For the benefit of those considering going someday, or who want a semi-interesting read this was my experience. Really fucking amazing time, and it was very sunny on the weekend!!! The sets I saw are the ones in blue for those skim reading.
Wednesday and Thursday
Arrived at 4-5ish and camped in Michael's Mead (not too far from Pyramid stage and Dance Village). Took a little exploration and then settled into some drinking and smoking. After night fall me and 2 other mates cained off the ketamin I brought in a quick rotation and then attempted to walk from the tent and made it 5 paces before getting glued to the floor. Spent a few hours without moving or talking in that position, nodding to the other guys when they went by, with 1 of my mates talking on the phone a bit about us aligning our spaces parallel to each others.
After that we did manage to walk around and get to know the site a bit. Thursday was more walking and getting burnt in the sun at Stone Circle, got a gram of coke but later it rained and the condensation from the tent seeped it and ruined it because I left it on top of a cd case, so big waste of money. Saw a couple of djs later but it was so wet and horrible and the dance village so busy I was starting to lose the faith.
Friday
This was the day it really kicked off and got busy. I failed to see any bands early in the day due to how long it took to get around the site in the mud to charge phone and other errands. Did hear a bit of Kate Moss from my camping spot who sounded as awful as you'd expect.
First act I saw was
Bashy, first half of his set was singing along to rock which was bollocks, after that it was ok. After this we moved onto
Lupe Fiasco and Jazz World, he was pretty good on stage, did some good tunes but looked like a bit of an idiot standing there saying 'Fuck Bush, Fuck Mugabe, Fuck the Democrats, Fuck the Trade Unions' (actual quote) without any real message, between tracks.
Prepared some MDMA bombs at my tent then went to the Dance Village to catch a bit of
MGMT. They sounded awesome and it was the first example of a crowd really hyped up as everyone sang the tune to 'Kids' loudly for some time after their exit.
After that we walked to
The Count and Sinden who I have to say were one of the top acts I saw. Absolutely smashed it, a really eclectic set combining electro, dubstep and all sorts with 3 mcs changing around, including 2 fit as girls. The Count did all the effects live and looked on point.
After this it was
Dizzee Rascal, the first time I had seen him astonishingly. He was hyped, Semtex really on form on the decks, pussyole and sirens were amongst the best tracks. My only major beef is not with the act but the fact Franz Ferdinand went overtime pushing him back which meant I missed most of
Booka Shade who I was looking forward to equally - big big dissapointment for me. I saw the last 2-3 tracks of Booka's set (which I've heard on radio since - incredible) and it seemed immense, the crowd almost rioted after he didn't do a 2nd encore. After this I just saw a couple of random dnb djs in the silent disco till about 5-6am.
Saturday
Got up and about fairly early and saw
Bassclef put down some dubstep in the small tent in the park, really cool and did live effects using a whistle and trombone with one of those pointed sound distorters. After that
Toddla T did a really cool and seamless 2 hour mash-up of bashment, dancehall, dubstep, dnb, bassline, grime and hiphop; his switching beats around Dizzee's 'pussyole' was really impressive.
Then headed to the Other Stage and saw
Neon Neon's set. It was impressive, particularly towards the end and very weird! There was one point when Har Mar Superstar (bit of a legend) sang a whole verse from the handstand position when Gruff Rhys was sitting down on a chair behind him in his shades and woolly hat nonchalantly reading a glastonbury event guide. All part of his on stage persona!
Went to catch some of
Ghetto's set on the way to the park, he was pretty good but not seeming completely at home during the sun at Glastonbury. Got to the park and saw
Kool Keith and Kutmaster Kurt - all I can say is Keith is one of the illest hiphop lyricists on the planet! He started to appear a bit too normal but got into the weird Dr Octagon tracks later at one point finishing a tune with an acapella 'shit on your shirt and piss on your dressing', really good set.
Took a time out and regrettably missed SMD and Roni Size, then went to the Pyramid Stage with the aim of pushing through the crowd during
Amy Winehouse to reach the barriers in the centre for Jay Z. Amy was a lot better than I anticipated, got really into her set and was fairly close during the boxing match but couldn't get a clear view of it.
Jay-Z was the big one of the weekend, we were pretty central and only 3 people away from the barrier - a good effort I would say, and it was pretty mad with grown men having to be lifted out of the crushing force of the thousands of people jostling for a better view. His entrance was classic, did the wonderwall pisstake then out comes the gold chain and 99 problems on the spot. His off the cuff freestyles, use of British tracks and rap in British slang were something special and there is no way anyone can criticise him after that set. Rap Legend. Was really blown away by the visuals and the band - was a blinding drum solo at one point.
I was too fucked and exhausted after this experience to see anyone, went to Audio Bullys but couldn't force myself to enter and returned to my tent before my legs collapsed in on themselves.
Sunday
Was pretty gash throughout the day, saw a bit of
Neil Diamond who sucks, then
Dengue Fever at the QH who were quite good and I'd never heard of them before. After that watched
Mark Ronson's live set with the man himself on guitar, Ooh Wee was my fav track but apart from that there was little hiphop and mainly playing to a young commercial crowd with all his remakes but still enjoyable. My mate I saw jay-z with spotted Lilly Allen with pink hair crying on the Saturday night, I didn't see her but believed him and a few others didn't. It made a lot of sense when she came on stage unexpectedly, rocking her classic dress and nike air combo with pink hair and dedicating a song to her Gran who passed away the night before.
Saw a little
Leonard Cohen after who was piss poor on stage, no presence. I've not listened to much of him before so it was extra boring to stand and see an old man sing with little else to say about it. Probably being harsh though, he is 70 or something.
Caught the last 3 songs by
Solomon Burke after listening to the footy, my friends all saw him and wouldn't stop saying all night about how much I'd missed out. Apparantly he got rolled out on his wheelchair with 4 scantily-dressed stunning girls on his arms and then put in a throne. I enjoyed what I saw and the crowd were going mental, sounds like he still has it all.
Then had to choose between all the Sunday headliners and the group split between The Verve and
UNKLE with myself going to the latter. Saw 3 tracks and was not blown away at all, very lifeless, no one dancing and you couldn't even see the stage through the smoke - pointless set. Made the sensible choice and went to
Groove Armada, like I should have in the first place, who absolutely tore it apart on the Other Stage. Superstylin' was one of the best tracks I saw all weekend, danced madly despite my body's exhaustion and there were flares going off in the crowd everywhere.
Then went dance village for
Kissy Superstar's live set. It was piss poor, he tried to mix phantom pt 1 with some cheesy rock song and it was just a mockery. Then just danced to reggae as much as my body would allow till 3-4ish.
That was it, a fantastic weekend. Biggest regrets were not seeing Booka Shade, Massive Attack or Benga/Skream but can't complain with my experience music wise. Probably could have gone more all out on Saturday/Sunday and stayed up longer but I didn't do drugs and my body was saying enough after endless hours of constant walking, dancing and standing.
can see how close to the front we were for jay-z, in an 80+ thousand crowd
flares going off in the crowd when Groove Armada closed the Other Stage on Sunday night with 'superstylin'
A view of the site, it's really huge and impossible to fit into one picture. Someone told me it's 4 square miles.
one of me for good measure!
