Lets talk mud and music!

Glastonbury is one of the longest running festivals in England, based in the heart of Somerset. It’s a festival filled with a variety of contemporary art and music but in all honestly its complete madness and filled with such a wild variety of acts.

In summer 2016 i experienced Glastonbury behind the scenes by working as a steward at the festival. I volunteered with the charity Oxfam and had to work three 8 hour stewarding shifts as well as being able to have some free time.

Now if Glasto is famous for anything, it is mostly for the mud, and oh boy was there plenty!  It poured down for the first two days and i ended up  basically living in a swamp. It was so wet that my so-called waterproof tent got drenched and i was sleeping in a pond for the week. Wellies became 10x heavier due the amount of mud clinging to your boots and to my belief the portaloos were actually cleaner then the festival itself.

I’ve been to a fair few festivals in my time so being able to experience Glasto behind the scenes was quite different. I had previously gone to mainly music festivals for the line up, but Glasto isn’t just about the music. It’s about the people and the stories behind their art. Between stewarding shifts I explored with my fellow oxfamily and despite being there 6 days i didn’t manage to see everything. There was just so much to see and do. The best parts were the little gems hidden away in fields or forests untouched by the festival audience. One day off we took it upon us to try to see everything and we found a meditation circle, a thermal spa in a forest, university lectures taking place, tattoo artists  a tap dance class and so much more random things. I never thought all this stuff could be at a festival.

 

Apart from the wacky acts, we have to talk about the music. As mentioned earlier, because this festival is more than just the music, the line up is not for everyone. But, never the less it was still a great lineup. I managed to watch ELO, The Lumineers, Bastille, Skepta and many more. For me though i have to give a special mention to Cold Play. Oh my god, i am still speechless. The performance they gave was incredible, Before the show they handed out bracelets across the festival which lit up during their performance with different colours at different times. It was incredible to see the entire crowd like millions of multicoloured fire flies. My heart was filled warm with happiness. They put on such a great show and ofc their music are all hits. They did a special mention to Viola beach who were an upcoming band who unfortunately died in a car crash. They also got the found on stage Michael Evis to sing with his children. Watching Coldplay wasnt like just watching any old performance it was like being part of an experience. They were definitely a highlight of the weekend.

I went last year and it was the wettest in 10 years!  Luckily all the festival goers this year have great weather!

What other festivals do you know around the world?

 

Sophiemagsx