Every person should attend the Glastonbury Festival at least once in their lifetime! It doesn’t matter if you are a musician, a poet, a lawyer or an ophthalmologist – at least once in your life you should sign up for the tickets’ sale, sit in front of your computer for 2 hours in an online queue, give away your precious £238.00 (or more), and then rave about the fact that you’re going to Glastonbury to all your friends until they can’t take it anymore!

Despite not being among the lucky ones this year, I had an amazing experience at the festival last year and I thought it’d be nice to record my memories in this blog. It’s safe to say that attending Glastonbury was my long-term dream come true, and the fact that I got to perform there was even more mind-blowing! Glastonbury is a truly magical place where people can see all their idols in one place, get caught in the pouring rain without getting upset about it and feel absolutely the happiest even after a swim in the mud (in my case, with a bunch of very expensive equipment).

 

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Just in case you’ve been living under a rock for the previous 40 years and not sure what Glastonbury Festival is, I’ll briefly state that it’s the biggest music festival in the UK organised by probably the most famous farmer in the world, Michael Eavis and his daughter, Emily Eavis. Glastonbury Festival’s been running since the early 1970s and is attended by over 135,000 people on an annual basis. The festival is known for its brilliant variety of music and its amazing headliners, among which, in different years, were such music giants as David Bowie, Coldplay, Jay-Z, Rolling Stones and many more. The festival is also famous for its amazing light shows, cabaret and circus, pyramid-shaped main stage and numerous dance and theatre performances. Whatever your heart desires to find, you can probably find it at Glastonbury!

The adventure begins…

Usually, all the fun begins on Thursday despite the fact that, technically, the festival is open from Wednesday. I woke up extra early to pack a massive bag full of glitter and spare clothes, and after practising how I would carry it around the fields together with all my heavy music equipment, I was ready for the most amazing weekend of my life!

Every festival is always like a quest where you are tasked with lots of things to do and lots of things to find! First, you try to get through the traffic without getting stuck in the mud, and then, after a lengthy search for a parking space, you head all the way back to the main festival grounds almost passing out from carrying your heavy belongings trying to find the correct field where you’re going to camp. It all might sound extremely stressful but I can guarantee that you will never see a sad face at a music festival, and especially at Glastonbury! Any problem automatically turns into an adventure rather than a catastrophe, and this is the true festival spirit at its best!

The fields of Glastonbury are huge, which automatically implies A LOT. OF. WALKING! Once you change into your shiny wellies and leave your car, you have at least a 40-minute walking journey to the campsite along with everything you intend to bring with you. So, here I was, proudly dragging my ten-kilo pedal case, my guitar, a few bags with clothes and food, and a bunch of camping equipment on top. In the process, I almost lost my already not so shiny boot in the mud puddle and managed to turn my brand new pedal case into one big lump of dirt but nothing in the world could affect my cheerful mood from just being there!

After getting through the security, which always takes ages wherever you go, I was officially in! Two more hours of wandering around and involuntary exploring of the premises, and I had a beautiful purple wristband, permission for camping and the most priceless possession – the map of the festival site! The rest of the day was spent building the tent, familiarising myself with the set times and testing out the best routes to my stages to avoid unnecessary walking with my extremely heavy equipment.

Friday-Funday!

On Friday I woke up overdosed with excitement, impatient to start my busy day! My first appearance was due at 1 pm on a little stage of a hipstery shed called The Buzz Stop. As expected, an early set didn’t attract a massive crowd but it didn’t discourage me at all: I was like a child in a candy shop, looking at the world with wide-open eyes and thinking that it was the best day of my life!

Straight after the set I headed to the grounds of the festival’s main radio station, WorthyFM – festival goers’ most invaluable source of important updates, news and secret announcements! I was invited as one of the guests on Suzi Purdie’s live show where I got to chat about my favourite artists and career aspirations and played my debut single “Dance With Me“.

After the show, the business part of my day was over and I finally had a chance to look around. I’d combined a schedule with the time-slots of the artists I wanted to see so I made the most of out my day, and if I were to give one tip for the best experience at Glastonbury, I’d definitely recommend you do the same! Planning in advance where you want to go is essential at a massive festival like Glastonbury because, as fun as wandering around can be, Glastonbury’s stages are placed quite far from each other and you really don’t want to leave it to chance and hope that you’ll just stumble over something fun. If I were to give my second tip, I’d add that before you choose where you want to head next, you should also factor overcrowded paths that move extremely slowly and pools of mud that prevent you from getting anywhere at all! There’s nothing worse than being stuck in a human traffic jam when one of your favourites is on stage.

Friday turned out to be very eventful and I managed to see quite a few incredible artists that I highly admired: the Lumineers, who my perfect openers of the festival; Jack Garratt, a real champion of a one-person band concept; and even Muse who headlined that day and had the most amazing stage illumination I’ve ever seen! As always, due to the unavoidable clashes of different time-slots, a few tough choices had to be made and I didn’t get to see Sigur Rós but overall, I was very content with my decisions and couldn’t spend the day any better!

Time to shine!

Two days at Glastonbury passed but I still had so much to look forward to! On Saturday I woke up even earlier than the day before, bouncing from the adrenaline rush before my most important performance at the festival! After applying way too much glitter and making sure my flower crown stays on my head throughout the day, I headed to the sound check for my show on the Bandstand.

Bandstand is a lovely round stage with a bright red rooftop decorated in flowers. Over the years, it’s become an iconic place that serves as a stepping stone for many emerging acts. Due to its perfect positioning right on a crossroad between 2 very busy paths on the way to the Pyramid Stage, Bandstand always has a huge crowd around it, which is very lucky for the artists playing on the stage because they’re always guaranteed with a big audience no matter the time!

I arrived backstage a bit earlier than I probably should have, worrying that I’d miss my soundcheck getting stuck on a busy path. Stress levels were high and for a while, I was concerned that my nerves might get the best of me making me mess up on stage. This performance felt like a proper highlight of my career and I wanted to do as well as I possibly could! Luckily, by that moment I’ve played quite a few gigs and, gradually, I’ve learned how to calm my nerves before the set and focus on the positive aspects such as my love for the performance itself!

Another thing I always try to watch out for while getting ready for the show is my own level of expectations. I try not to get my hopes up about the number of people that might turn up or the response I might get during the actual performance. It’s impossible to tell how things will go and the second I go on stage I try to just have fun regardless of what’s happening around me.

The time after the soundcheck flew by and here I was right in the middle of the Bandstand ready to get on with my show! The second the music started, the never-ending stream of people walking through the crossroad decided to stop and check out what was going on. A small group of people pausing in front of the stage quickly turned into a big crowd!

I genuinely couldn’t imagine that my set would accumulate so many people! After all, those people were probably heading to the Pyramid Stage to see acts much bigger than mine! I was very humbled by this amount of attention and couldn’t be happier with how my set went! I was even asked to perform encore – something that only happened once before and still gives me this incredible feeling of absolute thrill from knowing that the audience really loved my music!

The best weekend ever!

After the gig, I went on exploring! I saw Wolf Alice on the Pyramid Stage, who surprised me with the sincerity of their performance. Then I moved on to the next stage to see Tom Odell, whose performance I wanted to check out so I could learn how to successfully handle a crowd while seated at a piano.  I also saw The 1975, one of my most favourite bands that I discovered that year and listened to non-stop! The night ended with a beautiful performance from Adele, whose stage presence was absolutely mesmerising and who completely dispelled all the gossip that she wouldn’t make a great headliner!

The official music part of my Glasto-Saturday came to an end but the day was far from ending! After finishing some glitter touch-ups I decided to pay a visit to one of the most popular night-life places at the festival – Arcadia! It’s a crazy construction in the shape of a huge spider that never stops moving and has the best DJs playing all night long surrounded by amazing light- and fire-shows! Crazy acrobatics and surreal installations of aliens are also an essential part of the show. After partying like never before even during my early students years, I headed back to the tent to recharge my batteries for the final day at Glastonbury!

Last day in heaven 

Sunday always feels bittersweet at every festival I’ve been to and Glastonbury wasn’t an exception! Everyone is excited because it’s the most epic day out of the whole programme but they’re also a little bit sad because everyone’s care-free time is coming to an end!

Bright and early, feeling surprisingly energised after a long night out and lack of coffee, I showed up backstage for a pre-scheduled interview to talk about my performance on the Bandstand the day before. Usually, I’m pretty good at asking and answering questions so I wasn’t really nervous about the interview until I found out that, actually, it was a monologue that the host was after. Talking about yourself non-stop for a good 10 minutes with no leading questions or comments to help you stay on track is tough! Being asked to do the same thing on the spot is even tougher! The fact that whoever was around immediately started staring to see what was going on didn’t help either! Until that moment, I couldn’t even imagine that it was possible to stutter 10 times in a brief introductory paragraph and after the most embarrassing 20 minutes of my life I was free to go.

Straight after the interview, I went on to play another set at the Buzz Stop, which was absolutely empty because most people were still asleep after an eventful Saturday and whoever was awake probably went to the main stage to see Ellie Goulding. Secretly, I was wishing I could also be there but I knew I had responsibilities so I played my whole set to a pretty much empty tent.

After cleaning up my poor pedals from a thick layer of mud, I still had a few hours to spare before my next show, for which I was booked very spontaneously based on a recommendation that someone gave about my performance. I decided to take a break from chasing all the big names on the main stages and instead, I spent a few hours I had exploring some peculiar things that the festival had to offer. I popped in to see Glastonbury’s infamous circus and cabaret, got a glimpse of some air-acrobatics and even stayed for a mime performance.

A few hours later I was backstage of the West Holts, all ready for my secret show that was organised exclusively for the crew and the artists of the stage. West Holts was the third biggest stage of the festival and the opportunity to feel connected to it in any way felt like an honour! Playing in front of those amazing recognised professionals of the industry felt a little bit nerve-racking but, luckily, everything went well and what felt like an “industry exam” at first quickly turned into a passionately driven performance that I’ll remember forever!

The business part of my Glastonbury experience was officially over: there were no more gigs to play and no more interviews to give! I felt incredibly grateful for all the opportunities I was given and overjoyed that everything went so well and I showed my absolute best at every performance! After packing the gear, I still managed to catch the ending of Beck’s set and found a perfect spot to watch the main headliners go on stage.

 

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Coldplay was absolutely mesmerising and immensely contributed to my idealisation of Glastonbury Festival as the most surreal experience that you need to go through at least once in your life! Coldplay had it all: sing-along hits, great connection with the audience, amazing light and firework shows, lots of sparkles and a thousand balloons that the crowd kept throwing around! It was an epic ending to an epic festival!

After dancing the night away in the Dance Village, I greeted the sunrise on a hill near the famous Stone Circle like the local tradition prescribed and the whole thing felt very emotional! I had the best time at Glastonbury and I hope that one day I get to return to its gigantic fields and play on one of its amazing stages again! Being the sentimental silly-billy I am,  I purchased a little silver ring to remind me of my wish, so now I better work hard to make it happen!