My brother owns a t-shirt which says I (heart) Rain. He’s never been to Glasto – apparently there’s a nightclub in his Uni town of Loughborough called Rain. This t-shirt would be appreciated at this fest though, where rain is expected. The day starts well, with me being driven out of my tent by the heat from the sun!
Planning
Then a cooked breakfast by head chef Tom has us ready for action.
Mike tucks in
And of course a cappuccino on the way down into “town” – you don’t need to sacrifice your creature comforts at Glasto!
Skinny soy decaff mocha?
In fact you can buy everything you need at Glasto. Millets sell tents, wellies, there are clothes shops selling hats, dresses, silly gear, funny t-shirts, the lot.
Coats n’ ‘ats, Sir?
You could turn up in just the clothes you’re wearing, and as long as you have a ticket with a photo resembling your good self, and a card (there are ATMs), you’d be fine.
For when tap is not good enough
There are two Orange phone re-charge tents, one of which is wind-powered (not sure about the other). The larger one even has a stage with live music playing all day!
Next year I’ll bring Mini-usb to USB-A (F) to charge camera too!
Similar format of day today – pottering about, chatting, sipping on a respectable beverage etc. There is a bit of music this afternoon, but the main thing starts tomorrow (Friday).
Good work, Mike!
Note the grass.. it only has hours to live now..
There’s probably lots to be gained at Glasto by avoiding main stages and concentrating on the vast number of smaller stages, all of which have fabulous music playing at all hours. Some of the eateries even have stages – the Hog Roast stage seemed to always have great music in play whenever I passed.
Mean fiddlers
The infamous hot spiced cider
That’s meeee!
There’s still not too much going on on Thursday in terms of music. Leftfield gets going – and this is where we see most of our music this day.
Elle S’Appelle (what a great name) are playing – I’d heard them on R1 Introducing. Before they came on, we caught some Seal Cub Clubbing Club, and afterwards the Rascals. All good stuff.
Elle S’Appelle
The Rascals
We then headed over to the Queen’s Head, where One Night Only were playing.
Unfortunately, because there’s not much on today, when something trendy is playing, people tend to flock to it. This was the case with this band – so we didn’t manage to get into the tent. Normally this wouldn’t have been a problem, but now the rains started.
I felt particularly sorry for those just on the edge of the tent who were being rained upon and also catching most of the tent run-off too! The set was good, but we ended up seeking shelter in a restaurant for some not especially good Chinese food (the tent was good though!). Later on it was time for an almost un-advertised performance by.. the Levellers! We were hiding out in the information point across the road from the place, where they were also handing out DIY ponchos, aka bin liners!
Very fetching!
Mike and I stayed to catch some of the Levellers. By now the rain was really bucketing down as Levellers played their set.
There’s gonna be mud, and it’s gonna be ugly
Levellers in the rain
After I’d had my fill we headed over to the Dance Village, nearer where Pete and Sarah would be coming in to the site. The grass was gone, replaced by mud.
Not sensible shoes
At this stage it wasn’t too bad, as the rain had just fallen, but with 200,000 people plodding about in it, surely it was only a matter of time before it was really churned up.
The drainage has apparently been improved lots in recent years after whole areas of the site flooded – see press photos of tents underwater etc. Not a pleasant prospect, but this year it did hold out. Sure it became extremely muddy, but rarely did one see pools of water build up.
Because of a fire nearby the site, traffic had all been diverted and Pete and Sarah arrived at roughly the furthest possible place they could have. No matter, we enjoy a Silent Disco whilst waiting!
Polite disco!
I love the concept – you have a volume control on the side, so being an old man I can turn the volume down a bit. And if you feel like chatting, you both pull your headphones off and can talk normally. Marvellous! The rest of Dance Village has all sorts of music playing – it seems unlike the musicians, the DJs are all in attendance already. The tents are all brilliantly decorated, and sound systems good, although the floors are all getting a bit yucky!
Eventually Pete and Sarah turn up, and we lead them across the entire site to where we’re staying. The lucky buggers are in the van! Tomorrow the music starts in earnest, with Kate Nash opening on the Pyramid Stage!
Glasto 2008 Blog Index: Wednesday - Thursday - Friday - Saturday - Sunday Monday
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