Well, I’m officially a Glastonbury convert. The plan was to go the once just to say I have been there, done that and got the t-shirt. But six months down the line, I can already picture myself sat at a computer continually hitting refresh along with half of the UK making sure I get tickets to Glastonbury 2010.
What surprised me most is how much more there is to the festival than the music. Other festivals I have been to also have multiple stages and entertainment around the site, but I could easily go to Glastonbury and spend the whole time in the surrounding fields and I am sure many people do just that. From having my aura cleansed and trying my hand at pottery in the relaxing hippy Green Fields, to watching the bizarre and fascinating shows that the Theatre and Circus fields have to offer, to partying the night away in the weird and wonderful Shangri La and biker town of Trash City.
Luckily we got there early and had very experienced guides to show us all these sights on Wednesday and Thursday, so I could catch a lot of the music over the weekend. While the headliners were great, my musical highlights of the weekend were some of the day acts. For instance in the heat we climbed what seemed like miles (uphill) to the Park Stage to catch Noah and the Whale to join a small but enthusiastic audience. The crowd included a wedding party who gave half the audience balloons to let off like confetti when they played a song called Rocks and Daggers (which is a much happier song than it sounds!) while starting a giant cancan - great fun. And it’s great to stumble up to bands that I have not heard of such as The Johnny Miles Band, a blues act we saw for no reason other than chance of being one of the first bands of the day and while they are opposite of the type of bands I tend to listen to they were fantastic.
And if this wasn’t enough, I wasn’t let down by the big names, Kasabian, Franz Ferdinand and Lily Allen didn’t disappoint. Especially Blur, who I caught merely as I didn’t really like the Prodigy, but were fantastic by bringing out songs such as Tender that I had totally forgotten about but loved.
Moving on to this weekend and I might pay a visit to a smaller, less known, local festival – The Hanover Day Festival, taking place this weekend in…well Hanover funnily enough! This is an annual event where Hanover Residents come out to celebrate where they live - what a lovely thing to do! This year the theme is “The Hanging Gardens of Hanover” where you’re encouraged to come in fancy dress of flowers, vegetables, bees or however you many want to interpret the theme. While there is music on Saturday night, the main day seems to be Sunday where there are promises of stalls, music and family fun. My lovely niece is coming up this weekend and so I will be happy to brag about where I live by taking her and her mum over to Hanover and having a wander to see what the festival has in store.
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