Feeling much older after a fallow year...

[Digi]

5 minutes ago, Quark said:

Brilliant! Now at Beni I felt properly old

efests road trip?

I'd actually love to go again. I really really enjoyed it. Went in 2016 for my son's 21st with my ex husband, his wife and my son's best mate... sounds like some dodgy movie on an adult channel! I'd have to be a posh twat again though and stay in a villa. I can't imagine trying to sleep during the day in a tent 

[Quark]

3 minutes ago, august1 said:

This year it felt everyone was in massive groups of mates all over the site. Not so many singles, couples etc. Duno if my imagination or due to the way tickets are sold in 6's and big groups tend to win out?

Exponential growth. People go, invite a mate. Next year he brings a mate or two. And so on.

And those groups probably wont splinter off, so you end up with bigger and bigger groups

[Beerqueen]

6 minutes ago, Losing my hair said:

Chairs at the tent are fine, I have one there which is its right and proper place.

I have no problem sitting on the ground - it's getting up again.

I can sit if there's room for me to shift when I need to but in the circus it was a bit tight for space. I just don't have the flexibility to sit like most people do - I'd love to be able to sit cross legged.

[JohnEW52]

At 66 I was over 30 years older than the average age at Rosalia in the John Peel tent and then well under average age at Steeleye Span at the Avalon.

[Spindles]

14 minutes ago, august1 said:

This year it felt everyone was in massive groups of mates all over the site. Not so many singles, couples etc. Duno if my imagination or due to the way tickets are sold in 6's and big groups tend to win out?

I think the current ticket system favours buying syndicates.  Those groups who have many, many people trying tend to have the most success.  Our group is over 100 strong, all trying for tickets in different locations around the UK and the world, when one person gets onto the ticket page they buy for their group, then keep trying for other groups until everyone is sorted.  The last 2 years I've been part of this group and I, along with many others in the group, didn't get a sniff of the ticket page.  I expect that the volume of connections hitting the site means that no one individually has any greater chance than another, but co-operation can lead to a better chance of success.

 

There would be nothing to stop members of this site from forming their own ticket buying collectives for October.  I would actively encourage it.

[Beerqueen]

I honestly don't even look around and think about age.  I keep having to remind myself that others look at me and see a middle aged woman.  

[CaledonianGonzo]

6 minutes ago, JohnEW52 said:

At 66 I was over 30 years older than the average age at Rosalia in the John Peel tent 

How was she?

[Spindles]

7 minutes ago, Beerqueen said:

I honestly don't even look around and think about age.  I keep having to remind myself that others look at me and see a middle aged woman.  

Sadly no more upvotes to give, but your post really resonated.  

[JohnEW52]

9 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

How was she?

Very good. I always find it remarkable that whoever you see these days there will always be about a thousand people who know all the words but it was even more impressive with Rosalia, given she sings in Spanish.

[gooner1990]

I didn’t feel old as such on site in general, but sometimes I would be in the SE corner and realised I was raving and chewing my face off with a load of people 10-15 years younger than me...then I leave the festival and go back to my girlfriend who’s 8 years younger than me! ?‍♂️

Saturday night in Shangri-la there was a dnb stage next to the Truth stage and we went past this guy who must have been in his 70s with his shirt off raving away and gurning like a trooper! ?

It’s just a passage of time really...i first went to Glastonbury when I was 22 and felt young(ish), then had a long period where most people were my age now it’s starting to become less - most people in friend group stopped going 4-5 years ago as they bought houses, got married or got bored of festivals/camping! 

Edited July 3, 2019 by gooner1990

[Beerqueen]

26 minutes ago, JohnEW52 said:

Very good. I always find it remarkable that whoever you see these days there will always be about a thousand people who know all the words but it was even more impressive with Rosalia, given she sings in Spanish.

One of those was probably my daughter as she did Spanish at uni and has a real love for Spanish music.  She thought she was fab and the one song I saw on the BBC she looked really good.

[Nduja]

1 hour ago, Quark said:

Exponential growth. People go, invite a mate. Next year he brings a mate or two. And so on.

And those groups probably wont splinter off, so you end up with bigger and bigger groups

Our core group was down this year but augmented by others. But for sets it was pretty unmanagable at times with pre-Lauryn Hill being the biggest mess. Though that was eclipsed by the set itself. Any group bigger than 6 is unmanagable for more than a couple of hours as people want to do, eat, drink different things and care more or less about the next act or meeting others

[stuartbert two hats]

3 hours ago, Dusk1983 said:

Wonder if anyone else felt this. I suddenly felt old this year compared to 2017, obviously due to the extra year gap. Was weird arriving to our usual campsite and feeling out place, realising I was at least 10 years older than the average age nearby. Easily 15 older in many cases!

Even on the train on the way down I was by far the oldest person. I’m sure it wasn’t that different in 2017 but the extra year off really brought it vividly to my attention!

I am not trying to be miserable and I still had a great time. And next time we will head for WV or similar. But the thing is my interests and habits haven’t really changed, so I was still drawn to the same (crazy) places, partying the same way. Then every now and then I’d look around and start questioning if should even be there! Or whether people around me were thinking the same thing...

anyone relate?

How old are you? I'm 40, so felt it a bit. But I'm nowhere near old enough to question my place at Glastonbury - I'm older than most, but far from the oldest.

[stuartbert two hats]

1 hour ago, Quark said:

Nah, although I do know what you mean. Definitely moments when I looked around and was clearly a bit older (and I'm only 38) but I'm very much in the mindset of you get old because you retire, not the other way round. Some of that's down to playing rugby with guys who are both way younger and way older than me. The young lads keep me childish, and the older boys are still putting in an 80 minute shift every Saturday. 

So yeah, if they want to have a laugh at the guy hitting a midlife crisis, wearing diffraction glasses and gurning his face off at 4am, go ahead. Fuck it, I'm laughing at myself! But that's no reason to stop.

No need to bring me into things.

[HalfAnIdiot]

3 hours ago, Dusk1983 said:

Wonder if anyone else felt this. I suddenly felt old this year compared to 2017, obviously due to the extra year gap. Was weird arriving to our usual campsite and feeling out place, realising I was at least 10 years older than the average age nearby. Easily 15 older in many cases!

Even on the train on the way down I was by far the oldest person. I’m sure it wasn’t that different in 2017 but the extra year off really brought it vividly to my attention!

I am not trying to be miserable and I still had a great time. And next time we will head for WV or similar. But the thing is my interests and habits haven’t really changed, so I was still drawn to the same (crazy) places, partying the same way. Then every now and then I’d look around and start questioning if should even be there! Or whether people around me were thinking the same thing...

anyone relate?

I did this a few years back but eventually realised it was all in my head and noone else really gave a fu*k.

I'm 53 now and still chasing the same stuff as years ago although I am a little held back by sciatica these days. I also had the WORST hayfeever I've ever experienced this year, only overdosing on antihistamine managed to dent it but came with the penalty of drowsyness. Didn't make it to sunrise mut managed 04:30 one night. Clocked up 70 miles over 4 days too.

Ignore your fears and party on with everyone else (and do reflect on the treck back to WV before you commit).

Edited July 3, 2019 by HalfAnIdiot

[carlosj]

1 hour ago, Beerqueen said:

I honestly don't even look around and think about age.  I keep having to remind myself that others look at me and see someone sitting on @Quark. shoulders  

I know, it's mad isn't it. I'm 51, and wondered about the crowd at fourtet in Silver Hayes but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

[Beerqueen]

5 minutes ago, carlosj said:

I know, it's mad isn't it. I'm 51, and wondered about the crowd at fourtet in Silver Hayes but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Ha ha!  But it's still a middle aged woman sitting on Quark's shoulders!

[The Other Steve]

We are king of the opposite.  Our group ranges from 44 to 49 and I don't think it crosses anyone's mind.  We camp in Bushy and never really stopped to think about the age of people around us...I just bloody love it and to be honest I've felt like 26 every day since I was 26 so suppose this is a good thing.

[Avalon_Fields]

I’m 62 and never felt old at all. And the only adaptation to age was avoiding the SE corner. 

I went to Leeds with my son and his friends years ago, in my late 40’s, felt dreadfully old the entire time. There was about 3 other people older than 30 there. 

[BlackZeppelin]

My kids wanted to see Billy Eilish and I went aling but stayed on the periphery of the field.  Definitely felt old there and also slightly unnerved at the supreme  confidence of a 17 year old dispensing wisdom from stage to a packed field. Extraordinary.

[gigpusher]

I felt older in some crowds certainly. Every year I make my Glastonbury playlist and end up going to see something which caught my ear without really knowing anything about them. This year it was King Princess. What I now know is that she is very young and has quite a young following. To be honest it doesn't bother me and I kind of like being free of the marketing or the expectations for an act. Quite frequently they come out on stage and I say I didn't expect them to look like that. I also like being in crowds where they know every word to a song in ways only young people have the ability to. 

[JohnEW]

13 hours ago, Beerqueen said:

One of those was probably my daughter as she did Spanish at uni and has a real love for Spanish music.  She thought she was fab and the one song I saw on the BBC she looked really good.

If that was the one they showed on the BBC2 programme I actually thought that was one of the weaker songs in the set.

[Ricci's Special Kebabs]

I'm 39 next week and enjoyed it more than ever. I'm mentally still in my 20's anyway.

[Johnnyseven]

The only time I really felt old was when I was raving to Monika Kruse in The Temple, I was easily at least twice the age of most of the people around me - i'm 41.

[Smeble]

16 hours ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

My mate wound up crowdsurfing in a huge inflatable flamingo between Kylie Miley so it wasn't that young or that quiet.

Saw that on the telly, looked fun.