Glastonbury 2011 – Musical fun and a lot of mud

NOW I have managed to get the mud out of my clothes and the flies out of my tangled hair, I have been able to reflect on my first Glastonbury experience.

And it is fair to say the whole five days were exactly what I had expected – and a whole lot more.

Having watched the festival from my sofa for the last 15 years, I never imagined I would actually make it onto those iconic fields one day.
But I did!

Well known for being a weekend full of rain and mud, this year was no different. But once I had gotten over it and pinched myself to remind me of where I was, I soon found out what it is that makes the Somerset festival so special. Just the variety of people who go there makes it amazing. Whether you are young, old, black, white, stylish or trampy – anything goes at Glasto. And there is something for all tastes.

Even if music is not your thing, there was an indoor and outdoor circus, poetry corner, speakers corner, meditation tents, yoga tents, saunas, arts and crafts workshops, massage tents….the list really does go on!

I could have easily spent a few more days there and brought out the inner hippy!

Even the music line-ups this year were more diverse than ever.
Dance, rock, folk and pop all made it to the main pyramid stage over the three days and we were all introduced to new musicians we wouldn’t normally listen to.
Just on the Friday, me and my festival buddies were rocking to Biffy Clyro on the pyramid stage one minute, then jammin’ with reggae star Jimmy Cliff the next, raving with Chase and Status a few hours later, before finishing off with a sing-a-long to U2.
And it is this diversity that followed throughout the whole festival, and is why I well and truly fell in love with Glastonbury.

The whole place is surreal. Once inside the perimeters of the fence it is like you are in your own little Glasto world and I couldn’t believe I was finally there. I had actually made it, and I was even getting to see Coldplay as headliners too!
It was unreal.
More importantly it was one more thing ticked off my ‘things to do before I’m 30’ list, and one that I will never forget.