Glastonbury's 5 muddiest festivals, according to The Independent

[The Nal]

16 was muddy but very doable. Stayed mainly dry during the day.

 

07 was muddy, raining constantly and had that wet mud that splashed everywhere. Everyone had mud in their teeth. 

[clarkete]

6 hours ago, Skip997 said:

They’ve missed 1985.

 

Aye the particular thing in 1985 was how so many folks had clothes and footwear that were no good for rain or mud - so then they were wrapping trainers in plaggy bags just to keep the mud off, but wearing jeans and leather or denim jackets.  Some had to take refuge in the cinema tent. 

 

I've certainly got several pictures of lakes of mud in 98 and folks wrestling in it. 

 

2007 had the most soul destroying rain and I know a few who didn't come back.  By comparison we enjoyed 2016, got on and off site ok, but it was certainly hard going walking places sometimes. 

[Lubic]

1 hour ago, tomf3 said:

I think 2014 is quite overlooked as a muddy year. Whilst it was no 2007 and 2016, it's definitely in a league with 2011. Albeit not a muddy year, one of my least favourite moments at Glastonbury was in 2009 probably around midnight on the Sunday being at Arcadia and out of nowhere a torrential downpour ensued and carried on all night,  completely ruining the last night vibe. 
 

2014 had a few heavy rain storms throughout which I seem to remember meant the mud was in more of a slippy liquid state as opposed to the thick, sticky stuff in 2011 and 2016

Edited June 12 by Lubic

[Pinhead]

You have to distinguish between mud and flood a bit I think.

 

Mud wise, 97 and 98 were terrible, along with 16 maybe slightly less so. 07 and 05 were floods - horrible to endure but easier to get around.

 

05 dried up by Sun but for me 07 was he worst weather experience overall with the rain relentless and the flooding pretty much saw the site deserted by Sun evening. Spent the night in LV in the cinema there that year of all places and it was still raining with the cinema leaking on peeps heads. Shite year.

 

The wet in 11, 08, 99, 13 we're all manageable tbh.

[Lycra]

Slipped out the Bread n Roses on Thursday night 2007 to go to toilet and found the queue for the ladies was unknowingly standing/shuffling through a river of rainwater and piss from the overflowing urinals. 

[Dark Star]

1 hour ago, The Nal said:

16 was muddy but very doable. Stayed mainly dry during the day.

 

07 was muddy, raining constantly and had that wet mud that splashed everywhere. Everyone had mud in their teeth. 

2007 is the coldest I've ever been at a festival. 

[charlierc]

55 minutes ago, Lubic said:

2014 had a few heavy rain storms throughout which I seem to remember meant the mud was in more of a slippy liquid state as opposed to the thick, sticky stuff in 2011 and 2016

I seem to recall acts starting late when watching a live-stream of the 2014 Friday due to a thunderstorm.

[charlierc]

1 hour ago, The Nal said:

07 was muddy, raining constantly and had that wet mud that splashed everywhere. Everyone had mud in their teeth. 

It's kinda wild that 2005 had this ginormous flood, and then after taking 2006 off, 2007 was comparably bad.

 

That double whammy probably did as much as the seemingly unusual headliner choices to make 2008 a slow-seller.

Edited June 12 by charlierc

[nikkic]

7 hours ago, Walter Sobchak said:

2007 was my first festival, Sunday was just awful.

 

2016 wasn't half as bad as I don't remember it raining too badly during the acts.

 

U2 were shite.

 

[nikkic]

2007 was my first festival, weather was awful, but I had an amazing time still. 

 

[Franky]

2007 - Traumatic 

[sedra]

2007 was definitely worst experience with mud and constant rain from Thursday night onwards

2016 - thickest mud so hard to get around - although not much rain over the weekend

1997- more types of mud consistency than I had ever seen before from liquid to thick clay. ( 1998 not much better as it rained a lot too!) 

2005 wasn’t that bad in our camping area but parts of the site were grim after the flood. It did dry up by Sunday though. 

2007 photos 

 

Edited June 13 by sedra
Wrong dates!

[Lakey91]

8 hours ago, Spindles said:

2016 is the only one of the famously muddy years that I got to experience.  It seems to be a kind of polarizing year in retrospect.  Everyone I encountered had a kind of Dunkirk spirit and was determined to have the best time regardless, but I see a lot of people say it was a tough one for them.  The traffic chaos at the start of the festival was particularly memorable, and we somehow missed it by taking a wrong turn and then finding a back way in through the village that saw us basically roll right into a car park close to the gate with no queue, whilst friends were just 2-5 miles away and not moved in hours. 

 

 

I did the same. Sat in the queue for hours, my mate rang me up saying he took a wrong turn down (I forget - enter street name here) and got straight in. By absolute chance I was literally directly opposite that junction at the point he called me. I got out of the car and told the 10 or so cars in front / behind me in the queue what my mate said and whether it was worth the risk. In the end I think they all bottled it as no one followed, but I went for it and sure enough, was in the car park 10 mins later!

[Skip997]

2 hours ago, clarkete said:

 

Aye the particular thing in 1985 was how so many folks had clothes and footwear that were no good for rain or mud - so then they were wrapping trainers in plaggy bags just to keep the mud off, but wearing jeans and leather or denim jackets.  Some had to take refuge in the cinema tent. 

 

I had no tent or waterproofs. Ended up living in the Acoustic tent

[henry bear]

9 hours ago, Skip997 said:

They’ve missed 1985.

Couple of memories of '85:- Paul Weller ill-advisedly coming onstage in white jeans, instantly making himself a mud magnet, Ian Dury getting the hump and storming offstage when mud got pelted onto the stage, compere Alexei Sayle asking for us (standing in a lake of mud) to look out for a contact lens someone had lost 

[Spindles]

Just now, Skip997 said:

I had no tent or waterproofs. Ended up living in the Acoustic tent

Mate of mine in the early 90s used to go every year with nothing more than a few quid, some smoke, a hat and a couple of t-shirts in a satchel, bunk in and kip anywhere he could get some peace.  He'd come back some years looking like he'd been lost in the desert for a month.  Absolute legend.  My first glastonbury was in a single skin poundstretcher tent I bought for £9.99 and luxury by comparison.

[StoneCircle]

I was at 2005 (my 1st!) 2007 and 2016 and was a lot more active than I am now so it wasn't that much of an issue getting around in the mud. I am dreading a muddy one as I now need a mobility scooter. It won't be easy on-site with one of these especially getting back to our caravan in E21 Accessible Forward Campervan Field! I might need a push! 😂

[charlierc]

7 hours ago, Stu H said:

2011 Wed/Thurs/Fri I seem to remember being garbage. Torrential rain from 8am Wed setting up.

I couldn't get anywhere near Silver Hayes/John Peel and I had terrible blisters from the rubbing of my wellies. It dried up Sat/Sun.

On 2011's Friday, I went to go see The Killers at Hyde Park in London and one of the support acts said "Be happy you're here and not at Glastonbury where it's raining"

 

Sure enough, I think it showered during the Kaiser Chiefs' headline support set, while about 2/3 songs into The Killers' set, the heavens really opened and it pissed it down for the rest of the thing. I don't think it was as bad as U2's Glasto set, which I saw for the first few songs at least was subject to a proper deluge, but it was still enough to be damp with.

[kemosabe]

10 hours ago, Physical_graffiti said:

I think logistically 2016 was worse for them, the pre-fest downpours caused all sorts of problems, think there were periods where he was genuinely worried it might have to be cancelled. 

 

I suppose as a punter you can interpret either way depending on what type of muddiness you prefer - constant pissing rain and wet mud, or dry clay mud that makes walking hard?

 

For me I'd rather have the pissing rain mud tbf. But appreciate others think different 

[nikkic]

12 hours ago, sedra said:

2007 was definitely worst experience with mud and constant rain from Thursday night onwards

2016 - thickest mud so hard to get around - although not much rain over the weekend

2007 - more types of mud consistency than I had ever seen before from liquid to thick clay. ( 2008 not much better as it rained a lot too!) 

2005 wasn’t that bad in our camping area but parts of the site were grim after the flood. It did dry up by Sunday though. 

2007 photos 

 

2008 was pretty good weather wise, wasn’t it?! 
 

[sedra]

1 hour ago, nikkic said:

2008 was pretty good weather wise, wasn’t it?! 
 

Oops I meant 1997 and 1998!! 

[BrimfulOfAsha]

My first Glastonbury was 1997 and I think it was a bit miserable with rivers of mud, but being so young I didn't really care and most of my memory of it is hazy (bar Radiohead's epic set). My next was 2007 and I just can't recall it ever stopping raining. Everything I owned was muddy and wet through. It was my only Glastonbury that I left early and ended watching the Who on telly and not regretting my decision. After that I was blessed with 2010 and I saw how much of a difference decent weather makes. 

 

Now I'm older, I mainly pack warmer things and waterproofs with decent footwear and that, for me, is the game changer, so I could deal with 2016.

[Spindles]

I've got nothing but respect for the folks who went to a really wet one for their first time and then kept coming back for more.

 

[sabre-toothed tart]

2016 is the only muddy one I've done, and it was challenging!  It just took ages to get anywhere and the sticky mud sapped your energy. We changed tack on the Saturday & Sunday - rather than charging round trying to see things on lots of different stages we just chose a couple of acts and stayed at those stages for a while.  Got to see some bands I perhaps wouldn't have seen, and everyone I met was in good spirits so really it was great.  It wasn't that cold either, and I only remember it really raining during ELO.  Not being able to sit down and rest was probably the worst thing.

[Punksnotdead]

33 minutes ago, Spindles said:

I've got nothing but respect for the folks who went to a really wet one for their first time and then kept coming back for more.

 

It's Britain. It rains. Sometimes it rains quite a lot!

 

My first Glastonbury was 1998. The weather was horrific. I only took a pair of Converse - by Friday they were in the bin & I had to buy a pair of Para boots from the market stalls.  On the Saturday I was in my tent holding on to the tent poles, terrified that it was going to blow away in the storm. 

 

Despite all that, as soon as tickets were on sale for 1999, I was back in. Glastonbury gets you like that - it's difficult not to fall in love with the place, regardless of the weather.