review by: Olier Tripp

Glastonbury Festival 1998

Friday 26th to Sunday 28th June 1998
Worthy Farm, Pilton, nr Glastonbury, Somerset, England
£80

Daily capacity: 80,000

Glastonbury Festival. A TWELVE YEAR OLD'S VIEW.

IN THE BEGINNING.....

And lo, there was light and God descended from the heavens and said Let there be animals and humans and rock festivals and punks and a place near Bristol called Somersetwhere a festival called Glastonbury would be held and the weather would greatly change and-? He never said anything about the mud..........

My first experience of Glastonbury came in 1994, when my mother went for the first time. I, like any other male being on the earth, was caught in World Cup fever so on that occasion I declined to go (my sacrifice was rewarded, of course,by my favourite team apart from England, Brazil, clinching their 4th trophy win.) Neither my mother or my father mentioned the name Glastonbury in 1995, so I was left to gaze at the telly in wonderment at this amazing place which was so big and all the strange and exciting things that occurred there.But, in 1997, both my parents arranged for all the family to go.Alas! I was again tied up in other arrangements so again I missed out.Finally my chance came in 1998 when my mother and my aunty organised a children's library in the Kidz Field.At last I could go! What follows is a truthful account of what happened at Glastonbury '98. The real story behind the mud, the artists,the food and, most horrific of all, the 7 hour wait at the gates and the long drive home. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. CHEERS!

Olier Tripp

As I sat uncomfortably in the boot of my friend's car, I realized what a risk I was taking, coming to this festival with no past experience of it. My thoughts were rather rudely interrupted by my leg suddenly losing it's feeling.I moaned softly and shoved a heavy rucksack of clothes and books off my leg with a mighty push.Only then did I realise that I had 30 more minutes of this dreadful position.After those thirty minutes had passed,my friend/nemesis Jack Dickinson would ease his body into the tiny crevice in the boot.I sighed and carried on my reading of THE OFFICIAL U.K. PLAYSTATION MAGAZINE. 30 minutes passed. We stopped off at Welcome Break and I gratefully eased myself out of the tight spot I had previously occupied.Jack climbed in with a loud groan.We got some provisions and clambered into the car, which sagged a bit. To cut a long story short, after another hour of whining and shuffling, we finally reached Gate 2, the gate which we were destined to enter. A perky-looking attendant hopped to where our car was, and directed us in. After 15 minutes of searching, we finally found our field, which adjoined to the very cool Kidz Field (more on that later).We struggled to build our tents (there were three: Jack and his mate Chloe's, Jack's parents' Paul and Clare, and me and my parents').We had to wait a day for my uncle and aunty and my three cousins to arrive. We busied ourselves with a quick stroll round a couple of the fields. Before we knew it it was dark. Paul said that he wanted to make a fire. The rest of us hastily agreed.
He actually built a quite good fire and soon it was blazing so much that me, Jack and Chloe beat a hasty retreat to the nice comfort of the car (it was a Vauxhall Astra).Soon Chloe,who was only six, wanted to go to bed.She retired and seven year old Jack soon joined her.I was feeling sleepy myself so I kept poking at the fire for a bit more then I laid me down to sleep Geddit?).I stayed awake reading for another twenty minutes until my parents crawled in the tent.I switched off my torch and put my head on the pillow.I soon drifted off to a natural sleep.

The morning that I poked my head out of the tent on looked quite nice so I got up early and decided to start up the embers of Paul's fire.I had just got it going when who should pop out his tent but Jack and Chloe.I called them over and they gave me some help with the fire albeit not much but it all counted.Our relatives were coming at three 'o' clock so, after asking a sleepy parent(I can't remember which one)'s permission to go to have a look at the Kidz Field.We were granted permission, so,after much hurried looking-for-shoes activity, we finally managed to walk to the adjoining Kidz Field.There wasn't a terrible amount to see but they had started to build the helter-skelter and the material for the bouncy castle and the Gladiator ring was there to be pumped up.But by far the most interesting thing on show was a strange contraption called a gyrascope.It consisted of a few metal bars attached to one another with a seat in the middle which was where you sat.You had a strap tied to your feet and you held on to these red bars right in front of you.Then the assistant would start swinging you round and round, upside down terribly fast using this little wheel attached to the side of the bars.We were on it for three minutes each and then we staggered back to the campsite.It was still not three 'o' clock yet so we just read magazines and books.By this time the adults were up and one had an idea to go and get some grub.All of us agreed and off we went to get some.When we got back,our relatives had arrived(Hooray!).
I was looking forward to playing with my three cousins,Sam, Bonnie and Emma.Sam was 10,nearly my age.Bonnie was only 1 1/2 and Emma was five.Best of all, I got to share a tent with Sam,instead of my snoring parents.The tent itself was huge.We did some boring stuff before it was time for bed. Everything was laid out neatly in our tent:sleeping bags e.t.c. We crawled into our sleeping bags, said our goodnights then we collapsed into sleep.

WE MUST NOW CUT FORWARD A DAY, THE DAY THAT GLASTONBURY '98 BEGAN.WE START WITH A NASTY SHOCK FOR THE MAN HIMSELF.

I awoke suddenly,feeling funny.It was morning, I could tell that.My skin felt clammy,and the grass inside the tent was wet.I carefully undid the zipper and peeked outside.I had to groan, it was so bad.It had been raining heavily during the night and the grass was drenched.I dressed quickly,put on the wellington boots, and peeked a look at the main path.
Mud was already starting to build up on it.Sam awoke soon after me and offered much the same reaction.Adults were already starting to wake up.We decided to pester them for cash.We succeeded with one and headed off to buy some chips with mayo.After that we headed back to camp where, thankfully, the rain decided to lay off a bit.It was now afternoon,and my aunty Cathy asked us whether we would like to go to the circus with Emma and Bonnie.Both of us said we'd like to, so off we went.We had to wait ages for the circus to let us in, but when they did, we found a good couple of seats at the back, where we sat.All the acts were good,but our two faves were a whip-cracking cowboy called Luke from Liechtenstein and some amazing back-flipping, limbo-dancing Zulus called the Black Gazelles.It was late afternoon when we came out of the Big Top so we headed back to camp.The mud was starting to build a lot.We were given lunch back at the campsite.We entertained ourselves for an hour or so,reading books or playing football with our new friend,Willum Barker.
Then,as early evening approached,Cathy suggested that we go and see Rolf Harris performing.We eagerly said yes.It was raining hard as we approached the Acoustic tent. Cathy and the little'uns left us to crawl to the front of the barriers.The expectant crowd was at fever pitch while the band played.Suddenly a booming voice announced Rolf himself. The crowd went wild as Rolf,looking a little chubby,strode onto the stage.He was clearly at his peak as he sang The Irish Rowboat,Up on Ayre's Rock and Edward Colins' Perfect Day for the crowd.But the song which really got the crowd going was, of course, his world-famous Tie me Kangaroo Down, Sport! He was clearly enjoying himself as he joked about the Irish and Animal Hospital(the Irish jokes were in good taste). Me and Sam gave Rolf Harris a mighty 9/10.
Satisfied about an excellent start to Glastonbury,me and Sam settled down in our sleeping bags, contented.

Saturday came with the same feeling I had on Friday mornin' only worse.When I had dressed and opened the tent flap,the mud was even seeping into our little dry campsite circle!I rather quickly woke up Sam and we looked out into the main path.The mud came to about halfway up my wellington boots! We started up the fire again until an adult woke up and we asked whether we could go to the circus again.The adult gave permission and we sped off.It was a little easier to get into the Big Top and we settled down at the back again.The acts were different and certainly worse than Friday's.The best act was probably the Norwegian juggler called To`re.After the circus we went back to camp where I had a brainwave.We stripped off into dirty clothes and played slippery Mud Football with Willum Barker.It was fab except that we had to take a shower afterwards.But that was before we entered the Pleasure Dome for the first time.The Pleasure Dome is a massive tent where you take off all your clothes and have a superb shower with hot water in the middle of the Dome.Then you relax in front of the burner on the mats and have a snooze or be massaged.
It was brill!Then Sam had his brainwave.He had a tape recorder in our tent.I got it out and he explained that we could walk round interviewing people on what they thought of the festival so far.Some of the best answers we got were that Glastonbury would "kick ass." and that "it certainly had sex appeal disappearing."By this time it was late and we went to bed.

Sunday will always be remembered by me for reasons that I will explain later.But I remember watching Robbie Williams on that day.By this time the mud was up to the top of my boots,thankfully not in them.Robbie came out on the Main Stage and started singing Let Me Entertain You. And he did! He put up a magnificent performance singing most of his album Life Thru a Lens.At the end of his performance he sang his hit single Angels.He didn't really need to sing it:the audience sang it for him.It was one of the defining sights of Glastonbury:60,000 waving people singing one song.
The rest of the day was spent moping around the Kidz Field playing Gladiators(I beat one kid 5-0 in a first to 5 tie)and eating chips and mayo.A Glastonbury day I would definitely like to forget at all costs.

Monday was the day we left Somerset.It only took a seven hour wait and drive in the car(I am being sarcastic).Luckily my aunty fed me,Jack and Chloe on chocolate spread sandwiches.When I got home and I snuggled beneath my quilt,I thought fondly of Glastonbury and hoped that I'd go next year as well....

THE END.