Thought I’d jot down my thoughts on this year’s festival, bit of a long post(s) as my one from two year’s ago also was on here and using Spotlight’s trip review format to break it up a bit. Hope it’s of use / interest!
Dates you were there:
Wednesday 26th June – Monday 1st July, 2019
Where you stayed:
Worthy View. It’s the officially sanctioned pre-erected camping just south of the festival site. Stayed there when I went for the first time two years ago and used the excuse that the wife was heavily pregnant so needed a few home comforts to get her through. This time we just liked not having to trudge for ages with all our kit, hot showers, decent toilets and a bit of space and (relative) quiet to recover in. I fancy a crack at the free camping at some point but will aim for a quieter area. Pennard Hill (near the late night corner), Big Ground and Kidney Mead (camping areas overlooking the Pyramid Stage) filled up by Wednesday late morning which I find crazy and people’s tents are literally overlapping there, not appealing.
Highlights:
Different experience to many this time as my cousin, who lives in Belgium of all places, decided to have their wedding on the Friday of the festival. After much deliberation and google mapping I convinced the wife to go to the festival then drive early Friday AM to Belgium, attend the wedding and after party (both great fun) then get up again very early Saturday AM to get back to Glastonbury for early afternoon. Hell of a challenge and did leave one girl open mouthed in Arcadia when I regaled this little adventure to my friends after we returned. Other than missing the whole of Friday here’s a loose breakdown day by day:
Hernan Cattaneo and Nick Warren in the Glade. After spending much of Thursday afternoon in the Park area listening to the DJs there and Silver Hayes (the large dance music area by the Other Stage) it was great to get to Glade for a pair of old pros on a major outdoor system. Tony Andrews sound engineering throughout, brilliant clarity and power from the speakers and some quality progressive tunes, seamless mixing (of course) and a proper set rather than the stringing together of tracks heard elsewhere. Unfortunately had to get to bed before John Digweed came on as had to be up a few hours later to drive to Belgium.
Silver Hayes has a real eclectic mix of genres coming out of its half dozen or so stages, lots of interest here on Saturday. We warmed up nicely to Artwork playing disco then Denis Sulta (never been to a set of his before) moved in a housier direction around sunset, enjoyed it. There’s far more underground, challenging stuff here across the weekend though – Afro-electronic collectives, mutated hip-hop styles and all sorts. I flicked about between some of these but they’re not my style so never kept me there for long.
Chemical Brothers Saturday night headlining the Other Stage. Although the lack of banks of speakers here (unlike the Pyramid Stage) and us being further back to avoid the really busy crowds meant we didn’t get the full force of it. Nevertheless, Galvanise was pretty epic, the new tracks slotted in nicely and the visuals were worth it alone.
Arcadia with their new Pangaea structure, essentially a repurposed loading crane from Bristol docks. Missed the techno focused Friday unfortunately but Eats Everything and Fatboy Slim played a tougher set than I was expecting on Saturday which was welcome and it’s still well-suited to big and bold DnB as on Sunday night. This thing is really going to come into its own in a few years time when they start bolting on extras to the main structure as they did with the Spider. At some point there’ll be something dangling off that crane as it swings around and if it’s on fire or shooting out electricity that’s going to be a lot of fun.
Block 9. Much bigger and better than previously, London Underground has gone, owing I think to it never getting a consistent crowd in there. This has meant more space for Genosys (the outdoor stage) and a reorientation which made it easier for us to get closer to the action. Haai played an absolutely fantastically heavy set of tech boomers here. I’ve heard her in residency at Phonox in Brixton so didn’t expect her to play so tough, loved it though. Caught the end of Josh Wink on the Sunday too and think I might have missed out by not being there for the whole lot. Genosys is a brilliant idea, very well executed but the new stage, IICON, is just unbelievable. Hessle Audio here put the 3D sound system through its paces, although I think having the speakers arrranged in a massive circle means searching out sweet spots for some. Have a look at videos to get a sense of the staging, they won’t do it justice though. We were all awed by it, one of the group thought it made Tomorrowland’s winking owls and ticking clocks look silly, I agree. What a thing to come up with, build, then put to use for just 4 nights in a field.
The invention and scale of the whole SE Corner puts the Silver Hayes area and its collection of DJs-in-tents into the shade, in fact there can’t be much out there globally that measures up to it. The Common’s new Samula stage alone is better than most I’ve seen at other festivals / events and that’s just the secondary stage in one sub-section of the Corner, crazy. Shangri-La must have 6 or 7 stages with diverse, challenging lineups that rival most other festivals just by itself.
Sunday at the Pyramid Stage. A very pleasant afternoon here enjoying the weather and drinking a defrosted box of Sauvingnon Blanc. Years and Years were perfectly nice lunchtime pop. I had to hide my face behind sunglasses as I started crying uncontrollably when David Attenborough came on which I’m blaming on lack of sleep and serotonin, Boys Don’t Cry after all (but more on that further down). Kylie drew a monster crowd and was the most cited act of the week as a “must-see” from everyone I spoke to. That was also great fun, you have to love Kylie, even if you don’t like her music, although Slow and All The Lovers stand up as solid pop songs for me still and her megahits were a lot of fun. Miley Cyrus is easy to dislike but I didn’t care at that stage having chinned all the wine and started working my way through everything else, she can sing as well and I was having a great time. Enjoyed Vampire Weekend too, forgot how much I played their first two albums back in the day, Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa has a great singalong chorus and I got down to my pants to dance to A-Punk, which prompted some strangers to join in, great memories. All just a warm-up though for the Sunday headliners…
The Cure. The only performance I insisted on going to throughout the whole week and worth the great expense, missing the whole of Friday, the massive drives through multiple countries, the lack of sleep, all of that, just to be there for this. Monumental. No confetti cannons, no Chris Martin joining in, no one-off covers, just a band at the very, very top of their game. Huge credit also to the sound engineering / mixing, it was absolutely amazing. As was Robert Smith’s voice throughout, Simon Gallup’s bass, especially on the final part of A Forest, the whole of Disintegration, what a song that is live, the 30 minute encore where they played the pop hits that everyone loves except the band themselves. That melody from The Caterpillar could be the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard, finishing with Boys Don’t Cry, I could go on. We’ll miss Robert Smith terribly when he’s gone, thankfully he’ll be around a while yet.
Best place to eat:
Huge variety of options but I maintained myself largely with making big fry-ups for my lot to fuel us for the day then vast quantities of booze. Best that I paid for was the oggie from the Welsh place between Silver Hayes and the Other Stage, very filling and only £5. A lot of the stalls have “food for a fiver” on but didn’t seem like these constituted a full meal.
Money spent:
Tickets are £253 each (£248 + £5 booking fee). Worthy View camping was £575 for a 4 person tent (only 2 of us in it as the other tents sold out in seconds so couldn’t get them but did mean we had plenty of room). Worthy View parking was £45, probably spent about £50-£60 on food and booze at the festival with another £100 or so on that beforehand which we brought with us. Petrol, fancy dress, etc.
Biggest regret:
Missing the whole of Friday I suppose but it really was a beautiful wedding and family comes first. Ducking out also meant a chance to sleep in a proper bed, have uninterrupted, long showers, resupply before coming back in on Saturday with cold beers, ice and meat. So it’s that or seeing naked people trampolining from a distance in the Tipi village and not joining in I regret most or the feeling that no matter where you are there’s always at least 50 other things you could be at and having a great time, except at The Cure.
Going back?:
I think I have to, there is something special about Glastonbury, when they’re old enough I’ll bring the kids along, then it can be theirs too.
Top tip:
I hear lots of the usual festival advice – bring the right kit but not too much of it, stay safe and healthy, all that. Not so much on getting quality sleep when you finally do go to bed. Earplugs, eyemask, a good rollmat (we took our duvet instead of sleeping bags, much better) whatever it takes to make those few hours count. It makes a difference when you’re walking miles and partying for 20 hours a day.