Delights from 2023

[irnkrtn]

We've got a frustrations thread - what about all the good things?? 

My delights to counter the frustrations:

- I never queued for a toilet, which is unreal in itself, and every toilet I went into was clean! No exception. A first for me in 25 years. 

- I didn't eat a bad meal. A massive shout out to Eat the Farm who have ruined all other burgers for me. Great chips too. 

- the Co Op is a godsend. Reasonably priced, decent food available. I had a price marked Monster Energy. £1.55, what a deal. 

- the frozen margarita from the Glade Bar was exceptional. 10/10 lads. 

[ProperTea]

The toilets! What the hell happened? Every single one I used I could sit down in. It's a mircacle.

[Crazyfool01]

Best one ever for me ... met so many nice lovely people from the people i camped with to every person I interacted with onsite . For me the interactions make the festival not the music . Thanks all 🙂 

[GlastoEls]

Shout out to everyone in the BBC Coverage thread on here as we watched the coverage from home, due to life commitments, or changing nappies, or simply F5 hadn’t been good on ticket day.   Really enjoyed the debate!

[ICGenie]

I missed last year so my last G was 2019, but I noticed two marked things:

1. Far more racial diversity. Lots more black and Asian punters. It feels like 10-15 years of working on the line up diversity is starting to pay off.
2. Accessibility seems to have ramped up. I saw a lot more wheelchairs and motorised scooters. I even saw a blind man SOMEHOW traversing the crowd between Pyramid and Other last night! All the stages seemed to have bigger, better viewing platforms, I noticed disabled toilets. The 'quiet areas' are a great addition too.

Maybe I'm just getting more woke, but it felt like a big inclusion shift this year.

And to add, I wasn't at Lewis Capaldi but the love and generosity of spirit shown to a man who has done a massively brave thing to step out on that stage is a truly beautiful thing. And whether you were there or not, we can and should all be proud that we are part of a crowd that could do that.

[Crazyfool01]

1 minute ago, ICGenie said:

And to add, I wasn't at Lewis Capaldi but the love and generosity of spirit shown to a man who has done a massively brave thing to step out on that stage is a truly beautiful thing. And whether you were there or not, we can and should all be proud that we are part of a crowd that could do tha

100% this .... was one of 2 tear streaming moments for me . his voice seemed incredible to me anyway 

[Dreamingofsunnydays]

Frozen cocktails being readily available at loads of bars!

[pandahands]

- Crowd management staff for each stage to maintain walkways with the exception of the SE area. Implementation of one way system around pyramid.

- Dealing with campers prior to Elton.

- Cleanliness and tidying stages were brilliant. Swift pick ups of the NOS canisters by the plain clothed sweepers after Webster was impressive.

- Avalon stage and screen improvements.

- Silver Hayes is now an area that can compete with the SE in terms of spectical and quality.

- Late night additions to Woodsies.

- Having the actors and drag queens back in Shangri-la and more hidden rooms to explore in general.

- Circus walkabouts were plentiful - back to pre pandemic levels.

- Everyone being so friendly, lots of politeness when someone was trying to get past you in the crowd that you can't find at other fests.

- Honest communication, when stages were running late we were kept informed.

 

 

[Dreamingofsunnydays]

Also I’ve never been to The Bimble Inn last year first timers. Jesus, we ended up there 3 times this year. What a bar!

[William Mann]

Really liked the new venues, the people and Vodafone signal was flawless!

[DMCJ2]

First Glastonbury so not much to compare to but a few things i enjoyed

- Campsite crew, were very friendly and helpful. Ended up being camped just infront of them so made it easy for me to find my tent too!

- The people i camped near were all friendly and for someone who has anxiety and went alone that was a relief lol

- Really liked the cinema tent when it wasn’t having difficulties on the wednesday/thursday as just a place to chill and be in the shade.

- the food was really good and all servers were friendly

- the reaction and appreciation from the crowd and performers: notably Raye, Lewis Capaldi, The Big Moon

[DJL]

Love this thread as I just had my best Glastonbury ever (of 9).

Agree with everything posted really. 

I actually found it no more busy than 2017 or 2019 (apart from Elton) and the site looked stunning pretty much all around, Silver Hayes, Car Henge and Glastonbury on sea all looked great

 

[irnkrtn]

3 minutes ago, DJL said:

Love this thread as I just had my best Glastonbury ever (of 9).

Agree with everything posted really. 

I actually found it no more busy than 2017 or 2019 (apart from Elton) and the site looked stunning pretty much all around, Silver Hayes, Car Henge and Glastonbury on sea all looked great

 

Same same - definitely up there with my best, it really reminded me of 2000 in lots of ways. Felt like an old school Glasto. 

Your avatar had reminded me of another delight. SO MANY QUEER PEOPLE. not just cause you can tell cause couples but like, groups of queer friends, lots of great content, the trans pride crew in Nomad. It just felt like the gays had come out to play! Was very cool indeed. 

[DJL]

16 minutes ago, irnkrtn said:

Same same - definitely up there with my best, it really reminded me of 2000 in lots of ways. Felt like an old school Glasto. 

Your avatar had reminded me of another delight. SO MANY QUEER PEOPLE. not just cause you can tell cause couples but like, groups of queer friends, lots of great content, the trans pride crew in Nomad. It just felt like the gays had come out to play! Was very cool indeed. 

Out of upvotes but 100% agree and think it ties in with what @ICGenie was saying about it feeling generally inclusive. 

[FuzzyDunlop]

The Silver Hayes, especially the Levels. I loved that.

The stewarding / queue system for the stonebridge. Made getting into DJ Yoda possible for me. First time Ive ever got in there.

[ohvienna]

10 hours ago, ICGenie said:

I missed last year so my last G was 2019, but I noticed two marked things:

1. Far more racial diversity. Lots more black and Asian punters. It feels like 10-15 years of working on the line up diversity is starting to pay off.
2. Accessibility seems to have ramped up. I saw a lot more wheelchairs and motorised scooters. I even saw a blind man SOMEHOW traversing the crowd between Pyramid and Other last night! All the stages seemed to have bigger, better viewing platforms, I noticed disabled toilets. The 'quiet areas' are a great addition too.

Maybe I'm just getting more woke, but it felt like a big inclusion shift this year.

Completely agree with this, I hadn’t been since 2017 and noticed a huge shift in the crowd diversity which I thought was amazing. 
 

also agree with everyone who said the cleaner toilets - I was amazed. 
 

Other delights: Ice lollies from paletas, frozen cocktails everywhere, the improved silver hayes area, having more time this year to stumble across bands in bars, the string quartet wandering around the circus fields

[kemosabe]

DIdn't go this year and watching on telly was fantastic because it absolutely made me realise how much I love the festival, and how happy it makes me. Can't wait to go back in the future, no more taking it for granted from me.   

[tom22]

Went to see Duo in the Bread & Roses on Thursday. Assumed it was Showhawk Duo and the app was wrong.  Turns out they were just called Duo, similar to Showhawk but more flamenco vibes, and they were bloody excellent, top hour of tunes. 

[PollyPeach]

100% agree re diversity. I've been every year since 2007, and the change since then is brilliant. All the criticism about Glastonbury being only for middle class, middle age white people, just isn't true anymore. There's so much amazing and interesting stuff that never gets reported or shown on the bbl though so I guess if you don't go, you couldn't know that.

I loved the information stage in silver Hayes - bringing interesting discussions to the middle of a dance area mainly populated by young people is brilliant. 

Also agree re food though got to the eat the farm just as they had sold out - gutted, looked so good.

I just think it's the best place on earth.

[Pipine]

Great thread 🙂

Delights for me - having my old Glastonbury crew back together after 10 years.   
Loved the Levels, really impressive new dance space.  Loved the lighting and sound installations in the woods.

First year camping near Woodsies for me so San Remo became our last stop of the night and I was surprised how consistently good the music was in there.  In fact this year I found more good house music to dance to than any other year I can think of.

The walkabouts in T&C fields were brilliant, especially the guy dressed as a black blob (?) who kept accosting random festival goers in various ways and had me literally crying with laughter.

The light up hula hooping was great! Missed that last year but managed to happen across it this year.

Loved the interactive rooms in Shangri la - especially “we tried to deliver”.

Loved the weather - so nice to be walking around in a t shirt at 1am on dry ground! Made getting from A to B quickly so doable.  Also the peace garden was a beautiful place to lie in the shade for a rest.

Generally the crowd was friendly and lovely, more diverse and mostly people seemed to be getting on.

Loved seeing more drag queens / queer culture represented on stage and in the crowd. 

Really enjoyed some of the talks in Green futures.

A final big shout out to Phoenix who pulled off an amazing closing set with a small but super enthusiastic crowd at Woodsies, absolutely joyous end to the festival for me. 

  

[Respectfatfrog]

Seeing Cat Stevens singing wild world which I used to sing to get her to sleep now standing next to me. 

 

I cried at the foos out of pure happiness 

[fullfathom5]

Rick Astley nailing both sets!

[BBC7BBCHEAVEN]

As good a place as any to give a shout out to the kids field

Absolutely amazing space with brilliant crew. The NCT tent in particular is fantastic and an absolute lifesaver at times

Cheap and good food available for kids made feeding our toddler much easier.

Lots of shade, sand pit, musical entertainment, bubbles, costumes etc. etc.

It's basically an oasis for those of us with children. Also I got to see Bodger and Badger, a major unexpected highlight.

[CurlyPutz]

Was not there this year sadly but loving this thread guys. ❤️

[GordonMcG]

Was my first time at Glastonbury and have way more delights than frustrations.

 

- Food stalls were fantastic. Great mix and really good quality

- Staff/volunteers were a delight. From just being happy and bubbly to being able to give really easy to follow directions

- We stayed at a glamping place with a close by shuttle bus and it was brilliant. At 36 years old, getting a bed for a better sleep (even if only for a few hours), and a shower in the morning was a god send

- The festival goers. So little aggro all weekend, everyone being so polite when they needed to get past you, good banter while waiting in queues

- The acts. From headliners on the PS like Elton and GnR who I wouldn't consider myself a fan of but know enough of the hits, to people like Maggie Rogers who I know every word, to acts I'd never heard before in my life. They were all class

 

Lived up to the hype and then some