Glastonbury 2025: Hype apart, what’s it really like as of late?

I’ve been trudging by the fields of Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset on and off, since 1987. I am right here proper now, on behalf of Inventive Increase, and I nonetheless completely bloody like it. There, I mentioned it.

However this is what drives me barmy. Individuals who have not been in years will let you know, with absolute certainty, that it is inferior to it was once. They’re going to shake their heads sadly and mutter about the way it’s “too business now” or “misplaced its soul” or another nonsense, regardless of having zero private proof for that view.

Previous patterns repeat

The explanations for this Glasto-hate are often fairly clear. There’s the (comprehensible) resentment in direction of these fortunate sufficient to have navigated the ticket lottery. Or there’s the musical snobbery. “I do not know any of those bands,” they’re going to announce, as if the world stopped awarding cred factors in 1994, and something after that’s nugatory.

Then lastly, there are the rose-tinted spectacles that color the issues we did in our youth, after we had extra power, higher pores and skin and life was filled with promise. This mechanically makes them higher in our minds, even when they weren’t in actuality.

And it is a sample that retains repeating. Once I first pitched up at Glastonbury in 1987, clutching my £21 ticket, the old-timers have been already lamenting the competition’s decline. “It’s best to have been right here in ’83,” they’d say, shaking their heads mournfully. “That is when it was actually particular.” I am prepared to wager that in 1983, individuals have been banging on about how a lot better it was in ’79.

View from the Beeb

Those that’ve by no means been to Glastonbury, in the meantime, are likely to base their view on the BBC protection. Now, do not get me fallacious: the Beeb does an honest job, and I am grateful individuals can watch Pyramid Stage headliners from their sofas. However forming a powerful opinion from that’s like judging London primarily based on the view from the highest of a double-decker bus. You are lacking about 96.7% of what is really taking place.

The BBC focuses on the massive phases, as a result of that is what interprets greatest to TV. However the competition is gigantic, sprawling throughout 900 acres with extra phases, tents and random efficiency areas than you possibly can probably think about.

There are a whole lot of tiny music phases, tucked away in a nook the place somebody’s doing one thing intimate and delightful that may by no means work on a large out of doors set. Then there’s the Theatre & Circus space the place you will bump into a kaleidoscope of world-class performances, by artists from throughout the globe.

There’s Shangri-La, a radical playground that implies a distinct technique to organise the world. There’s the Left Discipline, the place individuals can actually dive deep into political debate. There’s the cinema, the place A-list stars like Ncuti Gatwa, Andrew Garfield and Tilda Swinton introduce the movies in individual. There are dozens of evening golf equipment and dance areas, enjoying all the things from Latino classics to soiled drum & bass. Actually, there is not room to listing all the things right here: the article can be infinite.

So what’s it really wish to go to Glastonbury as of late? Nicely, it is difficult.

The great things

The great things continues to be completely magic. There’s an power at Glastonbury that you just cannot replicate anyplace else; this sense of infinite risk round each nook.

You may be wandering between phases, attempting to catch the tip of 1 band earlier than dashing to see one other, whenever you’ll bump into one thing fully surprising. Like a bunch of individuals attempting to throw tennis balls into the mouth of an unlimited frog statue. Or a large billboard telling the non-public story of a household of travellers.

Final evening, I by chance found a Ghanaian musician known as Ok.O.G at Shangri-La that I am now fully obsessive about. Then I walked right into a knot of people that spontaneously broke right into a rendition of Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Membership. That is what Glastonbury does: it throws random encounters at you continually.

It is all fairly overwhelming. There’s all the time one thing taking place someplace, and the worry of lacking out is actual, but additionally a part of the thrill. You may make snap choices primarily based on overheard conversations, observe crowds down muddy paths, and end up in areas you by no means deliberate to go to. The serendipity is intoxicating.

It isn’t excellent

However let’s be trustworthy: anybody who claims Glastonbury is uniformly fantastic is both mendacity or on some critical medication.

The loos grow to be horrific, fairly shortly: a particular sort of hell that no quantity of chemical blue can masks. I can actually smelll them from my tent as I write this, and it is threatening to harsh my morning buzz. Strolling in and utilizing them is a matter of holding your nostril and shielding your eyes. And God forbid for those who overlook to deliver sufficient rest room roll.

The crowds could be suffocating, particularly when everybody’s attempting to maneuver between the identical standard phases on the identical time. If in case you have any type of incapacity, you most likely will not cope. Heck, most individuals generally will wrestle with the bodily effort.

That is to not point out the infinite, deafening noise. I am camped close to Shangri-La and the thunderous bass would not cease until 4am. I’ve realized to sleep by it, however I am unsure what number of others may.

As superb because the lineup is, the stage clashes are heartbreaking. Inevitably, your two must-see acts might be enjoying concurrently at reverse ends of the positioning. That is really a great factor in the case of crowd management; individuals have actually been crushed to loss of life at different festivals. Nevertheless it’s nonetheless a bummer attempting to decide on between Doechii and Charli xcx, Alanis Morissette vs Gracie Abrams vs Blossoms, Lola Younger vs English Trainer vs Moist Leg…

The mud, when it comes, is famous for good purpose. It isn’t only a bit damp underfoot; it is a malevolent, sucking pressure that may declare your wellies and probably your soul. I’ve seen grown adults decreased to tears attempting to extract themselves from notably treacherous patches close to the principle phases.

Alternatively, if the solar is robust then good luck discovering any shade, or getting faucet water with out queuing for an age. Fortunately we have had probably the most lovely in-between climate for 2025 up to now, however do not count on that each time.

Unchanged spirit

However the concept that this not-for-profit competition, which raises a ton for charity, is now too “business”? I do not purchase it. The worth of tickets may be very affordable in comparison with the price of a five-day vacation anyplace else. And whereas the involvement of the BBC has actually made the occasion really feel extra mainstream, for the overwhelming majority of punters the important spirit of Glastonbury stays unchanged.

It is nonetheless a spot the place bizarre, fantastic issues occur whenever you least count on them. It is nonetheless an enormous momentary metropolis constructed on music, creativity, and the peculiarly British skill to have an excellent time regardless of unpredictable climate and questionable sanitation.

The competition has advanced as a result of the world has advanced. Music adjustments, audiences change and business realities change. However the magic, that indefinable one thing that makes Glastonbury particular? That is nonetheless there, as sturdy as ever.

To those that insist it is inferior to it was once, I would say: you are most likely proper about some issues, and fully fallacious about others. However till you’ve got really skilled it your self, you are actually simply guessing.

So for these fortunate sufficient to attain a 2027 ticket, put together for one thing concurrently fantastic and horrible; exhausting and exhilarating. Simply deliver bathroom roll, correct wellies and a optimistic angle, and you will not go far fallacious.