So 2014. Thoughts?

[Andeeroo]

My favourite Glastonbury of the ones I've been to! Musically exceptional and a much better crowd than last year I thought!

Fantastic weekend! Really special

[philipsteak]

Had a great time. Weather was poor during those thunderstorms, but the site wasn't too bad, considering.

But, it was as exhausting a Glastonbury as I have been to, and for some reason, it felt much busier than the year before??!!!

We were in Big Ground, never heard of trouble there, and the poor sods next to us were attacked by two guys with tent poles, one smacked a girl, one bloke lost a tooth, the other a split lip. That was 1am on Sat morning. Who goes to Glastonbury to do that?! Really annoys me that a few idiots try and spoil the ethos of the festival.

Also, what's the deal with all the Ket at the festival? Seriously lads, sort your shit out, there were some right states.

Highlights - many, but Paul Heaton and the mass sing-a-long of Caravan Of Love probably topped it for me.

[YetAnotherOldHippy]

Had the usual superb time, but can't help thinking that dwindling numbers will spell the end of the shuttle buses to Castle Cary railway station in a few years

I reckon our trains had less than half the number of punters as last year and maybe 20% of the number 4 years ago.

However, this meant the shuttle buses were really quick

[strangetown]

Lots of manly beards(looked like Shoreditch High St on a Sunday). Noticed lots more groups of Young girls barging their way through crowds whilst having to hold hands without even a excuse me/sorry mate. Chatting /texting/ tweeting during some sets was at an all time high. However I still enjoyed it and met some lovely people from this site and elsewhere and will hopefully get another ticket come October ..

[billum]

Yeah the barging in crowds was annoying, as was trying to get around anywhere if a big set had just ended (and with mud-cakes for feet). I saw small children fall off the walkways and sink never to be seen again...

Would there be any benefit from having some sort of one-way system at some parts of the site at peak times?

Other lessons for me: rain is not the end; the Pyramid can largely take care of itself without me; there are few pleasures better than a Craig Charles DJ set on a sunny afternoon.

[DJL]

Was my fourth and best yet. Arcade fire are one of my favourite artists and i thought they were perfect. Metallica made me feel 13 again, Deltron 3030 were great, rodney branagan was a fine 'stumbled on' discovery, despacio was epic and dolly bringing out richie sambora for lay your hands on me (my favourite song by my favourite band when i was seven) was a great ending.

The sound was excellent on most stages, particularly west holts. If you were prepared (and i was largely) the weather didn't affect you much - literally missed one act after the friday downpour. Crowd didn't annoy me at any point.

Generally had a great time. Have largely lost interst in arcadia and much of the se corner though... Greenpeace field was a lovely place to be...

[Jackmypie]

It was so fucking good. So much better than 2011 and 2013 imo.

I'm still trying to figure everything out at the moment. Coming back to the outside world sucks really.

[DJL]

I didn't see a band outside of Pyramid/Other/John Peel though.

I did enjoy the festival, but I still don't really buy the whole "Glastonbury experience" thing... Yeah, it is a cool festival and different to any other festival... But it's similar for me in the sense that I wouldn't shovel out £200 if I didn't like the lineup.

[cidy]

gate d was bad this year ,stewards directing people off the track to join queue up the hill which just got ridiculous .

stewards finally realised they got it wrong ,too late tho damage done ,last year so right this year so wrong.

site held up well after the downpours ,but mud still bad in some areas, i hate the mud full stop i know its inevitable when it rains but personally for me ruins my experience ,hard work walking and finding somewhere to sit (aint getting any younger) .

seen all the bands i planned too apart from peatbog fairies .

thought dreadzone sounded better than ever and skinny lister were my highlight .

not a vintage year for me ,met some great people and it enjoyed it but not as much as last year ,maybe age and familiarity are catching me up .

[DJL]

I did check everything out around bands though... I saw most stuff... The only thing I missed was an Introducing band and Arcadia in action. I saw the whole thing, but I wouldn't go just regardless of acts.

ESPECIALLY SEEING AS I HAVE BEEN STUCK IN THE CAR PARK FOR 2 HOURS WITH A BREAKDOWN.

[Girlwiththemostcake]

I had a great time. My husband and daughter-in-law, who were both there for the first time were pretty overwhelmed which was cool to watch.

Getting in was a nightmare mind you, got into the queue at gate D at 6am but weren't on site until 10am. Made a really bad decision about where to wait, but hindsight is a great thing.

We camped in Dairy, which was pretty good, though the toilets there aren't great and might put me off that location again. I missed the Pennards location as it's so easy to pop back to your tent there, but I didn't miss tents being pitched on top of each other making it almost impossible to find a route home at night.

I was pretty pleased with how the weather went, having spent a weekend at T in the Park (years ago, before it became shite) where the rain didn't let up for a single moment for two days. The mud was a pain of course, but mostly not too bad and I was fortunate not to get caught in any of the extreme downpours.

I felt as if I saw loads this year. No headliners though. Hubby wanted to see Arcade Fire but we left it too late to get a decent spot and ended up leaving (can't remember what we did instead). It was quite nice not having a mad end to the night and we were generally in bed around 1am, unlike my son and his wife who were out until between 3am and 5am. However, by last night they were absolutely broken and in their sleeping bags by 10.30pm while we kept going.

I liked Arcadia's location better than I expected, but it did seem to make it a lot quieter than last year. I didn't manage to get into Heaven to see the Great Wall of Vagina, which was disappointing as mine is on it!

Edited June 30, 2014 by Girlwiththemostcake

[tumbles]

gate d was bad this year ,stewards directing people off the track to join queue up the hill which just got ridiculous .

stewards finally realised they got it wrong ,too late tho damage done ,last year so right this year so wrong.

site held up well after the downpours ,but mud still bad in some areas, i hate the mud full stop i know its inevitable when it rains but personally for me ruins my experience ,hard work walking and finding somewhere to sit (aint getting any younger) .

seen all the bands i planned too apart from peatbog fairies .

thought dreadzone sounded better than ever and skinny lister were my highlight .

not a vintage year for me ,met some great people and it enjoyed it but not as much as last year ,maybe age and familiarity are catching me up .

[UEF]

It's the best year yet and next years headliners are already booked! Source: http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/emily-eavis-it-really-was-a-special-year-for-us/

Seriously..?

[balti-pie]

Absolutely blinding. I wanted to spend more time in the theatre n circus areas this year, and I did (even got to quickly meet Michael Eavis, which left me stuttering and starstruck like a 14yr old girl, which ahem - I'm decidedly not!) and saw some amazing things - pixies, deltron 3030, Skrillex, royal blood, Jurassic 5, the Thunderbirds thing - all brilliant. We took a mate for his first time and that was really cool to see his reaction to noticing stuff!

Site held up well to the rain - I personally don't mind a drop cos there's more camaraderie and fun when it rains (unpopular, I know) and all the punters I came into contact with were cool as fuck, I shouted at one twat in a crowd pushing and being a knobhead around a lady with crutches - plus I was carrying three pints! - but that was the limit of any trouble.

I thoroughly enjoyed listening to posh accents saying stupid shit though - " ooh my goooard, I cannot wear these wellingtons for even one more minute "

[rpfranks]

For me, I had a great time but it was not as good as last year music wise. I think Metallica and Arcade Fire both pulled off their headline sets despite some of the negativity surrounding them.

Also did it seem busier this year to anyone else or was that just me? I think Dolly Parton should and probably could have headlined though as the Pyramid was the biggest crowd I've ever seen (and biggest Glastonbury crowd too, probably) and it was ridiculous to navigate anywhere in that area. Walked past a few of the other stages as we left Dolly's set early and the other stages were so quiet that I actually felt bad for the bands playing at the same time.

Shangri Hell was a bit rubbish this year. No portaloos and queuing at the long drops was annoying. But apart from that a really great weekend. Roll on 2015 :-)

[UEF]

I thought the site coped well with the rain that could be compared to similar years (2004, 2005. 2007-ish) where it did a lot more badly.

There seemed to be a rise in teenagers trying to look cool, but live and let live I say :-)

A rather chavvy atmosphere in parts.

Stone Circle very noisy on Wednesday night in particular, but found that a more chilled out, similar vibe could be had just across from there at The Park

Continuing to love the compost loos.

Relatively easy to get on and off site this year, which could be a massive improvement from previous regimes in itself.

Watched about 3 bands this year and had a great time.

[fowls]

My Summary:

Highlights: Arcade Fire, Drenge, Royal Blood, Phosphorescent

The rain wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Especially surprised how dry it was by Sunday evening. I ended up missing out on shangri la on Saturday night after standing up for 13 hours+, but other than that it did little to get in the way of my weekend. Did miss out on Wild Beasts in the power down confusion though.

The Friday and Saturday line ups were definitely stronger than the Sunday line up. Did have that slight hump on Sunday knowing I had seen pretty much everything I was looking forward to with just Phosphorescent and Massive Attack to go. Did wander round to find something special, but nothing jumped out unfortunately.

Met so many great people in Shangri La this year. Although the two most common questions were "You do realise that girl has a boyfriend?" (from a friend if chatting to a girl) and "You're not gay are you?" (if chatting to a guy). Found it quite surprising that the "you only talk to people if you want to have sex with them" attitude is so writhe (with a touch of homophobia thrown in for good measure)! Still most people I met were a good laugh.

After 4 Glastos I've found myself falling into a routine with food. Goan Fish Curry, Oggy, Tibetan combo, Buddha Bowl.

I had a little nap in Strummerville on the last night, which seems to have done terrible things to my lungs! Lesson learnt.

Edited June 30, 2014 by fowls

[Alcatraz]

For me it was my greatest year, certainly acts wise I've never experienced such a consistent quality.

South East Corner was an absolute breeze this year and was happily able to have two great all nighters. My comment maybe on Shangri LA is that the theme wasn't as impressive as when I was last there in 2011, Hell and Heaven seem to just be very dominant. That said Hell was amazing on the Friday and Saturday

I'm afraid I just don't get it with Arcadia. I appreciate the thing looks amazing, the guys behind it clearly but a lot of effort in it. But wemnt for a bit of Seth Troxler and Disclosure on the Saturday night and it was just quiet and boring. The flames are too loud to work well with the music.

Blondie should have been on the Pyramid as well. The crowd was ridiculous, 4 rows deep for much of the Railway track which meant I missed the start of the excellent Stepkids on West Holts

Edited June 30, 2014 by Alcatraz

[SonOfTroyMcClure]

Phenomenal weekend as per usual. Weather wasn't ideal Friday/Saturday but I agree that mud helps create a great atmosphere. Lot more of a 'carefree' spirit around. Didn't enjoy the rain, but then the worst of it was during Charles Bradley/Daptone so I stood there smiling like an idiot for the majority of that set. Phenomenal. Tried to make a concerted effort to explore areas like green futures/avalon/cabaret etc a lot more and I enjoyed the lot so mission accomplished there.

Musically I don't think I saw anyone disappointing all weekend - Warpaint aside - and catching the Metronomy secret set on Thursday at Williams' Green was cool. Highlights: Metallica, Arcade Fire, Black Keys, Royal Blood, De La Soul, Daptone Super Soul Revue, Haim, Disclosure, Jurassic 5, Drenge and Blondie (who, slightly dodgy vocals aside, were awesome for sing-a-long value), and gutted to have still missed out on so many bands. Saturday was a nightmare for clashes.

In all: had a blast. Sign me up for another year.

Edited June 30, 2014 by SonOfTroyMcClure

[Midnight Man]

Overall I'd say that was easily one of my favourite Glastonburys. I wasn't expecting it to be as I was working and the line-up didn't have a lot of appeal but I ended up hugely enjoying both aspects. Working meant I ended up talking to hundreds of people I would never have got into conversation with normally - something I found really uplifting - people really are different when they get to Glastonbury (including me)!

The weather was a bit 'meh', but nowhere near as bad as years like 2011 and 2004 (I didn't go to 07), where persistent rain before the festival and during meant the site was a quagmire in places for most of the weekend. But this year the frankly awful looking hourly forecasts from the Met Office never really took hold, and there were long dry periods. I was working in West Holts and people were sitting under the flags every day - I think that says it all about the 'mud' (can't believe some of the media reporting).

Highlights - many, but Paul Heaton and the mass sing-a-long of Caravan Of Love probably topped it for me.

[bluegel]

This was my 8th year and 1st one with my toddler. A very different year for us. Had a great time and great holiday but didn't quite hit the spot for me.

Food- I was not impressed by prices and also when we asked for smaller portion for our 3 year old they still tried to charge us full price

All in all had a good time apart from finding my window smashed when we got to the car, nothing taken though

[ninetyeightytwo]

Highlights:

Julian Cope

Radiophonic Workshop

Thunderbirds Are Go

Massive Attack

Connan Mockasin

But the absolute highlight of the festival was Yoko Ono. She sang songs of peace, love, hope and defiance, with Yo La Tengo as her backing band. I found it utterly devastating. I think I was on the verge of tears for the whole thing.

Her screaming is occasionally a little hard to take "on record"; but live it's so powerful, and even more remarkable coming from a slight octogenarian.

It was one of the best things I've ever seen at Glastonbury. She might even make it into my all time top five live music experiences.

But most everyone I've spoken to has said "really?" after my enthusing. It takes allsorts.

Twats twats twats, I saw a few, but not as many as last year. The trick is to avoid The Other Stage. This year I only saw Massive Attack there. Much of the rest of my time was spent on the other side of the rail track. People are nicer there.

[baxterboy]

Dammit

Was working on Ped gate C, managed to take a break and catch half an hour of the set, but missed that. Would've been amazing

[ohvienna]

Really enjoyed the atmosphere this year and seemed to avoid most of the bellends.

Wednesday was ridiculous though, I saw girls walking around with rollers in their hair and lots of people who seem to care more about dressing up than anything. Crowd seemed younger too.

Can we ban cultural appropriation from Glastonbury please? Sick of seeing girls wearing bindis as a fashion accessory!

Apart from that shared some great laughs with strangers, really enjoyed what I saw this year as well as getting more exploring in and chilling out in the green fields and Metallica were awesome!

[rmcoboy]

Not a classic but still nowhere i'd rather be in late June. Weather wasn't as bad as 07, probably on par with 04 but managed to miss the thunderstorm by a stroke of luck.

Highlights were Royal Blood who were fantastic, Selecter, The Wailers and i'd also forgotten how much better Kasabian are live than on record. I'm also still amazed how Metallica were blown into the weeds by a 5 foot country singer.

Food good as ever if you're choosy but a bit pricey in places. Compost toilets a winner.

Downsides were that Jack White was a bit disappointing being more of a long jam than careful tune selections, and if i'm being picky, i suppose the increase in number of identikit 'Glasto on ticklist' types rather than freaks, but it didn't spoil things. Still the best place in the world.