The Festival's Not What It Used to Be

[eFestivals]

i wonder how many people NOT whinging about how the festival has become 'sterilized' have become sterilized themselves, office job/watching the figure/managing their finances etc.

lol - very true.

Cos while it's possible that the likes of me has 'become sterilised' over the years, at least I'm able to recognise that change. Those who have only known today's sterile and overly-managed world don't know anything different to know how things could be as an alternative.

[El Gato]

There are many things I moan about, but bothering to reserve time to moan about Glastonbury because I can't have the same kind of good time I would have had twenty years ago seems a terrific waste of what is easily the best week of my year.

Moan about how shite things which are actually shite are instead.

[haznutuk]

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

[godders1966]

I saw the glastonbury film the other night, seeing all the different characters on there, listening to people viewpoints etc. It was like a different worlk. The current festival is an obsenity compared to how it used to be.

I'd genuinely like to see it renamed. The Pilton Pop festival or something. It was steadily changing, but in the last couple of years I'd say the "old" glastonbury is pretty much completely gone.

The blame lies with the fence and the super high entrance fee. The demographic is utterly changed. It is the domain of the spoilt middle class rich kid nowadays.

Will I go in 2013? Probably not.

[haznutuk]

The result will be some kind of "glastonbury theme park".

[android-app-developer]

The blame lies with the fence and the super high entrance fee. The demographic is utterly changed. It is the domain of the spoilt middle class rich kid nowadays.

[Teddington]

There is some twaddle on here!

The Festival is so bad it er sold out in 30 mins........

If you don't like it, don't go. No-one is forcing anyone.

"You can please some of the people some of the time" etc etc

[russycarps]

There is some twaddle on here!

The Festival is so bad it er sold out in 30 mins........

If you don't like it, don't go. No-one is forcing anyone.

"You can please some of the people some of the time" etc etc

Edited June 21, 2011 by russycarps

[camperman]

There is some twaddle on here!

The Festival is so bad it er sold out in 30 mins........

If you don't like it, don't go. No-one is forcing anyone.

"You can please some of the people some of the time" etc etc

[yasgursfarmhand]

The tone of these responses is far too negative. I've only missed 5 since 1978 so I feel I can comment with some authority. The festival is, in my view, better in many ways than it was in the 80's and 90's. It's lost some of the anarchic charm and some of the madness but I don't see that as such a bad thing - maybe because I'm 52 and prefer a certain degree of security - who ever enjoyed having a dealer waving a machete in their face or a completely anti-social prick from the Merseyside area threatening you if you didn't share your firewood? I didn't care for either. There is so much to see and do now that you can never, ever feel bored.The famous vibe is still there in spades - why do you think I go every year? The food is far, far better and the chances of you getting a bug from it are much lower. Drink options are vast and not unreasonable AND you can still take just about anything in with you. It's much better organised but then you can get so much more out of the week with a bit of rudimentary planning. PLUS the festival is full of hotties - always a bonus as far as I'm concerned. The musical policy hasn't really changed that much over the years - still no real metal or heavy music to speak of (my sole criticism)and a generally disinterested attitude to prog unless its COOL (Radiohead and Muse being the more obvious examples). I went to Sunrise Celebration a few weeks ago and I found it VERY similar to the current Glastonbury albeit on a much smaller scale.It's still the best, it's still fairly bonkers, it still makes you realise that most people are lovely human beings and it still knocks my socks off. As my brother -in-law said the other day in the pub while trying to explain the attraction to somebody "It's the bset thing this country does" I happen to agree 100% with that statement.

Edited June 21, 2011 by yasgursfarmhand

[haznutuk]

But there is just not another generation coming through who are prepared to GET INVOLVED.

[strudders]

I concider Glastonbury festival my local festival. I grew up down the road and it has in many ways formed the person who I am.

I was very lucky in having a mum who understood the need for self determination to allow me to go.

So yes I do feel very attached to it and don't like a lot of what it has become. However I also realised it needed to change and I changed.

Whatever your views I know this and this is personal to me, it will always have a very special Place in my heart and I know when I leave on Monday for the last time I will cry.

like the closing chapter of a book, the next next one will always be different. For me it's now to big in size and not worth the physical effort it's going to take me to get round the places I would like to.

So my wife is coming for the first time, my daughter (she will take over the strudders baton) my best mate is coming and I have a about 100 good mates on site who I will party With (and I party hard) I will acept the consequences when I get home.

Look after it and I shall watch from the sidelines in coming years as the next gerneration hopefully get as much out if it as I did.

Peace and happy Solstice everybody. X

[russycarps]

There are still a few. My daughter is one of them. She and her friends occupied this threatened building in freezing cold temperatures and it is now owned by the community. Renovations started earlier this year.

"In 2008 the Red Brick Building, an important building on Morlands, was threatened with demolition. In response a group of young people organised a protest to prevent the demolition. Many local people supported the young people’s direct action."

http://www.redbrickbuilding.org.uk/ourproject

[Guest Flip]

The whole ticket selling process itself is exclusive though. If you dont have a PC you arent going to glastonbury. I'm not blaming the festival though, I mean there is no alternative given the popularity of the place.

The point is yes, I am old and jaded, I dont deny it. But I have done my time! When I go to the festival now I just dont see the next generation of spontaneous, motivated individuals coming through. I dont see the wild abandon. Sure I see plenty of people off their faces on drugs, but there are none of the random acts of the past.

The infrastructure is still there. Glastonbury is still amazing. The diversity of acts is there, the political slant is still there (almost lost it in 2009 when leftfield went..). But there is just not another generation coming through who are prepared to GET INVOLVED.

I guess it's just a sign of the apathetic, molly-coddled, pampered times.

Maybe David Cameron and his Etonian cronies continual f**king this country in the arse will inspire "the youth" to rise up, but I dont hold my breath.

Those student riots in london summed it up. The footage of that group of posh private schoolgirls surrounding that police van and preventing anyone from damaging it made me despair. Those girls summed it all up. I bet they go to glastonbury too.

[Kizzie]

D'ya know what this thread gladdens my heart. I love all you belligerent old buggers (and I include Neil and myself in that}

I was a regular all through the 80's early 9o's etc, the so called 'glory days', it makes me really happy to know we're all still here, all still feeling 'it', all still passionate about it.

I don't think this thread is negative at all, it's bloody great, cheered me up no end.

See you all later.

[haznutuk]

20 years ago there were still a vast majority of attendees that never left the mainstage

[eFestivals]

20 years ago there were still a vast majority of attendees that never left the mainstage, didn't find the greenfields and were band-centric..

while there were certainly some like that, and not a small 'some', I disagree with that completely.

The green fields were often busier in those days - when there were far fewer people on site - than they are nowadays. Today people's focus is far more squarely on the major music stages than it used to be, but with more music stages now that's not particularly surprising as the proportional impact of things like the green fields has been lowered.

[arcade fireman]

That pretty much sums it up for me. I sometimes watch the masses streaming from one stage to another, clutching their Fine Guide and working out a plan of action for the day, and despair. What happened to experiencing whatever comes your way and being an active part of what is going on?

[haznutuk]

I was a regular all through the 80's early 9o's etc, the so called 'glory days', it makes me really happy to know we're all still here, all still feeling 'it', all still passionate about it.

[russycarps]

Alot of the sporadic randomness of which you speak was, back in those days, the way that these people got onsite. There was a massive opportunity to create areas of amazing creative energy with most of the people doing it happy to park onsite and add to the party. This cannot and does not happen to the same level anymore. Thats down to the council and licence conditions more than anything else..

20 years ago there were still a vast majority of attendees that never left the mainstage, didn't find the greenfields and were band-centric..

Edited June 21, 2011 by russycarps

[In transit]

Deleted

Edited June 21, 2011 by In transit

[eFestivals]

Whatever happened to respecting that there's not just your way to enjoy the festival? It strikes me as extremely narrow minded.

I think that some people are taking things said here far too personally.

People are welcome to enjoy the festivals however they want, but that doesn't mean that those of us who have been going for years can't notice how things have changed overall and how that impacts on the fest as it is now compared to how it used to be.

It's certainly the case that the festival has lost something good by having changed into far more of a spectator sport than it used to be.

As I've been willing to acknowledge, despite my 25 years of attendances I've never really been more than a spectator myself, so (from me at least) it's not a condemnation of today's attendees in saying that, it's merely a recognition that that part is not a change for the better.

Some of the changes over the time I've been going have been for the better, but that doesn't mean that all of them have been. Some things are missed.

[haznutuk]

Whatever happened to respecting that there's not just your way to enjoy the festival? It strikes me as extremely narrow minded.

[arcade fireman]

That's fair comment but do the folk who are band-centric actually add anything to the mix? I'm sure they have a great time and see the bands they want to see. But from my perspective they are a never ending stream of people moving from A-B and not pausing to actually see or experience anything between A and B. Might be their idea of a good time but it doesn't add anything to my festival experience. Unlike some of the weird and wonderful things that happen in the less band-centric ares of the site.

Edited June 21, 2011 by arcade fireman

[russycarps]

The Greenfields nowadays should be renamed glastonbury zoo. A line of people file past the funny looking hippy exhibits, take a few photos, laugh with their mates then rush back to the pyramid stage to watch tiny tempah.

There seems to be very little interaction. I love going up there, sitting down, chatting crap, sharing my booze and a smoke.

Thinking about it, they probably hate me for boring them to death!