Glastonbury

O M G For those of you who have been to Glastonbury, bear with me as I try to describe the experience to those of you who haven’t yet been…
It’s not a music concert.
It’s more than just a music concert.

Katie and I enjoying one of many ciders [photo thanks to Sam Hawkins]

It’s about what happens when 180,000 interesting people descend upon worthy farm and take over. The kinds of people that include; families, freaks, hippie fanatics, crazy theatre-types, gypsies, entrepreneurs, fashion followers, ravers, rebels, singer-songwriters, dance lovers, folk folk, anyone involved in choirs, capoeira, dance troops and drumming groups, jugglers, street performers, night owls, old rockers, and DJs.

Everything is an assault on the senses. It doesn’t stop. The place is divided into suburbs and each area has something to offer. You can get a brilliant thali or falafel if you know where to go. You can be entertained on your way to the main stage, you can shop, you can find out about good causes, about different ways of living. You can loose yourself in the maze of dance music tents at the end of the night and watch the sun rise in the stone circle. Just wander and let the smells, sights and sounds pull you.

The dragon sculpture in front of the stone circle

The highlights for me were; discovering Florence and the Machine, singing with Karen O [Yeah Yeah Yeahs] to ‘maps’, going crazy when the Black Eyed Peas played Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’, eating the best falafel in my life in the green fields, being surprised at how good Bruce Springsteen was, watching impressive contortionists, dancers and comedians, watching the sunrise and sleeping under the stars in the flag field and dancing all night in wellies!