GLASTONBURY 2016: Big, beautiful photos from the greatest (and muddiest) party on Earth
Glastonbury Festival, now in its 45th year, is arguably the greatest festival in the world. It takes place on Worth Farm, in Somerset, England, and hosts dozens of stages and hundreds of acts — everyone from A-list headliners like Adele to ELO, from obscure cabaret acts to performance art pieces.
There’s something for everyone, and it is deeply, wonderfully weird.
It has a special place in my heart: I’ve been going for years, spending almost a week every year camped out in a tent near Pilton, almost totally cut off from the outside world.
But Britain’s monumental vote to separate from the European Union — held on Thursday, the second day of the five-day event — made 2016 a different beast to previous years.
It was also distinct to the previous years for a more fundamental reason: Mud. Unimaginable quantities of mud. The rain was biblical in the run-up, continued on-and-off throughout the festival, and left the site in what organiser Michael Eavis said were some of the worst conditions in the festival’s half-century history.
In the run up to day of the referendum, the Remain camp's victory seemed guaranteed. A colleague who was working the late shift agreed to send us all text updates throughout the night so we could be kept in the loop. (Almost no-one has data at the festival so it's difficult to check for yourself.)
Shortly after 10 PM, during a stunning performance from poet Kate Tempest at the Shangri-La Hell Stage, good news rolled in: a YouGov poll gave it to Remain 52-48. “Farage and Boris both saying remain have won.”
A drunken friend interpreted this to mean Remain *had* won, and began to tell everyone around us. Cue cheering, hugging, and strangers high-fiving in the crowd.
But two hours later, things took a turn. "Slightly hectic. Massive win in Sunderland for Brexit - 22 point gap." With every new update throughout the night, elation gave way to confusion. The odds dropped, the pound crashed, the impossible became inevitable. "It’s over."
By 05:30 AM, wandering back to camp to sleep, it was clear what had happened. Brexit was a reality.
That morning, everyone was in a shocked, muddy fugue. I was woken by my neighbours announcing David Cameron was resigning, and that the pound had suffered its largest one-day drop since the 1980s. Just another Friday morning then.
One friend spent the day in a daze, muttering "I just can't believe it" whenever there was a lull in conversation. Artists spoke out against it in their sets. Pro-EU graffiti sprung up. The odd festival-goer defiantly wore Remain stickers.
Glastonbury Festival is a liberal, hippy sanctuary. It has a sacred stone circle where festival-goers congregate in the early hours of the morning, areas given over exclusively to spirituality, green initiatives, and permaculture, and is sponsored by Greenpeace. It's no surprise that the festival and its attendees lean very heavily towards Remain.
Professor David Nutt, a former UK government drugs advisor who was sacked after arguing Ecstasy is less dangerous than horse-riding, was one of the speakers. He was extremely warmly received.
This year, the headliners playing on the Pyramid Stage (the festival's largest stage) were Muse, Adele, and Coldplay. It's arguably not as good a lineup as the festival has seen in previous years — but no-one goes to Glastonbury for the headliners.
You go to everything and everyone else, from classic dance act Underworld to the Orchestra of Syrian Musicians, from the riotous return of LCD Soundsystem to the one-and-only Cyndi Lauper.
And when the main acts finish, the night is only just getting started. There's Arcadia, a giant, fire-breathing spider revellers can dance beneath. NYC Downlow, one of Britain's best gay clubs. Shangri-La, a bizarre, apocalyptic piece of performance art spanning numerous stages that has to be seen to be believed.
Plus peace domes and stone-carving, women-only power-tool workshops and power-ballad yoga ... Glastonbury offers so much to do, there's barely time to sleep.
The scale of it all is vast. It sells 135,000 tickets every year — plus there are thousands more volunteers, workers, acts, and stall-owners. With hundreds of stages, it's the size of a small city, and can take half an hour or more to walk across — particularly in the mud.
Since 1970, past headliners have included David Bowie, Elvis Costello, Lenny Kravitz, Oasis, Radiohead, R.E.M., Jay Z, Kanye West, and many more.
Here are a few more photos of Glastonbury 2016:
GLASTONBURY 2016: Big, beautiful photos from the greatest (and muddiest) party on Earth
GLASTONBURY 2016: Big, beautiful photos from the greatest (and muddiest) party on Earth
GLASTONBURY 2016: Big, beautiful photos from the greatest (and muddiest) party on Earth
GLASTONBURY 2016: Big, beautiful photos from the greatest (and muddiest) party on Earth
GLASTONBURY 2016: Big, beautiful photos from the greatest (and muddiest) party on Earth
GLASTONBURY 2016: Big, beautiful photos from the greatest (and muddiest) party on Earth
GLASTONBURY 2016: Big, beautiful photos from the greatest (and muddiest) party on Earth
GLASTONBURY 2016: Big, beautiful photos from the greatest (and muddiest) party on Earth
GLASTONBURY 2016: Big, beautiful photos from the greatest (and muddiest) party on Earth
GLASTONBURY 2016: Big, beautiful photos from the greatest (and muddiest) party on Earth
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