Tag Archives: Glastonbury

Glastonbury 2022 Saturday

Blasdale Home Posted on by

Another day started. No queues for showers, and yet again an excellent breakfast at The Love Fields. Yes, I ate a full English, but also breakfasted on a couple of large excellent pastries. I was spoilt. I headed down to West Holts, where I spent the early part of the day.

Kikagaku Moyo – West Holts 11:30 12.30

First up was a Japanese band who played easy listening music. A few members of their entourage came out into the pit to watch. Later on, some of the band members came out to watch other bands.

Brass Against – West Holts 13.00 14.00

Brass Against is a collective group of musicians who share the goal of creating music to inspire social and personal change. The band curates songs from a variety of influences from Tool, Rage Against the Machine, Soundgarden, Black Sabbath, Run the Jewels as well as their own compositions in a heavy brass filled symphony.

This Is a Work Event

After Brass Against finished playing, I had a message from Rosemary about a flag seen flying, ‘This is a Work Event’. It just so happened to be in the West Holts crowd. Rushed on over to the flag, and cajoled is owners to photograph me holding it. Interestingly it disappeared in 15 minutes, and I never saw it again.

This is a work event
This is a work event

Black Midi West Holts 14:30 15:30

After the picture opportunity I went back to watch Black Midi, an English rock band from London, formed in 2017 by Geordie Greep, Cameron Picton, Matt Kwasniewski-Kelvin and Morgan Simpson.

Glass Animals Other Stage 17:15 18:15

Finished at West Holts and walked over to watch Glass Animals on the Other Stage. I was far, far away and did not have an unobstructed view. Watched them for a few minutes before attempting to meet up with Ed and Mary who had gone their separate ways. Tracked them down to the Williams Green and had a pint of beer with them before we headed over to the Pyramid Stage.

Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds, Pyramid Stage 19:15 21:00

We met up with Jon watching Noel Gallagher. It is quite easy to get down in front of the mixing consoles, there is a path in the centre of the arena from the back to the mixing decks.

Ralph McTell Acoustic stage 20:00 21:00

After Noel, we headed to the Acoustic Tent. We had quite an advantageous position to see Ralph McTell. Managed to grab a video of him singing his famous Streets of London

Glastonbury 2022 - Ralph McTell

Image 1 of 1

Glastonbury 2022 - Ralph McTell

The Waterboys Acoustic Stage 21:30 – 23:00

The final band on the Acoustic Stage was The Waterboys. The Waterboys are a folk-rock band formed in Edinburgh in 1983 by Scottish musician Mike Scott. The band’s membership, past and present, has been composed of musicians from Scotland, Ireland, Wales and England.

Theatre and Circus

I spent much of the late evening walking around the circus and theatre area, watching many walkabout acts, before finally watching a show at the Circus Tent, Briefs Bite Club, I had great expectations for the show, but it did turn out to be rather tedious.

Glastonbury 2022 Thursday

Blasdale Home Posted on by

On Thursday, the main stages have not opened, but some of the smaller stages get going during the afternoon. There are hordes of people crowded around the bars, and it can be quite a fight to get a drink. So, I did not bother. This year I drank extraordinarily little and carried around a few cans in my backpack to keep hydrated. Beer had temporarily lost its lustre for me, I could not taste the difference between cider, ale and lager, they all tasted the same, sweet water. COVID had caused me to lose my sense of taste. It was the same with the food, the delicious offerings tempted me very little. I tried, but nothing tasted as it should.

After a full British breakfast and some exploring, I headed to the Rabbit Hole. It is in The Park, which is terribly busy on a Thursday with Stonebridge bar doing roaring trade. I waited until the Rabbit Hole opened and watched three bands. The Rabbit Hole is a small tent with a small bar, DJ set and stage. Many famous musicians come here late at night. (I have yet to see one!) The Rabbitt Hole used to be further up the hill and required a little effort to reach it. The last two Glastonburys have seen it move down into the main area of the Park.

Thursday was a very sunny day, and I had forgotten to put suncream on my face and arms, so finding venues undercover was a promising idea.

Eva Scott Rabbit Hole 13:00 – 13:30

Sofy (Glastonbury Emerging Talent Finalist) Rabbit Hole 14:00-14:30

I had come to see Sofy, a band from the Glastonbury Emerging Talent competition. They were well worth the wait.

Lewis Mclaughlin, Rabbit Hole 15:00-15.30

Beans on Toast, Truth Stage 18:20-19.00

After grabbing some lunch in The Park, I headed over to the Truth Stage in Shangri-La to see Beans on Toast. Beans on Toast is a singer songwriter who produces an album every year and is rumoured to have played Glastonbury more than anyone else. He will be playing at the Cambridge Folk Festival this year. His songs are political and easily sing-along-able.

Williams Green TBA 19:45-20:25

The Glastonbury programme always has several TBAs. The TBAs are the unannounced bands who will be playing. The secret for Glastonbury organisers is to spread the word to a few people to get someone along to watch the band. Sometimes this goes wrong, and the word is spread everywhere, and thousands of people descend on the stage. The secret sets are from quite high-profile bands. I had subscribed to a twitter account which announced the rumours, so I knew Bastille would be playing at Williams Green. I tried to get to Williams Green. The whole area was cordoned off, the crowds were dense. I got through the cordon, but nowhere near the stage. I gave it up as a bad cause and eventually headed back to the Truth Stage. If you want to see a TBA, get there at least while the previous band is playing, or better still the band before. I remember watching the band Pulp years back because I had heard a rumour. I had a good place to watch the band, but the Park Stage was also cordoned off long before the band started to play. So many people had descended on the stage.

Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, Truth Stage 20:30-21:15

I arrived to see the punk band Pigs Pigs …Pigs. and watched from the back.

Nova Twins (EARCHE) Truth Stage 21.45-22.30

After the 7 pigs, the crowd thinned, and I was able to get nearer the stage for the Nova Twins. They put on one fantastic show. I would go and watch them again at the Greenpeace Stage the next day. The crowd was wild, I did edge back a little to remain out of the mosh pit.

Glastonbury 2022 Walkabout

Blasdale Home Posted on by

I will be blogging each festival day with videos and pictures of the bands I saw. I have put together a short video and pictures of the different areas of the Glastonbury Festival site at various times and days. It is not complete. There are areas I did not visit, or somewhere I forgot to take photographs. For instance, I have yet to visit the pier at Glastonbury-on-Sea. I did walk past, but I have an anathema of queuing.

The video is of the Theatre area, where there are so many interesting walkabout acts to watch. The Theatre area is the first area you enter coming in from Pedestrian Gate C. I can imagine some people camping in other areas of the site will never get to this area.

The areas of the Unfairground, Block 9 and Shangri-La get going in the late evening and continue until the very early hours with the last music ending at 6.00am.

My three ex-work colleagues (John, Mary and Ed) from Walker / Elevon were working as stewards in the Silver Hayes are. This is a dance area and also goes on until 3 am and later.

The Peace Garden is located above Greenfields, near to the Stone Circle. In the sun it was a peaceful area to relax and catch up with some sleep.

I ventured onto the hill above the Park Stage, this is where the GLASTONBURY version of the HOLLYWOOD sign is located. At night there is a fabulous view of the whole site, with the Ribbon Tower in the foreground, and Arcadia in the background. I failed to get to Arcadia, the crowds were too much to get through, when there was any music playing. You need to get there before the main stages end. I made it just as the last DJ finished at 3am.

The old battered painted cars are at a ‘Drive In’ Cinema called Cineramageddon. To watch films, the cars need to be booked in advance .

Glastonbury Theatre Field

Glastonbury 2022 Love Fields

Blasdale Home Posted on by

Glastonbury 2022 Love Fields

We missed you Glastonbury! Three years since the last one. COVID causing the cancellation of the two previous years. But I was now on my way to the greatest music festival in the world. This would be my twelfth Glastonbury. Attended 1998,1999, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 and now 2022. This was to be my sixth visit to Love Fields, an oasis just outside the festival site by pedestrian gate C, the entry to the Theatre Area.

I arrived in an eco-green car, driving my Polestar. Anticipated arrival at around 1pm. There were no holdups. On the way I stopped at a BP site to top up the battery. The return journey, though possible on the one charge, would leave little to spare for emergencies. Also stopped at an ASDA to purchase beer.

Love Fields had changed a little from previous years. It is always expanding. First came the self-camping sites and the large dining tent. This year I am sure there were far more yurts than previous years. I even had my own reception for the yurts, previously this was shared with the campers. Another update was that the yurts have a lock. This makes them secure; the yurt has an internal wood lattice which would require quite an effort to break through. Undoubtedly possible but would be noisy and very noticeable.

From Love Fields you can see the various sections of the site – The Glastonbury Sign, the Fireworks on Wednesday, The Ribbon Tower, The ‘Tree’ at Greenpeace. On the Wednesday, it is a beautiful place to have a drink, watch the fireworks and listen to one of their onsite bands. The breakfasts in the morning are ace, and there was no queuing for the showers or toilets. (Though in 2019 there were no showers for a day because of the general water shortage throughout the site.)

The Opening Glastonbury 2022 firework display from Love Fields

The Love Fields

Glastonbury and Ludgershall Bike Night

Blasdale Home Posted on by

That was it. Glastonbury was over. We showered, packed up and The Love Fields at 7 am in the morning. Stopped off for a Costa and arrived home.

Ravi and Simon stayed over, so we entertained them to some local village life. The Ludgershall Bike Night. Thousand of bikes parked up in the village from 6 to 9. Stalls selling beer, fish and chips, burgers were doing a roaring trade. We opted for the pig roast which was run by a local Kingswood man. Was accosted by the Air Ambulance, who saw we had been to Glastonbury and then talked at great length about the event.

There was a fabulous American truck unit on display. Rosemary saw it pass our house that evening. The event earns money for the Air Ambulance and other charities.

Glastonbury 2019 Sunday

Blasdale Home Posted on by

Our last day at Glastonbury, up early to the loo and the showers were still closed. Looked out again shortly before 9 and they were in the process of being opened. Quickly told Simon and Ravi and then I dashed off to the showers before there were any queues. The word spread around the yurts like wildfire.

Today I was heading over to see Jeff Goldblum at West Holts and Vampire Weekend and The Cure at the Pyramid Stage.

Ambled over to the West Holts and stopped in the Circus Field to watch a musical performance. Interested in the patter that got me into the little stage area, anyone walking by who peered in was fair game for the compere, and if you walked on by, you were grossly insulted.

After this brief entertainment, I stopped at the model of Glastonbury, many clay figures on the ground with caricature models of the stages and festival areas. See some of the pictures below. This was at Glastonbury before but looked more expanded this year.

At the West Holts stage, I was in time to see Hollie Cook, a dramatic reggae singer who was a former member of The Slits. It was fun, pop, reggae with a nice dancing beat.

With a Brothers cider beside me, I waited for Ravi and Simon to arrive for Jeff Goldblum and the Mildred Snitzer band. Jeff was on stage chatting with the audience during the soundcheck, he also had a humorous repartee with the BBC woman who came on stage and asked him when he was starting. His response was he had already started, at which point the microphones were cut off until the official start time. Jeff also did a signing, and despite the long queue, I bought a vinyl album which he signed for me, and I shook his hand.

While I was queuing, This is the Kit played, earthy indie-folk music, and then the Fatoumata Diawars. At this point, I raced back to Love Fields and dumped my Vinyl and headed over to the Hospitality Area. Simon and Ravi had seen Kylie Minogue and I assumed they would be watching Miley Cyrus. I grabbed a drink and a burger, and then found Simon and Ravi in the Hospitality area also eating. They had given Miley a miss.

I headed off to see Vampire Weekend, quite close to the front and then moved further forward for The Cure. While waiting for the Cure, I spotted Mark S (Walkerite) and his daughter across the other side of the barrier. The atmosphere waiting for The Cure was intense. They came on and played for two hours. Just music, no fireworks, no flares, no paper, just music and lights. For the final song ‘Boys don’t Cry’, I was grabbed by a girl who wanted a quick final dance with me. It was such a beautiful and intense moment. All the old classics played. My recording of The Cure on my phone is absolute crap. Good pictures, bad sound. I have now bought an external microphone for the phone, I will be testing it at Latitude.

I waited for the crowd to disperse and said hello to Mark and his daughter while they did the mandatory selfies.

Glastonbury 2019 Saturday

Blasdale Home Posted on by

Disaster, the showers were all closed this morning and would remain closed for the rest of the day. The Love Fields and other glamping sites had been requested to close their showers. The water supply in the festival site was in a dire situation, and with a very hot Saturday forecast they did not want the water to run out. My only comment is, who drinks water at festivals when there are Brothers cider and real ales in abundance?

We started the day at the Pyramid Stage to watch The Proclaimers. (Watch and hear Ravi singing along in the video.)

The rest of the day appears to be a haze, spent mainly at the West Holts Stage watching The Ezra Collective, Slowthai and Lizzo. I think it must have been the Brothers cider and the hot weather.

In the evening there was an abrupt change in temperature, the wind changed and the temperatures plummeted, the showers were still closed.

The evening was spent at a bar next to the Acoustic Tent where I had a JD, (no queues) and then some Real Ale. Simon bought some comfort food, Cheese Mac. So simple and so delicious. Suitably fortified we were then ready for Hawkwind. Simple, no graphics just smoke and flashing lights accompanied by their layered acoustics. Not a big crowd, but then The Killers were headlining the Pyramid Stage. You can see the age profile of those attending Hawkwind by looking at the bar photographs. A nice crowd though.

We three then went for a walk around the South-East corner before the crowds arrived, visiting Block 9 East (IICON), The Common (The Temple and Rum Shack), across to Shangrila to read the slogans on The Lanes and listen in at the Truth Stage. Leaving through the Unfairground, we went across into Block 9 West to see the Meat Rack. Was unable to persuade Ravi and Simon to enter the Meat Rack.

We parted ways, so I left R and S to walk through Avalon home, while I headed off down the railway line (busy) and diverted through Green Fields, to miss the crowds, and up to Strummerville where I sat near the fire and listened to the DJ. Headed down to The Park and hopefully Pangea. It was absolutely heaving in that area. I gave up trying to get anywhere near the dance area and only viewed Pangea from the distance. I had wondered what the huge sphere built around the base of the crane was. It was a screen, and what I saw was a huge iris and pupil rotating around looking like an eyeball. Watch at the end of the video. Fabulous, they will be next year, as I believe the crane will be there for four years.

I decided to head back to Love Fields. Showers still down.

Glastonbury 2019 Friday

Blasdale Home Posted on by

Yey, another bright and sunny day, it could though become a problem, because Saturday is forecast to be very hot. Already there are problems with the mains water pressure being low, and not filling the reserve tank for the showers fast enough, resulting in some of the showers being closed early this morning. Still, I was up early, showered and ready for breakfast. Those Pain Au Chocolate are something to die for.

Today was the first day the main stages were open. The first stop for me was to watch the Vaccines on the Other Stage, while Ravi and Simon watched Bjorn Again on the Pyramid. Back into the Hospitality Area for a beer to wait for R&S to materialise. They had been on the front barriers singing along to Mamma Mia and were very thrilled.

We then went onto watch Sheryl Crow and Bastille on the Pyramid Stage. (See Ravi dancing to Sheryl in the video.) S&R departed for dinner at West Holts. This was the last time I would see them until the morning. They had their eyes on Stormzy who provided an epic performance and plenty of Fuck Boris chants.

I moved near to the front of the crowd to watch Ms Lauryn Hill. She was late on and we were entertained by her DJ. Apparently, this is fairly typical. There were gaps between each song as she asked for her sound monitors to be readjusted between each song.

Supper and then I made my way over to the South-East corner to listen to a metal band Gojira, playing on the Truth Stage in Shangri La. Was an excellent choice. Decided to wait for a punk band called The Idles. While I was waiting, another Walkerite texted to say he was heading to the Truth stage for The Idles. Waving phone lights we found each other and enjoyed the show. This was the second time they had played today. Earlier in the day, they played at The Park.

We separated after the show, and I wandered back, stopping at the Unfairground to film a show with flames, and then the Avalon Cafe where there was a Sikh band playing.

Glastonbury 2019 Thursday

Blasdale Home Posted on by

The Thursday is another quiet day at Glastonbury, none of the main stages are open, some of the small stages open and areas such as the South-East corner (the naughty corner) and Silver Hayes open. Quiet might be a misnomer because the quiet areas are very full with thousands of people ambling around. They would normally be at the Pyramid Stage. So areas like Green Fields can be busier on the Wednesday and Thursday.

We (Ravi, Simon & I) all met for breakfast at 9.00am after having showers earlier. No queues, water surprisingly warm and fast-flowing, and a large cubicle you could party in (I wish). Breakfast was good, especially the Pain Au Chocolates and Almond Croissants. I emailed Sam’s Kitchens and this is the reply I received. “I was up at 4.30am baking them fresh daily. We buy them frozen from an amazing French company, prove them overnight and then bake for 20 minutes so they are served perfectly. The almond croissants were yesterday’s plain with the addition of our own frangipan and some flaked almonds.” Cooked breakfast as well.

The day was bright and sunny with a strong cool breeze, amazing how much warmer it was when you descended into the festival area. Our first stop was the Tor Lookout, a scaffold construction on the North side of the Theatre Area. This structure is used for abseiling type dance performances. When not used for these you can climb to the top and look over the festival site.

We walked on to the Green Futures area and headed for Speakers Forum to hear Professor David King talk about climate change. David King had been the head of Chemistry at Cambridge University then the government’s Chief Science Advisor. While we waited for him to arrive (rather late), we heard from Gail Bradbrook one of the founders of EXtinction Rebellion. She explained how the XR group operated and their plans for the future. I don’t think I will be booking any air travel in the Autumn when they plan to restart their protests. Quite a few audience members were XR members and some had stuck/padlocked themselves to the Pink Yacht in London.

David King duly arrived and congratulated XR on their rebellion and told everybody how we must start to reverse climate change. The 1.5C and even 1C rises are too much, Greenland ice is melting at a rate far faster than predicted, modelling of some acceleration factors in ice melting had been missed. We must start to remove CO2, and one way they were looking into it, especially after the recent Pacific volcano, was to research the effects of creating algae blooms in the oceans by fertilising the oceans.

The whole discussion was repeated again for the BBC who recorded the show for later transmission.

Afterwards, we walked onto The Park, by way of The Wood, Silver Hayes, the CO-OP, and Glastonbury on Sea, yes a long way round. The Wood was disappointing, because it was busy because it was a Thursday. Glastonbury on Sea was busy with huge queues, so we gave it a miss. At The Park, we went to view a recently unveiled billboard from the anti-Brexit artists Cold War Steve and Led By Donkeys that overlooked the entire festival site. A beer was called for and drunk.

Back now to the West Holts Stage for some ciders and dinner.

At The Love Fields, Simon and Ravi listened to music in the bar, by all reports it was very good. I headed out after dark to meet up with Jon M. Jon worked for Walker and was planning to come to Glastonbury working with other Walkerites, Ed and Mary. Ed and Mary cancelled leaving Jon to come on his own. He was working that evening at the Blues Gully in the Silver Hayes.

I set out to the Silver Hayes via The Wood. It always looks brilliant at night, and this year was no exception. They had mist generators under the walkways adding a spooky look to the lighted ponds. Met up with Jon, so we chatted for a few minutes.

Continued my walk up to The Park, Green Fields and then the South-East corner. I was a bit disappointed by the area this year. It didn’t seem quite so good. The buildings in Block 9 were missing the crashed underground train, I never saw dancers in the windows of the broken down hotels, indeed the whole area appeared rather sanitised this year. I wonder if others thought the same because on another night I could not get near the new Pangea (the dock crane which replaced Arcadia) below The Park.

Glastonbury Wednesday

Blasdale Home Posted on by

I am not one of those who queue up at the Glastonbury gates overnight, waiting to be let into the area at 8.00 am Wednesday morning. I can understand those who do, it is the only way to get the best camping spots and to be camped with your mates. I have upgraded to the soft Glamping experience and stay at The Love Fields This year I and two university friends made it to Glastonbury. For Ravi he was ticking of a bucket list item, and for Simon, well he is a musician, and all musicians should visit Glastonbury even if it’s not to perform. For me, it was my eleventh Glastonbury, the 9th in a row.

We set off from here early haveing been forcibly ejected by Rosemary, stopping on the way for a coffee and cakes at the Folly Row Cafe in Kington Saint Michael. After our coffee and loo break, we headed on to Glastonbury, taking the blue route which takes you along Pylle Lane. Very few holdups on the way. Drove into Love Fields and we were soon checked in and had emptied our belongings into the yurts. Simon and Ravi had two double beds while I had the one.

Our next step was to enter the festival site with our hospitality tickets from Love Fields and make our way over to the hospitality area behind the Pyramid Stage. Here we were issued with wrist bands. The hospitality area does allow you a greater chance of seeing some celebrities close up, and also allows you to get between the Other and Pyramid Stages a little faster. It is also an oasis from the outside crowds and a place to meet up.

Our next agenda item was a grand tour of the Glastonbury site, we headed to the Other Stage, then to Silver Hayes and way over to the west side of the campsite, I hadn’t been to the far west side campsites for years, this is where I used to camp. A walk up to the Park Area above the Ribbon Tower and then past the tepees and the new Glastonbury on Sea pier, not yet open. Supper at the West Holts Stage, tour of Avalon and then tried to get into the South East corner. But this was still under construction and was not due to open until Thursday.

Back at Love Fields we stopped at the bar for some drinks and listened to an array of bands who were playing. Unfortunately there was a strong wind which put us in a wind tunnel so we had to wrap up with blankets. The evening progressed with more ciders and some flat-breads with spicy toppings. At around 10.30 the bonfires on the festival site were lit and the firework display began. The Festival was now officially open.