Glastonbury 2007 - Magical Moments

United Kingdom | | 29 June 2007

A few of ours...

VF Founder and MD Steve writes: "After being physically assaulted by security and thrown out of the Leftfield photo pit (where I had a legitimate right - and pass - to be, as I was working there) during Joss Stone's set, I ventured back to our base at the backstage Press Tent, whereupon I was knocked over by a charge of paparazzi chasing after Pete Doherty on a bicycle. At this point I wasn't feeling much Glasto magic. I felt an immediate compulsion to lose myself for a couple of hours in the Green Fields. I didn't tell anyone in my team where I'd gone, which was extremely irresponsible given that I was in charge of 20 people, all covering the festival for VF, but very liberating! I simply put one foot in front of the other and walked with no destination or purpose in mind, which is always the best approach when seeking Glasto's magic. The first place that drew me in was the Tadpole Tent - a stage powered entirely by solar and wind power - just inside the Green Futures field. Inside, the atmosphere was friendly, uplifting and inclusive. A psychedelic rock band were playing and a real hippy was passing a crystal ball from one hand to the other in a way that made it look like it was floating on air. For the first time all festival, I felt like I was at Glastonbury and the pressures of the world fell off me like flakes of dry mud. Then, the power went (the wind must have stopped) and the sound system with it. Rather than stop, the band then put down their electric guitars and basses (except the drummer who carried on playing) and produced bongos, and began jamming. Immediately, people who had been lounging at the back of the tent leapt to their feet and started dancing on the stage, hypnotised by the magic of the moment. I was one of them."

Dan, our Listings Editor writes: "I’d always been told how magical it is to sit at the Stone Circle and watch the sun rise.  My goal was to witness it this year but again, I failed.  But for the first time, on Wednesday night, I sat and watched the infamous lanterns float up towards the moon to a chorus of cheers.  Many warmed by fires and candlelight but most just huddled together as the packed arena anticipated the sun’s arrival.  The anticipation and sheer magnitude of expectation covering the field felt achievement enough for me, especially as the sun didn’t really appear all weekend."

Ben, one of our writers, writes: "With most punters now too muddy to care, too tired to clean themselves and too drunk on cider to think about what might lurk in the filth underfoot, mud wrestling was the number one form of entertainment on Sunday afternoon. Standing next to what could only be compared to the sort of muddy hole that Tarzan would fall foul of in the old black and white films, only to be rescued from certain death-by-mud by an excited monkey, we witnessed an all-in scrummage of the highest quality. Big Daddy would have been proud of the way one bloke headlocked his friend into the mud up to his neck, only to reemerge smiling with mud-covered teeth, and I suspect his opponent is still removing mud from various orifices following an all-out assault on his rear with handfuls of dirt being transferred from a cloudy main stage field to a place where the sun definitely wasn't shining that weekend. I wouldn't change the mud for anything, I have never ever laughed so much at so many things."  

Photographer Lisa writes: "Bumping into old friends at the Bimble Inn. Everyone singing along and dancing to the Waterboys at the Avalon Stage. The acts in the circus big top. Cheers across the site when the sun came out for a while."

Writer Jonny writes: "There were Buddhist monks at the bicycle-powered mandala stage. They had build a mandala out of individual coloured grains of sand especially for the festival. This was an incredibly complex construction, full of bright colours and beautiful to look at. While sitting in the tent enjoying the band we experienced a sensation of spinning. We think there was more to this than met the eye."

More Magical Moments can be read on the Official Glastonbury Festival Message Boards here.

Post your own Magical Moments below!