My Glastonbury started very early on Wednesday morning – I was up at 4.45am to get a 6am bus. Still, it was worth it – a quiet, traffic jam-free journey and on site by midday. I camped in the South West corner of the site this year, near the Park Stage. As soon as the tent was pitched, I went up to the highest point on the site to the top of the hill at the Park. I was rewarded for my physical exertions with a beer, as someone has very thoughtfully built a bar there – the organisers never miss a trick. It’s a great way to start the festival, looking over the site in all of its glory with a beer and the anticipation of a great few days.

Glastonbury is the size of a big village/small town – you can easily clock up 5 miles a day walking across the site from gig to gig and area to area. Looking over it from this fantastic view point, I could clearly pick out the Pyramid Stage, the multiple turrets of the John Peel Stage (a gigantic tent), Silver Hayes (or the dance village, as it used to be called) and the Other Stage standing very proud with its spectacular new black and white antlers. It really does look quite magnificent.

I did a bit of mooching around the healing fields and the South East corner (the late night area) in the evening – not everything is fully up to speed on a Wednesday night, but there is still a massive sense of anticipation in the air.
Some of the constructions in Block 9 and Shangri La are jaw-dropping, such as the London Underground – a Communist tower block with a life-size, blazing tube train bursting from the 5th floor – you really feel like you are on a film set.

There’s more on the menu on Thursday with William’s Green, a large tent in the heart of the site, putting on live music and Q&As throughout the day. I went down in the morning to see Wilko Johnson, but unfortunately I wasn’t the only one with that idea and the tent (which must have a capacity of about 2,000-3,000) was fit to burst, in fact people were spilling out a good 10 deep. It wasn’t a massive problem – there’s a nice area to sit directly outside and the sound was good, so I could still listen, even if couldn’t see. The set itself was only 25 minutes, which was a bit of shame, but maybe Wilko was keeping his powder dry for the next day when he had a gig at the Acoustic tent.

What I heard was great – classic Wilko Johnson – 12 bar blues played with energy, Wilko’s inimitable guitar sailing over the top. There was a real joie de vivre about it – perhaps understandable, considering the ride that Johnson has had over the last few years.

Immediately following the gig was a Q&A session with Wilko and director Julian Temple. Temple has just finished making “The Ecstasy of Wilko Johnson” and has previously made films such as “Absolute Beginners” and a feature-length documentary on Glastonbury. I don’t think I’ve ever attended a Q&A at a festival before, but both men are real characters with plenty to say. Inevitably,  the subject of Wilko’s cancer came up – which he is clearly a bit embarrassed about:

Talking about the farewell album he made recently with Roger Daltrey, Wilko said, “I was walking around outside of the studio looking at the trees thinking this will be the last thing that I do – making an album with Roger – I can’t complain, really… then this surgeon came along and spoiled everything!”

Thursday is another good day to explore, and after visiting William’s Green, a short walk takes me to the Kidz Field, somewhere I haven’t had much cause to visit in the past. Thinking about it, I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was taken aback by the sheer variety of stuff to do – circus skills training, face painting, numerous kids entertainment tents, a Princess’s climbing castle – the list goes on and on. It’s immediately obvious that the same degree of love and attention to detail goes into creating this wonderland for the kids as it does in the wider Glastonbury. It’s full of diversity, imagination and magic. If Glasto is an adult’s playground, then the Kidz Field is a worthy children’s equivalent.

The North East corner of the site is a real hub of the lesser publicised side of Glastonbury; next to the Kidz Field is the Theatre Field containing a magical amphitheatre and large tent, The Astrolabe Theatre where I would later see an awe-inspiring performance from the Michael Clark Dance Company to the musical backdrop of The Velvet Underground, Iggy Pop and David Bowie. The field also has a viewing platform that provides the reverse view of the one I drank in the night before and beneath it a small stage where I would see a 10 piece band perform without fear of electric shocks in the pelting rain on the Friday.

View from the viewing platform at the top of the Theatre Field

Thursday was particularly hot, and one thing Glasto does not have in abundance is shade. In a desperate attempt to get out of the sun and stop melting, we found ourselves in a slither of shade above the tipi village in the South of the site. In search of something to rehydrate with, my wife and I stumbled upon Strummerville (even further up the hill), dedicated to the memory of Joe Strummer, which conveniently had a place to get drinks – The Casbar, obviously! To the side of the bar and food outlets was a little woodland clearing with sofas, a mini stage, firepit and a Strummer memorabilia stall (seemingly on a 30 degree incline). A lovely little oasis – Happy Mondays’ maker of vibes, Bez seemed to be pretty happy there, holding court.

Strangely, there’s nothing on the bill for Friday morning that really took my fancy, which allows for further exploration of the Healing Field and the possibility of a massage after a couple of nights camping. The more I explore, the more it dawns on me that Glastonbury is a complex series of micro-festivals that are perfectly capable of self-sufficiency, but link together and feed each other to create the mixed society of stimulation that Glasto has become.

The Healing Field itself is split into quarters, each quarter containing a circle named after one of the elements: water, air, earth and fire. The Water Circle is where we spend the majority of our time – it focuses on massage and alternative therapies. Air is for yoga and meditation (with several drop-in classes). Fire is a mixture of workshops (many of which are free or donations-based), creative spaces and a haven of calm, and Earth has a midwives’ yurt and herbalists.

Again, the variety of offerings is staggering and it’s obvious that some people will spend their entire weekend here – there’s a grounding of a sense of community, calm and peace here – a real antidote to the hedonism, abandonment (and sometimes selfishness) of other parts of the site.

The first performance we see takes us to The Astrolabe Theatre to witness a dizzying display of physical prowess from the Black Eagles – 5 Herculean African acrobats performing death-defying human pyramids, electric somersaulting and fire-infused limbo. When the Michael Clark Dance Company followed with an intensely movingly set of dance and body control to a blaring backdrop of Bowie, I knew we were set for a great day… and that’s when it started to rain… cats, dogs, stair rods.

Luckily, we were close to the Acoustic Tent (which is huge) and the next three acts on the bill were all of interest. Stornoway definitely benefitted from the rain as people seeking shelter poured into the tent and the crowd swelled, lifting the band’s confidence and soaking up the sound. They played what was probably the gig of their lives with a very solid brand of folk adorned with excellent backing vocals.

Duke Special (recently reviewed on BF) followed in a lull in the downpour – and subsequently in numbers – which was a shame. He struggled a bit with poor sound and was a little lost in such a large tent (intimate venues suit him better). Opening the set with Ivor Cutler’s I am Going in a Field was an inspired way to open the set, though.

JD McPhearson took to the stage as the rains came crashing back, along with a wave of punters, and got the blood pumping. Founded on a bed of old school rock’n’roll, McPhearson’s sound is slick and energetic but has a contemporary edge and rip roaring vocals. Very good festival music to liven things up.

It’s very hard not to gorge yourself on music on Glastonbury Friday, and like the greedy guts I am, I ran cross site to the John Peel Stage to take in the SBTRKT set. Judging by the huge numbers there, this was clearly a gig that a lot of other people fancied, and they were rewarded for making the trip over – live drumming underpinned the trademark of graceful vocals and electronics. Classy stuff indeed.

The next destination was the Park Stage, but not before grabbing 20 minutes of Booka Shade at Arcadia – an incredible gigantic fire spitting metal spider construction with a gargantuan sound system.

After managing to pull ourselves away from the spectacular sights and sounds of Arcadia, we met up with a group of friends up at the Park Stage and settled in to watch an expertly crafted set by Jamie xx as the sun set behind the stage. As fun as that was, it also allowed us to keep our excellent position in the natural amphitheatre that the Park is for Friday’s headline act, Super Furry Animals.

SFA opened with the epic Slowlife, a 15 minute opus that lurches between druggy krautrock and trippy techno – it’s a clash of styles that should never work, but it’s a magnificent opening. We were also treated to a snorting version of Rings Around The World and a gloriously languid performance of Hello Sunshine. A sparkling Juxtaposed With U and a romping rendition of Golden Retriever meant that a slightly sluggish middle to the set was forgiven. Set closer, The Man Don’t Give A Fuck was given both barrels and bookended the set to mirror Slowlife with the band leaving the stage during a techno workout to return 10 minutes later to bring the chorus home once more (and things to a close).

Friday definitely took it out of me, so first port of call on Saturday was a visit to the sauna in the tipi field. It was far too hot for me to actually go in the sauna, but my wife did and I grabbed 40 winks in the peaceful sanctuary created for the sauna users – there are cold showers, a dipping pool, shaded areas, and of course there’s a stage. There’s also delicious organic vegetarian food and a phone charging service – they pretty much had everything covered… apart from the private parts.

After the tour de force on Friday, it was important to take things slower on Saturday, so the first thing we honed in on was Burt Bacharach on the Pyramid Stage. Fantastic songs written by a fantastic man – it was a pure treat and great to see people of all ages singing along with classics like Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head and What The World Needs Now Is Love. Burt was clearly moved to be there and by the reception he received.

Next came one of my highlights of the weekend, Father John Misty (aka Josh Tillman – former Fleet Foxes drummer) within 30 seconds of the opening song, I Love You, Honeybear, he had thrown himself to the floor in mock anguish, flown into the crowd and gone through most of the textbook of rock star stage moves. Fortunately, he has the charisma to pull it off and proceeded to give a masterclass in being a frontman – he’s got the looks, the charm, the humour and most of the all, the songs. When You Are Smiling And Astride Me and I'm Writing A Novel both fizz with FJM’s electric performance and he commandeers an audience member’s camera to capture his point of view on Bored In The USA. Just as things threaten to get too low key, FJM’s performance of Nothing Good Ever Happens at the Goddamn Thirsty Crow sees him take his acoustic guitar off mid song and throw it 20 feet to the side of the stage where his tech neatly catches it. This cues the band to turn their amps up to 11 as FMJ follows suit with his ham stage theatrics – very good fun indeed. The Ideal Husband wraps things up nicely as FJM launches the mic stand like a javelin in the centre of the stage to signal the end of the show. If he was known as the drummer for the Fleet Foxes before, he’s definitely known as Father John Misty now.

I couldn’t resist seeing The Mothership Returns – George Clinton, Parliament Funkadelic & The Family Stone on the West Holts Stage for my Saturday headline act. Whereas The Family Stone played all of their wonderful songs joyfully, they were no match for Funkadelic and Parliament, who with a sea of musicians played favourites such as Flash Light and (Not Just) Knee Deep – the music sounded completely vital and contemporary, and my God, no-one can funk like the P-funk. Fact!
By the time Sunday came around, and believe me, the time shot past, we were somewhat less spritely than at the beginning of the festival. Rather than rushing down to the Pyramid to catch Hozier, we sauntered down to get a good spot in front of the mixing desk for Patti Smith and were rewarded with a sensational show full of passion, brilliant music and incident. How often do you get to sing Happy Birthday to the Dalai Lama? I’m guessing it will only be the one. Coming onstage mid-set to address the audience, the Dalai Lama spoke carefully but humorously, spreading the message that happiness is found through humility, friendship and helping others, in a humbling speech that I’ll never forget.

Visibly moved by her interaction with the Dalai Lama, Smith then ripped into a medley of Horses and Gloria before losing her footing and taking a tumble. Closing with a cover of The Who’s My Generation was as inspired as it was brilliant, and after ripping five of the strings from her guitar (with bloodied fingers), Smith saved the best until last, declaring “The reason I fell over is because I’m a fucking animal!” before tearing the fattest string away from her battered guitar in a true act of rock goddessness. It felt like we witnessed something that will go down in Glastonbury folklore.

It would be very difficult to match the levels of passion displayed by Smith, but Samuel T. Herring of Future Islands came very close. Playing their 991st gig, Future Islands made their legendary performance on Letterman look tame. With a mixture of Cossack dancing, chest thumping and trademark growling vocals, Herring’s intensity is unrivalled and it's impossible to tear your eyes away from this. The standards set on Sunday were mighty high.

I chose to watch FFS (Franz Ferdinand and Sparks) on Sunday night. I’ve never had a bigger clash of acts I want to see at the same time – I could have easily gone to see The Who, Ryan Adams, The Chemical Brothers, Flying Lotus and Grandmaster Flash – all were playing at similar times. I certainly wasn’t disappointed with my choice, though – FFS are a fantastic unit – seemingly bringing out the best in one another in a supergroup that combines Sparks’ wit and lyricism with FF’s immediacy. Having just released an excellent album together, this seemed like the perfect way to celebrate with songs like Collaborations Don’t Work and Piss Off sitting happily alongside This Town Ain’t Big Enough For The Both Of Us and Take Me Out. Once the show had finished, the audience combined to perform the biggest can-can in the world to the sounds of New York, New York – a great way to cap off a fantastic weekend of music, performance, shared experiences, laughter and tears.

Adam Atkins