Glastonbury Festival 2003 Friday 27th to Sunday 29th June By Suzanne

When someone mentions Glastonbury, what do you think of? Long-haired hippies in tie-dyed shirts smoking pot; a musical marathon; a mud bath?

It conjures so many images because Glastonbury is all these things and more. Fortunately for me, this year was merely a mud bath as rain was minimal.

Arriving on Thursday morning we were stopped by an official who wanted to check our car for glass bottles. 'Fantastic!' I thought, 'I can happily wonder barefoot throughout the festival without worrying about spiking my soles. This meant, however, that we had to down the bottle of red wine we'd brought before we could go in. Things were off to an excellent start, spoiled only slightly for me by the lack of adrenaline rush trying to scale the fence and the euphoria of actually being inside Glastonbury (this was the first time I'd paid).

The day passed in setting up tents and meeting the rest of the gang. I had come down with four other people but we were camping with at least another twenty. As dusk fell we explored the site and found a cheery man selling mushrooms. The rest of the night was music, giggling, poi and psychedelia; a fitting start. Friday began for me with The Darkness who I had never seen or heard of before but who rocked the festival wide open. Does anybody know whether the singer reaches those falsetto heights naturally, or is it the tightness of his trousers? I was particularly chuffed as they ended with a stunning cover of Radioheads 'Street Spirit' and being an avid Radiohead fan it made me all the more eager for Saturday night when they would be headlining.

As dusk fell we explored the site and found a cheery man selling mushrooms. The rest of the night was music, giggling, poi and psychedelia; a fitting start.

Friday began for me with The Darkness who I had never seen or heard of before but who rocked the festival wide open. Does anybody know whether the singer reaches those falsetto heights naturally, or is it the tightness of his trousers? I was particularly chuffed as they ended with a stunning cover of Radioheads 'Street Spirit' and being an avid Radiohead fan it made me all the more eager for Saturday night when they would be headlining.

Friday was our busiest day for bands; we saw eight including an amazing acid jazz group called Fabrics who had a female singer with one of the most beautifully haunting voices I'd ever heard. The highlight of that day for me was Afro Celts, formerly Afro Celt Sound System. Their east-meets-west, African tribal, Celtic drum 'n' bass style is out of this world. If you've never heard it, go and find some, you'll be amazed.

That night we had a bit of a dilemma, REM clashed with Morcheeba, so we ended up doing both. The first half of REM was excellent. They played many of my favourites including 'Great Beyond' which has the oddest but most amazing chorus. From the Pyramid stage we hurried over to the One World stage just in time for Morcheeba's 'Part of the Process'. The rest of their set was electric and the lead singer, Skye is a goddess among women, well worth missing out on the last of REM for. continued below

Glastonbury Festival 2003 continued By Suzanne

Once the main bands were over, the night was only just beginning, we wandered towards the greenfields passing many bars with various drummers and guitarists and the Radio One stand whose DJ had attracted a huge crowd and for once was delivering an absolutely bangin' set.

We headed for the stone circle where I knew we would find the fire performers and we weren't disappointed. The stone circle is always crowded with people and has a wonderfully chilled vibe. Once the sun goes down, the poi and staff are lit and the flaming extravaganza begins. I stayed there till well after sunrise and having run out of fuel, went from group to group begging for paraffin and met some fabulous, friendly people. Saturday and Sunday there weren't many bands I was too bothered about seeing so we took some time to soak up the whole Glastonbury experience. The heat was incredible, everyone was either really friendly or so into doing their own thing that no one clashed, everyone smiled and there was a real feeling of togetherness. This was reflected in the lessened violence from previous years and we were told that the crime rate was half of the year before.

I could hardly wait for 11pm on Saturday night. This was when Radiohead took to the stage. I've been listening to them for years, but this was the first time I'd seen them live. From the opening note to the final chord I was spellbound as was the huge crowd. The first few tracks were from their later albums and I danced like a demon. I silently willed for something I could sing and they launched into 'Climbing up the Walls', one of the most evocative tracks from 'OK Computer'.

Thom Yorke may be a strange looking guy but he's one of the most beautiful men I've ever seen. His stage presence is astounding. Every thank you after each song sounded full of gratitude and they whipped the crowd into a frenzy with three encores including 'Karma Police' and 'Street Spirit'. They were utterly outstanding musically and visually and I left the Pyramid stage on a complete euphoric high. Sunday was a haze of sunshine, weed and more poi, the most memorable sets being The Waterboys and a fantastic light show from Ozric Tentacles.

All too soon it was Monday morning and we had to leave. If you've never been, if you're not convinced you'd love it and have a spare £130 next year, do it. Glastonbury has something for everyone; music from around the world, food from every culture, circus, theatre, art set in one of the most beautiful areas of English countryside. The most poignant thing for me will always be the fact that no matter who you are, be it trendy, townie, goth, greb, hippy, indie, totally straight or way out west, everyone comes together forgets their differences and lose themselves to the universal loves of sunshine, drugs, music and dance. In this day and age, we could do with as much of this as we can get. Suzanne

Photographs copyright  ©2003, and courtesy of Del.

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