means. 

Edited by whisty
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12 minutes ago, whisty said:

Wanted to go since the 80s, met mrs 88, mentioned a few times “I don’t do camping” response. Gave up any notion, kids, age blah blah. Made friends with parents (dad)of our kids school friends, realised we both liked music, 2007 he mentioned Glastonbury, I nearly pulled his arm off. Arguably the wettest ever year, walked out thinking I couldn’t have enjoyed anything more than I enjoyed that. Haven’t missed one since. The two of us over the years turned into two families including the wives going. No tivket this year, need 3 pages, can’t see that happening! Make the most of it if you have a ticket, it ain’t guaranteed by any means. 

2007 was my first year too! Bit of a baptism of fire that wasn’t it? Had the best time ever, the rain didn’t bother me. 

I’d done loads of festivals before Glastonbury and thought myself something of an expert so didn’t do a scrap of research ahead of 2007. Was completely unprepared for it all, but I think in many ways my complete lack of expectation is what made it so incredible. I remember just constantly getting lost and walking miles trying to find places and of course being distracted constantly on the way there. If I could relive anything it would be Glasto 2007! 

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Used to love watching it on TV as a kid and my Mum used to promise to ‘take me one day’ every single year. She never managed it so I worked it with Oxfam the first year I was old enough (2014), then somewhat-ironically ended up taking her myself in 2015. Haven’t been back since that for a variety of reasons (namely working abroad in 2016 and being unemployed in 2017) but I certainly hope to before long.

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2002, first year of the super fence and not a drop of rain. Before then I’d done a couple of Leeds Festivals and I’d already booked for the one coming up too. At the time, I was just going to another festival.

I’ve read a lot over the years about the festival not being like it was before the fence went up, lacking in atmosphere, selling out etc. Since then is all I’ve experienced of it and in the 7 I’ve been to over the last 16 years course there have been changes too. The one thing that has never changed for me is the lovely feeling I get when I am there that I still can’t put my finger on, that I’ve never had anywhere else. Feel like I am somewhere truly special. I haven’t got the first clue about laylines or anything spiritual really, but the place having something special about it I’ll buy into hook line and sinker. One day I’d love to get up to the Stone Circle outside of the festival season.  Went up the Tor in 2014 a couple of weeks before I went to the festival. Loved that..

Edited by RichardWaller
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First went in 2008, my friend persuaded me to go as she had been a few times before and knew I would love it.

I didn't have a clue though and needed chasing up to get registered and send in photos etc.

It wasn't the best time in my life so I am very glad that person persuaded me to go and I have been every year since and I would say that all those experiences have had a very positive effect on me.

The next one in 2009 was really special and probably my favourite one with an amazing group of people and some unforgettable experiences.

10 years down the line I'm still going, things change and people move on but I'll keep going as long as I can get a ticket!

Moral of the story being if you know someone who you think would enjoy it get them on board and share the experience as it could add greatly to their life!

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32 minutes ago, Peroni said:

So reading all the threads and seeing the disappointment from many a efester at not scoring tickets yet.   There's seems to be  distinct lack of support for the bucket list folk also attending.. as if this reason is less valid than others....

Got me thinking...those that have been plus those first timers next year.  What is it that made you want to attend your first festival?

 

For me,  I only intended to go one festival (2009)  to show the guy I was seeing I could handle it.... fast forward 10 years and I haven't missed one yet.  In fact I've done the last couple with out him...even though we are now married!!

2009 was my first year as well. I had tried for tickets previously but with no luck. Absolutely loved it and returned in 2010. Fancied a change in 2011 and went to Bestival instead then quit festivals completely for a few years until I met my now wife in 2014. She had never been and always wanted to go so it was my promise to take her. We missed out on tickets that year but managed to get tickets in 2015 which is when I proposed to her in front of Arcadia on the Sunday night after waiting for the perfect moment all weekend. It must have been a good omen for us as we've managed to get tickets every year since. 

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Been to 100s of gigs since my teens but festivals didn't get anywhere near the coverage and the hype in those days so didn't cross my radar.  Got older married had kids etc started watching glasto on tv. Probably spent 2 or 3 years thinking wish I'd done that when I was young eventually thought what am I saying let's give it go. Persuaded my wife to buy into the idea went 2016 first time.  Honestly one of the greatest experiences of my life went again 2017 going next year . Love it still wish I'd done that when I was young but hey what can you do . Mid 50s now if you want to do it once or every year just do it you won't regret it .

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Always watched it on TV. My mum remembers me saying how much I wanted to go in the 90s. I had been going to gigs since I was 11.

In 04 I discovered Drugs - I went to leeds that year when I was 20, again in 05. I went to Ibiza, creamfields, global gathering along with loads of gigs over the next few years. In 2008 a few mates did Glastonbury but I chose Ibiza again. After watching it on TV, hearing how amazing it was - I booked 2009 festival. 

Missed '13 due to TDAY not being kind, but otherwise I have been a regular for 10 years.

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After a lot of procrastination and watching coverage on TV we first went in 2015. To be honest we weren't sure if one of us would be around to go after that so it was a pretty emotional experience in many ways, Lynda having only completed her treatment a couple of weeks beforehand. I remember both of us saying as soon as we got onto site, "so why haven't we been before now then?" We were worried we'd feel old (nope) overwhelmed (nope) struggle with the rain and mud (nope) not cope with the "facilities" (nope). In short we had an amazing experience and went back in 2016, missed 2017 (that wasn't a wise decision) and are going again this year.

Haven't made it into the naughty corner yet at night so maybe this year.

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I can't really remember what made us (me and my wife - then girlfriend) decide to go the first time. Mind you, things were very different back in 1985. Festivals were not mainstream, much more of an alternative culture.
I do remember sitting in the car in the pouring rain on a Thursday evening in a traffic jam in Pilton. No Wednesday starts back then. We drove onto site and set up our tent next to the car at midnight. It rained non-stop for the next three days.
One thing I do remember is that you could walk right up to the base of the Pyramid Stage, something that Bob Geldof probably didn't enjoy as he made the bad mistake of dressing all in white, which made him the perfect target for the mud slingers.

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I'm a bit of a "bucket lister" type I guess. I dont know when I first saw a clip of the pyramid and all the flags from all over the world and thought "I want to be part of that" but it was probably when I was around 18 (2006). Being in Canada, and having never been out of the country, and knowing no one in the UK and being a poor student all stopped me from going. My friend moved to London, and I finished university, and I messaged him in 2014 to try for tickets. We didnt get any, but I honestly had no idea the trouble of T day at that point. 

Over the next year I literally read anything I could get my hands on, scored tickets for 2016, and the through the terror of the mud I saw the magic. 2019 will be #3!

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2015 was my first. Thought back in the 90's would be great to go, but life, and friends not campers. 2014 watching coverage on tv, elbow in the sunset even though had never heard of them, alongside metallica playing somehow just gave me that feeling of f*** it I'm going on my own if I have to. I was also in a good place health wise which I hadn't for a few years.

Didn't realise how hard tickets were to come by at that point, but got mine few minutes before sale ended.

Went on my own first couple days then hubby dropped my kids down who were 10 at the time, now costing me a fortune for 2019 as they got the bug and will be 14 meaning I have to buy them a ticket! Still it's cultivating the attendees of the future.

Edited by slash's hat
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my first one was 2002 first year of the superfence ... my friends had been several times before and my brother many times ... i was never really too interested but thought I would  give it a go ..... my only real strong memory was of me running round the camp site covered in glue stick paint ..... 13 festivals later and im still lit up like a christmas tree .... not sure if I would have gone if the fence hadn't gone up .... bring on number 14 this year :) 

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My way more cool teenage friends had it on the TV in 1994 and I recorded it on VHS and watched it to death. Levellers! Spin Doctors! Loads of stuff I'd just started listening to of my own accord rather than just taping the charts off the radio. Recorded subsequent years when it went over to BBC coverage and when finally old enough (19) to go without parents having much say in it went.... that was in 2000. 

Oh, and your first is always the best.

Edited by Yokel Again
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1987 walked passed a house that had a poster advertising tickets, knocked on the door and bought one there and then. When we got to the farm in pitch black set up tenet and crashed. Next morning I wake open the tent to see two women naked having a strip wash over a bowl. I like this place I thought and have been to every festival since. Now volunteer which means that I know I will be back every time

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2009 was my first one and next year will be number 7, the bug has bitten and I have the Glastonbury fever in the very best way.

Prior to going I was always bit snooty about the festival. Musically I wasn't sure it represented me and it looked like hard work. I did however have a friend who was evangelical about the festival and I was finally persuaded to give it a go. Never regretted it for a second. My first glimpse of the site from the coach just blew me away and that was it, I was in. It was a fairly weird time in my personal life and I ended camping with my future wife (now ex, but hey stuff happens). Just a magical week. My eyes were opened to a world beyond the TV coverage and I gazed upon a world of new possibilities and my mind was opened to a new way of thinking. I can honestly say the experience of sharing those fields with 300,000 other like minded people who genuinely happy to be where they were changed me as a person in a positive way.

I'd never decry the 'bucket listers' or the first-timers, we were all newbies once. I just hope that those making their debut in 2019 will experience their own epiphany.

Nice thread OP.

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I'd always wanted to go but for some reason had never been part of a crew that went (I did have some friends who used to break in when that was still a thing, but we weren't that close and I guess I was a bit nervous to join them). I went to a few other festivals during university and just after - Reading, Glade, Global Gathering - but for some reason the vibe was never right, in the case of G and GG possibly because of partying too hard with the wrong people. I've never felt that way at Glastonbury....or at any festival since so perhaps it was more the state of mind I was in at the time rather than the festivals themselves.

Flash forward to 2013 and I was having my leaving party from Bangladesh, dancing around my flat in Dhaka at 4am with one of my closest friends. He mentioned that in a few weeks he would be trying for Glastonbury tickets with his friends from uni in Sheffield, as they had been going for years. I said I had always wanted to go, and he invited me to join their spreadsheet group. T-Day was successful, and 2014 ended up being my first Glastonbury - with two more of our Dhaka crew scoring tickets in the resale. Also, his friends were all lovely, and in 2015 when I ended up moving to Sheffield to start my PhD they adopted me...and I now live with a couple of them. Isn't it lovely how life works out sometimes :)

It goes without saying that I fell in love with Glastonbury instantly. Sadly we missed out on tickets the next year, but I've been going ever since - and each year have ended up taking at least one newbie to share the experience with. They've always loved it!

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15 minutes ago, Yokel Again said:

Oh, and your first is always the best.

While my first time was magical, 2017 beats it hands down. Everything about it was perfect - aside being phone less from Friday onwards, but that's basically such a staple part of any festival I go to now that I just begrudgingly accept it. Aside from the all round brilliance of 216 from coach departure in Sheffield right up until leaving, I somehow managed to completely escape a comedown and any trace of suicide Tuesday, and was instead in what can only be described as a state of euphoria until about Thursday. In 2014 I was an absolute shambling mess and couldn't keep solids down for way longer than is normal :lol:

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Hitched there on my own in '85 with just a duvet and sixty quid. Would have gone to Stonehenge but wasn't on that year due to disgruntled politicians.

Was pissing down and already muddy whan I arrived. Did some mushrooms and started looking for a friend that I knew was there.Mushrooms kicked in and every face looked like my friend.

Found him the next day and we had an absolute blast...I think.

Rained solidly the whole time...I think.

Became total mud monsters and we kipped in the cinema tent which had been filled with straw to accommodate all the casualties like me.

Hitch from hell back to N Wales caked in mud. It took 24 hours and we had no money,food or baccy. Broke into an empty house in Bristol to kip for the night as we were so desperate.

Highlight was knocking on the back door of a Little Chef to ask for any old crusts. Old lady cook answered the door and said she'd have a look. Ten mins later she came out with a tray with two full fry ups and a huge pot of tea.What a legend!

Been to every Glastonbury since.

Edited by Sawdusty Surfer
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1982 Walked into Virgin Records in Southampton bought a bunch of tickets at £8.00 each & rolled up at the farm. It was shambolic & feral back then but the magic was there. Carried on going through the 80`s until kids & finances meant a hiatus was necessary. Started going again (working) in 2014 & never looked back. Glastonbury has given me some of the best & weirdest moments in my life.

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