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1992 Festival Debate


Gnomicide

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@Gnomicide

Thanks so much for posting that. I haven't seen it before and it's triggered a flood of old memories. There were problems with the travellers' field in '90. No Glastonbury in' 91 but more free festivals than ever that were growing bigger and bigger. The writing was on the wall. 

 Early '92 we heard that the easy going free for all that had been Glastonbury was going to have a huge crackdown. No more ticket holders driving cars on to site and camping next to them and all vehicles on site absolutely would have to have a vehicle pass. 

Previously we'd simply driven onto site in our bus with no problems. Clearly wasn't going to happen in '92 so we needed a plan. 

 In 1990 I was working in an engineering factory in North Wales. A huge orbital forge was delivered in a giant crate, 16 foot long by 8 feet wide. I was able to blag the crate from them and when carried on an old  giant caravan chassis when opened up and supported on logs it made a mobile stage 32 foot wide by 16 foot deep. The planks thet it was made from were two inches thick. Horribly heavy and designed to give you splinters. 

Anyway, we'd been using the stage at free festivals and thought that was our best (actually only) chance to get into Glastonbury again. 

I phoned directory enquiries from a phone box and managed to get the number for Worthy Farm. I explained that we had a stage available and could they use it? They said call T&C and gave me the number. I called them, described the stage and thet said that it would be perfect for their Outside Stage.We were in... Result!!!! 

Then Castlemorton happened, and we knew that somehow things would never be the same again. 

 The festival approached and our tickets and vehicle passes arrived. We set off in a little convoy of a couple of old lorries and a couple of old buses.... one a Guy Special, a very cool bus indeed. 

We got there and then had the usual nightmare of bodging the stage together, getting the four main panels as level as possible without gaps between them and trying to make it secure enough that it wouldn't collapse. Then we had to erect the marquee cover over it. 

 Because it was Glastonbury, we went the extra mile and did our best to get it as true as possible. And we did. It was the best build of the damn thing that we'd ever managed. 

 Despite us all being particularly happy with our efforts at the time, in retrospect it was actually all rather shonky. For an outside Theatre And Circus stage it, if, I'm honest with myself, it wasn't fit for purpose. 

There was a step of an inch or three in between the various panels of the stage which caused massive trip hazards, especially for stilt walkers and unicyclists. 

Possibly even worse was the issue of the low height of the marquee roof that covered it. If someone was juggling, their balls or clubs were invisible as they were up in roof of the marquee. All the audience could see was a bloke waving his arms around. 

Even worse were the juggling unicyclists on their extra tall giraffe unicycles. All the audience could see was a wheel with a pole sticking sticking up from it wobbling about as the performer was up in the roof of the tent....... until the unicycle wheel stopped dead when it  hit a step between the panels and the audience then got to see the rider crashing to the ground. 

Glastonbury 1992 really was pivitol for me and so many others on the scene. It was the first year that I went legitimate. So many others didn't and haven't been back since. 

 

received_1658749467917595.jpeg

USER_SCOPED_TEMP_DATA_orca-image-1870188784.jpeg

Edited by Sawdusty surfer
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3 minutes ago, Sawdusty surfer said:

@Gnomicide

Thanks so much for posting that. I haven't seen it before and it's triggered a flood of old memories. There were problems with the travellers' field in '90. No Glastonbury in' 91 but more free festivals than ever that were growing bigger and bigger. The writing was on the wall. 

 Early '92 we heard that the easy going free for all that had been Glastonbury was going to have a huge crackdown. No more ticket holders driving cars on to site and camping next to them and all vehicles on site absolutely would have to have a vehicle pass. 

Previously we'd simply driven onto site in our bus with no problems. Clearly wasn't going to happen in '92 so we needed a plan. 

 In 1990 I was working in an engineering factory in North Wales. A huge orbital forge was delivered in a giant crate, 16 foot long by 8 feet wide. I was able to blag the crate from them and when carried on an old  giant caravan chassis when opened up and supported on logs it made a mobile stage 23 foot wide by 16 foot deep. The planks thet it was made from were two inches thick. Horribly heavy and designed to give you splinters. 

Anyway, we'd been using the stage at free festivals and thought that was our best (actually only) chance to get into Glastonbury again. 

I phoned directory enquiries from a phone box and managed to get the number for Worthy Farm. I explained that we had a stage available and could they use it? They said call T&C and gave me the number. I called them, described the stage and thet said that it would be perfect for their Outside Stage.We were in... Result!!!! 

Then Castlemorton happened, and we knew that somehow things would never be the same again. 

 The festival approached and our tickets and vehicle passes arrived. We set off in a little convoy of a couple of old lorries and a couple of old buses.... one a Guy Special, a very cool bus indeed. 

We got there and then had the usual nightmare of bodging the stage together, getting the four main panels as level as possible without gaps between them and trying to make it secure enough that it wouldn't collapse. Then we had to erect the marquee cover over it. 

 Because it was Glastonbury, we went the extra mile and did our best to get it as true as possible. And we did. It was the best build of the damn thing that we'd ever managed. 

 Despite us all being particularly happy with our efforts at the time, in retrospect it was actually all rather shonky. For an outside Theatre And Circus stage it, if, I'm honest with myself, it wasn't fit for purpose. 

There was a step of an inch or three in between the various panels of the stage which caused massive trip hazards, especially for stilt walkers and unicyclists. 

Possibly even worse was the issue of the low height of the marquee roof that covered it. If someone was juggling, their balls or clubs were invisible as they were up in roof of the marquee. All the audience could see was a bloke waving his arms around. 

Even worse were the juggling unicyclists on their extra tall giraffe unicycles. All the audience could see was a wheel with a pole sticking sticking up from it as the performer was up in the roof of the tent....... until the unicycle wheel stopped dead when it  hit a step between the panels and the audience then got to see the rider crashing to the ground. 

Glastonbury 1992 really was pivitol for me and so many others on the scene. It was the first year that I went legitimate. So many others didn't and haven't been back since. 

 

received_1658749467917595.jpeg

USER_SCOPED_TEMP_DATA_orca-image-1870188784.jpeg

All out of upvotes @Sawdusty surferbut that's amazing stuff. What a time ro ve alive, eh?

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7 minutes ago, Gnomicide said:

All out of upvotes @Sawdusty surferbut that's amazing stuff. What a time ro ve alive, eh?

Haha, yep.... but that's not the half of it for my Glastonbury '92. It got very surreal indeed with me suddenly being put on the spot (spotlight) with no prior warning. I'm glad that I have numerous witnesses or I'd think that I'd have dreamt it. 

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In my previous long post I mentioned the very very cool bus, the Guy Special. It belonged to an old friend of mine called Brian. He had a chopper that he carried in the back of it and a terrier called Rastus. Rastus would sit in a rucksack on his back wearing an on old pair of leather flying goggles when  Brian was riding his chop. Pic

 

Screenshot_20230120_224203.jpg

Edited by Sawdusty surfer
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9 hours ago, Sawdusty surfer said:

@Gnomicide

Thanks so much for posting that. I haven't seen it before and it's triggered a flood of old memories. There were problems with the travellers' field in '90. No Glastonbury in' 91 but more free festivals than ever that were growing bigger and bigger. The writing was on the wall. 

 Early '92 we heard that the easy going free for all that had been Glastonbury was going to have a huge crackdown. No more ticket holders driving cars on to site and camping next to them and all vehicles on site absolutely would have to have a vehicle pass. 

Previously we'd simply driven onto site in our bus with no problems. Clearly wasn't going to happen in '92 so we needed a plan. 

 In 1990 I was working in an engineering factory in North Wales. A huge orbital forge was delivered in a giant crate, 16 foot long by 8 feet wide. I was able to blag the crate from them and when carried on an old  giant caravan chassis when opened up and supported on logs it made a mobile stage 23 foot wide by 16 foot deep. The planks thet it was made from were two inches thick. Horribly heavy and designed to give you splinters. 

Anyway, we'd been using the stage at free festivals and thought that was our best (actually only) chance to get into Glastonbury again. 

I phoned directory enquiries from a phone box and managed to get the number for Worthy Farm. I explained that we had a stage available and could they use it? They said call T&C and gave me the number. I called them, described the stage and thet said that it would be perfect for their Outside Stage.We were in... Result!!!! 

Then Castlemorton happened, and we knew that somehow things would never be the same again. 

 The festival approached and our tickets and vehicle passes arrived. We set off in a little convoy of a couple of old lorries and a couple of old buses.... one a Guy Special, a very cool bus indeed. 

We got there and then had the usual nightmare of bodging the stage together, getting the four main panels as level as possible without gaps between them and trying to make it secure enough that it wouldn't collapse. Then we had to erect the marquee cover over it. 

 Because it was Glastonbury, we went the extra mile and did our best to get it as true as possible. And we did. It was the best build of the damn thing that we'd ever managed. 

 Despite us all being particularly happy with our efforts at the time, in retrospect it was actually all rather shonky. For an outside Theatre And Circus stage it, if, I'm honest with myself, it wasn't fit for purpose. 

There was a step of an inch or three in between the various panels of the stage which caused massive trip hazards, especially for stilt walkers and unicyclists. 

Possibly even worse was the issue of the low height of the marquee roof that covered it. If someone was juggling, their balls or clubs were invisible as they were up in roof of the marquee. All the audience could see was a bloke waving his arms around. 

Even worse were the juggling unicyclists on their extra tall giraffe unicycles. All the audience could see was a wheel with a pole sticking sticking up from it as the performer was up in the roof of the tent....... until the unicycle wheel stopped dead when it  hit a step between the panels and the audience then got to see the rider crashing to the ground. 

Glastonbury 1992 really was pivitol for me and so many others on the scene. It was the first year that I went legitimate. So many others didn't and haven't been back since. 

 

received_1658749467917595.jpeg

USER_SCOPED_TEMP_DATA_orca-image-1870188784.jpeg

That’s a great little story, thanks for sharing. Sounded like quite a fun time to be around!

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14 hours ago, Sawdusty surfer said:

In my previous long post I mentioned the very very cool bus, the Guy Special. It belonged to an old friend of mine called Brian. He had a chopper that he carried in the back of it and a terrier called Rastus. Rastus would sit in a rucksack on his back wearing an on old pair of leather flying goggles when  Brian was riding his chop. Pic

 

Screenshot_20230120_224203.jpg

Brilliant story @Sawdusty surfer.

I do have a terrier, some leather flying goggles and a small rucksack. My dog's a bossy bugger though, so no way she would be that cooperative. 

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Glastonbury '92 was memorable for so many reasons, not least our mate Ivan who we travelled with (erm, actually vice versa) and he'd come to festivals with us and sleep under our lorry. Actually not a bad option. Masses of space and you could sit upright under there. Fantastic on hot mornings, always cool with a breeze. Ivan didn't help at all but was there for the entertainment value. Always worth it. At Glastonbury '92 Ivan managed to do something twice there. It was standard behaviour for him at festivals but never twice. A knock at the door at around lunchtime or early afternoon whan Ivan finally regains consciousness.

"Oi, It's Ivan, are you in?  You got any trousers? I've pissed myself again." 

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18 minutes ago, Sawdusty surfer said:

Glastonbury '92 was memorable for so many reasons, not least our mate Ivan who we travelled with (erm, actually vice versa) and he'd come to festivals with us and sleep under our lorry. Actually not a bad option. Masses of space and you could sit upright under there. Fantastic on hot mornings, always cool with a breeze. Ivan didn't help at all but was there for the entertainment value. Always worth it. At Glastonbury '92 Ivan managed to do something twice there. It was standard behaviour for him at festivals but never twice. A knock at the door at around lunchtime or early afternoon whan Ivan finally regains consciousness.

"Oi, It's Ivan, are you in?  You got any trousers? I've pissed myself again." 

the question that needs to be asked is why you kept giving Ivan trousers ? 

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Just now, Crazyfool01 said:

the question that needs to be asked is why you kept giving Ivan trousers ? 

Because he was our mate, and part of a big extended family. 

And jeez, if I hadn't given him a pair we would have had to put up with Ivan in last night's trousers. Never once did I ask for them to be returned though...... 

Ivan, absolute legend. Lost him in 2016. Might actually post about him on here. Don't think that's there's any online record of him existing apart from a tiny FB page with nothing on it. 

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