A Week At Worthy

Wow. Glastonbury. Where to begin? What an experience.

It's been about 24 hours since we finally got out of the car parks and onto the M5 from Worthy Farm and I'm still riding on a high from five days of music, sun, mud, arts, people and fun. This was my first Glastonbury, having added the festival to my bucket list after watching the Stones headlining last year on TV, and it certainly won't be my last. I've no Coachella or Burning Man tales to compare it to but I can see why Glastonbury is referred to as the 'Best Festival in the World'.

In fact, I've not been to a festival of any notable size for five years. The closest comparison I can bring is two consecutive years at Leeds & Reading in my late teens - and, to be honest, they're not even worth comparison. To sum up five days in one post seems almost impossible, but I'll try and break it down into the things that stood out to me as a Glastonbury virgin that make me want to grab Michael Eavis by his bushy beard and give him a big old kiss.
Legends, Legends, Legends
Driving away from Glastonbury, my friend brought it to my attention that we'd seen some of the biggest names going - all from different genres. Rock: Robert Plant; Dance: Fatboy Slim; Reggae: The Wailers; and of course the 'Queen of Country', Dolly Parton (what a surreal person). Where else could you see 'Whole Lotta Love', 'Buffalo Soldier' and 'Jolene' performed live by their original owners? What's more, they weren't even the headliners AND I haven't mentioned Blondie. Pepper around that the current cream of contemporary music and there's no chance you're riding out a hangover in your tent.

The Unknown
Almost every piece I read on Glastonbury before I went mentioned just how massive it is. And, yes, Worthy Farm is pretty huge, but if you can handle your feet and calves turning to rock then it's absolutely possible to get around it. You might not get to stay anywhere for long, but it's doable. The trick is being in the right place at the right time and finding the hidden treats away on the small stages. A lot of people will play two sets across the weekend and there's plenty of music on in the smaller tents to stumble across. We were enticed into the Avalon Cafe tent by a warm up guitar riff that led to a full set by a 'Fip Fok' collective called CoCo and the Butterfields - imagine up tempo folk accompanied by ridiculously good beatboxing.

We also found ourselves listening to the sounds of Mik Artistik's Ego Trip; the comic vocal ramblings of an everyday Yorkshireman. I'll never look at a fox the same way again. Another moment not on the pre-festival plan was an orchestral performance of Barry Gray cartoon theme compositions including Thunderbirds, Stingray and Captain Scarlet (bum bubum bubum) on the Park Stage. Sat in the sun looking out over the entire festival, it was the perfect Sunday lunch. Everyone has a plan of who they want to see, but the little gems you catch away from the beaten track are the gems of Glastonbury.

What's My Age Again
Unlike other festivals I've been to, Glastonbury is truly family-friendly. It's every parent's prerogative whether they take their child to a mudbath of people taking drugs and listening to ear shattering music, but the kids at Glastonbury really seem to enjoy themselves and it must be a great bonding experience to bring families together. It also shatters the myth that getting older means you have to stop having fun - I'm not sure I'll ever get over the image of a stoned 60+ couple using the setting sun to make shadow puppets while dancing to The Wailers.

The Food
This blog centres a lot around good food, and Glastonbury is no excuse to settle for second best grub. Most festival food consists of a dodgy burger van slopping out undercooked chips and greying meat at extortionate prices. While Glastonbury has that, and the London price tags to go with it, there are far more options to make it money well spent. There's everything from mac 'n' cheese bars to woodfired pizza kitchens and traditional African fare. My personal highlight was The Hotbox, which served up a mean pulled pork sandwich with bacon jam and sweet potato fries. If you want to keep your wallet intact though, it's worth firing up your own BBQ - the onsite markets are reasonably good value for meat so a bacon butty for breakfast is still a possibility come Sunday morning.





After Hours
If you tune into the late night Glastonbury coverage on BBCs Three and Four, there's a good chance you'll catch Jen Long wandering around the Green Fields or Unfairgound, interviewing burlesque performers at four in the morning. Unlike other festivals I've been to, Glastonbury really comes alive after the headliners leave the stage. Most people head off to the extremities of the site for a night of revelry in the farm's more imaginative setups. Shangri La, with its subcultural atmosphere is like something I've never seen before - imagine stumbling into a small tent\shack where a hilbilly satan controls burlesque erotic puppets to the rhythm of D'n'B.

Then there's Block9, which puts you in the middle of what can only be described as the set of a post-apocalyptic Ridley Scott movie, again with enough repetitive beats to keep you dancing until the sun comes up. Also worth mentioning is Arcadia, which sits much closer to the main stage and would be fitting in Alien. You're basically dancing in a field, but at the centre sits a colossal spider-like contraption, which breathes fire (serious fire), surrounded by crushed car shells and ornate, smoking street lamps. Let's face it, a tent isn't the most comfortable night's sleep, so why bother?

Respect
What really struck me about Glastonbury is the respect people have for themselves and others. Festivals are big, and there's inevitably going to be some horror stories. Parklife is a recent case in point where the wrong people coming together can be a truly horrible experience. But Glastonbury has such a great atmosphere, you can't help but be impressed. As I mentioned before, Leeds was the last big festival I went to and the difference is out of this world. Drink and drugs are inevitable at a festival, but the way people treat them at Glastonbury is much better. There hardly seemed to be any policing of it, but it wasn't necessary. I rarely saw anyone in a real state and there was hardly a display of aggression to be seen. If there was a crush, people were patient, and the less savoury characters who bought a ticket generally looked out of place. Glastonbury is, after all, a pretty left festival and it was good to see how so many people could get along. Sorry, hippie love in over...

So, that's Glastonbury in a nutshell(ish) from the eye's of a first-timer. If you can handle a bit of mud, sleep deprivation and the odd obnoxious toff, then I'd urge you to get yourself their next year. Just don't take my place in the ticket ballot.