| 2004
- Wednesday
– So our story begins at 9am on Wednesday morning, as the
HMZ team plus friends gathered at Nailsea Tesco to begin the weekend
with a fry-up. The previous night had been spent constructing
our humourous banner, more on that later, and packing bags whilst
keeping a nervous eye on the darkening skies above. The clouds
finally broke at about 6pm, and the rain hadn’t yet stopped.
We optimistically purchased ingredients for a barbeque, and picked
up a CD of the best England songs to get us in the mood for Thursday’s
big match. The torrential rain continued, but after last-minute
visits to the cleanest toilets likely to be encountered for 6
days we finally took the plunge and headed off on the sodden road
to Glastonbury. Jeff the Chef made the audacious claim that he
knew a route which could get us there in 30 minutes, so we foolishly
decided to follow him. After an hour and 20 minutes of dawdling
through Somerset lanes, with the Fire Album volume 2 on full blast,
we eventually arrived at the festival site.. |
| Gasps
of awe as we see a wood pile for the first time
(these are usually burnt by our usual arrival day of Thursday). |
|
|
A
cursory check of the car by security and negotiation of some tricky
muddy corners in the car park proved no obstacle, and we hauled
our luggage to the gate, where we found no sign of the ID checks
that were meant to help in the fight against ticket touts. The
threat may have worked this year but it is unlikely anyone will
worry about it in future, perhaps not the wisest of moves by the
organisers. The short but taxing walk up into the traditional
Nailsea “Wicket Ground” camping area revealed that
we had not quite managed to be the first into the field, but had
only been beaten by a solitary tent. Gasps of awe at the mountains
of wood in the middle of the field had to be put aside for the
moment, as we battled against the strong winds and rain to erect
our tents, in what we thought was a reasonably sheltered spot. |
| Victory
against the elements, however fleeting, was eventually achieved,
leaving us free to begin the collection of the wood mountain.
We were fortunate to have brought an extra tent, which proved
an excellent wood store, and kept our bounty safe until the skies
cleared. Speculation grew as to what other purposes this extra
tent could be used for... a general consensus was reached that
it should be made available for any courting couples to occupy
for the night, leaving us free to observe their nocturnal activities.
From this point the tent became known as the “Dogging Tent”,
and many songs were invented in its honour. So with the chores
of setting up camp complete, it was now time for us to begin enjoying
ourselves properly, and what better way to start than with a stroll
down to the legendary Cider Bus.
On our way we were able to take in the few slight alterations
to the site layout, and the appearance of a stall purely devoted
to helping people light fires. We were tempted by the ever-burning
sawdust logs, but decided that with half a tonne of wood already
stashed away our arsonist instincts were probably catered for
today at least. Construction of the sound rigs at the Pyramid
stage was still under way, forcing a wide detour across the field,
and we correctly assumed that all would not be complete in time
for the thousands descending on the field for the football on
Thursday. Although many of the bars and food stalls had not yet
opened, the hardy souls of the Cider Bus were already in full
swing, and we treated ourselves to the first of many pints of
Burrow Hill. |
| Jungle
Jim - In the Dogging Tent, In the Dogging Tent............ |
|
| Zider
Gents was in need of some warming, and decided to experiment with
a “Posh Spice”, a hot spicy cider with a double cider-brandy
thrown in for good luck. The experiment was deemed a success,
but with no cover available cider-drinking was already a difficult
task, with the rain determined to get amongst the apples. A nearby
tree provided some relief, but we had to wonder whether or not
it was just tree sap falling into our pints. Undeterred we sampled
a couple more, before rain-fatigue set in and it was time to head
back to the shelter of our tents, where several pints of the Thatchers
we had imported lay in wait. It was not the greatest surprise
to see our tents had taken a bit of a battering from the wind,
and a few repairs were needed before we could break into the flagons
and let the cider flow once more. |
|
It
only took a couple more hours before the rain eventually
eased, and we took immediate advantage of this to get
our barbeque going, using some of our wood mountain to
create a very effective windshield. We were then able
to relax and watch the site fill with tents, attracting
the occasional visitor to borrow our grill, although many
fled in fear when confronted with grown men attacking
each other with barbeque tongs whilst dancing to some
of the more alternative tracks on the fire album. |
|
By
the evening more bars and stalls had begun to open, although
there was still relatively little entertainment available.
We ended up at The Crown, which resembled a “towny”
nightclub somehow lost in the middle of a festival, they
even made us queue to get in! |
|
| Nailsea
punters wait to get a black sausage in their mouth, burnt
to perfection by Block the Chef. |
|
| But
once in there Rob da Bank played a good DJ set, with an impressive
sound and lighting set up, and the packed tent were able to get
well into the festival mood. A relatively small fire at our campsite
brought a damp but enjoyable first day to an end, and left us
all convinced that we could never go back to arriving on the Thursday
again. |
| 2004
- Thursday
– The best thing about waking up on Thursday morning was
not hearing the sound of rain lashing against the tent! Feet were
sore after spending all of the previous day in wellies, and we
were hoping that the mud would dry up and allow us to get around
in trainers. An early wander down into the markets confirmed that
whilst it was still a little tricky getting around in trainers,
it had become possible. The stroll also revealed a lot more tents
had been set up overnight, and most of the stalls were now open
for business. We were able to enjoy a breakfast from the excellent
“Real Meat Sausage Company” and reflect on yet another
advantage of having arrived on the Wednesday, that whilst others
still had all the travelling and setting up to do, today was completely
ours to spend as we pleased. It seemed many others had taken the
same decision to arrive early, as the festival information boards
advised that many camping areas were already full to capacity,
and people with tents were being strictly controlled in which
fields they could go into. |
|
Unconcerned
by such matters, we headed up to the greenfields, to the Greenpeace/Guardian
“soulmates” tent in search of some love. The search
was always likely to be in vain, and our responses to the match-making
questionnaires were more likely to provoke fear than undying affection.
“Dogging” was routinely listed as a favourite pastime,
and favourite holiday locations were generally local car parks
and beauty spots. A bemused assistant even asked Jungle Jim if
he was a fireman, perhaps the only logical response to a sheet
of paper mentioning arson on almost every line, presented by a
man with flames on his t-shirt and trousers. The completed forms
were dispatched to the “Master Computer” and we anxiously
waited to see if similarly bizarre females had been found to be
our soulmates. After 4 games of giant Jenga the tension mounted
as the first match of the weekend was to be announced. |
| To
our delight Freelovematty had been chosen, and was invited onto
the stage with the lucky lady, where the compere read out a few
of their responses to the questionnaire. He avoided the references
to dogging, but Matty’s claim that Greenpeace was the greatest
threat to the global environment raised a few eyebrows. Any chance
Matty had of keeping this encounter quiet were ruined by the appearance
of an HTV West camera crew, who filmed the happy couple on the
stage, and also in the neighbouring “Garden of Love”,
before broadcasting these scenes to the region that evening. We
waited a little longer to see if anyone else was to be matched,
but the general normality of the girls coming in and out of the
tent raised suspicions that this was unlikely, and we were forced
to admit defeat and continue our wander around the site. |
|
On
returning to our campsite we were dismayed to find the brand new
England gazebo we had erected only a couple of hours earlier had
already been felled by the wind, and terminal damage caused to
one of its legs. However, we made the best out of the situation
by inventing the game “gazebo golf”, which mainly
involved using the detached gazebo leg to propel objects, usually
empty Pringles tubes, in the general direction of people, the
fence or tents. This extremely hazardous game somehow passed without
damage to person or property, and so it was time to stick on the
England anthems and get in the mood for the Euro 2004 quarter
final between England and Portugal. |
|
| The
stocks of Thatchers were quickly demolished and with around an
hour to kick off and the 5,6,7,8’s “Woohoo”
still ringing in our ears we marched down to the Pyramid Field,
where the big screens were ready to bring us the action. |
Football
comes to the Pyramid (pic from efestivals) |
|
.
Organiser Emily Eavis took to the stage to welcome everyone to
the festival, and to request that people use the toilets rather
than the hedgerows. Her appearance would have been more warmly
received if it had not been discovered the previous week that
she has a boyfriend, placing an unwanted obstacle in the path
of the inheritance of organising the festival heading in the HMZ
direction. It can only be hoped she soon sees sense and shows
him the door, making herself available for far more deserving
suitors. An estimated 60,000 packed the field for the game, and
whilst the atmosphere never reached the levels of a live game,
the chants of “Eng-er-land” echoed round the field
most of the night. We made some tremendous noise to celebrate
Michael Owen and Frank Lampard’s goals, and to bemoan the
decisions of the Swiss referee, and perhaps the biggest cheer
when the BBC showed the Glastonbury crowd to the nation. But,
as we all know the night ended in disaster at the penalty spot,
and whilst the country mourned another missed chance of a trophy,
we headed to the Cider Bus. It only took a couple more Burrow
Hill’s to shake off the tragic events in Lisbon, and we
still had 3 days of partying left to enjoy. |
| As
ever there was a wealth of entertainment on offer around the site
on the Thursday night, with bands in the smaller tents and café’s,
and films in the cinema, but all of this was ignored by the HMZ
team in favour of trying to drink the Bus dry, and then returning
to the campsite to burn images of David Beckham, Urs Meijer, Helder
Postiga and others. |
|
|
Buy CD's containing songs featured on the legendary "Fire
CD Volume 2" below
|
.
|
Something's Burning - Stone Roses
Burn Away - Foo Fighters
This Fire - Franz Ferdinand
Burn Burn - Lostprophets
Dig For Fire - The Pixies
A Church Is Burning - Simon & Garfunkel
Fire - Scooter
Light Aircraft on Fire - The Auters
