Glastonbury

As the King of all music festivals takes a break in 2006, Temple's documentary is the closest thing you can get to the Glastonbury experience this year. It charts the history of the event, but is formed in a way that recreates the feeling of three days of fun rather than simply following chronology.

Two hours and twenty minutes might seem a long time for a documentary, but as you're kept smiling most of the way through, it's not in the least overbearing. We are treated to a number of musical highlights, but just as entertaining is meeting some of the weird and wonderful people that make the festival so unique. Particularly memorable are the three-man family team who run the tanker that sucks the, aherm, human waste out of the portaloos – such are the moronic faces of the two children, they really could be characters from Little Britain!

Unfortunately, I've never been to Glastonbury myself; and it is for people like me that this documentary fails. The tone of the film is aimed far more towards people that can remember the event themselves, and there isn't a great deal to learn for people like myself that have never been. I saw this film with some people that had been to Glastonbury; and they informed me that the film doesn't even show the best bits of the festival, as while director Julien Temple is busy showing us, over and over again, that the festival suffers from gatecrashers; he completely forgets about many of the events other than the live bands, and the true festival atmosphere never really shines through. Going into this film, I was hoping to see some of the great acts that have performed at Glastonbury; and audiences get treated to performances from great acts such as Radiohead, The Prodigy, Massive Attack, David Bowie and an excellent rendition of 'Waterloo Sunset' by Ray Davies, while having to suffer through drivel such as Morrisey, Coldplay and Björk...it's a real mixed bag, which could suit a range of music fans - but the director cuts the performances with other pictures and sounds, and it completely spoils it. We barely get to hear a full song and it would seem that the more exciting the act, the less screen time it gets. Throw in a completely unneeded segment about the toilet facilities and what you have is a documentary about an interesting subject, made very dull. Most of my enjoyment from this film came from the hope that I'd hear a band that I like soon; and most of the time I didn't. Shame really.

35 years and still going strong this documentary from Julien temple tell the story of one of the worlds best festivals. From day one until the most recent the film is punctuated with memorable performances from acts like the prodigy, pulp, Joe Strummer, David Bowie, Bjork and Dr.John to name but a few. There are moments that gave me goose bumps, I suppose it helps that I was there, but none the less there are some amazing performances. As I started watching the film I began to feel it was very one-sided all great atmosphere and friendly smiles and I was pleasantly surprised when it told the side of Glastonbury we would all wish wasn't there, drugs, robberies (no mention of the shooting in 1996) and it even tells the story of the travellers that used to go to Stonehenge before they were stopped and it briefly touches on the battle of the bean field. Elsewhere it gives an overview of everything the festival has become apart from the music. Wild sculptures, musical jams, costumes and over the top performance art all is here along side the things you'd expect tie dye, silly hats and naked hippies. If you've ever been to Glastonbury then you will enjoy this loving take on all its mystical aspects, if you've never been you'll get to see just what you've missed. Music, mud and mayhem combine to make this an amazing inside glance at a world that only exists for five days once a year.

Americans have never heard of Glastonbury. That may seem surprising to our British friends, but neither myself nor any fellow "Yank" I've ever spoken to had any idea of what it was. To all my fellow Americans out there, let me explain: It's the greatest kept secret in all of Britain. We don't know about it because there is no way for anyone to make any money telling Americans about it. The only way I can describe Glastonbury is "Woodstock, but cool...I mean really, really cool." I kept saying as I watched this film, I wish it were longer. First of all, as a rock film, it's better than any concert film you can name (even though we Americans only knew maybe 20% of the bands in the film). Better than Live Aid. Better than Live 8. Better than Knebworth. (Unfortunately, we can't see every performance in its entirety because there are so many of them.) And the fascination extends beyond the musical performances. It's a wonderful historical document, showing the evolution of British pop, from classic rock to punk to new wave to industrial to whatever they call today's music. Plus you get an look at the fashions and zeitgeist of each music. Hippy's to bikers to (what we Americans call) lot-scammers. Glostonbury shows nakedness, drugs, mud, music and chaos on a biblical scale, often times on the stage itself. It defies explanation. You can only see it to believe it. Woodstock happened only once. This goes on every summer, and the music doesn't suck. It's a crowning achievement for rock cinema and rock history. I've always wondered why the best rock comes from Britain. This film offers a clue. After the film was over, I walked out of the theater and wanted a hit of acid or a stiff drink. I wanted to smash a window and streak down the street. I wanted to light a fire, quit my job and join a rock band, renounce all my worldly possessions and grow out my hair. I wanted to stand up and cheer because this is a classic film. I didn't do any of those things, except the later, because I'm not a moron; but the film certainly conveys the liberating power of music and it's capacity to free the soul. I am so amazed that the Glastonbury festival even exists in this modern age of the puritanical War on Drugs. It couldn't exist in America. I'm glad it does exist, and I'm glad that this film exists because Bachanalia is no longer valued. It is seen as a threat, as a corruptive force rather than a liberating rite of passage. It is an experience everyone should have at least once in their life, and should the day come when the 'Forces that Be' close Glastonbury down, at least Temple's film will still be here to show future generations how wonderful life can be when lived with perfect unfettered collective freedom, (as Bowie says) "if just for one day."

Glastonbury Festival, probably the world's greatest music event, now in its 50th year, though sadly this year, 2020, it, along with pretty much everything else, found itself cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Personally I have never been, even though it is only a couple of hours drive away, but every year I sit at home and take in as much of it as I can on the TV. I like Julien Temple's work,a very talented film maker. Sadly I don't think that Glastonbury is one of his better works. It started off very promising, with the festival being set up and people arriving, inter-cutting footage from different decades. Pity he didn't maintain that throughout. This film is more focused on the festival goers rather than the history or musical acts, although there are many great performances of the latter. Most of these are from the 1990's/early 00's, I would like to have seen more older stuff (assuming footage exits). Too much time is given to the New Age Travellers period, and seeing Rolf Harris being adored on stage now feels rather sickening (he is now serving time in prison for historic sex offences). One of the last tracks played is Bowie's"Heroes", the heroes of this film were father Ray plus his sons Andrew and Mark, who each day empty the brimming toilets, taking great pleasure in their work.At just over 2 hours I chose to watch in instalments rather than one swoop.