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Has anybody ever been to Glasto that DIDN'T like it?


Stevie P-alike
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As has been previously said, I've had my highest highs and lowest lows at Glastonbury usually all over the same weekend and usually rain related. 

My first time in 2011 my friends and I were all 19 year old newbies who had no idea what we were doing and therefore had a not great time. It was all of our first festivals and I brought a hold all instead of a backpack like a fucking IDIOT and by the time we had got in gate A and halfway down the hill I was in tears with hands cut to ribbons and refusing to go any further on to pennard hill where we planned to camp, and insisted we camp in the closest spot which was pylon. 

I also brought a one man single layer pop up tent which had blown away by Thursday morning. The rain had already soaked all the way through over night and onto me. I had also managed to soak myself when going for a poorly judged wee inside the tent in the middle of the night into a cup. Needless to say it went all over me, my sleeping bag and my tent. 

Thankfully my friend went halves with me on a new tent which we shared for the rest of the weekend. 

Cue a weekend of never getting anywhere near drunk, zero illegal substances, being unable to use the long drops, watching all pyramid headliners and then going on to bed. 

At the time I came away just thinking of everything I would do differently but wanting to go again. I went to Reading festival that August and I feel like when Glastonbury is your first it just ruins all other festivals for you. Couldn't believe how shit it was. 

I've been back to Glastonbury every year since, but never with a pop up tent. 

Edited by I feel like Pablo
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My sister-in-law and her bloke could well have turned into repeat visitors but unfortunately chose 2007 for their debut. Complete wash-out, and cold too. They did not enjoy themselves and haven't ever been interested in coming back. Can't really say I blame them. My first was the mudbath of '98 (I still had fun) and coming back to the sunshine of '99 it was hard to believe it was the same place.

Edited by Brave Sir Robin
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My sister did her one and only Glasto in 2015. Stayed in a hotel in Yeovil and drove in each day. Her face when she came out of the long drop for the first time was something I'll never forget! I think she enjoyed Lionel Richie and that was about it. We both agreed we'd both have had a better weekend if she hadn't been there!

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9 minutes ago, Troop Dogg said:

We both agreed we'd both have had a better weekend if she hadn't been there!

Healthy point. Some folk are better iff not bothering and should be discouraged. It's clearly not for everyone and having to accommodate someone who's there under sufferance is a bad idea for all concerned.

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38 minutes ago, I feel like Pablo said:

As has been previously said, I've had my highest highs and lowest lows at Glastonbury usually all over the same weekend and usually rain related. 

My first time in 2011 my friends and I were all 19 year old newbies who had no idea what we were doing and therefore had a not great time. It was all of our first festivals and I brought a hold all instead of a backpack like a fucking IDIOT and by the time we had got in gate A and halfway down the hill I was in tears with hands cut to ribbons and refusing to go any further on to pennard hill where we planned to camp, and insisted we camp in the closest spot which was pylon. 

I also brought a one man single layer pop up tent which had blown away by Thursday morning. The rain had already soaked all the way through over night and onto me. I had also managed to soak myself when going for a poorly judged wee inside the tent in the middle of the night into a cup. Needless to say it went all over me, my sleeping bag and my tent. 

Thankfully my friend went halves with me on a new tent which we shared for the rest of the weekend. 

Cue a weekend of never getting anywhere near drunk, zero illegal substances, being unable to use the long drops, watching all pyramid headliners and then going on to bed. 

At the time I came away just thinking of everything I would do differently but wanting to go again. I went to Reading festival that August and I feel like when Glastonbury is your first it just ruins all other festivals for you. Couldn't believe how shit it was. 

I've been back to Glastonbury every year since, but never with a pop up tent. 

The point of that essay being, I can see how having a shit first time would put you off if you weren't very resilient 

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2 hours ago, I feel like Pablo said:

You really must. My one piece of advice to all newbies is never bring a pop up tent 

I have a pop up that also has cross poles...  it's about 5'4" at its highest point (I'm 5'3") and is the perfect size for 2 people! I'm sad that this year I'll be making the trek solo and think I will opt to buy/bring a much smaller non popup tent.

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My father in law volunteers with us each year for litter picking. He loves Glastonbury but doesn't particularly like large crowds and gets quite anxious in those situations. He doesnt drink much at all but he goes for the Glastonbury moments he has with us and his friends and he really enjoys giving back to the festival. He prefers the smaller stages and is often back at the tent before 9/10. Its just his way of dealing with it all. He does go see the odd headliner depending on who it is though. Different tastes and all that. 

Edited by Doug85
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My daughter's fella in 2013, hardly left the tent, couldn't hack all the walking for health reasons. Didn't help that we camped top of South Park. 

On the subject of Coldplay in 16, I went despite being depressed and fought through the mud, that one amazing gig made it all worthwhile. Thanks for that Chris and the boys, one of the best nights of my life. 

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3 hours ago, I feel like Pablo said:

You really must. My one piece of advice to all newbies is never bring a pop up tent 

I've done every glasto since '14 (and several other festivals before and during that period) all in the same pop up - although it is a fairly sturdy double layered one.

I think I'd alter it to never, under any circumstances, bring a single layer tent.

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At one point 2016 tested me to my limit. This is a long story so you’ve been warned.
 

We were staying in a pre pitched caravan in the camper fields, normally you just drive up beside it, it couldn’t be easier.
 

Not in 2016. We sat in a queue for around 10 hours slowly crawling towards the entrance to campervan east. As it started to get dark we were in sight of the right turn into Pyle lane, then all of a sudden a load of police cars turned up and they closed it. At this point we didn’t know what to do, we were not towing a caravan, all we needed to do was get to our caravan, but they had closed the entrance. We did a u-turn and went to the nearest car park which was purple. We tried to explain our predicament to every worker we could, understandably none of them knew what to suggest, so we drove into purple car park, got as close as we could to the gate, grabbed what we could carry and walked towards the gate. The ground conditions were absolutely awful, it was a struggle just to stand up straight, it was at this point I really questioned what I was doing, this coincided with the fireworks going off in the distance which we’d assumed we’d be there to see. We Eventually made our way to the gate, got our wristbands, walked all the way through the site to gate C, back out again and up the hill of death and all the way to the field which has all the pre pitched caravans in. If you don’t know campervan east this is the furthest field away. In the dark and mud while carrying a load of stuff it’s probably another 30-40 minutes from gate C. After asking various workers we managed to find our way to the right field, unfortunately that was not even half the battle. Imagine being on foot in the pitch black trying to find your caravan amongst maybe 50-100 caravans. After probably another 30-40 minutes we eventually found it. By now it’s maybe 12-1am, the rest of our our stuff is still in the car miles way back in the car park. I was exhausted but couldn’t really sleep, when it got light I decided I’d bite the bullet and walk all the way back to the car and drive it round. I sat in the same queue again for another 5 hours, I eventually got to CVE east and got towed to the caravan by a tractor at about midday.

To make matters worse our other group of friends who were staying in another caravan next door had decided they’d come on Thursday. Within about an hour of me getting back they’d arrived, fresh excited and full of beans, meanwhile I’d wasted about 24 hours of my life and was absolutely exhausted.

Wednesday and Thursday are generally my favourite nights, I’d completely missed Wednesday and was so exhausted I had to go back before it was even dark on Thursday.

Despite all that I still loved the next three days and despite being tested to my limits it did anything but put me off. I’m camping next year anyway, so at least that can’t happen again.

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5 hours ago, Brave Sir Robin said:

My sister-in-law and her bloke could well have turned into repeat visitors but unfortunately chose 2007 for their debut. Complete wash-out, and cold too. They did not enjoy themselves and haven't ever been interested in coming back. Can't really say I blame them. My first was the mudbath of '98 (I still had fun) and coming back to the sunshine of '99 it was hard to believe it was the same place.

we had to pay our dues with 2007 and 2016 before seeing G in its true light in 2017. I can see why bad weather puts people off, 2007 was utterly miserable.

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3 hours ago, MetaKate said:

I have a pop up that also has cross poles...  it's about 5'4" at its highest point (I'm 5'3") and is the perfect size for 2 people! I'm sad that this year I'll be making the trek solo and think I will opt to buy/bring a much smaller non popup tent.

 

2 hours ago, waltere said:

I've done every glasto since '14 (and several other festivals before and during that period) all in the same pop up - although it is a fairly sturdy double layered one.

I think I'd alter it to never, under any circumstances, bring a single layer tent.

Yes this is true. The single layer is where the problem therein lies, not the pop up element of the tent. 

I didn't even know multiple layer or poled popup tents existed, but then I haven't ever even thought about going near one since my 2011 experience haha

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I had a friend who I really wanted to come to Glastonbury with me next year, and tried to explain how great it would be as best as I could in order to get him on board.

He has a habit of getting into depressive episodes in public (crying, being extremely negative etc.) but is still a good guy and an old friend. I thought Glastonbury would be a good way to show him it's not to all doom and gloom in the world. He was kinda onboard for a bit, but his heart wasn't in it, and I was also worried that he might make the festival miserable for me if he went and didn't like it.

He ended up taking his registration off the list, giving multiple reasons such as it being too commercial, and full of fake people, which I don't understand, as he hasn't been to Glastonbury, or a music festival at all for that matter.

Im a little disappointed, because I feel like if he actually went he'd probably have a great time, and meet lots of great people, but he has this preconceived idea of what it will be like and won't let go of it. I even bought him tickets to a gig for his birthday and he didn't go because he felt bad.

 

In some ways I'm glad he isn't going, as I know the guy coming with me is solid and always a good laugh. It's a shame that he isn't coming, but if it isn't something he totally wants to do, I don't think it makes sense drag him along and bring us all down.

 

Some people just decide they don't like something, and then proceed to dislike it no matter how good it is, I guess.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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On 10/11/2019 at 6:47 PM, henry bear said:

The Shakin’ Stevens fan doing the walk of shame carrying a full sized green door after Shakey refused to play it.

That fella should have walked proud with his full sized green door and still should be. It's shakey that has been doing the walk of shame ever since that shameful performance.

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23 hours ago, H.M.V said:

I hear ya. I suffer from anxiety and can find Glastonbury incredible and also overwhelming. So yeah, good to know someone's got your back. X

Tbh, and I'm not trying to belittle you or anxiety sufferers in the slightest at all, but even the most hardened, mentally strong people have those overwhelming moments from time to time at Glastonbury.

I know there are times over the years that I've needed a bit of time to myself and so have the majority of people that I've gone with. Theres been a few tears shed more than once over nothing in particular and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

One year, we had someone who had never been before and she was struggling come the Saturday and was worried that she was ruining it for others due to her anxiety. I told her that its completely normal and we've all been through it at Glastonbury at some point so not to worry as we understand what she was going through. She couldn't believe it was a normal thing and cheered right up afterwards.

As has been said above, it's not for everyone, and the pressure of having to have a great time is immense if you're going with veterans who love it and it can be overwhelming. 

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7 minutes ago, rumpola said:

Tbh, and I'm not trying to belittle you or anxiety sufferers in the slightest at all, but even the most hardened, mentally strong people have those overwhelming moments from time to time at Glastonbury.

I know there are times over the years that I've needed a bit of time to myself and so have the majority of people that I've gone with. Theres been a few tears shed more than once over nothing in particular and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

One year, we had someone who had never been before and she was struggling come the Saturday and was worried that she was ruining it for others due to her anxiety. I told her that its completely normal and we've all been through it at Glastonbury at some point so not to worry as we understand what she was going through. She couldn't believe it was a normal thing and cheered right up afterwards.

As has been said above, it's not for everyone, and the pressure of having to have a great time is immense if you're going with veterans who love it and it can be overwhelming. 

Not belittling at all pal. It is overwhelming and for 5 days on the trot. Throw in the booze etc and we can all have a wobble. That's why having the woods and the Greenfields amongst other places are a god send. We all need a moment to reflect and get back in the battle. 

And yes the fomo is awful. All that pressure to be living your best life all the fucking time. Fuck that. Enjoy it at your own pace. 

This year was my favourite so far. Been enough times to now know that I can only do it at my own pace. So no pressure on anyone else to look after me or vice versa. Hubs can go and watch what he wants and if I'm not up for anything I just feck off and do what makes me happy. I've spent a lot of time wandering aimlessly by myself just soaking it all up or having a quiet moment reflecting. I've also seen some of the most amazing performances that brought a tear to my eyes. It's a very special place and I feel blessed to be fortunate enough to get a ticket for next year. 

It's so important to also let newbies know this as well as how incredibly amazing it is. ☺️

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