Viva Glastonbury!

Hello, Glastonbury! We're back from the greatest festival on the planet although it still feels like we've left our heads somewhere in a field in Somerset.

On Sunday 18th June we travelled down to the West Country, spending the night in a Premier Inn in Glastonbury. Too excited to sleep we rocked up at Worthy Farm on Monday at just after 8am and were sited and all set up by 5pm. We spent the evening on one of the crew campsites with friends, wrapped in blankets and drinking wine under a starry sky.

On Tuesday we had a leisurely morning, making the most of the deliciously warm traders' showers, which we knew we'd probably not get a chance to visit again, and hanging out with Stuart, a long-time friend who travels as part of our Kinky crew. We opened the shop, made a few sales (including us, there's over 56,000 workers on site before the gates open to the general public) and caught up with our festival family. The rain was torrential for around thirty minutes but the rainbow we spotted gave us hope that the forecast for a mini heatwave was true.

Later we joined Stuart and Steve (another of our long-time friends who volunteers for traffic management) and headed up to one of the many crew-only bars dotted around the site. We settled on the Peg & Pitch at Arcadia, home of the infamous fire-breathing spider. He looks rather benign before the festival opens, doesn't he? 

Glastonbury's gates open to the 200,000 ticket holders at 8am on Wednesday and the noise from the press helicopters hovering overhead had us up early. Back in the days of being regular punters we'd spend Wednesday lazing around on the campsite, drinking cider and sleeping, knackered from the 4am start, pitching the tent and the hour each way return trips to the van for our gear but there's some hardcore folk out there and by lunchtime we were already doing brisk business, so much so that we only took one photo all day!

Just before midnight Stuart's partner Kim and their daughter Lily arrived, the Kinky Crew were reunited after a year apart.

Thursday was scorchio, much to the disappointment of the media who do love a Mudfest headline. 

Although many of the stages don't open until Friday, the bandstand on William's Green is rocking from midday onwards. We couldn't believe it when we turned up to trade for the first time in 2019 and discovered that our pitch was directly opposite. It has the most fabulously eclectic music.

Former buskers, Showhawk Duo draws a huge crowd every year. Lord Jon filmed this from our shop front. 

Bristol-based Bhangra band, RSVP were also phenomenal and had hundreds of people dancing in the 30°C heat (including us). 

Jon can't resist playing around with the stock. Check out this snazzy two-way top, I found it when Liz & I went shopping a couple of weeks ago. It was worn at the Commonwealth Games 2022 Opening Ceremony by a member of the dance group Critical Mass and was soon snapped up.

That's Nichola who I bonded with at Glasto 2019. Kim's the babe in the Elton John sunnies (this year's Glasto big thing). Both their dresses were snaffled from the Kinky rails (Graz, if you're reading this, you'll recognise both Kim's and mine!)

It was a cracking day and by closing time we'd covered our costs and were in profit - yippee!

Friday saw Hawaiian shirts and sequined bustiers at dawn, already another scorcher of a day! Recognise the skirt? It was a gift from Ann & Jos when we met up the previous week. 

Another fabulous day spent selling, chatting, singing & dancing. How fabulous does Nichola look in her feathered capelet and Rosa Bloom leotard?

When we closed at 10pm we didn't fancy joining our crew to see The Arctic Monkeys who were headlining the Pyramid Stage. Although their Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not is in my top ten albums of all time, their live shows always feel a bit flat so we gave them a miss and headed to West Holts to see the goddess that is Kelis, visiting Carhenge, along the way.

Set into concrete for stability, this installation featuring vintage cars are Glasto's homage to Stonehenge and are new for 2023. 

I was so hot I threw off my sequinned top and danced around to I Hate You So Much Right Now in my sequined bra.

We met up with the gang later for drinks in the shop. That's one of the many joys of trading, having our private party pad!

Without wanting to sound like a cracked record, Saturday turned out to be another scorcher. I bet the gutter press were livid. After a brisk morning of trading, Stuart and Kim took over, leaving Jon and I to do some socialising and roaming. 

We caught a bit of Amadou and Mariam's set over on the Pyramid Stage - they've played at End of the Road before and they are just so joyful and upbeat.

We joined the ravers at Silver Hayes. 

 

And caught acts on both The Lonely Hearts Club & BBC Introducing stage. For those of you who've never been and think Glastonbury's all about the Pyramid Stage, it's so not. There's over 120 stages as well as circus, cabaret and a cinema.

Listed as The Churn-ups, The Foo Fighters were one of Glastonbury's infamous surprise acts, we were in on the secret (friends in the know!) but were sworn to silence.

We know more people at Glasto than we do in Walsall.

Later Steve joined us for the Guns 'n' Roses set but, like me, isn't a fan & asked when they were going to play Livin' on a Prayer. They were pretty good but although I loved their cover of Live and Let Die and Dave Grohl's guest appearance, I can't say I'm in a rush to explore their back catalogue. 

Somehow we ended up in the mosh pit at the front. People at Glasto are so lovely, they just let us through.

The couple above got loads of attention, as did we. Lots of people wanted a selfie with either me or with Jon (there's still some diehard Charlatans fans out there) whilst others thought we were hanging out with Dave Grohl.

Once again the evening ended back in the shop, munching on Indian snacks, trying on the stock and drinking until the early hours.

Traditionally a slow day for trade, Stuart and Kim minded the shop whilst we joined Steve for Cat Stevens/Yusef's Sunday afternoon Legends slot.

To be honest, other than Morning Has Broken which I think every child of the 1960s sung at school, I didn't think I was familiar with any of his songs but I recognised - and sang along - to almost every one. At 75, his voice is sublime and he's such a genuinely lovely man. We agreed that he was our festival highlight, some true Glastonbury magic. 

Back at home I read so many comments about how awful the crowds look (always posted by those who've never been). When we're watching an act on one of the stages and look up at the big screens overhead it does looks like utter madness but when you're actually in the thick it, it never feels overwhelming, just utterly incredible, buzzing with love, joy and energy. As Emily Eavis said in an interview the other day, Glastonbury is a huge temporary city which never fails but to bring out the best in people. In all my years of going I've never encountered anything but kindness. Forget reports of litter, queues for the loos and abandoned tents or that its too commercial, too expensive and it ain't like it used to be, the atmosphere is truly astonishing and it really is the best festival ever.

After rolling down the shop front for the final time we headed to the Pyramid Stage for Elton John's set.

 

Neither Jon or I can call ourselves fans but like the many thousands were intrigued by who the four special guests might be (Brittany, Dua Lipa, Harry Styles, Kiki Dee?) and felt that we needed to see what Elton claims to be his last ever performance. It was standing room only but the sequin-clad crowds parted for us and we were able to squeeze ourselves into a tiny gap and watch the show.

In the end we'd only ever heard of one of the guests....The Killers frontman Brandon Flowers...which got both Kim and I squealing with excitement. I've read comments from people who watched the BBC coverage at home and claimed that Elton's voice had gone, I've no idea if it had or not, all I can say was that we were there and had the time of our lives and the party continued back at the Kinky tent until way too late.

On Monday we said our emotional goodbyes to Stuart, Kim, Lily and Steve before we set about packing down. Traders aren't allowed to leave until 6pm so we took it slow and steady with plenty of stops for non-alcoholic refreshments. After being given the go-ahead from the events team, we embraced our trader mates and set off. It took just over two hours to get off site and we made it to Gloucester Services just in time for me to snaffle the last vegetarian pie finally getting home just before midnight, welcomed back by a very excited William.

We're off to recharge our batteries, eight days of hard work and unbridled hedonism is exhausting!