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So what did late night entertainment consist of pre SE corner?


The other Bellboy
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There were 3 comments that stick in my mind after our first festival in 2007.

1) How amazingly large the site was

2) how knackered we were after just 3 days on site

3) The lack of late night activities.

I didn't realise until reading a recent post that the SE corner didn't start until 2008? After the 2007 festival i just assumed that we had missed it as we hadn't spent a lot of time planning and that there were late night area's. it seems that this wasn't the case. So just for info can anyone relate / describe what there was to do after the main stages finished pre-E corner? - Thanks :)

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There was late night stuff on offer in 2007, you just missed it - Albeit nowhere near as much as much as you would have even a couple years later.

Lost Vagueness was there, for its final year, in exactly the same place that Shangri-La now occupies and with most of the same crew. Take a look at the film about LV for more info - 2007 was the year it all went to shit for them so is covered quite a bit.

Trash City was there, in it's initial incarnation in the T+C fields. In 2007 they had NYC Downlow as their centrepiece and a few other smaller things.

If someone says the SE corner "started" in 2008 - I guess that's as good a year to name as any, as it's when Trash City moved there creating a definable destination of a couple of different areas, but it's been more of an evolution than having a recognisable start date - there's been late night stuff in that part of the site for much longer than that. Really there wasn't much more on offer in 2008 than in 2007 - Trash City added a few things in their new location, most notably Arcadia brought the Afterburner for the first time.

2010 was the bigger expansion, with a few extra fields being made available so that The Common could be created, and that TC could split out into Block 9, Unfairground and Arcadia. Technically Arcadia split out into their own space in 2009, going where The Unfairground is now, but it really didn't work well as the Afterburner took up about half the field. In 2010 they were given a much larger field and we saw the first incarnation of the Spider.

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Cheers Incident, that's a real bugger to find out in some ways, as being up all night was something that i could have managed easily at that time and could have made a lot more of the first festival which is always the best at Glastonbury. i have a program somewhere so i should have a look at the map to try and piece all of this together - cheers buddy:)

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4 hours ago, incident said:

There was late night stuff on offer in 2007, you just missed it - Albeit nowhere near as much as much as you would have even a couple years later.

Lost Vagueness was there, for its final year, in exactly the same place that Shangri-La now occupies and with most of the same crew. Take a look at the film about LV for more info - 2007 was the year it all went to shit for them so is covered quite a bit.

Trash City was there, in it's initial incarnation in the T+C fields. In 2007 they had NYC Downlow as their centrepiece and a few other smaller things.

If someone says the SE corner "started" in 2008 - I guess that's as good a year to name as any, as it's when Trash City moved there creating a definable destination of a couple of different areas, but it's been more of an evolution than having a recognisable start date - there's been late night stuff in that part of the site for much longer than that. Really there wasn't much more on offer in 2008 than in 2007 - Trash City added a few things in their new location, most notably Arcadia brought the Afterburner for the first time.

2010 was the bigger expansion, with a few extra fields being made available so that The Common could be created, and that TC could split out into Block 9, Unfairground and Arcadia. Technically Arcadia split out into their own space in 2009, going where The Unfairground is now, but it really didn't work well as the Afterburner took up about half the field. In 2010 they were given a much larger field and we saw the first incarnation of the Spider.

That's a decent rundown, but you missed out that 2008 was the first year of Shangri-la, which was the headline area, with the whole corner being informally referred to as "Shangri-la" for a few years.

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Prior to the “superfence “ in 2002 there were the sound systems ( now banned) around the site at various points which used to go on all night. 

People also sat around camp fires around their tents drinking and singing badly ?

also there was Lost vagueness from back in 2002 I think, I was camped in Dragon field and could hear it! 

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Pre SE corner, loads of people would head up to the Stone Circle field. Was always a great atmosphere there. Plus, loads of stalls etc had sound systems, so people would be scattered throughout the site much more. But smaller capacity back then, so much more feasible. If you’ve got the best part of say 160,000 people looking for entertainment, i guess you need to formalise it a bit.

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45 minutes ago, Mardy said:

Pre SE corner, loads of people would head up to the Stone Circle field. Was always a great atmosphere there. Plus, loads of stalls etc had sound systems, so people would be scattered throughout the site much more. But smaller capacity back then, so much more feasible. If you’ve got the best part of say 160,000 people looking for entertainment, i guess you need to formalise it a bit.

Ahhhhh, the glorious hours I’ve spent dancing with about 20 other people outside a random stall. 

Anyone remember that Radio 1 DJ booth thing from the early-ish 2000s? I seem to remember it was ‘high up’ on a gantry or something, near the corner where that orange recharge tent was for a while. 

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1 hour ago, sedra said:

Prior to the “superfence “ in 2002 there were the sound systems ( now banned) around the site at various points which used to go on all night. 

People also sat around camp fires around their tents drinking and singing badly ?

also there was Lost vagueness from back in 2002 I think, I was camped in Dragon field and could hear it! 

I used to love that! All the camping camaraderie with drinks, singing and laughing. I had some great late night times doing that from 93 to 2007ish :)

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2 hours ago, sedra said:

Prior to the “superfence “ in 2002 there were the sound systems ( now banned) around the site at various points which used to go on all night. 

People also sat around camp fires around their tents drinking and singing badly ?

 

Oh Lordy, you've reminded me of it all. I think my Nostalgia - O - Meter is about to explode.

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I cant remember the last time I saw a camp fire there ... Im not even sure the firewood selling places still exist ? or the firewood on the railway line ... I used to love to haze that existed over the site giving it a sort of erie mysterious feel and the wax flares ..people just  chatted more in those days after the headliners quite nice really ... and yes there was guaranteed to be someone with a guitar turn up at some point . It was quite nice chatting to neighbours on your route back to the tent and gatecrashing their campsites and then waking up the next day thinking what the F*** did I say to them :) 

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Greenfields had performances throughout the night and still do (toad Hall etc). Also there was the tipi village (though I haven't really been there at night since it moved nearer the park), which I think was based near where the SE corner is now. Some of the circus fields have stuff going on past the main headliners too. 

Also, there was a lot more of people making their own entertainment, whether it be at the stone circle, out in the market stalls, or round camp fires. 

Just pottering about at night is where I'd find some of my favourite stuff, whether it be an impromptu performance with a portable speaker, or a small tent with an all night jam- banyan tree was excellent. 

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Early nineties nostalgia alert.

Late night entertainment centred around either the Stone Circle (which was always a great party), the outdoor cinema, the infamous 'Joe Bananas Blanket Stall' soundsystem or your camp. Firewood was aplenty in those days so there were a lot of great camp parties dotted all over the place. Making your own entertainment was part of the festival then.

I like how it is is these days though too. So much amazing stuff on offer.

 

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I remember lots of just wandering round the site with no real destination or focus apart from maybe the Stone Circle later on. The campsites were also full of people hanging out whereas now they are mostly deserted - we generally had a campfire at some point every night. People did also go to bed earlier on average, just because there wasn't the same amount of stuff to stay up for - these days it feels like almost everyone is up for a fair part of the night and I don't think that was the case 'back in the day'.

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