Happy Birthday Glasto!

Mud, Mud, glorious Mud (okay well maybe not this year, glorious sunshine instead), this iconic festival has arrived to the tune of it's 40th Birthday! It all began in 1970, the day after Jimi Hendrix died, a small idea by farmer/entrupenur Michael Eavis transformed into a major UK event, which is now famous on an inteinternational scale. Stumbling across the Blues Festival & West showground sowed the seeds of intrigue and imaginationation and the very next day Eavis booked the Kinks for £500. The essence of the festivals roots are still there, granted it is on a larger scale, with milk from the farm being sold for £1 for the revelers.

"I never imagined it becoming such a huge event, but I deal with it one year at a time...I am so privileged to be able to share my farm with hundreds and thousands of people, where they can experience unspeakable pleasures, learn about life's enduring values, and have memories to last them a lifetime!"

- Michael Eavis (Foreword from Glastonbury Another Stage 2010)

Through the ups and down Eavis vision is still evolving and growing to what the festival is today, it is a great achievement for all the annual organisers and is now a british music institution... even if usually it does bring the rain. This year the sun has been kind on it's ruby anniversary and although unfortunately not there I assume the ground has remained in tack and no wellies are needed.

To celebrate this turning of age, Photographer extraordinaire Venetia Dearden, a local to the hills of Pilton whom experienced the plight of the yearly gathering on her own doorstep from young had always been drawn to the colour, variety and excitement of it all. Deardens previous work includes the likes of Vogue so equipt in her field of knowledge she has produced a retrospective book of her 6 year on-site documentations of the picked out individuals from the 150,000 festival-goers that attend each year. She captures the ececentricity, the uniquiness and the quirks of them all. From year on year you can see the evolution of the outfits, especially those from the years of the mud. A beautifully presented compilation of portraits from the famous performers who have graced the stage to the unknowns who have humor, joy and some look well-and-truly festivalled-out! A must buy reminiscent tool for anyone who has been lucky enough to have been apart of the history of the countryside event and a complete insight for those that have yet to attend (like myself). It's a whole new world and one that celebrates all that is good in the world, diversity!

Glastonbury - Another Stage (Hardcover)
by Venetia Dearden (Author)

Hardcover: 368 pages
Publisher: Kehrer Verlag (16 April 2010)
Language English
ISBN-10: 3868280464
ISBN-13: 978-3868280463
Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 17.8 x 3.4 cm
RRP: £20.00
Price: £19.08 from Amazon.co.uk

" There's a sense of elation, a sense of a microcosm of contemporary life. In today's fractured, lonely and alienating society, coming together, in an idyllic setting with other like-minded souls is paradise"

- Candace Bahouth (Introduction from Glastonbury Another Stage 2010)