August 23, 2003

I swung a freebie day ticket for Saturday, and even without The white Stripes to sweeten the deal, who was I to refuse? So I dragged Pip along for my first taste of "the one that isn't Glastonbury", and all I had to show for it in the end was a lung-load of dust and a resolve to go to every glastonbury festival until the end of time.

We saw Junior Senior, Gold Chains, doves, Beck, BRMC, and Blur. Only because of the drought, the field was unbelievably dusty, and whenever the bands played anything even remotely upbeat and people started dancing, you couldn't even see the stage for the dust cloud. I inhaled so much dust, when I blew my nose, it was as black as my mascara. uff. And now I have a chest/throat cold I suspect may have something to do with it.

Overall, though, it was certainly no Glasonbury. the site was only about 15% the size, it was way more corporate, the food stalls were boring (chips & burgers & ice cream. and certainly no ginger sheep's milk ice cream!), and the people were quite crap and there was no spirit of comraderie like at Glasto. Not to say that Reading was bad - it just wasn't especially great.