A volunteer's perspective (Glastonbury Music Festival)

Member Name: NatLlamaFarmer

Product:	Glastonbury Music Festival
Date:	04/07/00 (10 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Working and seeing your distresses

Disadvantages: Not enough time to do it all

Yes it rocks. Yes I loved it. And no, the toilets were horrible but with exceptions...
My first ever Glastonbury festival was in a word fantastic. I volunteered to work 16 hours for Mid-Somerset CND'S info point by the Other stage, by far the best stage this yearand as a bonus I got to see some great bands while handing out programmes, guides, condoms, directions ( mainly to the Pyramid, Bank, nearest loo and the Orange mobile phone shop) and friendly advice.
I strongly reccomend voulunteering at a festival if you're generous enogh to give up some free time and you may even be rewarded with a free ticket, a small gift or purely- a favourite of mine- staff toilets which are kept relatively clean.

Few people I had met experienced the Theatre shows and the new bands tent but I strongly advise a visit. Unsigned and new bands such as My Vitriol, Elliot Smith, Flaming Lips ( not so new) and co.uk were amazing and gathered the attention of those especially camping near gates 1 and 2.
I was lucky enough to see all of my favourite bands and breifly meet Roddy Woomble from Idlewild between working, shopping, cooking and meeting up with friends.
My festival survival advice is to plan who you want to see, where each place is ( often you have five mins. to get from one side of the site to the other in HUGE crowds ie. at Moby)and use the rest of the time to chill in Greenfields, The Garden of Tranquility, The Hare Krishna Tent, the healing field or at the outdoor cinema's and theatre. The best thing to do is to study the programme, plan your day and night, meet some friends, have fun, dance and don't forget to eat.

One complaint though, after seeing the fantastic Feeder,the crowds cheering and Grants begging why did BBC not broadcast their set that was allegedly filmed much to fans approval?

Take loo roll and plenty of cash, its THE best shopping city and cram as much into your weekend as poss!

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