What was it like in the olden days?

[eFestivals]

26 minutes ago, Pinhead said:

Where is the counterculture today I wonder. Maybe its there and I just cant see it. Maybe its all gone to Boomtown as Neil says.

Nah, there's very little counter-culture at Boomtown from the punters (staff is a bit different). They're very-much the consumer-ist brigade on the whole.

But the feel of the place is the same chaotic that Glasto used to have but has lost due to age and regulation.

[eFestivals]

21 minutes ago, pie_and_a_pint said:

The beer was a LOT cheaper than it is now

was it? I wouldn't know, i was too busy for beer.

Which is a part of how it's changed, for more than just me.

[eFestivals]

3 minutes ago, Gwladboy said:

More robbing back in those days?

actually, very little of it. 

That only became a thing when Glasto started appearing on TV.

[henry bear]

I first went in 1983. As far as I remember I didn't know until I got there who was playing when. I knew who was playing via the NME but not even who was headlining. That year, as I recall, there was only the Pyramid stage and a Hare Krishna stage. Easy to get in too - climb over or through a hedgerow! The Other stage started in 84 or 85. 

The biggest difference was size. I think then only about 30,000 people attended, and we always had a view of the Pyramid stage from the tent - it wasn't difficult to find your mates. In 83 we queued up to use the Eavis's own phone in the farmhouse.

It was more overtly political in the 80's. The Pyramid would have speakers on between acts - left wing MPs like Tony Benn. 

We certainly didn't get big name acts back then. I guess once it started being televised in 94 it changed a lot. 

Whilst the old festival had a charm, I'm looking forward to this year's more than ever. No looking back, I would have loved it to be the way it is now back in my teens.

[Gwladboy]

1 minute ago, eFestivals said:

actually, very little of it. 

That only became a thing when Glasto started appearing on TV.

And perhaps when everyone had more stuff to rob?

[CaledonianGonzo]

Theory: the 'counter-culture' is still there, but rather than juggling trustafarians it now comes in the shape of Stormzy and Lady Leshurr.

Granted, that's not really reflected in the demographics of the attendees.

[Tommy101]

39 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

easiest answer:

if you want to get the best idea of what Glasto was like decades ago, go to Boomtown. 

It's the closest you'll get to it nowadays.

You've made me have my first pang of excitement for popping my Boomtown cherry for the first time this year since buying a ticket

[uscore]

I went to Reading in the 90s, and Glastonbury in the later years of the 90s.   It was different in many ways, but still essentially the same experience I reckon.

The differences begin before the festival itself starts;  the Internet means not only has everyone scoured every act on the line up, they have also listened to most of the acts on the main stages.  In the 90s I was a bit indie-obsessed and felt like the odd one out as I knew more of the bands on the Other and the New bands stage.  Nowadays I'm no less obsessed but no more knowledgeable than most people.

Meeting friends wasn't so difficult, you had prearranged points and bars, and back at the tents, to meet at. If you got lost it wasn't for long.  I don't this this method has gone away; it's only in (less than) 10? years that phone coverage has got more reliable.  And it's still easier to have predefined meeting points rather than trying to crouch down in a crowd shouting into a phone something about being near a flag with a chicken on it.

Admittedly having everyone you know in the same whatsapp group has made things very easy.

But the essential experience of wandering between stages and areas, in the dark, marvelling at the lights and the madness, whilst completely spangled, is the same.

 

[Pinhead]

28 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

Nah, there's very little counter-culture at Boomtown from the punters (staff is a bit different). They're very-much the consumer-ist brigade on the whole.

But the feel of the place is the same chaotic that Glasto used to have but has lost due to age and regulation.

How does Boomtown get away with it then - presumably it has the same regulations? Are Hampshire County Council more lenient compared to Mendip - thought it was the opposite tbh.

[mario man]

There was as a lot of ROAR!!! going on that used to sweep through the campsites - I miss that 

also the bars were very friendly places to sit down & chat to the people next to you - less so nowadays 

[pie_and_a_pint]

1 hour ago, eFestivals said:

was it? I wouldn't know, i was too busy for beer.

Which is a part of how it's changed, for more than just me.

Yes, it was. As someone who doesn't consume other, er, intoxicating substances, beer (and cider, and wine, and rum punch) is a very important part of the festival for me because being drunk and having fun in a field is more fun than being drunk and having fun anywhere else.

[HotChipWillBreakYourLegs]

2 hours ago, SwedgeAntilles said:

Hey everybody, an old man is talking! 

I used to wear an onion on my belt, which was the fashion at the time...

[sime]

There were not so many bloody camping chairs/bloody grumpy camping chair users back in the day. Thems were happy times...

[paulshane]

I've been going since '95

 

'back in the day' there were:

 

many more drug dealers, the 'tripseeswhizz' guys were lines up on the railway line

many more fence jumpers

many more fence jumpers there to pinch stuff

more naked people - has the 'everyone has a camera now' thing stopped this I wonder ?

more generic burger vans - personally I reckon the food each year keeps getting better and better

no mobiles, meeting people would just be a happy accident unless you had a detailed plan, which I certainly didnt

more people wandering around selling cans of beer

and the one thing I miss most:

 

the Mr Toastie cheese toasty caravan that used to be near the meeting point. the new one thats near gate C just isn't the same.

[rzwodezwo]

How is Boomtown like? I always loved their aftermovies but in terms of acts playing it looks horrible (for me). 

[___S_o_m_a__]

1 hour ago, mario man said:

There was as a lot of ROAR!!! going on that used to sweep through the campsites - I miss that

Hasn't fully died out I'm glad to say. I've heard it the last few times I've been.

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

It was all in black & white?

[CaledonianGonzo]

More people described things as being 'Lovely Jubbly'

[Gwladboy]

I imagine there was more vaudeville

Edited May 31, 2017 by Gwladboy

[paulshane]

lots more top hats and moncoles

[CaledonianGonzo]

People doing Rubik's cubes between bands and moving from stage to stage on space-hoppers.

[___S_o_m_a__]

1 minute ago, paulshane said:

lots more top hats and moncoles

Less than now I think you'll find. A lot less.

[Monkismo]

I don't seem to remember ever struggling to find people before the days of mobiles. We just picked a spot and a time and if people weren't there we pissed off and went to the same place an hour later. But I do seem to remember randomly bumping into people more back in the 90s - maybe that's because there were less people and less stages that people were constantly beavering between. It was far more relaxed.

There was definitely more of an "alternative" crowd. You don't tend to see people wondering round selling hash truffles or vodka jelly any more and there were definitely fewer people who were bothered about fashion etc. 

I think the introduction of technology has been a curse on festivals and gigs to be honest. I yearn for the days when there were no instagrammers and selfie whores. To me, it just ruins to the atmosphere and I often wonder if people are taking photos just to tell their mates that they were there or to check in on Facebook. 

 

[eFestivals]

1 hour ago, Pinhead said:

How does Boomtown get away with it then - presumably it has the same regulations? Are Hampshire County Council more lenient compared to Mendip - thought it was the opposite tbh.

I'm not saying it is necessarily chaotic (tho some of it definitely is), but it has that feel.

It's probably merely the difference that comes from being something new, where much of it isn't run by full-time been-doing-it-for-decades professionals who've had extra improvements forced them year on year over decades whether they've really been necessary or not - which is what's happened with Glasto (from my perspective, anyway).

While it's been running for quite a while now, Boomtown still has that new feel - I guess because a lot of it is new, due to having kept on expanding.

Give it a few decades and I don't doubt boomtown will have had a lot of the same conformity pushed upon it as Glasto has - and probably more-so, just because it doesn't have the long history that Glasto does where it can make a strong case against some some things that regulators might try and push on it.

[Padgey]

2 hours ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Ten years ago we had Steve Jobs, Bob Hope and Johnny Cash - now we have a bloke who bangs on about a Plastic Fox.

Why did I just feel the urge to shout PLASTIC FOX!