Thursday 4 July 2013

Hard Work, Music and Sunburn at Glastonbury Festival

Well that's Glastonbury Pilton over and done with for another year.
It was good (and suprisingly dry!), always exhausting but still a great weekend.
 
Quick word of warning - this post is rather picture heavy!
 
Glastonbury Festival
The Rolling Stones
 
 
I meant to post these pictures a couple of days ago but as well as returning to a tip of a house, I also seem to have brought back with me mild sunburn, bad hay fever, a sore throat and an annoying cough - not good.

But hey ho, it's only once a year, blistered feet and a shattered body more than make up for all the cool things to discover and fab bands to see.

Luckily my three shifts working in Pilton village were fairly uneventful - a few lost walkers, some celebrity helicopter watching and a bit of chicken herding was about as exciting as it got.
 
Pilton Village
Sunday lunch? - The entrance to one of the farms on our lane
A very exciting luminous green caterpillar! - Noughts and crosses to while away the hours

Pilton Village
A couple of the smart houses we help look after in Pilton village
 
 
During the weekend we managed to see...
Friday  - Oysterband, Toro Y Moi, Bastille, Dizzie Rascal, Arctic Monkeys, Portishead and Shooglenifty
Saturday - Elvis Costello, KT Tunstall (and Shlomo!), The Proclaimers, Steve Winwood and the Rolling Stones
Sunday - Rufus Wainwright, The Congos, Kenny Rogers, Vampire Weekend, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and Mumford and Sons
 
 
Glastonbury Festival
Vampire Weekend on the Pyramid Stage

Glastonbury Festival
The Proclaimers doing '500 Miles' on the Acoustic Stage

Glastonbury Festival
Mumford and Sons on the Pyramid Stage

Glastonbury Festival
Shooglenifty on the Avalon Stage

Glastonbury Festival
Dizzie Rascal on the Pyramid Stage

Glastonbury Festival
KT Tunstall on the Acoustic Stage

Glastonbury Festival
Mumford and Sons on the Pyramid Stage

Glastonbury Festival
Rufus Wainwright on the Pyramid Stage
 
 
My highlights were:
 
Rufus Wainwright - such a great performance, a good mixture of upbeat and melancholy songs and he was really really enthusiastic interacting with the crowd. He also gave off the (really sweet) impression that he was just overwhelmed and amazed that he was actually performing at Glastonbury!
 
KT Tunstall - a fab atmosphere in the tent and her cover of The White Stripes 'Seven Nation Army' with Shlomo was just brilliant!
 
Shooglenifty - late night Scottish fiddle music which you just had to dance to (even my 60 year old father was dancing!). They were the reason we didn't get home til 2am in the morning...
 
 
We also saw lots of weird and wacky sights...
 
Glastonbury Festival
Tents, tents and more tents - Polar Bear for auction (he's actually an animatronic model from a Carnival float last year) - William's Green totem pole

Glastonbury Festival
Henry the Hoover playing the sax - Arcadia - Some of the stalls near the West Holts stage
 
Glastonbury Festival
Two showman's caravans hidden away in the Crossiant Neuf area
 
Glastonbury Festival
The Pyramid Stage Phoenix!
 
 
It's at night that Glastonbury Festival really comes alive. As well as the main bands on the Pyramid and Other stages, there's all sorts of antics happening in the Theatre and Circus areas, Arcadia and Shangri La.
 
Glastonbury Festival
Flags and crowds near the Other stage

Glastonbury Festival
Anaspitos the tightrope walker - 122m long and 16m high! 

Glastonbury Festival
Lights and beams near the William's Green stage
 
 
Whilst perusing the stalls in the Fields of Avalon, I found the Glastonbury home of the lovely Pretty Nostalgic magazine and their friendly team. As well as a fab subscription offer (25% off and a free copy of their 'Pretty Nostalgic Home' book) which I took up there and then, they were also asking for pretty nostalgic tips from festival goers.
 
Glastonbury Festival
 
 
And the last photo (which I'm sure you're all relieved to hear) - I ticked off another item from my '32 Before 32' list - to walk up to Glastonbury Festival Stone Circle!
 
Glastonbury Festival
 
 
 

6 comments:

  1. Lovely photos! I haven't been back to Glastonbury for years - it got a bit too big and overcrowded for me and I've preferred to go to smaller festivals, but this year's did look like a classic.

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    1. It was good - I think the fact it was dry (which made a nice change!) helped :-) x

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  2. Wow it sounds fab, am so jealous. Is it on next year??

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    1. As far as I know it is on next year - think the tickets usually go on sale round about October time. :-) x

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  3. wow that looks impressive! I love the metal birds they used for decorating! That must be a super fun event!

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    Replies
    1. It is fun! It's a huge event with (I think) about 130,000 people attending. The metal bird on top of the stage was good - he moved, flapped his wings and breathed fire! :-) x

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