The Festival's Not What It Used to Be

[eFestivals]

The Green Futures areas are a shallow reflection of their former glory, and I think that's just because the people coming to the festival are not much interested in that stuff -- which is a shame.

I wish they'd somehow separate out the serious green stuff, from the crystals'n'auras crap. But I don't know whether that would draw in more interest either.

I know what you mean - the Green Fields used to almost be the centre-piece of the festival, and today it's not even a sideshow for many people who never venture away from the main stages. More than anything else about the changes over the years it's this one which makes me saddest.

But, I guess, much of it isn't as unusual as it once was - 'green' ideas which once used to be radical are now the mainstream.

[mike.c]

problem is, and dont take this personally, but you, your mates and the rest of "your sort" (for want of a better phrase) bring absolutely nothing to the festival. You are boring clones.

I'd much rather see the hippies of the past than you lot parading around in your hunters wellies and top man tshirts. I'm sorry to say you and your ilk have priced out the former glastonbury goer.

Of course you have every right to be there, but why do you think all the "characters" have gone? Because of the likes of you and what the festival has had to become in order to accomodate you.

I mean no offence by this.

[fur_q]

problem is, and dont take this personally, but you, your mates and the rest of "your sort" (for want of a better phrase) bring absolutely nothing to the festival. You are boring clones.

I'd much rather see the hippies of the past than you lot parading around in your hunters wellies and top man tshirts. I'm sorry to say you and your ilk have priced out the former glastonbury goer.

Of course you have every right to be there, but why do you think all the "characters" have gone? Because of the likes of you and what the festival has had to become in order to accomodate you.

I mean no offence by this.

[Monkismo]

The festival's different - so what? Are we going to get people also moaning that technology's different or that they now sell Benson & Hedges in silver? Heaven forbid that we can now get our food delivered by supermarkets to our doors and that we can watch television programs an hour later than they're publicised.

Everything has to evolve and if the festival was still populated mainly by hippies and travellers with the police causing riots whilst the fence is big enough for a 4 year old to scale, it wouldn't be going now and we wouldn't be here discussing this. Chill and charge can do one but the rest of the festival is fine as it is!

[russycarps]

So according you people who compromise the safety of the event and its future by acting illegally are the exciting ones, everyone else is just boring.

[dano]

First went in 1982. Had to camp with my parents until the magical 1995- 15 years old and drunk on 2 ciders. Been every year since. Have grown up a bit, and as arrogant as it sounds would not go nowadays if i had to pay £200 and camp with the general British public. That might sound snobbish but by god they are a drain. Give me a decent toilet, a free bar and a lovely cut through between the main and other stage. And a pre erected tent and an easy route out of there. I do miss the dogs on string, buses full of proper hippies, kids on motorbikes and the smell of shit, but i was a teenager then. Times change etc.

[eFestivals]

So according you people who compromise the safety of the event and its future by acting illegally are the exciting ones, everyone else is just boring.

the simple fact is that if there'd never been those people going to Worthy Farm, it's exceedingly unlikely that you would be now.

Like it or, the festival lost something when the world went health & safety mad.

[Big Vern]

problem is, and dont take this personally, but you, your mates and the rest of "your sort" (for want of a better phrase) bring absolutely nothing to the festival. You are boring clones.

I'd much rather see the hippies of the past than you lot parading around in your hunters wellies and top man tshirts. I'm sorry to say you and your ilk have priced out the former glastonbury goer.

Of course you have every right to be there, but why do you think all the "characters" have gone? Because of the likes of you and what the festival has had to become in order to accomodate you.

I mean no offence by this.

[hotwaterbottle]

problem is, and dont take this personally, but you, your mates and the rest of "your sort" (for want of a better phrase) bring absolutely nothing to the festival. You are boring clones.

I'd much rather see the hippies of the past than you lot parading around in your hunters wellies and top man tshirts. I'm sorry to say you and your ilk have priced out the former glastonbury goer.

Of course you have every right to be there, but why do you think all the "characters" have gone? Because of the likes of you and what the festival has had to become in order to accomodate you.

I mean no offence by this.

[_danny_]

im not offended but it just goes to show how daft sterotyping is.

if you seen me i you would probably think im a gangster, scumbag who is going to knock you out and rob you. just because im a scouser, the cars, clothes and attitude.

but if some1 fancies taking the time to speak to me they realise im just sound, there for a good time like everbody else.

i bring just as much character as anybody else, maybe i dont take my clothes off and roll in the mud that often but everybody brings their part to the festival.

might even bump into you, say hello.

[Gregcharlie]

No, according to me the people who used to make the festival the weird and wonderful place it used to be no longer go for a myriad of reasons. The sky high entrance fee is one of those reasons. The influx of a different sort of glastonbury goer is another one. You know, people who fret about things like "the safety of the event".

There has never been a major incident at glastonbury (apart from some tiny riots) even at it's most hedonistic. The roskilde stick has been used to beat the festival into the sanitary thing it is today.

The hedonists and anarchists are gone, replaced with rich middled aged youngsters.

[eFestivals]

People should remember that Andrew Kerr & Bella Churchill where 'rich kids' and not tar everyone with the same brush

rich kids who were spending their cash so that everyone else could have a good time, not rich kids spending it on themselves. I think that's a significant difference!

Anyway, not being 'rich-ist', I'd say that what russy is really getting at is that Glastonbury used to be far more of a participant festival and less of a spectator sport - but I'm as guilty of being just as much a spectator as any 'rich kid', and I suspect that might be true for russy too.

The reason that 'rich kids' get the blame in that way is because most of the 'characters' disappeared at around the same time that they arrived.

[jamseyboy]

Glastonbury now is what we have got and no doubt in ten years time we will be moaning that it is not as good as it was now.I love some of the changes and hate others but isnt that just like life.......I still think 4 channels of telly was better than what we have now. As for the cost I still think it represents amazing value for money but I appreciate that it is beyond some peoples reach....how to remedy that i do not know. In a strange way it felt more elitist when festivals were free because you were always an outsider unless you fitted the profile.....at least now the mixture of folk is all inclusive with acceptance of all types and musical styles.

[mrtourette]

Change at Glastonbury has pretty much mirrored change in society. Football has changed, stand up comedy has changed, going to the library has changed, buying groceries has changed, everything changes. Glastonbury either resists the change and probably limps towards death comforted by the self-satisfaction of 'keeping it real' or it adapts to the change in society while still staying true to it's original values.

The people who go now probably still find it as exciting and interesting as those who went 30 years ago, just in different ways, so the festival is still having the same affect on people, only different people.

[russycarps]

Middle-aged youngsters? Bit of an oxymoron. And when was anarchy such a great thing anyway?

And yes hopefully some people, myself included will die this year at Glastonbury and it'll get closed forever like Love Parade. Maybe it's for the best if the festival is so bad now.

[Monkismo]

How can he not take offence to being called a "boring clone"?!

Everyone is boring until you get to know them. : (

[plainlazy44]

There's always gonna be people at the festival who you would rather not be there. But atleast nowadays its some spoilt teenagers in stupid clothes rather than some violent, opportunistic thieves.

And freting about the "safety of the event" seems like nothing but common sense to me. There's a reason i don't go to reading anymore, the violence and crime make it an unpleasant place to be and shouldn't be over-looked for the sake of "character".

Some people need to realise that stereotyping groups of people based on the way they look is not justifiable. Some travellers are thieves and scroungers, some are not. Some middle class kids are spoilt and self-obsessed, some are not. Some black people are violent gangsters, some are not. Its all prejudice and its all unacceptable.

[Spindles]

Good thread and a well thought out post to kick it off (albeit delayed) which largely represents my own views.

<snip>

Then I removed almost everything I wrote because I thought it sounded a bit bitter and resentful. That is not me.

Edited June 20, 2011 by Spindles

[elias]

I first went in 1985 (I think, could have been 84, maybe 86. I'm old and the memory plays up! I just remember it rained non-stop), anyway, if you gave me the choice between going back to those days or staying with the present set up I'd choose the more sanitised version we have now.

I think it's easy to look back with rose tinted glasses and forget the edginess and downright danger to be found at Glastonbury at that time. Sure, some things are missed, especially around the 'green' and 'alternative' areas, but I'd prefer to be safe and happy.

Of course, I'm a bit (lot) older these days and I'm more than happy to attend somewhere we can go as a family (wife and daughters) and not worry too much about the more risky elements that used to be present.

Just my view.

[Gregcharlie]

Society has changed, Glastonbury has changed etc.

Glastonbury turns 41 this year, so obviously it was going to get middle-aged and dull wasn't it? If I actually said to any 41 year old they'd probably get a little p****d off, and yes I know Glastonbury isn't this living, breathing entity but as with anything, things have to change and 'grow up'. You can't be an angry teenager forever and Glastonbury couldn't be that anarchic, hedonistic festival that it used to be.

So maybe Glastonbury is having its "mid-life crisis" according to some, let's just prevent it from having a tragic death shall we?

[ukslim]

You can be a fully employed office drone on their weekend off, and still not be a boring clone at the festival. All it takes is to contribute a bit. Fancy dress, face paint, some creative campsite decorations, anything like that gives a little bit back to the festival. Even wearing a stupid hat.

Now, you might justifiably say, that having paid £200 for the weekend, you're not obliged to give anything back at all. And that's true. But the more people do it, the better the festival is for everyone.

It needn't be much.

In 2009 (I think), after the headliners, we came across a couple of teenagers standing next to a bright light. They hailed us "We're having a shadow dancing competition, do you want to join in?" -- they were taking it in turns to dance in front of the light, while admiring the long shadow it cast on the ground and fence. So we joined in, and had a bloody good time, and that was Good Festival Spirit.

Last year, on Posh Friday, a few of us wore suits, and after a couple(*) of drinks, decided to audit strangers ("Excuse me, sorry to interrupt your evening of fun, but I just wanted to check whether you'd filled out a PR-22/11 form for possession of that glowstick". You could tell from people's reactions which ones had some spirit about them, and which ones were drones with a rod up their arse.

I'm sure there were plenty of crusties who soaked up the entertainment and gave nothing in return too. For a while there was a slightly dodgy aspect of "normal" people gawping at crusties as if they were zoo animals. You might argue that this got formalised by Lost Vagueness and later Shangri La.

[eFestivals]

I think it's easy to look back with rose tinted glasses and forget the edginess and downright danger to be found at Glastonbury at that time.

what time are you referring to?

To my own mind, Glastonbury only started to become 'dangerous' in about 1995 (perhaps a year or two earlier). Until then it was very edgy but never really dangerous to my mind.

[hotwaterbottle]

I'm dead working class and I don't get any help when paying for my glastonbury ticket/money, I pay for it all myself with my part time cleaning job.

I got a tent bought for me this year as a birthday present, thats it.

So yet again, don't stereotype all young people into the same camp of "my daddy paid for everything!" I love glastonbury, and I'm willing to give up three months of pay to go each year, as shown by the past three years.

SO

[Spindles]

I think it was only really dangerous in 2000. There was alot of thievery in '99 (halfway up lower kings mead was a camp full of thieves whose tactic was to just pick up dome tents and carry them back to their camp) but I never personally saw anything threatening or frightening that year, in the years before that I attended I was just a stoned kid and frankly compared to the 2 summers of acid house I'd just experienced it was just more of the same, with largely the same group of people attending (good times!)

I had a bad time in 2000, I didnt go for a few years, I was glad of the fence, personally. Sorry.

[strudders]

what time are you referring to?

To my own mind, Glastonbury only started to become 'dangerous' in about 1995 (perhaps a year or two earlier). Until then it was very edgy but never really dangerous to my mind.