Then I went to Glastonbury festival as a plus one. This was the first festival I have done where I wasn't working but got to reap the benefits of the crew camping. Without having to be anywhere at a certain time I was able to wander freely through the massive city that is Glastonbury Festival.
We arrived on the Thursday carrying all of our stuff (2 backpacks, our 6-man tent, air bed, sleeping bags and juggling equipment) and were dropped off on one side of the site but needed to be on the complete opposite side. The mud was so thick and sticky it took us two hours to walk across the festival to where we were going to camp. Once we got there we were tipped off to a lovely camping area called the secret orchard where we found the perfect place next to a beautiful tree. It was only later when I saw the alternative, where all the paying customers had to camp and use the toilet did I realize how damn lucky I was.
Glastonbury festival has a completely different demographic to any other festival I had been to up till this point. There were far less families. There seemed to be more students and adults who were really intrigued by getting as intoxicated as possible. There was such a sensory overload the last thing I wanted was a stimulant of any kind. The crowd seemed less generous as an audience since they could just walk away at any point and go see something else. Then again the acts were of such high quality their attention span probably had more to do with their sobriety level than anything else. There is something for everyone, all 200,000 people. I would guess a lot of people that go to Glastonbury aren't festival goers in general but go to Glastonbury because there is nothing else like it.
On the whole I would much prefer to be at a small chilled out festival with pot smokers than a huge, overwhelming fanfare amongst a bunch of loose cannons who haven't slept and pumped themselves with stimulants. That being said, all festivals are truly magical places, no matter where you go you can find a little gem of a moment, or a peaceful corner to have a intellectual conversation with a complete stranger. There is something incredibly human about camping in a field, ceasing to shower and just taking in the art, performance and music around you.
