i heart Glastonbury

So as many of you kids know I went away for the month of June... I travelled around Italy for two weeks before returning to England where I fell head over heels for a man in Manchester... but the true purpose of my trip was the 2005 Glastonbury Festival... and it was everything I hoped it would be and more.

My favourite post-Glasto quote was said by a Radio 1 DJ that we heard in the car on our way to London...
"I can't feel my legs and I've got a new ridiculous hat... Must be Glastonbury."
It's funny because it was so fucking true.

So here's the breakdown...

I had a most fulfilling, freeing experience.

I saw a staggering amount of fantastic bands. Some of the ones I remember include The Thrills, Babyshambles, Doves, The Killers, British Sea Power, Goldie Lookin Chain, Kaiser Chiefs, Emiliana Torrini, Echo & The Bunnymen, Interpol, Kasabian, Babyshambles (again), Brendan Benson, Brian Wilson, Primal Scream and Ian Brown.

I drank too much and I took loads of drugs (many of which were legal).

I paid a kid 10p to spray me with a hose (when it was hot and before the mud).

I used the portaloos (twice a day).

I actually used the communal showers at one point with their transparent shower curtains.

I saw the sun setting from The Stone Circle.

I got to see Pete'n'Kate in the flesh!!!

I saw lots of strange things... And even stranger people. (One of whom was a naked man painted blue-grey and slithering around like Gollum and scaring children.)

I spent 2 hours waiting in line for a bank machine at 2am and had fun doing so.

I got to experience all kinds of weather (extreme heat, rain, cold, sun) in one location over the course of the 6 days we were there.

I wore a really silly hat.

I got really fuckin muddy and after about 10 minutes it didn't bother me much.

I survived in the mud without wellies for 4 days.

(I think) I got trench foot.

I fell in the mud more times then I'd like to admit.

On the last night I was so fucked I took off my muddy clothes and walked around in my underwear.

Even after 4 days of not bathing I still got some action.

I got married in a shambolic African hand-binding wedding ceremony in the Green Fields.

I felt like a bit of a hippy by the end of it.

I couldn't feel my legs at various points.

It was horrible when we had to leave. I wanted to stay forever.

I discovered Glastonbury is the happiest place on Earth.

The thing about Glastonbury is that even the sponsors were awesome. I loved the goodies from The Guardian and Q Magazine and I've even come to appreciate my (free) white Make Poverty History bracelet. Presents are always good but Glastonbury presents are better.

As a sponsor The Guardian has a stellar website with lots to be discovered. They have great features including an Interpol story that makes Carlos D look like an ass and eight festival bands reviewed by other bands! Nicely done. And the Guardian Lounge turned out to be a great place to chill out, have a drink and check out really cool intimate performances like the magnificant one we saw by Emiliana Torrini.

And the folks at Q Magazine also deserve major props for their free Q Glastonbury Daily newspapers (the Saturday issue with its perfect headline was practically a collector's item)!

Anyway, check out the action day by day...

Day 1 (Friday)
XFM's review Part 1 and Part 2.
The Guardian's Day 1 in pictures.

Day 2 (Saturday)
XFM's review Part 1 and Part 2.
The Guardian's Day 2 in pictures.

Day 3 (Sunday)
XFM's review of Sunday's performances.
The Guardian's Day 3 in pictures.

And if you still you want to get even more of a taste of what you missed...

Check out The Guardian's Glastonbury blog or, the much better, Q Magazine Glastonbury Blog.

Watch festival highlights at Playlouder.com.

Check out Q's Photoblog.

BBC's Radio 1 have a comprehensive Glasto site.

BBC have a comprehensive photo gallery (organized by band).

BBC 6 Music have built a wicked site.

BBC Somerset have even more pictures.

Andrew Kendall's photographs are always the best and he managed to get some great shots of bands backstage.

NME Glastonbury Photo Gallery.

There's even a pretty decent collection of photos courtesy of Yahoo/Reuters.

Watch a contest winner's video diary.

And, well, this list of links could go on forever so I better stop now.

So I guess all that's left to say is that the whole Glastonbury Festival experience made for 6 of the happiest days of my life... And, as far as I'm concerned, Glastonbury 2007 can't come soon enough...