Delights from 2023

[Cheesey]

22 minutes ago, BBC7BBCHEAVEN said:

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

The Green Kids field is also absolutely brilliant.

It never really gets much attention compared to the "proper" kids field, but despite being a tiny area there's always loads going on with the pirate ship, music workshops, table tennis, circus skills, magic shows, games, the genuinely amazing camera obscura, the pirate show man, sock wrestling, etc. etc. And as an added bonus there's some lovely shade under the massive old oak tree at the top end. It's one of our favourite places.

[Gashead86]

First time with our three year old son (for the first two days anyway) and therefore our first experience of the kidzfield.. Wow! What a place! A real safe haven for those of us with kids. Relaxed vibe and so much to keep the kids busy. We lost hours in there! 

My first time really venturing around the cabaret fields after hours as well. Loved the LED brass band who were on one of the stages. Don't recall their name,, but they were brilliant.

First time I have ever caught any live comedy at the festival and certainly will not be the last! We went to watch parenting hell live and whilst the tent was hotter than the surface of the sun, it was still such a nice change of pace from the rest of the festival. We will back watching live comedy next time we go for sure.

Food wise, I cannot recall the name frustratingly, but there was a Cajun bbq place near West Holts that was phenomenal!  I had the surf and turf which was cajun king prawns and chicken thigh sat with fries and it was delicious! 

First festival in 6 years due to birth of our son, covid etc and it was so good to be back. Will be trying for tickets again in oct for sure! 

[Fearless_Fish]

Being there.

[buddiepaul]

I managed to get to the Crows Nest to see a few things this year.  It always amazes me that you can see great acts from a few feet away in such an intimate location.

I saw the Mary Wallopers on Friday, after their Acoustic performance.  It was jumping and there seemed to be a number of their mates in the audience having a friendly mosh.  It was so fun.

I then saw Mozart Estate play to only 30 or so.  I missed their earlier show, so was delighted to see Lawrence performing.  They put on a great performance, although I think he would have preferred it be be a little busier.

Also got to see Beth Orton on Sunday afternoon.  It was pretty packed in there, both in the audience and on stage, with the full band squeezed in.  She played a couple of songs then took requests from the audience.  She made my mates festival highlight (and one of his all time highlights) when she played his favourite song, which they had not played live for years.

 

[Pipine]

The Cajun BBQ place in west holts is Bayou BBQ .. I had their surf and turf twice it was so good!

[MEGABOWL]

Pretty much all of it.

Brilliant.

[Badlands]

15 minutes ago, Pipine said:

The Cajun BBQ place in west holts is Bayou BBQ .. I had their surf and turf twice it was so good!

Best food of the weekend! 

[Neil]

13 hours ago, ICGenie said:

1. 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.

dunno if its ramped up, but there seemed a lot of people on wheels same as i was... think that's mostly a sign of the audience aging.i couldn't operate the locks on the disabled toilets cos of my disability).they have locks to stop abled punters using them. the accessibility system works well.

[Neil]

1 hour ago, Gashead86 said:

kidzfield.. Wow! What a place!

yes, the nicest place on site, i always try to spend a bit of time there, hanging out with some friends who work in that field.

[Gashead86]

27 minutes ago, Pipine said:

The Cajun BBQ place in west holts is Bayou BBQ .. I had their surf and turf twice it was so good!

That was it! Thank you. 

Yes, it was phenomenal. If it is back next time I am on the farm I will be returning and bringing anyone who is in attendance with me! 

[ameski18]

1 hour ago, buddiepaul said:

Also got to see Beth Orton on Sunday afternoon. 

This was deffo one of my highlights too!
We went from this to Blondie / Elton - a 'tent' of about 50 people to that Elton crowd is something you could only do at Glasto! 

I didn't have the best year, weirdly, but I think that was down to our camping situ (we were f'king miles away) and it was bloody hot. You win some... Just makes me all the more eager for a ticket next year!

Best bits for me:

1. The people - We met some absolute crackers. I always felt like everyone was looking out for each other! 
2. T&C fields - live comedy, circus performers, walkabouts, bar staff! They were all brilliant. It was always a nice place to be.
3. Food - it was f**king delicious! All of it! I rediscovered my love of the food in the Green Fields and I had late night crumble!
4. Toilets - I never queued for a toilet once! If you just travelled a little further there was always a free long drop! 
5. The music - I was sceptical when they released the line ups but I thought everyone I saw was excellent. They all had that 'we're at Glastonbury' moment and I found the sound and screens to be better than ever. 

 

[tom22]

1 hour ago, Pipine said:

The Cajun BBQ place in west holts is Bayou BBQ .. I had their surf and turf twice it was so good!

Also doubled up on them, really good.

The Calamari & Chips place was excellent too.

 

[GlastoFlow]

This thread is a breath of fresh air…as someone who wasn’t there this year with hopes to go next year, every time I read other threads it makes want to go less…so thanks!

[Badlands]

11 minutes ago, GlastoFlow said:

This thread is a breath of fresh air…as someone who wasn’t there this year with hopes to go next year, every time I read other threads it makes want to go less…so thanks!

It’s still the most wonderful place on this island. People complain about the arseholes on here when they get back, and there can be some divs that spoil it for others, but they’re by far and wide outnumbered by thousands upon thousands of sound people who are having a good time.

[Soleili]

I was so surprised at how clean the long drops were this year! The longest I queued was around 2 minutes which was a staggering difference to previous years.

The people! Everyone I interacted with had the biggest smile on their face and it was just an absolute joy to see.

This was my third Glastonbury and the first time for the group I was with. They've all absolutely fell in love with the place just as much as I have which is exactly what I wanted out of my time there. Being on the Park hill on the Wednesday and looking at the awe on their faces at the sheer scale of the festival is a memory I'll live with forever.

[clarkete]

16 hours ago, irnkrtn said:

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. 

A most welcome thread 😊

[4AssedMonkey]

The first time I saw the Health & Safety walk round with the whistles and hi-viz jackets moving people out of the path of someone pulling a green toy John Deere tractor I cried with laughter.

I saw more acts than I think I ever have and they were pretty much all great, even the ones I didn’t really know much.  Other than Stefflon Don and Tom Grennan, who I could take or leave, I loved every performance, even AM.

No or very short queues for food/drink/toilets pretty much all weekend.

[4AssedMonkey]

Oh, and first time I’ve used the co-op. They’ve nailed that. Queue shifted like lightning, f**ktonne of tills and everyone straight through in no time. Bravo co-op.

[Meerkat]

16 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.

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.

Totally agree with how nice the support for Lewis Capaldi was! I was only watching on tv but it was clear the crowd were on his side, it’s never nice seeing someone struggle like that.

Would love someday for him to be given the headliner gig, seems like a really nice lad

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

16 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.

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.

Absolutely spot-on set of observations. 

Add to that:

Perfect weather. 

QOTSA.

The Levels. Even if it was a bark to get into at times.

Quality of the sound on some stages was impeccable. 

The vibe inside the circle for Fred Again and the unity within the crowd for QOTSA going up against Elton.

Queens of the f**king Stone Age.

Lots of water points. Most other festivals would do well to take note.

Despite the sheer number of people in certain areas at specific times, everyone passed the vibe check. Didn't see or hear any aggro whatsoever. Not even as much as a moan. 

Seemed like there were fewer messes this year. Maybe people are starting to place more importance on self-care?

And QOTSA.

[Nduja]

Water infrastructure - it was absolutely great and really easy to get water and refil throughout the day around the site.Toilets were great too.

I...quite liked Carhenge. Sorry. There aren't that many places to sit down and chill in the central site, especially when there are huge daytime acts on the Pyramid, so that was quite welcome. I wasn't blown away artistically but it provided an unexpected utility.

Frozen Margaritas

Generally, bars were pretty good and quick, the BrewBar which sold cans of Shipyard and was in easy walking distance of the Other Stage was particularly useful, almost never busy.

Draft craft IPA at Trickett's.

Rudimental. Completely side-stepped the Elton-phant in the room and produced a fantastic show of live DnB. A few moments before they started there must have been 300 people there but with the inevitable Elton dropouts it soon swelled to a very respectable and up for it crowd.

The fella at the pyramid store merch tent who was prepared to give us £20 cash and let me paypal him the dough so that we could buy our daughter a Glasto tee, absolute hero. Scouser of course.

Silver Hayes was so much better than before.

The Other Stage is brilliant now, used to be an absolute shocker. All three of the subs were great and bathed in a beautiful evening sunshine.

Woodsies has a lot of promise, that new section of the wood was amazing lit up. Some interesting stuff going on by the tree in the Woodsies field at around 3am.

The Coop is dead handy.

Poutine stall.

All the volunteers.

The entire festival!

 

 

Edited June 27, 2023 by Nduja

[Tiesto13]

4 hours ago, 4AssedMonkey said:

Oh, and first time I’ve used the co-op. They’ve nailed that. Queue shifted like lightning, f**ktonne of tills and everyone straight through in no time. Bravo co-op.

also decent tunes and a good airflow system keeping it cool, one of the best tents at the festival

[danbailey80]

I thought it the best managed I've ever known.

Obviously everyone can have different experiences but for me I thought crowd management was clear and helpful, checking of wrist bands was the most thorough to hospitality etc. 

Always friendly and fun security. 

I didn't once feel in danger with crush. 

 

 

[Skip997]

The Temple on Sunday night into Monday morning, like a proper old school warehouse party.

The Common in general, by far the most fun area in the SE corner. There's room, it's bright and fun, less drunkenness, more "happy pills". 

Have to disagree with those saying it's more diverse than ever. In my experience it's becoming noticeably less ethnically diverse year on year.

[catavento]

On 6/27/2023 at 4:24 PM, Nduja said:

I...quite liked Carhenge. Sorry. There aren't that many places to sit down and chill in the central site, especially when there are huge daytime acts on the Pyramid, so that was quite welcome. I wasn't blown away artistically but it provided an unexpected utility.

I figure it's the first iteration of it too, I wouldn't be surprised if they did more with the area in future years now they've got the basic version up and running. Some benches and stalls, or perhaps a bit more going on with the stage and bar. The actual car thing was interesting to me for ten seconds but I liked relaxing there.

Also I have to admit there was never a point where I went "I wish I could watch something on William's Green right now", and I did a lot of moaning back when I found out they'd scrapped it.