OFF: Re: Glastonbury Fayre 2002

[Nick Medford]

On Wed, 3 Jul 2002 13:22:30 +0100, Iain Ferguson <IainFerguson at AOL.COM>
wrote:

>Hi,
>
>Whilst I'd like to agree with you. There are a couple of things that you
>need to take into consideration.
>
>Before 1990 and afterwards..

<snipped rest for brevity>

Iain- I agree with you 150%. I first went to Glastonbury when I was 16 and
went every year thereafter until '92 or thereabouts. The last time I went
it was a largely crap experience because of all the kinds of things you
mention. I've never been back since- but having read the reports of this
year's bash I would give serious thought to going again next time around.

It's fair to say that the festival has lost some of its countercultural
edge over the years but this is (to some extent anyway) precisely because
of the growing numbers of those intent on theft and violence. Anyone who
argues that these things lend some kind of "authentic" spirit to a festi is
talking the purest bullshit.

The other point is, whether we like it or not, the old-style counterculture
has been assimilated into the mainstream to a far greater degree than was
ever the case in the 80s. That is another reason why festivals in general
are tamer (by which I mean less interesting, and less of an escape from the
high street) than they used to be, at least in my experience. But that is a
completely separate issue.

Nick M