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What does Glastonbury mean/do to you?


wingnut2711
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As the title says...

This will be my sixth consecutive Glasto and each time has been special. It's escapism. Last few years have been a challenge and it gives me something to aim for.

I'm a run of the mill bloke, 36, working an ok job but I can't fathom why I get that feeling when I get onsite, I relax, everything pours out, I enjoy things I wouldn't normally, each year has been so different. Years when I've found myself obliterated in the rum shack listening to stuff I would never entertain, years when I've found myself in a hut drinking tea and making a wooden spoon. I've seen main stream acts, random ones I have no idea who they are. I'm not usually a spiritual kind of guy but I just feel..... different. If I could bottle that feeling I would have a bottle everyday, it feel much nicer to be that person, chilled, more patient, less rushed, sociable. I like Glasto me,

 

How about you? Do you change? 

 

260 days!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I feel exactly the same. That moment when you get through the gates is one of the best things about the whole weekend. It’s like everything is suddenly alright with the world. 

Another thing I’ve found is that it makes me want to be a better person for the rest of the year. I don’t always remember that, but it’s something I aspire to. 

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23 minutes ago, wingnut2711 said:

It's escapism.

It's escapism - from the lie that is "you have to be like this...." in the so-called real world.

Glastonbury opened my eyes to challenge that... Life at Glastonbury is every kind of how life should be, and everything on the outside is just the conformity that we have been programmed into believing that we have to drag ourselves through our limited life-span in some kind of blind stupor, becoming good tax-payers, adding to the GDP for the good of the country, and buying every kind of shit that we really don't need.

You can be who or what you want when you get through those gates (obvs within certain limits!) and no-one gives a hoot. It's liberating and astonishing how life-changing that can be once you open your eyes and imagination to it....'What if everyone was that happy?!' I've often thought to myself as I've left the festival, then returning to dealing with the same robotic clones at work with only the thought of getting tickets to the next Glasto spurring me on!

Attending Glasto on my own - solo - was the most liberating thing I ever did! Met soooo many fabulous people too.

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The feeling of a shared experience that is both casual and incredibly involved at times. The knowledge that you're one of the chosen few to go. Being able to strike up a conversation with anyone (can you still do that?) and not have them think you're weird. The prep and the journey down. Those big Pyramid moments. 

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I can remember when I was 14-15yo and a good school mate used to go every year with his old man who used to trade there and he offered me in every year, old school traders tickets;) and I always use to decline (my parents also wouldn't let me at that age). Pre 2005 all I remember is horror stories and at that age I hadn't developed my "taste" in music yet.

But one year I said F it and I went with him, just for the Sunday and it changed my life and me as a person. Been every year since by hook or by crook.

but honestly, I cant put my finger on why.

I used to think it was mainly because it was a weekend bender, but I've done that at other festivals and events and its not the same.

MB because we manage to muster the same large group for G that we can for other events, even weddings!

Whatever it is, it is one of the most important things in life to me, without it things get a bit shitter.

 

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12 minutes ago, UEF said:

The feeling of a shared experience that is both casual and incredibly involved at times. The knowledge that you're one of the chosen few to go. Being able to strike up a conversation with anyone (can you still do that?) and not have them think you're weird. The prep and the journey down. Those big Pyramid moments. 

you very definitely can ... my top tip on this front is do do something out of the ordinary .... dance waving a toilet brush ... a tooth brush .... wear a stupid hat ... fantastic ice breaker and will attract many conversations 

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6 minutes ago, Steveb72 said:

Went for the 1st time this year and lucky to be going back next year.  Just the best place on the planet were you can be yourself and not be judged by others, a 5 day break from the stress and grief of the outside world.

I love hearing this because its how I felt.

But I never feel judged on the outside and I can take breaks to chill in other ways but its just aint G!

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Quite simply it's one of the defining events of my life, from attending as a teenager with my parents and helping out, then the generosity of others on other types of tickets for a few years (local etc) before I finally stumped up and paid for it properly myself as I have for the last few decades.

Hundreds of fantastic performances, just as many magical moments and great laughs with lots of friends.

If this year was the end I will miss it terribly and the one consolation is that would give an opportunity for someone else to enjoy it.

 


 

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Glastonbury has done more for me than I ever thought.
It showed me just how good life could be without all the bullshit. I discovered the music and cultures that I can't imagine living without now. I found out what friendship actually is. I learned how much life has to offer if you just stop looking at your phone and leave it in the car for a few days. I found out how rewarding selflessness can be. I found out how nice it can be just to chat to a stranger. I found out what real cider is. I found out what Welsh Oggie is. I found out how much I enjoyed the veggie food. It taught me how to tolerate others better....  

But, most of all - it helped me find love in 2008. For that alone, both of us are forever grateful. 

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Difficult to explain except that I feel very different there. Relaxed, happy, open to all sorts and not judgemental in any way.

One of the Hare Krishna summer it up last year ‘there’s no pressure to conform’

Failed with tickets yesterday but that I’m considering working says it all really...30 years since I first went and it’s always in my head 

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Intresting thread actually as I've been thinking about this alot the last couple of years. I took my  current partner for her first festival in 2017, in the fallow year I attended the wedding of two very close friends (who met at glastonbury and I met them there before they knew each other) and this year for the first time since 2010 (out of choice for other things and thinking I was fed up with it) and weirdly I am glad I did. 

So I've reflected it on a lot recently and I think having spent the best part of a decade attending  and having it be the light in some of lifes struggles, to me its about friendship and feeling like you belong to something bigger and different. No matter what has changed in the last 10 years, glastonbury has remained a constant, even this year when I didnt attend. I kept up to date with friends who are were there and watched loads of sets on TV , listened to Daddy Teacha on worthyFM.

 

I remember at my first one in 2010, my current girlfriend at the time had hurt her ankles and we went to the medical tent after Muse and one of the staff there said something that has stuck with me every festival. "Its hard now and it is a  struggle at times, you might even hate the festival tomorrow but when you get home you realise it's all been worth it and want to come back next year". So yeah part of going to Glastonbury isn't the instant gratification but working/struggling to find fun sometimes and it makes it all worth it!

 

 

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When I first went as a teenager, it was the freedom. Coming from a small village it was my first step into a magical, busy, buzzing world, and I loved it. That feeling has never really gone, it's been one of the only consistent things in my life for the past decade and I look forward to it more and more every year. As others have said, it's positive escapism; the people, the place, the music, the atmosphere, everything!

My boyfriend is coming for the first time this year, I'm so excited to show him my home!

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It really is the most magical place on earth. Walking through those gates and leaving all the stress and general bollocks outside for 5 days of hedonism is the best feeling ever. 

Unless you've been before there really is no way of describing not only the festival itself but the feeling that it gives you. 

I didn't get tickets this year and theres a good chance last year will be my final glastonbury and I'm totally OK with that. This decision has made me think of all the good times I've had over the last 20 odd years attending the best party on earth. 

It's meant the world to me and has shaped and influenced my life in more ways than I probably realise.

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A difficult year, and this just feels like the perfect end to the year by successfully getting a ticket.

Will be my 3rd time on the farm, and I have weird sense of emotion thinking about it.

Looking forward to it, hopefully no tears ha. 

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I'll try and keep this short.

In 2003 a mate of mine asked if I wanted to go to Glasto. I was unsure. I'd missed the main sale due to being unsure, and I can't remember why but I decided to click the booking link randomly, and it happened to be right when a secret sale was happening and I got a booking page. I was like, alright then, lets do this.

I immediately began posting on the official site message boards to catch up on what I was about to experience, and by the time the festival rolled around I'd made some pretty good online friends. We met up at the cider bus and hung out, and that was that - I had a new group of friends. Over the next couple of years we'd meet up in London and hang out at various 'meets', not to mention spamming the TOS message boards, and they became like my family. One of those people was a lady called Juls, a fantastic artist herself, over the years she noticed my interest in art and suggested I consider art college. She began to sort of coach and mentor me until I got accepted into art college. From there, I found a love of photography, and ended up going off to uni to study fine art photography.

While at uni, I met a girl called Laura, who mentioned this work abroad thing called Camp America. Being someone who mostly says yes to things, I was signed up within a day of hearing about it, and got assigned to a camp in New Hampshire. Sadly she got assigned elsewhere, so our plans to travel together afterwards kinda fell apart. Meanwhile, while at camp, I met a group of 5 people and we bonded. At the end of camp, summer 2008, we all traveled down to Boston together, and booked in at this hostel where we drank and played cards. They all had other plans from there, so I was at a loose end about how to spend the remaining three weeks.

One fateful night at the hostel, we played Kings Cup and Fuzzy Duck, and I basically drank myself into a blackout. I woke up the next morning with an inky number on my hand. It was too long to be a phone number... it was a booking number! I ran to the computer and checked my email, and sure enough there was a flight booking for the next morning - I was going to San Diego! Drunk me had been decisive :) . I researched hostels and found one I liked, but it was fully booked, so I settled for my second choice and grabbed myself a co-ed dorm for four nights.

Excited, I boarded the early morning flight, and landed shortly before 9am. I made my way over to the hostel and checked in, and opened the door to room 203. A cute guy with a beard was in there, and when he saw me attempting to throw my bags onto the top bunk he let me know that actually the room was full, the two top bunks belonged to people he'd met a few days prior - his new friends. I went back and checked with the desk, and then came back and gleefully told him that his 'friends' had checked out that morning and not told him. I always think back to this moment and imagine what went through the guy's head as this overly excitable British girl with her hair in pigtails delighted in informing him that his new mates had deserted him.

Anyway, I'm failing at telling this story in a succinct way, so I'm going to fast forward to April 30th 2016, six years on from that morning in the hostel room, to a park just down the road from it. This day happened to be my wedding day, and stood across from me was a cute guy with a beard... turns out that my new room mate all those years ago just also happened to be my soulmate, and now he was becoming my husband. As it turns out, after I had checked into the room and let the 'your friends deserted you' dust settle, we shared beers and got to know each other. And we talked, and we continued to talk and hang out for four days solid. I in fact ended up staying the full three weeks there, and the following Spring I impulsively booked a flight back to America to tell him I loved him. And now we were getting married.

It's hard to put into a simple story why Glastonbury means so much to me, but it basically started a chain of events that led to me marrying my absolute favorite person. After three years of trying, we finally got tickets last Thursday in the coach sale, and my husband will be attending Glastonbury 50 - his first one. Even more exciting is that my original Glastonbury family from the message boards all those years ago are also going to be there, many of whom I've not seen in a decade. Juls is going to be there, and I'm probably going to cry when introducing them both, knowing how important she was in sparking the first of many fuses that needed to light each other to lead me to that cute guy with a beard, my best friend and soulmate.

?

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Only been once. Changed my life. As others have said, I think the positive energy I gained that weekend has helped me as a person.

Been obsessed with the place a few years but this year was my first. Probably think about it more than any other things in the world at the mo.

Safe to say the gap between getting my ticket for 2019 and yesterday’s ticket failure was the happiest section of my life so far! Roll on April.

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