Glasto moments that made you cry

[Nuthugger]

felt emotional for Leonard Cohen, but Ive never cried

[Robofish]

Times I remember crying: Wild Is The Wind (Bowie, 2000), Street Spirit (Radiohead 1997), Riddled With Ticks (This Is The Kit 2019), When Gregory Porter's backstage crew announced they were getting married (2016?), The look on Joe Talbot's face as Idles took to the Park stage in 2019. When I returned to my tent after the Cure in 1986 to find it had blown away. Sure there are more - my eyes are quite leaky.

[Ingobernable]

I'm generally due a little cry sometime on the Sunday evening, to be honest. A combination of the festival catching up with me and nearly being over - as others in the thread have said already. All it takes is a sad song that I like and I'm away.  It's one of the milestones in my weekend and my cue to step up my party for the last night.

There are a few that I guess are particularly memorable - Postcards from Italy by Beirut in 2007, Tender by Blur in 2009, Push the Sky Away by Nick Cave in 2013, Lord Anthony by Belle & Sebastian in 2015.

[balti-pie]

In 2019 it was walking into the t+c fields from the bottom of muddy lane on the Tuesday . I'd gone to my previous 7 glastonburys with my ex-girlfriend, and this was the first one i went to without her - now the tears weren't in any way for her (because bollocks to her 😆) it was much more for the feeling of 'this place has seen so many magical memories and now you're here again making more' kind of happy tears.

Does that make sense? it does to me 👍

Another tears time was fairly early on the Friday in 2017 at the JP stage, cant remember who the band was but i was sat by the side of the stage on the right, really sparse crowd, and i was just sort of enjoying a sitdown, watching the crowd, and there was a Mum and Dad with their two daughters, both under six - one of the girls was clearly quite disabled, and she had the most beaming lovely smile on her face enjoying the music and the sunshine, and her sister was running around having a great old time and i just saw the amount of hard work the Mum and Dad mustve put in, and it was all being paid back in loveliness, and i was racked with tears (im a bit moist of eye remembering it now!).

Its strangely become one of my favourite memories, seeing people determined to get through their own challenges and have a brilliant time is just so invigorating and inspiring!

[blutarsky]

On 5/1/2022 at 8:05 AM, vintagelaureate said:

I don't know if I cried but I was certainly emotional...

Saturday, Glastonbury 2017, as Everlong came to it's crescendo on the Pyramid.

I didn't know if I was going to make Glastonbury that year. I hadn't been able to go a few years previous as I'd had to have major surgery. So from October 2016, it all became about making it to Worthy Farm in June 2017. Everything seemed to be falling in place - I had been working in my new job for a couple of years, I had a beautiful 18 month old daughter and life just seemed good. My wife and I, found out she was pregnant with our second child in February 2017 and the future seemed bright. I won't go into the exact details but at the 20 week scan, we were told things weren't quite as they should be. We were taken into a side room, and essentially told to terminate the pregnancy due to development issues with the baby. We were told the baby would be unlikely to make it to birth and if she (we found out the gender) did she may be in an incapacitated 'vegative' state. We believed in giving life a chance, so decided to see how life played out. This meant have regular weekly scans at the hospital and trying to press on as 'normal'. 

It got to June, and I didn't particularly want to go to Glastonbury. Not because I didn't want to, but because I didn't want to leave my wife. To her credit, she insisted I should go. At the scan the week before Glastonbury, we got the first sign of movement - my unborn daughter was clenching and unclenching her hands. This was a huge thing - it showed there was some communication between her brain and limbs. It was decided I would go to Glastonbury, but take it easy, as we didn't know what was around the corner and what the future would bring. 

So cut to Worthy Farm, the whole weekend was like a dream, full of strangers who became temporary friends and an aura of magic. Saturday was all about the Foo Fighters for me, a when those words hit:

"If everything could ever be this real forever, if anything could be this good again..." 

It just hit. I can't remember if I cried, I just remember the wave of emotion. Who knew what my future held, but for that moment, lost in the music there was joy and optimism.

Anyway, what a festival.

For those who don't know, my second daughter was born premature that summer. She spent a few weeks in intensive care, and then the first two months of her life in a hospice as they thought she would pass away each day. Things improved slowly but days are not without challenge.

Right now? She is four, just started a specialist school and is currently threatening to eat my nose whilst sat on my knee. She is the strongest person I know, and an inspiration for those that know her.

And me... I always think back to that moment in 2017, and thankfully, I'll be back in those fields in June!

Take care all, and sorry - I don't know where the long post came from!

 

A really emotional story, well told. I'm lucky enough to have been told it before but reading it again doesn't mean it has any less effect.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the same field...

This is a story I've told before, but I like telling it, so I'll tell it again. 

My wife and I went on a date in 2011, got engaged in 2013 and got married in 2015. Between the engagement and wedding we bought a house, so between that and paying for a wedding we didn't spend much money on anything else, and stopped attending gigs and going on holidays. We were solely focussed on saving. 

The wedding was amazing but was sullied as my wife's step dad was very ill in the run up, which caused quite a lot of stress and pressure, and he passed away only a few weeks later. On top of this we received some news about something from the past which had been having a significant negative effect on a close family member of my wife's. This made life really tough for some time, and although I was obviously very openly supportive of my wife at a difficult time, I sunk into a bit of a funk, not helped by feeling a bit stuck and lost, particularly in relation to work as I was working in a mind-numbing job I didn't enjoy having stopped doing a job I loved. I had been a journalist at a local paper but the role was steadily disappearing. When I first walked into the office c2007 there were around 30 editorial staff. These days there are none and the paper is produced remotely from a central hub. It has no connection to the community any more. My wife was also having a particularly stressful time at work, where she has a role which comes with significant responsibility for managing risk. 

As we'd been focussed on the wedding, then dealing with bereavement and depression, we had both lost our sense of self and our connection suffered as a result. 

The first step towards fixing it was counselling, which we both sought, and I undertook a career change to train as a teacher. We also went on a series of holidays, kidding ourselves we just needed a good break. In the space of 18 months we went to Venice on a  mini-honeymoon, Vegas, NYC, Sri Lanka and Dubai in one trip incorporating our honeymoon and a family wedding, Valencia for a wedding, Berlin for my birthday, Amsterdam for my wife's birthday and Athens for another wedding. Each time we told ourselves we were re-doing our honeymoon and we'd feel fine afterwards. Each time it failed. 

Where it did all come together was at Glastonbury.

We'd had tickets in 2016 but returned them as I was working on the referendum campaign (guess which side...) and I also had convinced myself I didn't like camping. Given the company we'd have had and the weather and general mood I'm glad we didn't go - it could have been the end of us. 

Come 2017 we had tickets again and went into WV on Thursday morning. I was a bit crotchety as we spent the first few hours we were there hanging around WV with my wife's friends, which included 3-4 people I'd never met who were taking coke like the end of the world was nigh. I wanted to go and see bands play, but instead we were 'wasting time' in my view. We hung around with these guys for the day and although I enjoyed myself, I didn't really 'get' the festival. I clearly recall the Thursday night, about 2am, having a bit of a spat as we'd blagged our way into Funkingham Palace but I was complaining the music "wasn't my scene". My wife, who was high, was having a great time. We ended up going back tot he tent far earlier than she'd have liked. At this point she'd let go and was hedonistically allowing herself to do whatever she wanted as a release from the previous few years. I wasn't there yet. 

On Friday I was. We met one of my mates, bimbled all over, watched what we wanted and it all clicked for me. We both let go and ended up wandering around the SEC until 4/5am, enjoying everything we saw. 

Then on Saturday night we had a moment where we just knew everything would be ok. We'd danced to an acoustic version of Everlong as our first dance at our wedding, surrounded by our families. On the saturday of Glastonbury 2017 we did the same. One of my best friends and two of my wife's best friends were with us. My mum was with us, by sister and brother-in-law. We were dancing to the Foos again and then they played Everlong.

After years of hard times where we'd lost our connection we'd rediscovered it at Glastonbury and the words of the song seemed to perfectly encapsulate it. 

"I wonder, if everything could ever be this real forever, if anything could ever be this good again..."

In that moment we knew things would be that good again, that our love would be real forever, and since then we've proven it time and time again. We looked into each other's eyes, danced, embraced, kissed and cried. 

I'm not sure this photo is from during Everlong or another song, but it was taken during the Foo's set in 2017. I've posted it before so apologies if you've already seen it, but it just feels so apposite to share it in this thread. This is the moment we knew we'd be ok, after years of wondering if we would be and at times feeling like we almost certainly wouldn't be.

The power of music, the power of love. 

 

[phillyfaddle]

On 5/1/2022 at 3:37 PM, Justiceforcedave said:

It's the little chat from Saul at the start of the song about Brexit. Summed the situation up perfectly.

Yep - was there for that. Nice to know I wasn’t alone in my devastation. Great set by James too. 

[Crazyfool01]

56 minutes ago, phillyfaddle said:

Yep - was there for that. Nice to know I wasn’t alone in my devastation. Great set by James too. 

I think they delayed the start to the set to put straw down in preparation for all the tears … mine included 

[ceetee]

On 5/1/2022 at 10:21 PM, Olshansky said:

I was there for this!  It was such an incredible moment!!!

This must have happened multiple times that weekend, else I was there too!

[funkychick2007]

@blutarskyBeuatiful moments! 

[DaveyGee]

For me it was my first Glasto, 2015, at the Park at sunset. Spiritualized were on. I’d had a few beers/ciders, and was in the zone so to speak. I had just recently divorced and my dad was ill so I gues that had something to do with it. Anyway, I had my first Glasto ‘moment’ very emotional.

Probably have one this year as going solo again, just like 2015, and of course more life events since then.

🙂

 

[wro_lap]

I actually haven't ever cried in my entire life, but if I had, then it hypothetically would have been watching The Cure play Pictures Of You. Hypothetically.

And yes, they wrote that song they close on about me.

[LoraMaze]

On 5/2/2022 at 7:43 PM, Olshansky said:

I had a lot of bowie related tears that year.  Did anyone go to the singalong on the thursday?  

To be fair I had had a lot of Bowie tears that year in general, and nearly came close hearing “heroes” playing outside a stall earlier in the weekend 🤣

 

I was equally as bad in 2014 when I saw a mural of Rik Mayall 🤣🤣🤣 

[Ayrshire Chris]

We celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary in our tent on lime kiln ground in 2017, watching the sunset over the Tor in the distance.❤️ A few tears were shed. And lovely neighbours in adjacent tents were so nice to us.

[Spindles]

7 hours ago, crazyfool1 said:

I think they delayed the start to the set to put straw down in preparation for all the tears … mine included 

I shed a few myself, I don't mind admitting.  The intro speech for Moving on just tipped the balance for me, I'd lost someone in the past and his words took me right back, there's something about the lyrics of that song that make you look about death from a different angle, I think, and it was such a weird start to the weekend to be stood there with tears flowing like that.

[Beaver89]

On 5/1/2022 at 7:36 AM, stuie said:

 

Came to say this but more specifically when the crowd started singing it in almost in the round - truth was the field is so massive that without someone on stage leading proceedings it falls out of time. Either way it showed how enormous the crowd, field and show was as well as the strength of feeling. I experienced a profound sense of awe in that moment. This was no ordinary show. No one left the field that night the same person they arrived - I'm convinced of it.

[Bradders]

21 minutes ago, Beaver89 said:

Came to say this but more specifically when the crowd started singing it in almost in the round - truth was the field is so massive that without someone on stage leading proceedings it falls out of time. Either way it showed how enormous the crowd, field and show was as well as the strength of feeling. I experienced a profound sense of awe in that moment. This was no ordinary show. No one left the field that night the same person they arrived - I'm convinced of it.

As we were filtering down the path from Pyramid to Other, about 10 minutes after they’d finished, I started singing this again, basically to myself. A guy in front started doing the call and response backing vocals and soon the whole crowd was belting it out again.

[e_p]

Missing Davos in the Glade.  Shed a tear when I woke up after his set 

Edited May 4, 2022 by e_p

[dogeggs]

Can’t remember if it was in 18 or 2019, but the misses and I went to see Michael sing in the Avalon Cafe on the Thursday evening. It was such a warm and loving little set, it all got a bit much for me - so when he got to You Were Always On My Mind I just went, and felt really daft for it (validated my Michaels rather curious glare at me whilst bawling to his singing). Tried to wipe the tears back, looked across at the misses and she was in floods too. 

[phillyfaddle]

On 5/3/2022 at 2:59 PM, crazyfool1 said:

I think they delayed the start to the set to put straw down in preparation for all the tears … mine included 

Definitely wasn't because of the mud....LOL

[Chazeboy]

For Me, Duke Special in the Acoustic, had my 1 Year old Daughter on my shoulders, and lost it, when he played last night i nearly died, happy tears, but the amount of people that gave me a hug when they saw me was amazing

Regina Spektor - Us on the pyramid

Beans on toast - 2019 - again with my daughter - with him singing Magic - lost it, to be fair i told him i probably would when i met him in the Greenpeace field on the Thursday night

Penguin Cafe Orchestra, playing Solaris me my wife and in her tummy Daughter, hit me thinking this festival is perfect and when you arrive, you are gonna love it just as much as us

Biffy - Mountains - top of the pyramid, the three of us, wife and daughter rocking out and me filming them, your supposed to be objective when behind the lens - not me!! 🙂

Coldplay with the Tribute the other year

and countless other times, but not as full on tears as the ones above, more like a wee lump in throat and a couple tears

[mflord33]

This moment for me, sunset top of the Ribbon Tower on the Thursday 2016. The only day of sunshine for a muddy festival which didn't dampen our celebrations one bit. Queued for about an hour to get up and luckily the sun was just setting when we got to the top. Cudos to the security guards at the top for taking the photos after I handed them my phone and gave them a quick heads up. Wherever you are, I owe you many a beer. 

[rgill3]

2022 - The whole of Paul McCartney (probably definitely)

Edited May 6, 2022 by rgill3

[Quark]

Flippant answer - when I put my back out in my tent. Fuck me that was painful.

Actual answers:

• Watching Hacienda Classical doing You Got The Love on Friday morning 2017. Tired and emotional.
• Katy Perry doing Firework on Saturday afternoon in 2017.  Tired and emotional again, but this time having to try and hold it together while surrounded by teenage girls having the absolute time of their lives. They didn't need a middle aged blubbering mess bringing them down.
• Kylie doing All The Lovers on Sunday afternoon in 2019. Tired and...well you get the idea.

Basically I'm a massive softarse.

[GeezLouise]

Years and Years and Olly's queer speech ❤️ 

 

It's pretty funny how many of these stories are on the sunday. The exhaustion is setting in. 

Edited May 6, 2022 by GeezLouise

[Olshansky]

On 5/3/2022 at 4:38 PM, LoraMaze said:

To be fair I had had a lot of Bowie tears that year in general, and nearly came close hearing “heroes” playing outside a stall earlier in the weekend 🤣

I feel you. A couple of months ago I was having a particularly low day and then remembered that he was gone and just lost it.