Just back from Glastonbury which for foreign readers is the biggest music and arts festival in the world and a rather special event. We had a Heritage Crafts Association area which was the nicest spot on the nicest field on the whole site, forget the horrendous mud images of the TV and papers we were camping in style.

This  was the view from my lathe

It was great fun this year to have friends along from the HCA to share the campfire with in the evenings, next door Sophie Hussain was demonstrating stained glass and running workshops where lucky folk got the chance to make their own small glass panel.

And here are a few of Sophie’s panels in the evening sun

Guy Mallinson another of the tutors from the “Mastercrafts” TV program brought his gorgeous parachute shelter along and was running spatula making workshops.

One of the great things about working at Glastonbury is that you get to go a few days before the public arrive and enjoy the build up before the chaos starts. It is known for music and there must be 100 stages for live music ranging from the huge main stages with 20,000 in the audience to a piano in a tent, or even in a field.
Many go for the big names from U2 to Beyonce but I love wandering and dropping in on little gigs on small stages. Whilst performances may not have the polished professionalism you get real passion and fun. Top score this year was Mumford and Sons playing a tiny campfire gig for about 250 folk in Strummerville a place where the spirit of Joe Strummer lives on.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlcMT0S9Yfc]
We were there for 8 days and saw the dawn on 5, this is sunrise over the HCA area, Glastonbury is quite a nocturnal place.
 

 The media love pictures of mud and when you get 250,000 people in a field and a shower of rain all those feet very rapidly do bring the mud up. Here are the first visitors arriving.

 And this phot taken from the same spot 48 hours later looking down the hill, these folk are queing for the loos.

Our field is high on the hill though overlooking the site and gets less footfall than most so even after rain it was not too bad. This was as bad as it got, this is Barn who came and helped me and demonstrated spoon carving.

I have lots of happy memories of time spent sat around the campfire with Guy, Sophie and all our friends and helpers, a week away from the computer in a field sharing song, dance and a good whisky is pretty good therapy.

Last two random pics, there is so much to see and do there and I tend to experience it without the camera.

A turf sofa.

Late edit to add this in, whilst the hordes were watching Beyonce pelvic thrusting away on the main stage I was watching Suzanne Vega in the acoustic tent. I last saw her do Tom’s Diner A cappella to 50,000 on the main stage in 1989 an unforgettable experience, this time we were 3 rows from the front. She is still fantastic, the new work was as good as the old and she did a good mix of both. If this is new to you, hope you enjoy it
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNWyF3iSMzs]

Author Robin Wood

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Comments (3)

  3. Jeff July 21, 2011

    Robin,I realize that your Suzanne Vega addendum was not the central thrust of the post but thank you so much for highlighting that version of Tom's Diner. I had only heard and seen the original version and always though of it as a dance tune, completely missing the lyrics. In this version, she is acting out the song, in a very limited way, giving subtle visual imagery to the lyrics. The words are now free to paint the picture that she originally intended. We actually listen with attention. Genius.

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