Glastonbury 2010: a very happy birthday weekend.

If New York is the city that never sleeps, Glastonbury is the festival that never stops. As a first-timer to what is arguably the world’s most infamous festival, I’d hoped it would be pretty special. Happily I was proved right.

It was only after arriving on Wednesday (along with about 90,000 other people) that I could appreciate the scale of the whole set-up. By Friday, a total of 177,500 had descended on the tiny village of Pilton, making it the third largest ‘city’ in the South West. A make-shift city if you like with food from all over the globe, a very efficient water system and of course toilets and showers (thanks to Greenpeace). Extraordinary really.

And to make it even more extraordinary, there was only one word to describe this year’s weather: ‘scorchio.’ Yes massive cliche but that was the forecast bandied around all weekend. (Add large amounts of dust and lack of shade and you can imagine just how many people had sun burn after just a day…)

And such a range of people! Tweeny boppers celebrating the end of GCSEs, young professionals enjoying a week off work, families with children in push chairs and older couples who might even (dare I suggest) have been at the first ever Glasto all those years ago where entry was £1 and Micheal Eavis gave out free milk. Such an eclectic mix of people meant just walking round the site was entertainment in itself.

Speaking of the site, there was so much to do and see it’s easy to see why some Glasto-goers don’t get round to the music. The colour and variety and sense of a mini adventure made the transition from the jibber jabber world of iPhones and emails to GMT (Glastonbury Meandering Time) easy.

We spent Thursday exploring the Healing Fields – the festival’s home of hippy living – and definitely one of many highlights. Massages and reflexology were all on offer in exchange for a suggested donation, not to mention tarot readings, palm readings, yoga and meditation if you wanted it.

On Friday the music got going. And so much music! Even with the official Glastonbury Clashfinder it was heart-wrenching to realise (a) you cannot be in two places at once and (b) you can’t even try to catch two acts that overlap. Not properly.

The Gorillaz were a bit disappointing and a little too experimental for the Pyramid Stage in my humble opinion. Mumford & Sons are firmly back on my must-listen play list after seeing them live. But the highlight of the weekend has to be Muse, a band renowned for their live shows at the best of times but they made their headline appearance for Glasto’s 40th birthday super special.

Faithless on Sunday were also really impressive and reminded me just how much they’ve done in the last 10 years or so. A great pre-cursor to Stevie Wonder who was entertaining and another legend you can’t argue with. Seeing Michael Eavis on stage for a rendition of Happy Birthday was nothing other than a perfect end to the weekend.

 

So the question of yesterday on returning home: would I go again? Of course. There’s just so much to do and everyone is so friendly. Obviously it’s not without its grim bits – the notoriously disgusting toilets live up to their name and it can get quite pricey buying food and drinks and whatnot. And the Glastonbury Graveyard of unwanted tents, gazebos and sleeping bags rather contradicts the ethos of the whole thing, not to mention the Festival’s Please Take It Home campaign.

But those were the semi-predictable downsides and the unpredictable upsides make up for them, no question. Anyway, apparently it’s my duty to return as a newly recruited ‘Glastonburian’ to experience what a real Glastonbury Festival is all about: MUD and music. With no previous experience, it was easy to forget that having no rain was “unprecedented,” as one of my many Glasto veteran friends lovingly pointed out.

With no Glasto in 2012 and rumours for Glasto 2011 already afoot, a few days off in June next year might just be required.

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