Tomorrow, people will begin drifting into Bath gurning through lack of sleep but - this year - not covered in mud.
Of all the many people I know who go to Glastonbury, not one of them paid for a ticket. They all have jobs in return for a 'free' ticket, some jobs more arduous than others. Most of it is bar work, but I know one lucky fellow who drives various bands across site in his Land Rover. Not being able to drink on shift is a small price to pay for following all the girls over the fields at walking pace.
Worthy Farm turns into a city for one week of the year, and a very large one at that. In a way, it is surprising that not more of the many people who wash up in Bath at the close end up staying here for a few years, but about 2 do every year.
One year in the 1970s, a vivacious young girl dropped in at the pub and ended up staying for a couple of years. She was of North African descent and was called Marie. She had so much energy and appetite for raucous fun that I was not surprised when she went to London and became the punk-rock star, Polly Styrene.
She overdid it a bit and ended up suffering a breakdown, complaining of police helicopters hovering outside her window and spying on her, but when she got over that, she sadly died of cancer. Poor old Marie.
I went to the very first Glastonbury at Pilton in 1971. I borrowed a motorcycle and rode from Surrey to Somerset. I blagged my way in and the police even allowed me to ride my bike right into the main field. The bike had no stand, so I leaned it up against the main stage. Can you imagine that today?! Above is a photo of the main stage as it was then. It has got a bit bigger since 1971.
Everything was free - the entrance, the bands, even the food. The main kitchen was provided by the Hare Krishna lot. They are very good cooks, actually.
Call me ungrateful, but I got on site, took a look around and decided I hated it. I spent the night there in a brown-paper sleeping bag, then rode home the next morning. I have never been back, thereby saving about £10,000 on tickets.
You were far from being alone. For I was there at the same time, differently though I returned about ten years later and enjoyed myself immensely.
ReplyDeleteWell I didn't see you there.
DeleteI've only been to one festival of the Glasto sort. It was here in France and the music was dreadful. The French don't have a clue when it comes to rock-n-roll.
ReplyDeleteOr Rap.
DeleteHow things change eh. Things like leaning your motorbike against the main stage are beyond the comprehension of young people today. They haven't lived. I slept in a brown paper sleeping bag, out in the open air, no tent for three nights at Weeley in 1971, the year there was no Isle of Wight. We went for T Rex and The Faces mainly. 100,000 people+. My £30 Triumph Herald parked in a field and very hot weather and several fires. I had no idea whether my car would still be in one piece because I didn't see it after I left it until I went home. Several cars were set on fire. I didn't care. Anyway, it was ok. I started the engine but couldn't hear it because of the non-stop music my ears had been deafened with.
ReplyDeleteAh, the days when our minds and bodies welcomed punishment, and the days when cars didn't always start. How I don't miss them.
DeleteGood old days, Rachel? We, who were born in the sixties had to revolt with Sid Vicious, what's the fun in that? T Rex sounds nice, I liked Marc Bolan, poor kid. Nice to hear all these stories, thank you!
DeleteWe thought the 70s were really boring, then the 80s came and made the 70s look really interesting.
DeleteThe 80s gave us Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran. Don't forget Wham! either.
DeleteThe golden age of pop music was upon us.
I don't remember going to any festivals though.
I was an armchair fan.
I always half fancied going Tom but as I married at 19 and had my son at 26 I never really got round to it - my husband then, who was a musician, was just not into that kind of music.
ReplyDeleteThat's 7 years in which you could have gone to a pop festival, Weave. Don't get me wrong - I'm not blaming you for not going. I felt the same way, obviously.
DeleteP.S. I bought the wrong sized frame for your Guildford print, so I am going to swap it for the right sized one. I haven't forgotten.
DeleteMy Grandson is an A&R man for Universal and gets to go to festivals all over the place including abroad looking for talent. Sounds glamorous but its hard work.
ReplyDeleteBriony
x
Yes, I bet it is hard work, especially for a giant like Universal.
DeleteI had to zoom in on the picture. In small scale it looked like an African tribal meeting.
ReplyDeleteYes, minus any black people.
DeleteTom.... it wasn't the first.... all of us who went in '71....went to the second.... they had a much smaller festival, a bit like Cropredy, in 1970. But it wasn't over publicised....
ReplyDeletedid you buy the album from the first REAL festival?
And, if you did.... did you build the pyramid to resharpen your razorblades....?
I meant the very first at Worthy Farm. No I didn't buy the album and I never tried the pyramid razor-blade sharpening trick. I didn't smoke banana skins either.
DeleteGoodness, Tom , it does look like something out of Africa or more like something from SG1...we had our rockfestival a couple of weeks ago, in the old potatoefield outside Norje. Next year they celebrate 20 years on that spot. We've seen Iron Maiden and Kizz, ZZtop, this year Aerosmith was here. No, I don't go. But the old ladies in the village spend a week making sandwiches and coffee for the tired rockers, I need to add some 20 years before I enjoy that!!!
ReplyDeleteYou get all the bands 10 years after they were successful then! Do the old ladies make money from the sandwiches?
DeleteGlastonbury is one of the many events that have passed me by, I did do a Shadows/Marvin show in Halifax a few years ago. Music (live) has never been my thing. I don't feel deprived, we must have done other things.
ReplyDeleteYou have been deprived of mud for the most part, but not sleep.
DeleteMeh, these things always suffer from becoming too commercial.Not that I have ever been to a festival. My loathing of inadequate sanitation and sleeping rough always gets in the way ;-)
ReplyDelete