Glastonbury Blog

There is never quite a shower like the first shower after Glastonbury. The unfamiliar but comforting feeling of hot water on cold, tired limbs is almost worth all the previous discomfort. Almost...

We did very well at getting out, making it onto public roads in little over half an hour. This was in no small way helped by our use of a Land Rover. Two years ago we arrived at Glastonbury to a hail of anti-4x4 slogans. Well, they were notable by their absence that Sunday when it was realised that the festival simply wouldn't have been able to run through the flooding that year without them. So it was today that we were able gently to slide past most other cars that were being towed or pushed (!) out by tractor.

The motorway was being dumped on by a huge amount of rain as we headed back and it was 50-60mph most of the way. It was then that we began to realise, that despite having just endured mud and water for the best part of 3 days, we had actually been very lucky. If Sunday night's downpour had happened on Wednesday this would have been a much tougher Glastonbury.

I think it's nearly time for bed.

I give up. Glastonbury 2007 is over for me. It's nearly 4am and it's been raining all night. I had hoped to see a few more things but, frankly, it's too wet. I hope it stops before we have to take our tents down.

Earlier we saw Pendulum Live in the Dance East tent. They were, as always, pretty awesome but the tent was completely rammed! Perhaps encouraged by the downpour the crowds were there in force and I struggled to get into the tent at all. Nevertheless, the group were their usual fantastic selves.

Trying to find all of our group in the mud proved to be a long mission and we missed most of the Chemical Brothers set; a shame as it was highly spoken of. I now write this in an almost deserted Glade while waiting for a friend to turn up. The rain shows no signs of abating and I'm less than keen to move out into the water. These plastic disposable kagools are essential!

The green lobby may have their dislike of Chelsea tractors but I have to tell you: nothing is moving around here that isn't based on legs or a Land Rover. Mud depth now at 5 inches.

The only downside of mud is that it slows everything down. Walking. Dancing. Getting ANYWHERE!

The Marley Brothers present Exodus on the Pyramid Stage.

Most bizarre conversation I have yet had involved a complete stranger who was telling me how "It's such a shame Jimi Hendrix isn't around to play this year!"

There's still a lot of mud but there are slight patches of sun here and there...

Some groups of Australian aboriginals have a slightly different system for the seasons than other cultures. Instead of four seasons they have six, and often recognise an eight or 9-year cycle of the behaviour of the weather. This latter point is vindicated by the modern day ‘discovery’ of the solar cycle; a variation in the level of activity in the sun that can have strong influences in our weather pattern.

Why the background? Well, the hottest day on record in England was achieved in the summer of 2003. It is therefore almost entirely predictable that four years on we would be ‘enjoying’ a grotty summer like this during a lull in the solar cycle.

So would I not have bothered coming with the benefit of hindsight? Don’t be daft…

Everything and everyone is utterly filthy right now. Mud is ankle high. I'm going to have to clean every single item in my possession with a sand-blaster. I have accepted finally that I smell. And still, no-one particularly cares.

....in the Dance Village.

On the John Peel stage now.

Still a little damp down here.

She's got quite a crowd too, despite the bog-like conditions close to the front.

Ah, not that bad!

I've just checked out my blog to find that the posts I've made in the last two days haven't appeared, which explains why you all think I've been so quiet. Very frustrating. Not sure what's going on but I think my blogging host is having problems.

Quick catch-up: we spent the afternoon lounging by Jazz World with hefty quantities of pear cider. The rain fell in earnest here but we all just put on the waterproofs and got on with the job in hand. Bloc Party played a crowd-pleasing set when the sun came out on the Pyramid Stage as we headed towards evening, then a spirited performance in a packed Avalon tent for Cat Empire. The Arctic Monkeys gave it their all for the headline Pyramid slot then we wandered around Lost Vagueness (once we could get in - it was packed) finding some very lost and vague people.

OK, I admit - it is a little muddy. It can slow us down when we move about but otherwise it just isn't a problem. It's just ... there. We're expecting more of the same for the rest of the weekend. But it's fine.

So, Saturday already. Guess we'd better get up and see what's going on...

Might even dry up that last shower...

Everytime the sun comes out it meets with an enormous cheer from the assembled company. It's not THAT muddy...

The field of Lost Vagueness is just plain weird. Between the burlesque shows and the "Grand Travelling Insect Circus" lies "The Chapel of Love & Loathe". This lifesize replica of a church comes provides all manner of semi-holy ceremonies from marriage to divorce and all the fun in between...

Other attractions in Lost Vagueness include a ballroom, an exclusive casino (with a dress code), a 24-hour American diner, a butler service and, of course, the slightly confused feeling you'll have when you leave...

We've just been drenched by a heavy shower. No-one cared; they just put on their plastic macs and carried on dancing.

I mean, what's a bit of moisture between friends?

Bring it on...

It had been a full five minutes after I poked my head out of the tent when it started to rain. It's not the rampant, anarchic drenching of 2005 but a gentle, constant affair that has the potential to really moisten things up.

But calculating the mud is complex. You must take into account the amount of rain, length of the shower, number of people walking about, ability of the ground to absorb the water, drying capacity of any sunshine and, frankly, whether we care how muddy we get or not. And we don't.

Blame for this weather must surely go to Norweigan folk band Adjagas who started as the first band on the main stage just before the rains and are still on now. Apparently they were set to open the festival in 2005 until the flash flood took out half the site. It must be an omen...

The number of people at Glastonbury this year has been extended from 150,000 people to 175,000 people. In practical terms this means that the site has expanded from the size of a town with the population of Dundee or Swindon to one comparable with Norwich. In any case, the Glastonbury Festival still has more people than notable towns such as Exeter, Cambridge, Oxford, York or Ipswich!

(No, I don't know the population of British towns off by heart - I looked it up before we left!)

On a related note, here's a picture of some aliens asking a local bobby for directions.

The Jazz World flags on a beautiful summer's evening. Were you expecting rain?
We are. Tomorrow...

Mud? None so far. Sorry... :-)

Thank you to everyone who sent message gloating at the impending weather. Yes, it has just started raining properly. No, we couldn't give an Arctic Monkeys...

When I woke about an hour ago there was a slight shower but as yet we haven't ventured out to see how muddy it has made the ground. It'll be fine. Really...

It never ceases to amaze me how near to the toilets people are willing to pitch their tent. If the risk of flooding doesn't get you the smell might... Or, in the case of this structure near The Park, you might just decide to build your own biosphere and be done with it.

The Stone Circle has again given rise to another magnificent mythical wooden animal. Can you guess what it is yet? 

With base camp established it's time to explore. The Park is a new area in the south-west of the site organised by Emily Eavis, daughter of festival founder Michael. There are a few new stages and more camping space but, as yet, few people in it. Most likely this is simply because it's new and no-one yet knows it's there, but if you're coming much later than today it may be the best place to be as space opposite the Pyramid stage is non-existent. Another frequent feature of the festival is the spontaneous cheer than moves around the site like a Mexican Wave. One has just gone past and doubtless there'll be another along before the evening is out.

We arrived on site shortly after 1pm to find the place already packed. This is the view of the Pyramid Stage from high on the hill. Yes, unsurprisingly after last festival's drenching we are making sure we stay away from low ground. As my father was once told: "If you remember one thing about water, remember that it don't run uphill."

Making it here from the car park was hard enough. I weighed my stuff before we left and it was 50kg! I wonder what a Royal Marine has to carry...? Two hours later and we are still setting up tents for our friends. Hear that, you lot? I hope you bring beer! :-]

The festival began for me at around 9pm last night when I arrived a friend's house and began to relax. Everything is packed and ready to go. If it isn't, it's too late now. Most importantly: ticket and tent. Everything else can be managed to a greater or lesser extent.

One of my friends has borrowed a load of suncream and now believes his efforts were ... optimistic. From yesterday's bright sunshine we have moved to grey and cloudy bleurgh. The question for some days has not been if it will rain but when. The various weather forecasts have been extremely changeable and there still seems to be an argument between the various websites as to what will happen. So far we are predicted only "showers" but these can be "thundery", "light" or "fire and brimstone". Only time will tell.

It's now 9am and we're setting off. Let the chaos commence...

I was just in the supermarket when the lady in front of me at the checkout turned and said "You look like you're off to Glastonbury". I was stunned; what gave it away? Was it the 18 cans of beer, the waterproof clothing, the 6 boxes of cereal bars, the pack of energy drink, the batteries, the wet wipes or the disposable cameras? No. I think what did it were the two boxes of flat packed toilet paper. Yes, I know we are supposed to be given some free at the festival itself but at 3am when you gotta go...

The sun was shining as I left the supermarket and has been all day. It was just like this in 2005 when a glorious Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday gave way to a hideous Friday morning and a dubious Saturday. So it is this year, with rain and thunderstorms forecast (often with glee by those not coming).

With any luck we should be there this time tomorrow. With any luck...

All eyes now turn to the weather with next weekend just about in range of the 5-day weather forecasting abilities. And the outlook for Glastonbury Festival is … wet. Constantly wet. Something like 80% cloud for 80% of the time. Bah! More annoying than the mud itself, which is fairly annoying, is spending £50 on a solar powered device which aims to charge the batteries of my various mobile devices (PDAs, games consoles, GPS units etc. – or in this case just my mobile phone). Not going to be much help if the sun doesn’t shine! All of which is a shame because the Solio that I now have is actually quite good. I left it in the morning sun in an east-facing window which could only have got about 6 hours of sunlight over two days (and not even particularly bright sunshine either). This was enough to give an iPod mini a 75% charge. There is one caveat though: “expectations”. I have found that the Solio is perfect for devices that require comparatively little power like an iPod, or one of those monochrome Nokia phones that go for five days without a charge. For higher-powered gadgets like BlackBerries, PDA phones or PlayStation Portables you may be disappointed because the Solio’s internal battery just isn’t as big as those on the power-hungry machines. I’ll find out after this weekend whether there was any point in buying one at all. If only they made rain-powered phone chargers…

I write this sitting in a service station somewhere in southern England as rain lashes the car park and those smokers still brave enough to risk a puff get drenched. The weather is one of those 'big' issues at Glastonbury, along with the state of the toilets, ability to find your tent and - oh all right - the bands.

The BBC forecast for Glastonbury town is rain-or-hint-of-rain every day from now right up until Wednesday, at which point we are promised "sunny intervals". What comes after that is almost anyone's guess as weather forecasting is a notoriously difficult art / science over just a five-day period; over ten it's almost impossible. So a drizzle during the proceedings is almost to be expected.

Rain isn't always unwelcome at Glastonbury Festival either. During one particularly scorching year we had a little shower which cooled things down a little, brought the dust under control and provided just enough moisture for comfort without bringing on the dreaded mud.

It's always better to be prepared though, because after all there isn't an awful lot you can do to control the weather. Michael Evis tried in 2005 with some bizarre contraption that was meant to blow away the clouds. And that didn't work very well, as those who had to swim out of their tents on Friday morning will confirm!

Mmm, it's looking a bit brighter now...

With any luck, this time in a fortnight we will be nearing the hallowed fields of Avalon and the Glastonbury Festival. An appropriate time, then, for my ticket to arrive in all its multi-coloured glory.

Funny thing is that after all the fuss about getting a picture onto the tickets, you can hardly see the face at all! I guess it was always more about dissuading the selling of tickets than anything else.

Like some drowning swimmer, going down for the third time, the Glastonbury ticket purchasing ... er ... experience finally has had its swansong today.

A "small number" (we know not exactly how many) of standard and coach tickets went on sale this morning at 9am, having come from the tickets returned by people in April (including me, having reluctantly sent back a coach ticket for a friend who couldn't make it). With no opportunity for a refund at this late stage it does appear that there really will be no more tickets on sale for the 2007 Glastonbury Festival.

Learning from past attempts, this time I was able to get one for a friend (the same friend who wasn't able to get me her reference number in time in April). You see, after many attempts I have now learnt how the Glastonbury web servers decide who they will accept connections from and - being a bit of a techno-geek - am now hopeful I can use the same technique next year.

How do I do it? Well, it helps if you work for a dot-com or other business who have a big, phat internet connection right into the heart of the UK network. I guess this means I'm going to have to work for this company until I don't want to go to Glastonbury any more. Ah well, never mind...

On that subject, I have only 11 days of work left until the festival. Getting very, very excited now.

Three weeks to go and the Glastonbury line-up has now been unleashed on an eager world. The Beeb has the low-down here.

Ah, the music. The talent. The sheer energy of so many top-class bands in (more-or-less) one place. I'm not even going to bother going through all the great names there are because any opinion expressed is mine own and you don't care, do you? Do you? Didn't think so. Me neither. Honest!

This is why. The line-up in 2005 was frustrating. Frustratingly good, that is. It caused a logistical nightmare when two acts were on in different places and there was little chance of seeing both. Fatboy Slim was a casuality of my schedule but this was more to do with inches of mud and the correspondingly slow transfer between stages.

And in any case, Glastonbury really isn't about the particular bands. Of course it would be pretty empty without them but everyone who has a ticket as of today has bought said ticket without knowing or particularly caring who is going to turn up. We know it'll be good, we know it'll be fun, we know that we'll probably just end up stumbling around the fields and coming across the Arctic Monkeys, Kasabian, The Automatic, the Kaiser Chiefs or the Killers, but if we can't get close enough to appreciate it we'll just move on through the gap in the hedges and see what's on the next stage.

And that, dear reader, is what makes the variety of Glastonbury so enjoyable.

The BBC have fixed their webcams after a couple of days out of action. And look! The Pyramid Stage is already in position. Looks like the perimeter fence is nearly done too.

Check the link in the top-right.