Long time no blog! I was going to write after I came back from Glastonbury, but I spent the rest of the week packing up all my uni stuff as I have now officially finished my first year. Ridiculous how quick the time has gone! Now I'm busy packing up my actually house because I'm moving there too... so I've managed to grab a quick minute to finally write a few words about Glastonbury.
To sum up, it was AMAZING! It was my first time, and as much as I didn't particularly enjoy the rain and the mud, I got used to it and it really didn't bother me that much. Although it did pretty much double all journey times, which was a bit of an issue considering it takes at least 40-50 minutes to walk from one side of the site to the other WITHOUT mud. Netherless, I think the size of the festival is part of its beauty. The only other festival I've properly been to is Reading, and that seems so tiny and restricted in comparison.
There's so much freedom and so much variety on offer at Glasto that it's pretty impossible to get bored, something I found a problem at Reading. If there's no band on you want to see, you can take a visit to Greenfields and be healed, get a salsa lesson or go watch a show in the Theatre Field, to name but a few. I know it's been said a gazillion times, but some of the best things at Glastonbury are found by chance. On the Thursday, we were on our way to Shangri-La, and we stumbled across a World Record Attempt for the biggest Twister game at one time. We stumbled across the Salsa lesson by chance as well as a few comedy shows in the Cabaret tent. It really is better to just plan a few things you want to see, rather than plan every detail.
The stand-out act for me is a bit of an obvious choice- Beyonce. We managed to get a spot about 3/4 rows from the front, and there's not much else I can say about from...she was INCREDIBLE! I knew she would be good, but I wasn't sure how she would interact with the crowd, or how the crowd would respond. But it just seemed to work really well, and as much as people will say "she's not the type of act to headline Glasto" etc etc, I think she's exactly what the festival needed.
My other highlights included Coldplay, The Midnight Beast, who are ridiculously full of energy and very fun to watch, Laura Marling, who was wonderfully modest with a beautiful voice, perfect for a Sunday afternoon, and Mumford and Sons, who managed to keep the crowd in great spirits despite the weather pissing it down. I'm also glad I took the chance of seeing Pulp. Although I'm not a massive fan, they really entertained me, and I'd definitely recommend seeing them.
There are a few others that I really enjoyed, and some acts that I'm gutted to have missed, but with Glastonbury, it's impossible to see everything! There were also some people who I was disappointed by, such as Plan B. Yes he was really good, but it felt a bit flat, and I wasn't as excited about his performance as I expected to be. The same for Patrick Wolf, although unfortunately this was down to the fact that his microphone seemed dodgy and I couldn't really hear what he was singing. I think I would have enjoyed it more if it had all been working properly.
So that's my flash review of Glastonbury. I could write a lot more, but I don't want to bore anyone! Quick tip: never ever buy a 2-man pop-up tent for 2 people if you like personal space and keeping completely dry. Despite that, Glastonbury is a festival that I'd always recommend. See you in 2013!
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