Glastonburys Crowd...

[incident]

* Refusing to admit that it's OK to like any kind of pop music

[darrenbha]

To pick up on the point about it not being just about the music. I know of people who go specifically for the theatre and cabaret areas. Regarding snobbery

You won't see any once you're there

[Rufus Gwertigan]

To pick up on the point about it not being just about the music. I know of people who go specifically for the theatre and cabaret areas. Regarding snobbery

You won't see any once you're there

[strudders]

There may be some snobbery but that's to be expected with all fans sites.

I mean lets face it this is a fan site for Glastonbury as well as a message forum, the characters on here are testament to that, however as Dave said this is only a fraction of the walk of life that turn up.

Also the other forums are just as protective as well, nip into the Reading forum as say that you think the Reading festival is pants and the reaction may be a little more colourful.

I for one think ME has done a great job making a way of life for many people. I positively look forward Glastonbury for the reasons I have stated many times about it being special.

However everybody is allowed their own opinion and Glastonbury is no different, everybody can slag it off or praise it, its what makes the world go around and has many people reading this thread.

I like many though do think that Glastonbury is different to any other festival, not only in the artists taking part but the whole atmos and setting. I can remember going to reading in 87 and again last year after many years away and thinking, huh not much has changed at the main stage....

So, say what you will as its all good debate, but I know, come the Monday morning, your hangover thumbing like a Dance Tent Sub woofer, you will be miserable as sin at having to leave, but also happy in your sole that you went and experienced a great festival. Then you will be back here and assimilated and converted..

I Promise.

Peace.

[bombfrog]

I'm sorry, what?

That's complete and utter bollocks - there's a certain amount of snobbery throughout all music, but on the whole Glastonbury attendees are far more open to different music (including Pop) than the devotees of most other major festivals.

Imagine what would have happened a few years ago if Shirley Bassey had been announced as playing at Reading/Leeds.. Their forum would've exploded with rage. Likewise with Neil Diamond last time round. Hell, Kylie was scheduled to headline a few years back and a large part of the reason Robbie Williams became so big was on the back of a successful Pyramid Stage appearance.

[.jay.]

i didn't find the festival like that at all when i went but i do find these boards like that quite a lot (in general i find most internet forums are awash with snobbish elitist opinionated people and this place is no different)

i think the thread author seems to be confusing the two and jumping to the assumption that the attitude of these boards reflect that of the festival when that simply isn't the case at all as the regular users of these boards only make up tiny minority of the festival goers at glastonbury.

Edited February 18, 2009 by .jay.

[toooldtoknowbetter]

I'm more worried there'll be loads of middle-class middle-aged types there just so they can sit in front of the pyramid and tell people they're at Glasto, before retiring to their hotel for the night.

[.jay.]

I'm more worried there'll be loads of middle-class middle-aged types there just so they can sit in front of the pyramid and tell people they're at Glasto, before retiring to their hotel for the night.

Edited February 18, 2009 by .jay.

[incident]

I was referring to the outrage that followed the announcement that Robbie was playing, The downright insulting comments when Kylie was booked and the ridiculous reaction last year when Jay zed was announced.

[bombfrog]

Maybe my memory is warped but I remember a BIG backlash on the forums when Kylie was announced, until she was diagnosed with cancer of course, then everybody started being nice!

[.jay.]

Maybe my memory is warped but I remember a BIG backlash on the forums when Kylie was announced, until she was diagnosed with cancer of course, then everybody started being nice!

[Bradders]

Ha ha....I'm middleaged and middleclass (whatever the f*** that means), and I'll be at the front of the Pyramid for Neil Young and little else. I'll be stumbling around the other stages and tents and kipping in my crappy little tent, full of cider and pies. So will my four middleaged middleclass mates. Sorry.

Edited February 18, 2009 by Bradders

[strudders]

OK

have any off you been to Glastonbury or any festival thinking about whether the demographic is going to spoil the atmos?

I have never been to Glasto and not enjoyed myself, If I thought for one min that the people around me were "brining me down" I would bloody move to another spot! Christ the place is big enough.

I guess what I am saying is if you don't like the people around you find new people, and yes the Cider Bus is a good start and also the Dance tent, the green field, the Park stage, the Other stage, the healing field,, the cinema, the circus tent, the glade, John Peel stage, ect ect......

[.jay.]

OK

have any off you been to Glastonbury or any festival thinking about whether the demographic is going to spoil the atmos?

I have never been to Glasto and not enjoyed myself, If I thought for one min that the people around me were "brining me down" I would bloody move to another spot! Christ the place is big enough.

I guess what I am saying is if you don't like the people around you find new people, and yes the Cider Bus is a good start and also the Dance tent, the green field, the Park stage, the Other stage, the healing field,, the cinema, the circus tent, the glade, John Peel stage, ect ect......

[Rufus Gwertigan]

OK

have any off you been to Glastonbury or any festival thinking about whether the demographic is going to spoil the atmos?

I have never been to Glasto and not enjoyed myself, If I thought for one min that the people around me were "brining me down" I would bloody move to another spot! Christ the place is big enough.

[strudders]

I have. 2005. To start I broke a big toe by a police horse treading on it at the Solstice (I was kissing the wpc on the back of it at the time . Then a f**king horrendous attack of gout in my other foot. Then get a really hard time by the security when camped in the campervan field on night one. Fell asleep at New Order and had my rucksack pinched. Some c**t stood on my foot at Tori Amos. Got sucked into a massive puddle and needed 3 people to help me out (actually that was quite funny). Got locked inside the site on the Monday night, and the only way out was through Vechile Gate A, miles for a man hobbling around, and then had to tackle the hill of death again.

[GINGERWILDCAT]

Just a suggestion but maybe stick to Leeds fest,you could have a real laugh on the last night setting fire to toilets!!!Good fun.

[.jay.]

I have. 2005. To start I broke a big toe by a police horse treading on it at the Solstice (I was kissing the wpc on the back of it at the time . Then a f**king horrendous attack of gout in my other foot. Then get a really hard time by the security when camped in the campervan field on night one. Fell asleep at New Order and had my rucksack pinched. Some c**t stood on my foot at Tori Amos. Got sucked into a massive puddle and needed 3 people to help me out (actually that was quite funny). Got locked inside the site on the Monday night, and the only way out was through Vechile Gate A, miles for a man hobbling around, and then had to tackle the hill of death again.

[jamiejc]

Not just music... This is a quote i found well known too, I think Neil came out with this orginally?

" Glastonbury Festival is the largest greenfield music and performing arts festival in the world and a template for all the festivals that have come after it. The difference is that Glastonbury has all the best aspects of being at a Festival in one astonishing bundle.

It's like going to another country, a hip and thrilling Brigadoon that appears every year or so. Coming to Glastonbury involves a fair amount of travel, and probably a queue to get in but, when you get past these impediments, you enter a huge tented city, a mini-state under canvas. British law still applies, but the rules of society are a bit different, a little bit freer. Everyone is here to have a wild time in their own way.

The Festival site has distinct socio-geographic regions. The more commercial aspects are around the Pyramid, Other and Dance stages, which feels as if the West End of London a Saturday night has been removed to a field and thoroughly beautified. Unlike the West End, visitors are on every guest list, from the night time cinemas to the biggest gigs. But that busy whirl of excitement is not to everyone's taste. To accomodate the more laid-back reveller, more chilled out areas like the Jazzworld and Acoustic areas are in easy walking distance. If that's still not the relaxed state a Glasto-goer is after, there's also family oriented areas like the Kidz Field, the Theatre and Circus fields. And if you're into the more alternative, less noisy aspects of festival life, you can always head up to the Field of Avalon, the Tipi Field, and the Green Fields. At the top of the site is the Sacred Space - the stone circle is a modern construction, but it has already seen as much celebration and ceremony as some of its forebears. Sun-up on a Sunday morning, with drums and torches and chanting and an astonishing measure of joy from the sleepless revellers at the Stone Circle is a glorious sight to behold.

The Festival takes place in a beautiful location - 900 acres in the Vale of Avalon, an area steeped in symbolism, mythology and religious traditions dating back many hundreds of years. It's where King Arthur may be buried, where Joseph of Arimathea is said to have walked, where leylines converge. And the site is ENORMOUS - more than a mile and a half across, with a perimeter of about eight and a half miles.

Then there are the people, thousands of them in all their astonishing and splendid diversity! There is only one common characteristic of a Glastonbury-goer - they understand that Glastonbury Festival offers them more opportunity than any other happening to have the best weekend of the year or even of a life-time, and they are determined to have it! You'll meet all kinds of people, of all ages, backgrounds, nationalities, lifestyles, faiths, concepts of fashion (or lack of it) and musical taste. Some will undoubtedly wear silly hats, or buy shirts that they'll never wear again... until next year, that is. The overall vibe of the Festival is consistently mellow and friendly, even in the event of rain and all that comes with rain, a field and thousands upon thousands of tramping feet.

There will be moments when you ask yourself the inevitable: "Why can't life always be like this?" There will be enlightenments, awakenings, surreal happenings, Damascene epiphanies and people doing the strangest things in public. Sometimes the strangest things you'll see happening have been booked well in advance - but often it will be people spontaneously reacting to the spirit of the Festival. No two people's Festival experience will be the same unless they're tied together, in which case they're probably part of a theatre company.

It's best not to come to Glastonbury with a head full of preconceptions and a notebook full of plans of what you want to see. If there are one or two particular bands a day you really want to see, then let your day revolve around them and go with the flow. Hurrying between stages so you can tick off a list of things you feel you must see is not the best way to enjoy Glastonbury. If you can't get a good vantage point, or aren't enjoying a show, move on; there'll be something else in the next field that might just change your way of seeing the world! Often, your best memories of the Festival will be of new things that have startled you with their brilliance.

Have a good look at the Performance Area pages on this site and at the Festival programme when you are on site, or ask at Information points. There are a plethora of wonders to be seen, heard or just caught from the corner of your eye. Glastonbury runs like a huge clock - it is the Big Ben of Festivals after all - and it is best not to stay staring at just one of the huge cogs, however many famous spokes it has. Travel round it clockwise and investigate all the workings of the Festival. All those other stages and attractions wouldn't be there if they weren't worth taking in - and they are all capable of surprising a visitor.

One last instruction: whilst at Glastonbury Festival forget all instructions (as long as doing so involves hurting no one) and ENJOY! "

Edited February 18, 2009 by jamiejc

[tazzyb]

To the OP, having been to both Wakestock (in 2007 and playing a hand in getting it cancelled!) and V neither of them come close to Glastonbury. They are simply music gigs in a field, absolutely nothing else. Until you go there and experience Glastonbury for yourself then to dismiss the thoughts of people who say it is more than music is a little bit silly!

[Okky]

i'm sorry but efests forums is not a good representation of glastonbury. it is however good for finding out bands etc

[sdaveak47]

Seriously whats the point ?

[Sipperana]

I wouldn't class myself as an Eavis lover - after all, I'm now of a certain age that he was claiming was stifling the festival two years ago. Not that the large amount of disposable income that people of my age group have seems to bother him. For my part I thought that particular Glasto was over-run with university students spending Daddy's money on their first fezzie.

Anyway,beside the point, Glasto really is so big that it really depends where you go as to what kind of people you mix with. Hang around the Other or Pyramid stages and it'll feel like V. Explore some of the more interesting corners and you'll get a more chilled out crowd.

[Chimps in Balaclavas]

Sam, don't be worrying about it, once you're there your opinions will most probably change. There are good and bad everywhere m8, if you look 4 the negative you will probably find it so just go with the flow and take what comes. The vibe @ Glasto is amazing & the people you find there will treat you like family. Without Glasto .. the only thing to look forward to is probably christmas ( & that's not a patch on Glasto ). LOL

[eFestivals]

Not just music... This is a quote i found well known too, I think Neil came out with this orginally?

it's been re-written by someone, but yep, that's essentially mine.