Last month I celebrated 25 years since my first Glastonbury. I grabbed a tent and a train ticket to Castle Carey and went off to Glastonbury festival. It was a very sunny hot summer in 92, and I had finished my GCSE’s a few days earlier and I was going to enjoy myself.
The line-up was solid. The Senseless Things, The Blue Aeroplanes, The Breeders, Carter U.S.M, The Orb, Primal Scream, The Stairs, The Fall, Ocean Colour Scene, Midway Still, Curve, The Frank and Walters, Spiritualized, Blur, Neds Atomic Dustbin and P.J Harvey.
These were the ones that I saw. I remember my disappointment when I went to the Pyramid Stage to see Morrissey. He wasn’t there James appeared instead. James opened with the Morrisey song We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful. I saw a Smiths fan run from the camping area because he thought that it was Moz himself singing.
Blur appeared onstage all dressed in suits, Damon climbed the lighting rig and then jumped on a speaker stack that toppled over. He broke his foot doing this, but at the time he carried on and I was unaware that he had injured himself.
The House of Love appeared with balloons all over the stage. At the end of the set the drummer threw a drumstick that he had broken earlier into the crowd. It seemed to fly into my hand and I went off very happy. I was fortunate because there were stories about Nirvana throwing a smashed guitar at the Reading Festival in 92. The story goes that the person who picked up the guitar got their tent raided in the night and beaten up and the guitar stolen.
I was so caught up in the scene, that I failed to watch Lou Reed or Van Morrison. What a pretentious snob I was. Jah Wobble’s Invaders Of The Heart and Sinead O’Conner appeared with her son (who was just a toddler) onstage to do a duet. The Blue Aeroplanes had the craziest dancer onstage that could out dance Bez. The Fall had to put up with people shouting, “Hit the North”, between each song. Ocean Colour Scene were a baggy band back then. I even had a look at Shakespeare’s Sister.
After the stages were empty and the bands had finished, I would go to a tent that had a DJ playing out of a truck cab that was actually in the tent. This was called the Sugar Lump, and even though I was not really into the music the atmosphere was amazing. On one night the generator that was powering everything kept on breaking down. As soon as the lights and music cut out hundreds of whistles blew and it seemed that everyone was wearing a glow necklaces. It also seemed there that, if anyone was wearing a Malcolm X cap they were a drug dealer
Probably the greatest thing that happened was that I heard Spiritualized for the first time. This started a twenty five year obsession
In a Field of Their Own: Highlights of Glastonbury 1992
The Orb – A Huge Ever Growing Pulsating Brain that Rules from The Centre of The Ultraworld
Jah Wobble’s Invaders of The Heart – Do You Live What You Sing?
Flowered Up – Weekender
James – Gold Mother
Dr Phibes & the House of Wax Equations – Hazy Lazy Hologram
Fat Dinosaur – Love
Senser – The Journey of Life
Curve – Fat Accompli
The Faith Healers – Reptile Smile
The Breeders – Iris
Lush – Starlust
Billy Bragg and The Redstars – Accident Waiting to Happen
Carter USM – Sheriff Fatman
The Levellers – Battle of the Beanfield
Neds Atomic Dustbin – Grey Cell Green
The Frank And Walters – Walter’s Trip
The Family Cat – Steamroller
The Real People – What You Want
Spiritualized – Shine a Light
Kitchens of Distinction – Mad as Snow
Thousand Yard Stare – Seasonstream
Midway Still – Better Than Before
The Senseless Things – Too Much Kissing
Blur – Sunday Sunday
Yesterday Today
