Tales from Glastonbury Festival 2013

It’s taken me this long to recover from Glastonbury Festival, can you believe it? What a weekend! I am a broken little Wired bear, but oh my gosh, was it worth it…

We arrived on Thursday after a long wash and brush up, ensuring that I was as clean as possible before the next four days of not being anywhere near a shower. We parked up and loaded everything onto our backs ready for the hours walk into the Glastonbury Festival grounds. By the time we got to the camp site we were tired and in desperate need of a beverage or two. We pitched our tent, unpacked our stuff and headed off into Glastonbury Festival.

Thursday is normally a relatively calm night at Glastonbury but somehow we managed to stumble upon a secret party at the Beat Hotel near our tent with a DJ set from Simian Mobile Disco. I threw my paws in the air and raved the night away in true Glastonbury style.

Friday morning I was a little groggy and in dire need of a strong milky brew. I was sat nursing a little bear hangover when all of a sudden I heard ‘get ya miiiilk!’ in a very strong Somerset accent. It was the Worthy Farm milk float filled with delicious, cold, organic milk. I rushed over to the float and bought some creamy full fat milk, it’s not as good as honey, but my hangover eased a lot and I was ready to face my first full day of Glastonbury fun and frolics.

Friday we went to see Alt-J who were absolutely amazing, as well as Australian band Tame Impala followed by the absolutely incredible Seasick Steve (I wonder if he really does get sea sick?) and then as the sun dipped we joined some crazy people with glowing face paint and glow sticks for a DJ set from Chase & Status. After raving for a long time, my little paws began to hurt. I was very sleepy and so decided to head back to the tent and get a good night’s sleep before the main day at Glastonbury Festival, the Saturday.

I woke fresh faced and excited for the day, the Rolling Stones were set to headline the Pyramid Stage and I was really looking forward to pulling some moves like Jagger. We set off and went to see the lovely Laura Mvula, followed by Bombay Royale and then some relaxing Ben Howard. I managed to have a little nap in the sun and woke with burning fur, I quickly put on some sunscreen ready for the rest of the day. Boy, was it hot! We went to see Two Door Cinema Club with their catchy, upbeat music and got some food from the falafel stand. I’ve never tried falafel, being a bear I mainly survive on honey and berries, but the Glastonbury hippies persuaded me that it was nice and they were very right!Pyramid stage early to watch the Rolling Stones

We went to the Pyramid stage early to watch the Rolling Stones

the crowd was huge! Helen had to put me on her shoulders to stop me from getting crushed, it was rather scary. Apparently, it was the biggest crowd at Glastonbury ever recorded! The excitement was palpable; everyone was so expectant of what the legendary Stones would bring to Glastonbury. They opened with Jumpin’ Jack Flash which got the crowd dancing and then followed with an amazing set. Their songs included: Paint It Black, Gimme Shelter and Honky Tonk Women. With my flower garland on my head, my sunglasses on and my glittery face paint, I felt like I was in the 60’s!

Sunday morning was rather shaky… we took ourselves off to be soothed by the beautiful sounds of Of Monsters and Men and spent a sleepy few hours in the sun. We then went to see Tom Odell and Vampire Weekend. I didn’t like the sound of Vampire Weekend (a weekend of vampires…? No thanks!) but their music was catchy and made me bop along to their unique, upbeat tunes. By the time the headlining set from Mumford & Sons was about to play, I was ready for a lovely relaxing evening. Their set was beautiful, filled with emotive, lovely lyrics, just what everyone needed at the end of a long, but amazing few days.

We sat and watched Mumford & Sons as the sun set with everyone singing along to their songs, and I realised that even though I hadn’t washed for four days, had danced til my little paws ached and had survived on a diet of cider and falafel, I really didn’t want to go home.

Who would have thought I would be saying this, but… roll on Glastonbury 2014!