Glastonbury 2023

Dreamweapon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120783832#Comment_120783832

But when the debit cards are Revolut/Wise/N26 etc. that actually have UK IBANs and can facilitate payment in Sterling without issue, i just don't get it. I'm not expecting anyone to know the ins and outs really, it just frustrates me.

TenPicnics

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120783984#Comment_120783984

I got through basically using one ancient phone, refreshing regularly until the hallowed page appeared. Read somewhere if you're using multiple devices and browsers all trying to connect with the same registration code it can confuse their system trying to respond to you and you can lose out. Don't know if that's true, there are many stories about how to increase your chances on the lottery day.

Ferris_Bueller

Yeah the main put off for me over the years has been gambling on the weather. It has rarely ruined a festival on me before (although there have been a couple it heavily impacted) but forking out €1k+ all in to gamble on the weather is the only thing that has made me hesitate in the past. In the years it has been a mud bath, was there particularly torrential rain during it or was it just a wet few weeks in the build up to the festival?

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120784503#Comment_120784503

I think both.

I think some years it has rained a lot in the week before but been dry enough for the festival so it results in sticky mud like 2016 maybe.

Other years it has rained over the weekend which results in very wet mud like 2007.

I actually think the ideal weather is cool, dry, overcast with some sun.

Heatwave weather is as energy sapping as muddy.

You can do it cheaper than €1k though.

Tickets are £335 (€389) - you could cover food, drink and travel for €211. So maybe €600 altogether.

That's assuming you already have a tent, wellies, sleeping bag. etc

The Nal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120784015#Comment_120784015

Sleeping bag and this camping mat

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07N4KK854/ref%3Dppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

MadYaker

*Long post warning*

I'm not going to bore people with the ins and outs of getting there and the costs etc. If people want to know they can send me a PM. I arrived on site Wednesday around 2pm, was through the gates and had my tent up by around 4:30pm. We camped in Darble I think, near gate D. It was fine. As the years go by I'm less concerned about camping spots. It's so huge that no matter where you camp you're miles from somewhere. I was the last of my group of 10 to arrive so once I was setup we headed off for a wander to see what was new / different etc. They've cut back the music on Wednesday post covid so we ended up on the hill watching the fireworks which is always a good start. I had an early night after being wrecked from travelling and I knew it would be last bit of decent sleep until Monday night.

Thursday had more stuff on, loads of the late night dance areas open up and there's music until 3am. My target was the new Levels stage in Silver Hayes for the run of DJs. Palms Trax b2b Jobs Jobse was my first gig / set of the weekend it was awesome, huge crowd there and perfect groovy sunset vibes from the two lads. After them came one of my finds of this years festival, a live electronic music duo called Paranoid London. 2 guys with drum machines and synthesisers and a vocalist. Imagine some funky acid techno with a guy throwing down some Rick James style vocals on top of it. Absolutely bonkers but it works so well, they tore the roof off the place (if it had a roof). They did a second set on a different stage on Saturday morning from 4:30am until 6 which I was also at. Also caught Eats Everything over at The Park and then back to Levels for VTSS who was also excellent, more techno but different to Paranoid London, less groovy and more banging. They improved Silver Hayes massively this year, it used to feel like an afterthought but now it's somewhere you aim for the new Levels stage is like a smaller version of Tomorrowlands main stage, really epic.

Friday started off with Ben Howard on Other Stage who was a bit dull but he was followed by The Hives who are anything but dull. They had proper mosh pits going up the front and the whole place jumping. Really great energy from them, putting much younger bands to shame. I also ended up watching Carly Rae Jepson on the same stage because I was hanging around with my group since there was nothing on that I wanted to see. It was a high quality performance of music that doesn't interest me at all. I was expecting backing tracks etc, but she had a live band and is a good vocalist. It wasn't boring. Then it was back over to Pyramid for The Foo Fighters. Another band I don't love but Dave is a lovely guy and the atmosphere in the field was great. It's very safe middle of the road dad rock. Not that exciting but it was good to see them back on the horse after what they've been through. Dave pops up everywhere now though. He's the new Chris Martin of Glastonbury. I had wanted to see Xavier Rudd who was playing in The Avalon tent at 8pm but I didn't make it because I went back to Silver Hayes to catch a fellow Galway man known as Kettama doing a b2b set with Ewan McVicar which I wasn't really feeling so left after not too long. Then it was time for a trip back to the tent to stock up on various supplies / whisky for the night ahead. My headliner on Friday was Arctic Monkeys but they were boring as fcuk. Alex has rearranged all the songs which makes them sound totally different. People around me were trying to sing along to Snap out of it but the way he sings it now is totally different so nobody could and it just totally killed the atmosphere stone dead. The new tunes are dull as dishwater live also, not festival music at all and id consider myself an Arctic Monkeys fan. So I ditched AM (and my group) in order to head to Four Tet on IICON in the Block9 area. IICON is one of my favourite stages at the festival now. It was incredible when it first appeared and they improve it bit by bit every year. Stunning 3D projected visuals and gorgeous flowing bouncy house / techno from Kieran. He's one of my favourite artists, plays multiple sets at glasto every year and I get to as many as I can. I think after this I linked up with my group and we wandered off towards the south east corner as Paranoid London had another set at 4:30am on a new stage called Now/here which I was keen to be at and it was awesome even though it was broad daylight. The music was done when they wrapped up and all stages closed but I had still had energy and the remains of a blunt left over so I made my way to the stone circle for a smoke with all the other people who weren't ready for bed. It's a 45ish minute walk from there to my tent so got to bed at around 8am after picking up some breakfast on the way. The people serving me breakfast had a good giggle at me, not sure why.

Saturday was a hot one. I have one of the Quechua Fresh n Black tents and I couldn't do a festival without one now. As hot as it was I managed to sleep until about 10am in darkness which was good enough. There's a place near West Holts I discovered a few years ago that does breakfast smoothies with oats, honey, yoghurt and loads of fruit. One of these with a dash or two of whisky in it is the perfect Glastonbury breakfast and it sorted me right out. Then it was off to Rick Astley on Pyramid. I had never taken this guy seriously before, we all know the meme, rickrolling etc but this guy is a consummate performer and a great vocalist, you can tell he feeds a lot off the crowd and I thought he absolutely nailed this slot. Packed field singing Never Gonna Give You Up was one of my unexpected highlights of this year. We were all very sweaty after dancing in the baking sun of the pyramid field for an hour or so so once Rick wrapped it up we went off to find a bit of shade for a sit down. We decided to head towards Woodsies stage (formerly John Peel) because theres a wooded area there and I wanted to catch The Murder Capital playing in the tent. Some technical glitch meant they were very late starting but when they got going they were excellent, the front man is brilliant and the music is proper post punk, loud and energetic, no fcuks given. We hung around this stage for a while because we'd heard Rick Astley and Blossoms were doing an hour of Smiths covers which had us intrigued after he'd already smashed it on the Pyramid. I'm glad we did, because after Elton this was my gig of the weekend. You can tell he's a massive Smiths fan and he absolutely nailed it. I'll never forget the sound of thousands of voices echoing around that tent singing There Is Light That Never Goes Out, one of the best gigs I was ever at, amazing. Next up was Lizzo on Pyramid as a few of my friends wanted to see her. I know who she is obviously, wouldn't have gone out of my way to see her but she was enjoyable, the crowd were loving it. Our Headliner that night was Lana Del Ray which turned into a bit of a car crash. She was half hour late due to being backstage getting her hair done, according to herself. Then she seemed to think that she could play the full set as normal which obviously wasn't going to happen and predictably, they pulled the plug on her. I did have some sympathy as her entire set seemed very heavily choreographed with the props etc and each song was meant to follow into the other, so she couldn't just drop 3 or 4 songs from the middle because it wouldn't have worked. This didn't matter much to me because I was planning on heading back to Silver Hayes for Helena Hauff followed by Daniel Avery on The Lonely Hearts stage. This was an awesome 3 hours of music. Helena played an incredible electro / techno set all on vinyls but you'd swear she had a tonne of gear up there with the sounds she was able to create out of two turntables and a mixer, a true master. Avery was as good as always. Started very ambient then a bit bouncier and then it descended into proper heaving techno. He finished up at 3am and I headed for south east corner because Skream was doing a set at 4:30am that I wanted to be at, don't remember it very well tbh, too much whisky that night.

Slow start to Sunday. My feet and legs were sore by now, after several days of so much walking and dancing. The first bit of music I made it to was Cat Stevens on Pyramid. Thankfully it was cloudy today so not as hot as Saturday and I could just lie down on the grass and listen to this legend playing a good few classics that I actually recognised which surprised me. He finished at quarter past 4 and then I abandoned my group once more so I could leg it to the Park Stage to watch Viagra Boys. Best mosh pit I was ever in, people crowd surfing all over the place including the frontman. If you don't know these guys you need to look them up, the lead singer is a sight to behold on stage. After that I wandered towards West Holts because I wanted to see a bit of Barrington Levy who I really liked the sound of but I missed most of his set. He finished not long after I arrived then it was back to the tents to stock up once more before the grand finale. I'm not an Elton fan, I never listen to him, but this gig was special. The party atmosphere in the field was unmatched. I enjoyed Paul McCartney last year but this was better. It was proper party from start to finish. There was a bunch of scousers beside us who we didn't know, but by the end of the night our groups had become best friends, sharing drinks / smokes / food etc. We bailed out of there before Rocket Man ended because we didn't want to be stuck there for hours and needed bathrooms badly. My target after Elton was Daphni (of Caribou fame) doing a DJ set on Levels in Sliver Hayes at 1:00am, this varied from very groovy and danceable to a bit weird and stop startish but overall I enjoyed it. He wrapped up at around 3am and I made my way to The Unfairground in the south east corner. This is a sort of a nightmare carnival themed area with various venues including one called Bez's Flying Bus where Phil Hartnoll of Leftfield was doing a DJ set until 5am. This was amazing fun, this guy is older than my dad and he absolutely killed it, I can't even describe what he was playing, I think I heard a weird Michael Jackson remix at one point. Music runs until 6am on Monday morning at various stages in the south east corner but once Phil was done I headed for bed as I had to be up at 9am to make it to Bristol airport in time for my flight. When I got home on Monday evening I slept from 7 pm until 1pm the next day. It wrecks me more and more each year but boy is it worth it. It's always such an incredible experience with memories that last forever, I had some top class food as well, special mention to Taste of Tibet. Ate there 3 times and they were selling a cook book which I bought for my mother. That was my Glastonbury 2023, for me I think it was one of the more memorable ones, but maybe I think that every year. That's probably full of typos and missing words (I'm dyslexic) but I'm not proof reading it so good luck.

Rfrip

Jesus I’m loving all the review posts!

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120788829#Comment_120788829

Great write up.

I've heard "The Levels" new stage to get great reviews elsewhere.

You're definitely more of a dance music fan than rock and seem to survive on little sleep.

I think the Elton John gig will go down as one of Glastonbury's greatest.

Also funny you managed to befriend a group of scousers since everywhere says Glastos full of them.

Happy to hear you enjoyed it.

MadYaker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120789290#Comment_120789290

There's plenty of time for sleeping the other 360 days a year.

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120789319#Comment_120789319

Have you noticed overcrowding this year or last?

Lots of veterans have reported it, moreso last year.

MadYaker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120789343#Comment_120789343

I personally wasn't caught up in any bad crowds but I did hear some horror stories, mostly after Pyramid headliners. We made it to the Glade in about 15 minutes because we bailed out of Elton while he was halfway through Rocketman. Maybe it was worse for people who hung around. I did read about some bad experiences on reddit. It's probably something the festival organisers need to think about.

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120789359#Comment_120789359

I think it was more queues for toilets, water, food and also around the SE corner.

dasdog

Nice one @MadYaker - obviously decent broad taste in music you have. I probably would have gotten lost trying to find LTJ Bukem among the late night slots.

Good call on Viagra Boys. My brother reckons he was the oldest person at their Olympia gig earlier this year said the place went mental. Seeing them later this year myself. Saw their set on the iPlayer and it was one of the better ones.

MadYaker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120789539#Comment_120789539

They are kings.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHqZDWk0FdA&ab_channel=BBCMusic

MadYaker

Few random photos, last one is just before Elton came on

Stillill42

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120789723#Comment_120789723

Ah brilliant, @MadYaker. Great pics, loved the review. Fair play to all of you who made it over. An exquisite marathon. I'm exhausted reading about it.

MadYaker

The 2 baldy fellas at the decks is Paranoid London haha, that was around 5am

Basq

Whew.. few busy days since I got back and needed some recovery time, but another great festival IMO!

Wednesday:

Settled about 7pm and just wandered in - grabbed a very decent chicken wrap with halloumi at back The Other Stage.

Few drinks, fireworks, bit of a wander around Silver Hayes and an early night.

Thursday:

A mighty hot day and grabbed a lovely shaded area upstairs in Avalon.. lots of pints / Pimms / mojitos on board.

Wanted around for the evening dipping into various tents and bars.

Tried Anna Mae's Mac N Cheese.. overrated beyond belief!

Friday:

Honestly, out of the 6 Glastonbury's I've been to.. Friday was a belter of a day for music IMO.

Caught end of The Hives who were unbelievably busy for second act of the day, but were full of energy and crowd were loving them!

Lightning Seeds were also very good. Ian Broudie's voice still sounds incredible.. we opted to move not long after Three Lions started though!

Texas were also brilliant and Sharleen's voice still is holding up. So many great tunes and weather was perfect. Sound was a wee bit iffy at times though - but always a risk at Pyramid / Other I find from speaker stacks due to the slightest bit of wind.

The Churnups / Foos were brilliant as always, but was too short a set.

Fred.. Again was good but hard to fully enjoy due to a messy crowd around us who wouldn't shut the f*ck up for the entirety. Watched it back on iPlayer since and enjoyed it more.

Hot Chip who are always reliable delivered in spades at Woodsies. Sore legs and back going in were quickly remedied with a boogie!

Saturday:

Bit more wandering on Saturday.

Sat outside Woodsies listening to Wunderhorse - quite like their debut album but was all to warm to really enjoy their music, so just lay in the shade.

Watched Tom Grennan who was good fun.. excellent voice on the lad. Music not for me, but a good show man and put on a helluva performance!

Watched the first 15 minutes of Lewis Capaldi but was a shame to watch him clearly struggling on stage. All the best to the lad and hope the time off does him well. Great voice and presence!

Watched first 20 minutes of Manic Street Preachers who still sound excellent, though a few in our crowd wanted to move on to see..

Lizzo - not really for me. Don't particularly enjoy her music and was all a bit too over-the-top... maybe that's the nature of her shows but wandered on after a hour ago.

Grabbed a very decent Jerk Chicken wrap from around West Holts... nyom!

Up towards The Park and Bimble Inn for a few pints of Guinness (grand by the way!).

Stayed on for Leftfield who I might watch back on iPlayer but bit on the heavy side for me, and then Fatboy Slim who was great fun.. good crowd loving it and really got the place going.

Wandered down to Silver Hayes for a bit of a look.

Sunday:

Dragged my group to Black Country, New Road on West Holts but was a bit too mellow to open a Sunday afternoon, so think I was the only one that enjoyed.

Caught end of Teskey Brothers - who sounded very good - and the start of Dermot Kennedy who wasn't really for me.

Wandered towards Pyramid to stake out our place for Elton. Watched Blondie (Debbie's voice was pretty atrocious unfortunately) and Lil Nas X who seemed to be another extravagant show but not for me.

Elton was just brilliant - voice still fantastic and despite a few sub-par guests (Stephen Sanchez?), was just hit after hit after hit. A very memorable closer to the festival full of singing and was great to see him.

Took about 75 minutes to get home through crowd - went around back of Pyramid via San Remo / Silver Hayes and took about 75 minutes to get back to where we were staying.

All in all - a great festival.. after 6 in a row, definitely might knock it on the head for a few years though. Maybe some European festivals next year!

Few observations:

• Always find it incredible how well run it is in terms of traffic management... I did see complaints about Orange route but bar 2015 traffic / 2016 mud, we've always sailed in and out. Maybe we've been lucky!
• The crowds coming out of Elton were veering on dangerous at times.. to be expected I suppose and maybe not much that could be done though.
• Didn't think much of Carhenge.. always loved the vibe of Williams Green and think it's a step in the wrong direction IMO.
• Levels stage in Silver Hayes looked fantastic!
• Stayed in Sticklinch.. shower situation was pretty ridiculous (twice the amount of cubicles for women and far longer queues for men etc), food choice was poor with long queues. Wouldn't be in a hurry back being honest.
• Card machines at vendors/bars were incredibly unreliable - took 200 sterling with me and was almost out of it by Friday morning.
• Absolutely no reason to run out of T-Shirts on the Friday... maybe an limitation due to agreement with bands to sell their merch though.

youcancallmeal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120784503#Comment_120784503

On the Friday morning in 2007 I remember having the weirdest dreams I was sleeping on a water bed that had a leak only to wake up realising there was torrential rain and a river of water was flowing under my tent. At the end of the day it would've been a better weekend without all the rain and mud but we still enjoyed it

MadYaker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120784503#Comment_120784503

I wouldn't be too hung up on the weather. My first glasto was 2016 which was a mudfest from start to finish and I absolutely loved it. Obviously sunshine is better but for me adverse weather certainly didn't ruin the experience. Plus it means you get moments like this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8O81B6ZK8WA&ab_channel=GraemeFalcus

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120791261#Comment_120791261

Good write up.

I've read on other forums about card machines charging more.

It seems intentional cos an extra zero was added on to price. For example £12 would be charged as £120.

Looks like taking advantage of unsuspecting drunk people.

It's basically robbery.

MadYaker

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120793689#Comment_120793689

I was wary of this. I paid cash at bars and food vendors all week.

Basq

Definitely a good point on potentially trying to overcharge punters on card.

Did keep card transactions to a minimum - and noticed nothing specific - but was nice to have the option to pay via card.

Lots of places would take cards but were "cash preferred" too presumably to waive fees for transaction and faster processing too.

Used Revolut myself, which does push notifications to phone/watch on a transaction so is useful to keep an eye on things.

But yeah, next time definitely I'd bring more cash but can't remember as much of an issue other years.

Anyways, enough rambling there..

Dreamweapon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120793689#Comment_120793689

That's why cash is king.

If a food vendor only accepts card they may get my business once but not a second time. I prefer to have a choice.

Wooderson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120784223#Comment_120784223

All good.

"This notion of not having done a real Glastonbury if you never experienced the mud is nonsense."

Enjoying/surviving a really wet year at Glastonbury will test the mettle of most. You're different, love that for you. After 97 I didn't go back until 2004.

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120793689#Comment_120793689

Most likely an urban (rural?) myth about the card overcharging. The odd error but a sustained rip-off agenda by staff is almost certainly untrue.

Personally I almost entirely use cash anyway, far easier to monitor my spending. Several machines down at Glasto last year so cash required anyway, the three bars by West Holts never seemed to work.

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120794589#Comment_120794589

Fully agree. I didn’t experience any mud at all for the first 25 years I was going. No idea how I was so fortunate. The first hassle I had was after the light (but persistent) rain in 2011 that lasted for several hours through BAD, Radiohead & U2. It meant the ground got churned up pretty quickly.

Tough going getting around after that but dry and sunny so not a bad experience. I’ve still not had a really bad year (it’ll happen) and when I do I’ll be taking a break. It’s hard enough already without being soaked all day and having a wrecked tent. But I’d be back and I’ll never stop going.

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120794928#Comment_120794928

It seems legit. I can't remember where I read it but 3 people got overcharged on separate occasions.

I think it was a clothes stall though.

Seathrun66

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120795443#Comment_120795443

Until there’s proof, or solid reportage, it’s entirely anecdotal and dubious anonymous posting.

Every year at the Electric Picnic we have reports of overcharging. What actually seems to happen is human error where people get both over and undercharged by bar staff with poor mental arithmetic.

Take stuff like this with a pinch of salt.

orangerhyme

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120795634#Comment_120795634

The customers will have proof on their bank statement, so it's up to them to seek a refund.