I spent a full week at Glastonbury, Monday to Monday, courtesy of Callum and his festival food business Peace of the East.
If Peace of the East is Callums baby, then I must be its godfather or something. Around from the beginning but only show up for the highlights.
It was a real treat to see this beauty in action.
Then there is Glasto. Despite putting a shift it, the festival experience was up there with the best I have had. I even got paid to be there, thanks for the fun coupons Cal.
We got to see the site evolve from a sparsely populated, half constructed field.
To a thriving festival site, abuzz with revellers. It was quite a transformation. Especially the transformation from empty fields to the sea of tents that sprouted up everywhere overnight.
Festival Highlights
Gentleman's Dub Club
Of course. GDC were always going to be great. They know how to put on a show and were the only act all weekend that I was determined not to miss. Thanks Matty for swapping shifts with me!
I made sure Cal came along for some mandatory festival fun, I think it was the first thing he properly saw all weekend.
Check out Cal enjoying the Big Helles Vibes.
When they dropped some DnB and started playing over the top. Mind blow.
Thank you sirs!
DRS in session with Dogger
DRS. My G.
This artist is a lyrical maestro. Swear down, he is reshaping what it means to be a M.C. He even has a live show performing liquid DnB with a full orchestra that Kathy and I went to see in Dalston earlier this year.
This 3am session with Dogger in the intimate Blind Tiger tent was liquid DnB at its finest. And I made sure I had a front row seat throughout.
He played some of my favourite tracks. Like when he dropped Sunrise from DRS and Calibre. As well as dropping some new music that I can't wait to be released.
I spent pretty much all of Friday evening on my ones all and thoroughly enjoyed myself for the most part. Unburdened by the responsibilities of a group and free to let the evening evolve in whichever direction I chose to take it. Plus at festivals, and glasto especially, everyone is so friendly, so even though you are on your own you are never really alone.
I would highly recommend a night on your ones to anyone. Just dive in.
Joy Crookes
My only real experience of the main stage all weekend. The first set on Friday. It was incredible.
Joy had an awesome stage presence and it was a joy to see.
Joy Crookes is Kathy music that I have grown to appreciate over the years. So it was lovely to be able to go see her with Kathy and her pals. Arlo Parks is another one we managed to tick off together, but Joy was better. Partly because of the stage and our location in the crowd, but still.
Having Kathy at Glastonbury was a beautiful bonus. We didn't get to spend loads of time together, but the moments we did manage to meet up and explore Glastonbury together were delightful.
Eva Lazarus
The first live music of the weekend on Thursday morning. What a way to kick it off. Nice bit of lively reggae, she has some bangers.
I just wish I had got a photo of this one. Eva has swag, and the hat she was wearing was this ludicrously funky fuzzy green monster thing. From Hat.N.Spicy. Definitely check them out. I want one. Not sure if I could pull it off quite as well as she did, but I would be willing to give it a go.
It was also her birthday. What a way to spend it!
It was great to be joined by Tim and Sarah for this. Unfortunately, Tim did succumb to the devils lettuce during Eva Lazarus. At least partly my fault. Fortunately, by the end of the set Sarah had nursed him back to health by feeding him segs of Easy P I fortuitously produced from my pocket.
Afterwards, we spent a lovely afternoon cruising round the festival site before my shift. It was another lovely bonus having Tim, Sarah and their crew at the festival.
Higher Intelligence Agency at IICON
I showed up to this intense audio visual experience after a recommendation from my good pal Senners. Who I fortuitously bumped into earlier in the day, along with Vic and a crew from Leeds that through Sen and many a sesh in his living room I am becoming acquainted with. It was great to see him, although this set was the only time I saw the boy all weekend, poor from him that he didn't even make a visit to Peace of the East.
This set though. Wow. I arrived pretty much for the start and there must have been less than 20 of us. I even had a good chat with my neighbours Ruben and Sam.
All with front row seats to the show at this mad stage IICON.
I had just come from listening to some groovey two step tunes at Genosys Souneighborsnd System and Higher Intelligence Agency was a completely different vibe. In a good way. It was unlile any musical experience I have had before. A sort of dubby, groovy techno beat all played to us from vinyl.
Apparently it is super rare for him to play live, so I feel lucky to have been one of the few that has seen it. It was class.
Unfortunately, I had to leave before the end of the set so I could clock in for a two hour guest appearance at Peace of the East. I shift swapped so that I would be able to see Gentleman's Dub Club the day after. Totally worth it.
It was actually pretty fun showing up for a quick two hour stint front of house. I was well on my way to merry by that point so I made a great front man rallying the troops.
I even got a round in for the troops on my way back to base. Not just any round aswell, fresh cold IPAs from the staff bar. Expertly fulfilling my most important role as the PoE bar man.
Just how I managed to carry four pints with my bare hands the 10-15 minute walk back I am not sure. Well I did recruit some help from an unsuspecting and kind hearted festival soul for the last stretch, but by in large I made the journey myself. Quite the feat. It isn't everyday I impress myself, but this occasion was certainly one of them.
Heavy DnB from Critical Music
I don't have a picture for this. But dam it was great.
Kasra, Enei and Halogenix for two hours solid.
Proper heavy. Sunday sessions. Plenty of space for getting down to the bass. Probably most people were at the pyramid stage.
Critical sound were playing at Sonic, a tent in an entirely new area of the festival I hadn't really explored yet. Which was mad. The place is immense. I reckon I managed to properly experience less than 50 percent of the music venues the festival has to offer.
On my adventure I dipped in to Crazy P at the Lonely Hearts Club. And made a detour up to the Rabbit Hole to see five minutes of Nick Mulvey, even it was rammed and completely off vibe in comparison to the DnB (just a guy with his guitar) he was cool to see.
After I got my fill of the DnB I cruised back to help the troops and kick off the staff party going. Lorrell you owe me one matey. Although I was more than happy to get stuck in, sooner shit gone done the sooner we could all be down at Babylon. Think we were out before 12, so not too shabby.
In the Mix
From spending time on my own, I picked up on the rules of the Glastonbury dance.
First and foremost, every stage has a sweet spot. A place where the audio visual experience is on point, and surprisingly a place that is often gloriously spacious. It seemed to be an unwritten rule that the closer you were to the sweet spot the more room you had to boogey. You want to make sure you are right there in the mix at every stage you can.
If you could make it there that is.
Often people would get stuck around the edges of a venue, creating a protective crowd wall around the sweet spot that only the brave or dedicated or sometimes just sensible raver could penatrate.
On my own, this was easy. But with a group I needed some additional guidelines for capturing and holding space in the dance. Here are my top five:
- Always claim space in front of you, otherwise someone else will
- If you aren't going forwards, you are going backwards. You want to be going forwards.
- The most direct route is rarely the best, think carefully about where you enter the crowd
- If you have a big group, try to make a formation and guard the perimeter. It is much easier for a square to protect existing territory and expand to claim new space than a line.
- If someone's leaving, then that means space is available somewhere. Find it. Claim it.
Pretty simple really, I am sure most people do some version of this already. But if not give it a go next crowd you are in, I guarantee you will see results.
Festival Food
I haven't got much on this. Spent most of my time eating my way through the Peace of the East menu. Those chaps. Daym. Best in the festival I reckon.
There were a couple of vendors that stood out though.
First the permiculture folks nestled in a peaceful clearing in the woods. I really wanted to try the pakora, which were made in front of you using produce from the adjacent gardens. But they were slooow. So I went for a bean chilli, potatoes and salad with a apple and cinnamon crumble for desert. Cooked in the fire you can see below. Delicious.
Then, my standout food of the week. Ravioli from RaviOllie. Ooof, this was quality handmade goodness. It wouldn't have been out of place in a restaurant. I had spinach and ricotta with tomato sauce and a piece of bruschetta on the side. If I see it again I will certainly be partaking.
Secret Spots and Funky Stuff
Like all festivals, Glasto had its hidden delights and weird and wonderful spaces, places and things. Here is a few I encoutered.
First up, this secret garden in the back of some place that I don't know the name of lol. It was in block 9, played latin house and sold mezcal. It reminded me a lot of some of my favourite Edinburgh nights from Samedia Shebeen.
Anyway, at the back of this room which was often rammed there was a passage which if you walked through you come out to a chilling space with seating, music and this funky photoshoot thing. Cal and I discovered it on the Wednesday night and I regularly used it as my base when looping South East Corner.
Then there is the temple. A colosseum style stage with this crazy creation at the front. A true temple to the rave.
I also enjoyed the concept of Glastonbury on Sea. A seaside pier looking over a sea of tents complete with rock, lifeguards and other seaside(ish) type things.
Finally, the funny and accurate leftist propaganda peppered throughout the festival site. Great stuff.
Grafting
Callum had me slaving away for my supper all weekend. I didn't half put a shift in, clocking up 40 hours between Wednesday and Sunday. Although that ain't nothing on Cal, that boy was always on shift. Juggling keeping on top of the stock, managing the rota and the staff, handling the shit show that were the wholesalers (especially the veg lot, my days) and looking ahead to the next festival. Not to mention any of the other issues that can an do arise throughout the course of the weekend. All part of the fun and games that make up festival catering.
It looked stressful as hell, especially when you take into account there is money on the line and so many things that can go wrong.
Still, I thoroughly enjoyed myself as I slotted in as one of the cogs of Cally's well oiled catering machine. And it certainly has its perks.
I started off in the pink room.
Endless prepping.
I think I was in there for a solid 5 hour stint on Wednesday. It makes you go a bit loopy after a while. Fortunately, I had my rum and tinned pineapples to keep me going. My festival elixir of life.
By the end of my first day, I was dam handy handy with a knife. Shredding through those onions and peppers like nothing. I should have timed myself and posted a time on the leaderboard. I reckon I could have hit a sub 10 minute box.
Even the pesky spring onions submitted to my blade after a while. Although, I am a lot more comfortable with the chunky chopping than the fiddly little stuff.
After my long stint as top prepper left my hands battered and blistered, I requested a transfer to front of house.
Easily my favourite role. Manning the till, chatting shit to customers, keeping the moral high, slinging out chaps left, right an center. Great stuff. Way better than my isolation in the pink room.
Last, I conquered the fryers completing my tour of duty. Jack of all traits. Top employee.
All the team were great crack. We had a blast. Check out our party vid.
Cheers Jimbo, Dylan, Matty, Lorrell, Millie and Naomi it was a pleasure working with ya.
Putting a shift in at Peace of the East to me, was like a more interesting stint back at the tents. Sure, it maybe wasn't as relaxing, but we had some perks. Free food, skanking tunes, a fridge full of beer and I even brought an ice cube tray for some delicious rye whisky. Life of luxury.
My daily cold Guinness was a real treat.
The only real blagging part of working was the wind down towards the end. Although, I was more than happy to get stuck in and did more than my fair share of washing up. By my last evening shift on Saturday I had the wind down mastered, marshalling the troops while Callum was away on orders to have some mandatory fun.
Then on the Sunday night we all went out on a staff party.
Although what you can see in that picture is actually a bit sad. I had just spilt my delicious Guinness all over the floor.
VIPs from the Markets
Working at the festival came with its perks. Flashing that staff band opened up doors.
Private camping. Although, it didn't stop my tent becoming a shit hole.
Staff bars, including the Maceo man A.K.A Dylan ;).
The local. Babylon Uprising. Good tunes gauranteed. Sunday night saw 12 D.Js going back to back to back. Madness.
Home Time
Kathy left at some ridiculous time in the morning.
I decided to treat myself to a lie in and a relaxed morning. I got breakfast, a delicious smoothie and lunch while cruising round the festival site. I event brought a round of smoothies back for the troops on break duties. Read my book for a bit. Then set off home.
It was long. I set off at about 3 and probably didn't get back home till past 10pm.
Queuing for the Paddington train was so loooong.
Still, I was in high spirits. First festival of the year, apart from little Lindisfarne festival last September the first festival since before covid. And what a festival it was.
Cheers Callum. What with this and Revelstoke, you have treated me to a bloody good year so far. Keep doing cool shit, I'll keep showing up and tagging along. Proud of you matey. Sign me up next year!
