Glasto.biz

p>We have 2 video’s for you this year!
A mud fight and
The West Coast dance tent

So, welcome to glasto.biz’s second glasto experience, and if you thought last year seemed great, this year in not a patch on it!

We arrived on Wednesday, which will HAVE to be the norm for every one that we go to as you will soon discover, in the baking sun, 30 degrees apparently, and got set-up by half 12 in the afternoon.
We relaxed for a while soaking it up and watching others set-up around us. We went off, got lunch, walked around a bit to show the 2 virgins with us what the site was like.

We walked through the dance willage as it was new to all and I went to have a peek in the Glastonbury Interactive Tent as I was to work in there on Thursday night, it was not ready and closed up, we wandered back to our tent and bought chairs and got a bit sunburnt!

ALWAYS REMEMBER SUNCREAM!! Having said that, we had some, but I forgot to put it on until we had got back from our 3 hour walk so I was very red (see pic on right below – my arms are very red), but fortunatly for me I brown off easily, apart from my neck which started peeling on saturday night.

We went and grabbed our beer from the people who brought it down for us in their campervan and relaxed for the rest of the evening with a camp fire.

Thursday
Up for breakfast and a wander round more of the markets, a visit to the stone circle and the dragon drinking from the stream, wondering exactly what is in the flapjack that we are being offered.
Got back to our tent to find yesterday’s crowd around us treble – bit still no one camped in front of us – Great, we’d been asked to move one of our tents because of a path and if someone picthed infront of us we were going to put em straight. It meant we could have some decent fires though which by Saturday we had perfected – Sunday’s was HUGE.
Off for dinner again, more relaxing, word comes in from home that heavy rain/thunderstorms expected in area @ about 3am – don’t say that mum.

Out again for our first ever and unfortunatly only trip to the cinema field, but it was to watch The Goonies, which is a classic film – “HEY YOU GUYSSSSSSS!”, and I had to leave half way through for my shift in the Glastonbury Interactive tent.
Walking over I had a few glances up at the night sky……things did not look that nice, the clouds were coming in…Big, thick clouds, maybe a storm but definatly rain.

Glastonbury Interactive – Great idea, a media center for updating the main website with punters photos, just bring your memory card and we’ll do the rest, but also it was and area to chill, it had an open mic, and highlighted charities as well, click here for more information.
Had quite a bit of fun while I was there, it was very quiet in terms of punters, so got talking to some real festival veterans – some amazing stories. shift over at 3am on Friday and I wander back to my tent for my bed across the pyramid field…was that thunder in the background¿

By the time I was at my tent I was certain it was, I saw the lightening that went with it, I wish I had a video camera. It was only spitting so I didn’t think much of it, thought the storm was passing us by, but nothing could have prepared people for what was about to happen.

Friday

BOOM!!!!!

6.30 in the morning, not only woken up by extremly strong wind, REALLY heavy rain and thunder, but something blowing over our tent and a few others, a couple of people got out of their tent very quickly to see what had happened and to inspect the damage from whatever it was.
Personally I was just living it up in my tent, it was the loudest and closest storm I have ever known, thunder and lightening every couple of seconds, some very loud claps and I did see lightening hit the site, but I’m not sure where it hit exactly.
I peeked out of the tent door and really didn’t think it was that bad, opened up the tent flap and covered the stuff we had in the front with a couple of bin bags and tarps and sat watching it all without getting wet myself.
got out the tent when it died down a bit and a friend got out of her tent, the front was not pegged down right and she had a bit of a puddle in the tent, but it was soon put to right. I changed my top as it was soaked and went back in for a while.

Finally at about 10 the rain stops, I get up to go the the loo, still only a small puddle outside the tent opposite. One of the group had to leave as he was picking up some more people from London, shame to miss the first day but still 2 more days to be had and the headline acts that night.

Walking up the path to go to the loo I soon see that things were not as they had seemed, a rather large river of mud and water was running down the hill, through tents, I saw 1 tent half caked in mud and water running round it, through it and if it was high enough would have gone over it. “Damn.” I thought, “Hope they’re alright”. Went to the loo, came back, the other’s were up so we went for breakfast.

When we got to the bottom of the hill it was rather apparent that my DM’s were not going to last another 5 mins. The market was a lake, thick rivers of water and mud were flowing into it and you could not avoid it. Sod breakfast, I need wellies! My DM’s were surfice the year previous and I hadn’t expected this if it rained.
I went to just about every market stall for wellies, the others left me to go catch some music in the dry and me on my hunt, which was soon over by the Glastonbury Interactive Tent and a shop just down had nearly sold out, but had my size – amazing. but what had happened behind me.

Went back to the GI tent and my friends there that had been there all night to check they were alright and what had happpend. The tent that was behind me had been struck by lightening and was nigh on ripped in 2 and half collapsed – not using that stage again then.
As there was so much electrical equipment in the GI tent and the main festival website was being run from there, it was decieded that the power be switched off, it would not be a pretty picture if they had been hit as well.
Saw some pictures of Pennards Hill area, or should I say the Pennard Hill Lake. Water was very high there indeed, tents washed away, belongings ruined and washed away as well, an amazing picture but with the harsh reality of the fact that these people now had no clothes, no place to sleep and quite probably no money now.

More news coming in, tour buses are being stopped from coming on site due to the fact that the rivers have burst their banks and there is a good 3ft deep river now, deeper in some parts – The Zutons tour bus got stuck in the mud and had to be pulled by a tractor.
“What was that….you want someone to go film it…..yeah ok” I said to the GI team, kitted out in a storm suit I ventured over…nearly thigh deep in water I was and I didn’t vernture into the deepest part. Last years rain has nothing compared to this.
Video camera battery was dead, would have bben a good shot if it had worked though.

Most stages were closed for the morning as were the markets, both for health and safty reasons and because most were without power, main stages got running again at about noon, having cancelled some acts – the rain was not going to stop this festival

Finally got to see a couple of acts that I had wanted to see that day, but the others had not yet returned. End of the night and they still were not back. Where are they¿

Saturday
The other eventually got back to our tent at 3.30am, a well eared rest for the day is needed, but it’s not long before we are up again.

The sun might be behind clouds, but it was still quite a warm day, waking up in a sweat due to the heat in the tent.
The ground is beginning to dry up in places, but still quite squidgy in others, and a lake is still in the Other Stage Field.
Again, not doing much, got some breakfast, got some money that we were owed, and then 2 of us headed into town in the car to find some more beer, wanted to be back in time for Athelte, but we got turned away from yellow zone, where we had left, and sent up to blue zone, thought we would get back to watch Chaz & Dave in the Accoustic tent, but even that was not meant to be, 3 creates of beer are heavy, eventually sat down for nearly an hour in the dance/fire field and heard the end of Chaz & dave and then the rest of the group finally rang us and took the beer.

A chilled out night in front of the tent, listening to the pyramid stage with Keane, The Zutons, New Order and then we all went down to see Coldplay, which we were throughly impressed with, even if from where we we able to get had crap sound.
The ground has dryed out quite nicely in most places now and is hard again, still very muddy in worst hit areas though. Time for a big fire as it is rather cold this evening.

Sunday

The Sun is back out in full force today – Sun cream on again!

We’d looked at the program ans all said we wanted to watch the same things that day except for primal scream, most wanted to see Tori Amos, as where I said I wanted to get some good photo’s of Basement Jaxx that night, so walked my way forward during Garbage, all the way through getting squashed during Primal Scream, to find the camera battery had finally died, so I was at the back for the Jaxx, with my older 1.3mp camera
Saw Brian Wilson, Jools Holland (Fantastic), Garbage (My gig of the weekend), Van Morrison too, it was a good chilled day, watching some great acts and getting even more sunburnt.
Basement Jaxx were a little bit of an anti-climax to the festival for us, not as good as last year I feel, but still, we had fun.

We must do the midnight Carnival before we leave…..except, the Ghost Train was closed, we caught half of 2 different acts and the bar was rather full. The Sculptures that had been built were cool though, shame we hadn’t gone sooner in the week.

Another big fire, then bed, ready for the drive home tomorrow. Still not been to Lost Vaugeness, must go next time.

Monday comes but too soon, the drive home takes nearly twice as long and the people who had to get the train spent nearly 3 hours queuing just to get on one, all home by 8.30 though, after leaving at 12.30 and start watching the footage my computer had recorded.

Another Glasto been and gone…..what fun it was…….only another 103 weeks till the next one.

SParky