balti-pie

It’s a right bugger that Blur are playing a nice little venue in my home town and I’ll not be there, but it’s decent consolation to have tickets to the Wembley gig BOGOF courtesy of working for the NHS so I’ll not hold on to my moans for too long I think. C’est la vie and if anyone here has tickets for Bournevegas then have a magnificent night!

Not missed one since 2015, it was my Mam’s 60th birthday that year and since then we’ve had an agreement to temporarily shift her birthday to the Tuesday after glasto so I can take her out 😊 always have a convo/video call with her on the day though, normally wandering round the green fields. In 2015 my local pub had a beer festival that weekend so I got a few takeouts, watched the bbc coverage and sat there bathing in the FOMO. If I had to miss another I’d do the same, it was alright!

I only have perhaps 4 or 5 beers a day at glastonbury, and make an effort to throw in a decent amount of soft drinks/water too - that way i pretty much dont have to deal with hangovers. i dont drink on the sunday at all so the drive home on monday will be as reasonable as possible as well. Its made recovery and energy levels during the festival and after much, much easier. I also remember far more and don't have to wee so much during sets 😄 i do spend more on cakes and sweet stuff in order to pep me up after the headliners though, those footlong cola fizzy cables are pretty much irresistible - if you see someone in cabaret/circus around midnight/1am snarfing down a couple of ft, itll be very likely to be me

the SIS things, rehydration salts and the energy gel doodahs, are very regularly in Lidl on special offer. in other news the farts i get off the energy gels are absolutely spectacularly unpleasant in pitch, volume and odour. Had a crack of them on an ultra hike i did a couple of years back and bloody hell, it gave me a burst of energy just to distance myself from the other hikers 😬

I'd be fine with that if they were really lovely pints - deya steady rolling man, burning sky easy answers, verdant maybe one more PSI, that sort of thing - something really cold, strong and hoppy as a bucket full of manic frogs

Dunno how many went up on the presale and how many will be left for general sale - but i'll have another bash for Eastbourne 👍

i was 900 in the queue. went down to 662. 452. 330. 142. 22, 1! and then flopped and put me back to 2000 plus BASTARD

Winter Gardens in Eastbourne holds perhaps a thousand, its a lovely building and obviously i'm biased cos i live here but its a great town. Its very far from exciting or thrilling but the hills, the seafront and the faded glamour of the architecture make it pretty damn appealing for a visit. Blur playing at the winter gardens (for the second time, they played in 95ish for the Great Escape tour that took in loads of strange seaside places) is a pretty great prospect! there'll be a bunfight for tickets of course but you've got to be in it to win it. PLUS there's the distinct possibility of a pre-gig pint with me! 😄

the presale is tomorrow at 10am, its not open yet

Two every year to maintain it, or i think you can do one a year if you supervise- i've not been reeled in by supervising yet but im gonna keep an eye on it this year and see how it looks . . .

Eastbourne! fuckme, we're actually on the map! this is a 15 min stroll from my sofa!

oof, gonna give the cauli a bash this year too 😊

It suits both parties. The charities get more guaranteed hours from volunteers, as well as them being a known and reliable entity, which is much better than a raft of unknowns, some of whom are going to leg it and not do their shifts - and the volunteers get to go to the things they want to be at. Oxfam lowering their deposit to regulars is a right winner as well, £170 being tied up for a few months is far preferable to £340 for me and many others im sure

Only Jerkin were in West Holts and were absolutely magnificent - gonna break my 'only eat one meal from a stall' rule and go there twice, cos bah gawd it was good

They never fail to remind me of Demis Roussos, courtesy of my Dad’s dreadful record collection 🤣😊

Nailed it skip 🤣👍🏻 edit: anyone calling Noel Gallagher ‘hilarious and super talented’ can instantly be ignored

They’re traditionally a bit mean at t+c, I have a few mates camping there and they’ve never let us in for a beer - won’t hand out guest wristbands etc, even if you ask mon or tues before the festival. Not sure it’ll change much with a different bar, but we’ll see!

poor . . . but with exceptionally cool stuff to look forward to and thats a fine state of affairs!

I revisit the Glastoearth site about once a year, its so magnificently in-depth and knowledgeable, and its thrilling to nose thru when youve been a load of times - i cant even imagine how exciting it'd be before your first glastonbury, i'd probably explode with excitement 😄

i think its always worth remembering that no matter where you park, no matter what field youre aiming for, and regardless of how light you think you've packed: carrying all your stuff from the car to the campsite WILL be a colossal ballache and absolutely knackering. When you know that and set your sights accordingly, it makes life much easier. Dont bound out of the car all full of enthusiasm and excitement, delay that until tent is up and shit is sorted! it'll be miles through fields, your shoulders and arms will hurt, and you WILL mouth swears at the knobhead in front of you weaving around and clearly not noticing you're doing something just behind him. You just will, its normal, its fine, and it wont last long. you're nearly there 👍

Yeah, i think this is a perfect plan- if you're particularly fussed about camping in a specific in-demand field then getting there earlier would be advantageous, but i favour a decent night's sleep and a good breakfast (and a last good shower!) before camping as near as possible inside the gate. Getting to the gates for 11am-midday would likely see you breezing in with not too much of a queue and would be much preferable to an overnight queue hell. The drive back on the monday is best off via the a303, a36 through salisbury and then down the a27 right along the coast - that would be far preferable than motorways, though thats always down to opinions! have a great time 👍

there's at least three huge oxfam stalls with all manner of stuff in them! you'll find absolutely everything from leather, cyberpunk, tie dye hippie, band tshirts, retro sportswear, sequins, rave wings, those huge kaftans that look really warm but smell like wet dog, there's so much variety - rows and rows of different stalls. You'll be annoyed when the music starts cos it gets in the way of browsing 😄

Me neither, but there's a generation of younger people who need to go a few times until they become the old twats like us who automatically go without thinking about the lineup 😊 we need to fish in our replacements! (though i'll be going for as long as i have the physical capability to do so, which should be a few years yet, legs permitting)

ah, i am that fucker.

skunk anansie travis rod stewart stereophonics moby verve mumfords kasabian florence and the machine now i appreciate its all taste-based, but all of the above are at best middling and at worst absolutely bollocks, and theyve all headlined in the last 25 festivals. Yet its still managing to continue, somehow. . . . i think Guns n Roses will be fine, serviceable, enjoyed by the people into it and ignored by the rest - kind of like every other headliner show then!