What a fantastic festival Glastonbury 2022 has turned out to be!
(Photos by Sara-Louise Bowrey / Festival Flyer) – links below to previous days.
Let’s get some of the common grumbles out of the way first.
Those who did bother to take the time to post on social media from the festival over the weekend typically seemed to do so for the explicit purpose of having a good old British moan.
The crowds are too big!
Ummm – it’s an enormous festival… so yes, there will be big crowds. Get over it.
OK, so they sold more tickets this year, but the additional numbers were only really noticeable at a few pinch points because as bands finished everyone decided to leave all at once. Simple answer, sit back, relax, or leave the field through a different exit to all the other sheep. West Holts was a good example. Everyone wanted to leave via the exit at the back next to the loos. If they’d headed out the back to the circus and theatre fields there was far less crowd pressure and people might have seen a part of the festival they had missed.
The bands playing are not the bands I want to see
This is one I have never understood. Glastonbury really does have pretty much everything going on somewhere. No – it’s not Download, so don’t expect Slipknot or Metallica (although who knows what might pop up as a surprise in the Rabbit Hole latye at night…), but when at any given time you are only watching one band and there are probably 80 others performing at the same time I can’t believe that not a single one of them would get your toes tapping.
The festival isn’t what it was when I first came in 1987
Well, no, it isn’t, but what has stayed locked in time for the last 25 years?
Those of us that certain age might get all misty-eyed over Glastonbury posters from the late 80s and early 90s, but remember this is a festival of the ‘contemporary performing arts’, so whilst a few sets from Tofu Love Frogs, Gaye Bykers on Acid, CUD, or Carter USM would put grins on our faces, they probably wouldn’t mean much to the majority of the under-30s crowd.
It is a lot more organised than it was back then… less chaos that’s for sure. And whilst those days might have seemed a lot more fun, they probably were also a lot more risky.
You can still find little festivals that still have that sort of edge if that’s what you want – but in todays heavily licensed and controlled world we have to accept that a festival the size of Glastonbury simply wouldn’t be allowed to go ahead without appropriate safety and security measures in place.
Previous days’ coverage
Sunday bands that rocked our boat
Anyway, all that aside we spent our Sunday doing what we love – checking out the music that so much of the festival is all about…but at the same time remembering that there is so much more to see and do.
Sadly, you can only be in one place at a time – which is why our motto is ‘the festival is where you are right now‘.
Sports Team – John Peel Stage
One of our ‘must-see’bands of the festival, we have previously caught the band at Bigfoot Festival – one of the very first post-pandemic festivals (although one which sadly got hit by this year’s low ticket sale symptom of rising living costs), and on the roof of the impressive 1920’s architectural landmark that is the Bexhill De La warr Pavilion.
We knew from the strength of those shows that it was a safe bet this opening set at the John Peel Stage would attract a big crowd… and our money down at the bookies would have seen a nice return, because the tent was full to capacity and there was little room to move between the seated crowds outside either.
Alex would have fallen flat long before this YouTube moment if the crowds had been thin…
Warmduscher, Park Stage
Praying at The Church of The SubGenius, Warmduscher hit The Park Stage dressed in those white boiler suits that give them a slightly Devo-esque look.
While they may sport two of the most bored-looking backing vocalists on the planet the band are an electric shock jolt to the system for anyone who was feeling they were on their last legs after the last four days of heavy festival action.
Their songs are firmly rooted in the ‘genre with no name’ that is possibly best described by Spotify as ‘New-No-Wave’.
Whatever it is called – we love it and the bands who are helping us to dance to its rythmn.
Mik Artistik’s Ego Trip
Mik pretty much epitomises the spirit of Glastonbury for us.
His music is delightfully daft most of the time, but every so often it carries a poignant message that strikes a real chord.
He and his band tour the site performing anywhere that will have them…and whether he has a full tent or a sparse groupe of people lying in the sun it matters not one little bit.
Every show is as passionate and engaging as the last.
And then there a stack of main stage artists who we don’t need to tell you anything about – go check their sets on iPlayer if you weren’t there…or indeed even if you were!
Sunday Glastonbury photo gallery
Pictures by Sara-Louise Bowrey / Festival Flyer
Monday morning – on the way out
That hill on the east of the site isn’t called ‘the hill of death’ for nothing.
