Glastonbury Veteran

[efcfanwirral]

4 minutes ago, gooner1990 said:

When I first went in 2004, I went with a few mates who had started going in 1997 and hadn't missed one at that point and I thought they were the hardened veterans at 7 visits.

Those friends stopped going in 2014 having been to the farm 15 times..... and the mantle then went to me and another two mates who've now had the longest run at going at 13 times (14 this year)

All relevant I guess. 🙂 

Ha similar with that group from the start - they don't go anymore and stopped when they were younger than I am now. I still can't imagine not going even if my life circumstances change (choices I mean, obviously unexpected things can get in the way).   

[Calvin Klein]

14 minutes ago, gigpusher said:

To be fair the planning to come from overseas must be immense so you probably do get a reduction. 

Terms like veteran are difficult as some people will do and learn more in 1 festival than others will in 10. I remember chatting to someone who was at their 4th festival and they still had never even seen The Park. They had a large group and spent most of their days by pyramid and other and rarely wandered at all. 

I suppose when you are at a stage where you feel comfortable imparting advice and people feed back that it's good advice then you are a veteran of sorts. 

 

Yes, planning is quite tricky. I guess it would be easier if we stayed at Worthy View but we've never done that. We take everything with us and back again home every time. 

 And I got through 2016 on a badly sprained ankle. 5 days of constant slipping/getting stuck on mud wasn't easy. 😅  

So I'm confident I could give plenty of advise to people coming from abroad for the first time. 

 

 

[gooner1990]

2 minutes ago, efcfanwirral said:

Ha similar with that group from the start - they don't go anymore and stopped when they were younger than I am now. I still can't imagine not going even if my life circumstances change (choices I mean, obviously unexpected things can get in the way).   

The friends of mine that stopped going in 2014 were all around the mid-40s mark at that time and I think it was really because they were unfit, didn't really take drugs anymore, didn't like a lot of the music on offer, a lot of annual leave to use for the festival, recovery takes longer (more annual leave), had kids  and had just been enough times and also the 'well its not like it was in the 90s etc' 

Was probably their time to give it up tbh, but some of my best memories down there are with them. 🙂

[gigpusher]

16 minutes ago, Calvin Klein said:

 

Yes, planning is quite tricky. I guess it would be easier if we stayed at Worthy View but we've never done that. We take everything with us and back again home every time. 

 And I got through 2016 on a badly sprained ankle. 5 days of constant slipping/getting stuck on mud wasn't easy. 😅  

So I'm confident I could give plenty of advise to people coming from abroad for the first time. 

 

 

I had a broken toe in 2016, the mud was hell. 

[Johnnyseven]

23 hours ago, incident said:

I reckon the criteria should be at least 10, including:
- at least one properly muddy year (only 2007 and 2016 count as that in the last 20 years)
- at least one pre-superfence year
- at least once working it

So I'll never qualify because I can't go back in time to before the fence went up.

Does playing 4 sets (all for free) on different stages in 2019 count as having worked?

If so, i'm a veteran.

I'm surprised to hear 2011 called a muddy year. I only remember it raining while U2 were playing, I don't remember any mud particularly - certainly nothing like 98 or 16.

Edited April 6, 2022 by Johnnyseven

[Gnomicide]

42 minutes ago, Johnnyseven said:

Does playing 4 sets (all for free) on different stages in 2019 count as having worked?

If so, i'm a veteran.

I'm surprised to hear 2011 called a muddy year. I only remember it raining while U2 were playing, I don't remember any mud particularly - certainly nothing like 98 or 16.

I'm similar on 2011. It was bad Thursday/Friday but was drying out by Saturday (giving that nice spongy underfoot feel, ideal if you are a martyr to your feet like me) and was backed into dryness on Sunday.

So it had its bad bits but was nowhere near the scale of 2016 for energy sapping quagmire conditions. 

I've got a little photo montage showing the difference over the weekend. 

Edited April 6, 2022 by Gnomicide
Edited to add photo and yes, I did have a collection of very light coloured shorts.

[Spindles]

19 minutes ago, Johnnyseven said:

I'm surprised to hear 2011 called a muddy year. I only remember it raining while U2 were playing, I don't remember any mud particularly - certainly nothing like 98 or 16.

It was really muddy on the Wednesday at the gates from people churning it up, the thick, hard to move through stuff that murders trolley wheels and makes your boots weigh heavy.  Thursday the sun came out, it was still muddy but there were patches of grass you could sit on (hill above the park was an oasis of green on the Thursday afternoon).  Pissed down Friday night and then that was it.  Baking sun from Saturday onwards and you could sit down on the pyramid field by Saturday headliner.

I didn't get onsite til 1am Thursday morning and by the time we got there it was like the fucking somme between gate D and Dairy (now Paynes) where we eventually pitched because we were too knackered to drag our shit any further.  I'd just come out of hospital and was on crutches, my son at his first glastonbury and having to do the majority of the carrying was destroyed by the time we got the tents up having had to drag our shit from the furthest of the pink car parks.

[BluePaul]

5 minutes ago, Gnomicide said:

I'm similar on 2011. It was bad Thursday/Friday but was drying out by Saturday (giving that nice spongy underfoot feel, ideal if you are a martyr to your feet like me) and was backed into dryness on Sunday.

So it had its bad bits but was nowhere near the scale of 2016 for energy sapping quagmire conditions. 

I've got a little photo montage showing the difference over the weekend. 

Hold the line caller..... 

Worst thing about 2011 was going in through Gate D on the Wednesday morning.  The slope up to the gates was a complete quagmire - people with full loads/trolleys etc sliding down from top to bottom in the mud.  It was like Gladiators.  Without Wolf and Rhino, obvs.

[Olshansky]

2 hours ago, Calvin Klein said:

I consider myself a veteran of going to Glastonbury from overseas. This will be my 5th. 

same. this will be my 9th 

but I dont feel like a veteran in the way that I wasn't around for the "hop the fence" years.  

[giantkatestacks]

I too think its more about knowledge than years (which should mostly go in tandem but sometimes not).

For example I have gone to a fair few since 92/93 and can direct anyone anywhere on site with proper waymarking, timings, stalls to visit on the way etc. Hubby meanwhile, even though he's been to almost as many as me, doesn't know where anything is or what anything is called and if asked to get from his favourite spot (Leftfield) to say, I dunno, The Park would just looked pained and start off in any old direction. 

 

 

[spg]

I've been going a few years now, seen plenty of mud & sun, but I reckon my son is a real veteran, not as many years as me, but every year since he was born. Obviously without the rest/covid years, since 9 weeks old in 2000

 

[MrHew]

Can you be called a veteran if you've never said 'It went downhill when...', 'It was better when...' or similar 😁

[blutarsky]

6 minutes ago, MrHew said:

Can you be called a veteran if you've never said 'It went downhill when...', 'It was better when...' or similar 😁

[blutarsky]

Just now, blutarsky said:

“Bit cold today Em, might pop me hat and gloves on.” 
“Still in your shorts mind Dad.”

[gfa]

2 hours ago, giantkatestacks said:

I too think its more about knowledge than years (which should mostly go in tandem but sometimes not).

For example I have gone to a fair few since 92/93 and can direct anyone anywhere on site with proper waymarking, timings, stalls to visit on the way etc. Hubby meanwhile, even though he's been to almost as many as me, doesn't know where anything is or what anything is called and if asked to get from his favourite spot (Leftfield) to say, I dunno, The Park would just looked pained and start off in any old direction. 

I think after that amount of time thats more lack of sense of direction than anything. I can always find my tent at whatever hour at a festival even on the first night and I doubt i'll struggle at Glastonbury this year.

[gooner1990]

19 minutes ago, blutarsky said:

Don’t think I’ve ever seen that picture before! 

[blutarsky]

4 minutes ago, gooner1990 said:

Don’t think I’ve ever seen that picture before! 

I hadn’t until someone else posted it recently 

[guypjfreak]

96 or 97 started 

2022

2023  in retirement 

[stuie]

2 hours ago, gooner1990 said:

Don’t think I’ve ever seen that picture before! 

 

2 hours ago, blutarsky said:

I hadn’t until someone else posted it recently 

I posted it the other day. Sadly, it’s not real 😂

[stuartbert two hats]

7 hours ago, gfa said:

Add having a fresh n black tent to the veteran list i reckon 😉 

I'm on my second 😁

[stuartbert two hats]

6 hours ago, gooner1990 said:

The friends of mine that stopped going in 2014 were all around the mid-40s mark at that time and I think it was really because they were unfit, didn't really take drugs anymore, didn't like a lot of the music on offer, a lot of annual leave to use for the festival, recovery takes longer (more annual leave), had kids  and had just been enough times and also the 'well its not like it was in the 90s etc' 

Was probably their time to give it up tbh, but some of my best memories down there are with them. 🙂

I'm on my mid 40s, about to hit festival 15 and have absolutely no intention of stopping.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

I haven't read this thread in detail, so don't know where I'm pitching this, but don't you become a veteran after just one?

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

As in - you've earned your stripes, and you are going back in for more. it's a shitty job, but 'it's got to be done'. 

[Spindles]

That was the logic I cast my vote by also Yog.  Great (or addled, perhaps) minds think alike.

[Yoghurt on a Stick]

26 minutes ago, Spindles said:

That was the logic I cast my vote by also Yog.  Great (or addled, perhaps) minds think alike.

And fools seldom differ Spindles. 🙂

From what I can make out, you are 'going in' this year. 

I wish you a fab time there - and other places too - if you want a full map of places, I could probably rustle something up. Maybe throw a dartboard at a dart. Yes, yes you did just say that, you maniac! 

Either I get my people to talk to your people about a staff conference with their people, or you can get your people to talk to my people about a staff conference with their people.

Oh, excuse me - did you say addled, just back there!?

 

Edited April 6, 2022 by Yoghurt on a Stick