{"id":12700,"date":"2013-07-03T10:30:42","date_gmt":"2013-07-03T09:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/?p=12700"},"modified":"2019-06-14T13:24:45","modified_gmt":"2019-06-14T12:24:45","slug":"warning-to-glastonbury-festival-first-timers-its-not-always-that-bloody-good-see-great-mudfests-of-the-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/warning-to-glastonbury-festival-first-timers-its-not-always-that-bloody-good-see-great-mudfests-of-the-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Warning to Glastonbury festival first-timers – it’s not always that bloody good (see: great mudfests of the past)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Great<\/p>\n

I fear I would be failing in my responsibilities as a seasoned festival-goer to not pass on some words of advice to anyone who has booked their first ticket to Glastonbury festival, or they’ve been looking at photos of\u00a0sun-bronzed revellers enjoying recent Glastos.<\/p>\n

It’s not always that good. They were damn lucky.<\/p>\n

Glastonbury isn’t normally like a holiday in the sun with some great bands thrown in. More often than not it’s an ordeal. A trial of drugs, beer, endurance, bad toilets. Pot Noodles, mud and filth where a few swimming proficiency badges may come in handy.<\/p>\n

You usually have to work damn hard<\/em> to enjoy yourself, goddammit.<\/p>\n

And if you don’t believe me, allow me to show what two previous Glastonbury festivals looked like – and it’s not a pretty sight:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Glastonbury 2007<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Great<\/p>\n

Here’s the thrills that were in store for festival goers attending Glastonbury 2007.<\/p>\n

It started a little overcast. And then rained for just about all of the festival.<\/p>\n

\"Great<\/p>\n

\"Great<\/p>\n

Ah yes. The toilets. Lovely.<\/p>\n

\"Great<\/p>\n

Rain and thick, gloopy mud. Lots of it.<\/p>\n

\"Great<\/p>\n

By Sunday the whole site was a wet quagmire with a biting wind that was enough to break Everest-ascending veterans.<\/p>\n

People shuffled aimlessly about in wellie-sucking thick mud and tried to huddle under whatever shelter they could find as the rain ceaselessly pelted down. It was miserable.<\/p>\n

You know that Verve song called, “The Drugs Don’t Work”? \u00a0Well, that’s what happened right here.<\/p>\n

No drug could relieve you from the dystopian gloom that was Sunday night at Glastonbury 2007. I know because I tried them all.<\/p>\n

\"Great<\/p>\n

The scene of devastation on the Monday morning when the sun finally<\/em> came out.<\/p>\n

\"Great<\/p>\n

Abandoned wellies.<\/p>\n

\"Great<\/p>\n

A scene from The Somme perhaps?<\/p>\n

\"Great<\/p>\n

The site looked more like a muddy lake with God knows what lurking in its muddy depths.<\/p>\n

\"Great<\/p>\n

Leaving the site past submerged tents. Rarely had a bath felt so good than when I finally made it home.<\/p>\n

And it got worse…<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you think 2007 looked bad, wait until you feast your eyes on these scenes from 2005, where things got so bad people were treated for trench foot!<\/em><\/p>\n

It started off so well though. For the first two days I was there it was glorious sunshine all the way. And then…<\/p>\n

\"Great<\/p>\n

After a night of extremely heavy rain, the site had transformed into a Tribute To Mud.<\/p>\n

\"Great<\/p>\n

Sleeping revellers woke to find a stream running through the middle of their tents, with their clothes and belongings floating away downstream into the dark night.<\/p>\n

\"Great<\/p>\n

During the night’s torrential rainstorm, folks were forced to abandon their tents as a cascade of water ran down the hillside and formed a substantial river.<\/p>\n

There were reports of portable toilets toppling over in the mudslide and emptying their contents into the water flowing into people’s tents. Now there’s a thought you don’t want to leave in your head for too long.<\/p>\n

After what must have appeared as Biblical retribution, many threw in the towel and just went straight home in the morning.<\/p>\n

\"Great<\/p>\n

Wading between the stages.<\/p>\n

\"Great<\/p>\n

This is the kind of fun that was Glastonbury 2005.<\/p>\n

Now, I don’t want you to think I’m in any way bitter at those sun-tanned people who came back from a wonderful Glastonbury festival in the years I#ve decided not to go.<\/p>\n

Oh no sir, not me.<\/p>\n

But if I end up going next year and it turns out to be another mud nightmare, I may have some harsh words to say to Him Upstairs. That is all.<\/p>\n

More Glastonbury:\u00a0<\/strong>
\nRead people smugly recalling 2013-5’s \u00a0sun-baked festivals on the Glastonbury 2013 thread on urban75<\/a>\u00a0or chat about the 2019 festival here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

…or relive the full Glastonbury 2005\/2007 experience with these archive photo features:<\/p>\n

GLASTONBURY 2007: THE PHOTOS<\/strong>
\n\"photos\"Wednesday sun<\/a>
\n\"photos\"Thursday scenes<\/a>
\n\"photos\"Into Friday<\/a>
\n\"photos\"Around the Green Fields<\/a>
\n\"photos\"Craft workshops and bands<\/a>
\n\"photos\"Saturday wanderings\u00a0<\/a>
\n\"photos\"A very muddy Saturday<\/a>
\n\"photos\"Friday night to Saturday morning<\/a>
\n\"photos\"Iggy and Trash City<\/a>
\n\"photos\"Saturday night, Sunday morning<\/a>
\n\"photos\"Sunday, the final day<\/a><\/p>\n

GLASTONBURY 2007: FEATURES<\/strong>
\n\"photos\"Tipi Village<\/a>
\n\"photos\"Backstage at Glastonbury<\/a>
\n\"photos\"Glastonbury chums<\/a><\/p>\n

GLASTONBURY 2007: THE AFTERMATH<\/strong>
\n\"photos\"Glastonbury aftermath pt 1<\/strong>
\nA Monday morning muddy trudge<\/a>
\n\"photos\"Glastonbury aftermath pt 2<\/strong>
\nMore mud-drenched deserted scenes<\/a>
\n\"photos\"\u00a0Glastonbury aftermath pt3<\/strong>
\nTo the Green Fields and the Stone Circle.<\/a><\/p>\n

\"photos\"Glastonbury aftermath pt 4<\/strong>
\nA wade around the Other Stage.<\/a><\/p>\n

GLASTONBURY 2005 PHOTOS<\/strong>
\n\"photos\"Glastonbury gallery<\/strong>
\n120+ photos in and around the site<\/a>
\n\"photos\"Photo thumbnails<\/a>
\n\"photos\"Glasto chums<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I fear I would be failing in my responsibilities as a seasoned festival-goer to not pass on some words of advice to anyone who has booked their first ticket to … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12702,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[43,17,193],"tags":[1198,181,629,227],"class_list":["post-12700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","category-photos","category-places","tag-festivals","tag-glastonbury","tag-mud","tag-weather"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/07\/glastonbury-mud-011.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pQI7P-3iQ","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12700"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18988,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12700\/revisions\/18988"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.urban75.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}