MY, OH MY! How quickly a year flies!
It seems just like yesterday since Stevie Wonder brought down the curtain on Glastonbury's 40th birthday celebrations.
But the time has come to make the journey to Michael Eavis' Worthy Farm in Pilton once again.
Even by Glastonbury standards, last year's festival was particularly spectacular. Not only was there the anniversary aspect but we also had a full week in which not a single raindrop fell.
It was, in fact, the first totally-dry Glastonbury since 2002 and so wishing for a repeat performance from the weather gods is rather optimistic.
Nevertheless, my hiatus from this blog for this year's festival looks like being pretty extraordinary again.
For, I will not only be attending Glastonbury - but also three further days of music on the following week at Hyde Park in London.
The reasons for this, in my head at least, are three-fold. Firstly, by paying for Hyde Park tickets, the number of clashes at Glastonbury is vastly reduced. More on this below.
Secondly, attending more gigs is the perfect way to banish the inevitable Sunday night Glastonbury blues which I have not avoided yet in three previous visits.
And, finally, there is no Glastonbury Festival next year so splashing out on extra music now seems especially worth it.
The fallow year was actually meant to be this year but with resources such as portaloos and security being taken up by the 2012 London Olympics, it made more sense to delay the recess.
So what exactly will I be looking forward to see at Glastonbury 2011?
Well, for a start, the Pyramid Stage headliners are U2 on Friday, Coldplay on Saturday and Beyonce Knowles on Sunday.
U2 will make a belated return to the festival, having intended to play last year until pulling out due to a back injury to their front-man Bono.
Coldplay are also making a long-awaited return to Glastonbury, having last played there in 2005, while this is Beyonce's first appearance, coming three years after her husband Jay-Z headlined.
To be honest, it is far more likely that I will spend the last hours of Sunday at the West Holts Stage celebrating good times with Kool & the Gang over a few last pints of Brothers cider.
I will have already spent a fair bit of Sunday in front of Pyramid anyway, waking up to the sea-shanties of the Fisherman's Friends before watching Don McLean and Paul Simon on the afternoon.
On Friday, I intend to make visits to the Park Stage for Jenny & Johnny and Big Audio Dynamite before a long evening stint at the Pyramid for Morrissey and U2.
And, on Saturday, I will probably be back at the Pyramid again for the likes of Stornoway and the Gaslight Anthem.
However, I would like to get myself around the site a bit and, on Saturday afternoon, I will combine some real ale and folk as Thea Gilmore's version of Bob Dylan's John Wesley Harding is followed in the Acoustic Tent by Pentangle.
And, of course, I would hope to indulge in some Glastonbury traditions by attending Tony Benn's talk at the Poetry & Words tent - if there is room - and by seeing to a bit of Billy Bragg on Leftfield.
Then, there are the visits to the Green Fields, the Stone Circle and the plethora of late night areas, now operating under a new one-way system. I am a little skeptical about those new plans but it is intended to improve access.
By way of a disclaimer, this itinerary is not for definite - nothing ever is at Glastonbury where there are constantly plenty of distractions. But the schedule is perhaps more definite than in other years.
The reason for this is that the number of possible clashes between the various acts has been vastly reduced by my choice to extend my trip by attending Hyde Park on 30 June.
There, I will see a one-off gig by Arcade Fire, Mumford & Sons, Chase & Status and the Vaccines - before returning there for the Wireless Festival on 2-3 July.
At Wireless, I expect to see the likes of Pulp, the Chemical Brothers, Devotchka, Yuck, Fight Like Apes and Katy B among many others.
And so it is no surprise that, right now, I feel like a kid at Christmas and simply cannot wait to get going. I think Millie the Micra and myself are in for the most fun we have ever had.
No comments:
Post a Comment