What Does Michael Eavis Think About Glastonbury Festival Litter Pickers?

This isn't my rant. I'm reporting someone else's rant from many years ago.

N was a Glastonbury litter picker. His patch included the area around Michael's house. Windblown litter had collected in a flower bed under a window . The dining room window . Michael was entertaining some of his posh friends. The window was open. N was on his knees picking up scraps of litter when he overheard Michael joking to his friends.

The essence of the joke was that the festival goers were stupid scum who could even be persuaded to pick up the litter after the fantastically profitable and highly polluting event.

N stood up, stuck his head in through the open window, and gave Michael a few choice words. Michael's response was to give him an lifetime ban from the Glastonbury festival site.


Glastonbury Festival. Pay an extortionate amount for a ticket, burn lots of fossil fuel getting there, then watch the most conventional, boring musicians the music industry has available. It's all money in the bank for fake-boy Eavis.

"The defence team told the court any fine should be in line with the company's finances. They said the festival's net profit was £84,000 a year before tax. But the prosecution said turnover was about £37m." www.bbc.co.uk...

a reply to: Kester

Here is what I think about Glastonbury.

It is about as edgy as a mother and baby meeting at the village hall, featuring bands so far out that even people who do not like the music, know the name of the band. In short its bunkum, and they should either make it more exclusively for the stoners and hippies, or just stop it outright.

As for litter pickers, those dudes and dudettes do a bang up job, so that everyone can go again next year and have a good time, without being concerned that their outrageous messiness and anti hippy consumerism, will cause damage to the surrounding area. They should be respected, and since Eavis benefits from their presence, I very much believe that he ought to think better of those individuals than he does.

There's more than one type of festival attendee. Those that trash the place are also frowned upon by those willing to volunteer their time to clean up after the fact. Not appreciated to be lumped together in the same group I'm sure. Nothing like a display of ingratitude. Perhaps Mr. Hoity toity would have preferred to clean the mess himself? Thought not. - Sincerely a festival goer who cleans up after herself and others.

a reply to: AccessDenied

I go to Bloodstock Open Air every year, and have done since 2007. Before that, I used to attend Download festival.

Now, Download festival is a crapshoot, because there are too many different types of music fandom being catered for, things that are not really metal being played, and I do not get down that way. But the other thing I hated about Download, was the waste. The last one I went to was in 2006, and on the last night, there were riots. It's a big festival, and mobs of dudes were just running around, setting fires, causing mayhem and trashing people's campsites while the residents were in their tents! Myself and a mate stayed up all night, scrapping with blokes who were trying to set fire to surrounding tents, and our tents, while our mates slept in them.

Forty feet away, a huge pile of tents was made, and set fire to, causing noxious fumes to be released, and the on site fire service rolled up to put it out, only to have the small fire tender itself get set upon by twenty or so nutters, who climbed onto its roof, and started bouncing on it. That all came to a close when the burliest fireman I ever saw, clambered out of the cab, onto the roof, and bodily threw them off. The fire was put out, and the resultant mess was a four foot high pile of melted, charred detritus. All of this happened during the night, and that large fire was just one of more than five, less than ten, which you could see from my position at the time. Aside from this, several businesses, food vendors and other merchantile festival goers, had their generators sabotaged, causing minor explosions throughout the night.

Day broke, and as my friends and I broke camp, we surveyed the scene. Huge mounds of charred tent, smaller piles of burnt debris where less ambitious firebugs had been at work, collapsed tents which appeared to have been used as commodes, before being left behind to cook in the morning sun. Most of the trouble makers had probably been set to leave the night before, at the end of the craziness, and so burned their tents and others just to cause a stink. Aside from that, there were mounds of unmanaged trash, despite the fact that large industrial disposal bins had been provided at forty foot intervals along the thoroughfares, not to mention entire bits of camping equipment, chairs, roll beds, gazebos, and Christ alone knows what else just left there, some in perfect condition, and others scuppered purely to prevent anyone being able to reclaim them and reuse them. Bloody minded stupidity.

Bloodstock, on the other hand, is a different affair. Because the music is narrowly focused on the sort of stuff that the festival goers want to hear, everyone is there for the same reason. To have a lark, chill, watch the bands they love, get in the mosh, and have a good time. On the whole, although there is often quite a bit of mess, it is no where near as bad as either Glastonbury, or Download, in terms of crap per square yard. The reason? Well, yes, Bloodstock is a small festival by the standards of such things, but the reason the crap per square yard is less, is simply that we, the festival goers, love the festival, and respect one another. We know that the more crap there is at the end, the more the ticket price goes up. We know that the more stuff gets wrecked, the less happy the good vendors are going to be, to arrive next year, and happy vendors makes for a better deal at the merch tents, food places, and other commercial outlets on the field. We know also, that the festival is a family run thing, by metal heads, for metal heads.

We, the Bloostock regulars, do not go away to Bloodstock. We go home to it, once a year. We do not crap on our doorstep.

i had cause to ring michael eavis once for advice... he was a gentlemanly friendly fella who gave his time and advice freely. top bloke imo

Glastonbury festival has been dead for years. its a corporate monster.

If you want to re-discover what a real community festival is like then try the Big Green Gathering

Went to Glastonbury when the Rolling Stones were there,and was lucky with the weather

Was actually fun seeing bands play I wouldn't normally see in smaller tents and people were well mannered and friendly

Last big concert I attended was monsters of Rock before they name changed:-/

That had twats throwing big plastic bottles of urine into the crowd and litter all over the place,music was good from Pantera to Aerosmith but was so windy it effected the sound system

With good weather Glastonbury is fun,it's not all about the music it's about the experience and there is loads to do and see

The only pain was the long walk from the car park to the camping site overburdened with gear

a reply to: Whereismypassword

There's always some clown throwing urine at a gig.

a reply to: PhoenixOD

I went to Glastonbury Festival by accident. I lived in the area. People kept saying "Are you going to Pilton Festival?" I didn't know Pilton Festival was the local name for Glastonbury Festival, since it's at Pilton, not Glastonbury. I asked for directions and set off at the crack of dawn.

I walked over from High Ham. I've just looked at the map, it was a few miles. I should have been alerted to the truth when, at six in the morning, I came across a camp at the side of the road. A hand painted black ambulance. A ragged black flag flying from a twisted hazel stick. And a black clad punkish looking fellow sitting mute on a chair by a fire. I greeted him but he just stared as if not fully sure I was real. I walked past and carried on. Approaching over the hill I was horrified to see the full extent of the site. "Oh my God!" I thought, "This is THE Glastonbury festival."

Having travelled there I thought it only fitting I should attend. I walked in through an open entrance. Immediately I was confronted by an aggressive man with a German Shepherd. "Go up to the main entrance!" he said. It was a week before the festival was due to start and the fence wasn't finished.

That was the start of my adventures in commercial entertainment land. I walked in through a gap before the main entrance. I don't pay for festivals. I pick litter but I don't pay. No one charges me for walking on my precious Isle of Albion.

That night I had the pleasure of a police helicopter hovering over me, shining a spotlight straight down on me, and I'd picked that spot for it's quietness. Fun, fun, fun.

Getting back onto manipulation of festival crowds. One thing I saw there was a water truck come into the Kings Meadow, park, and start spraying. This was during a drought, water was being sprayed on the dusty tracks.

When the truck started spraying a few ran down and cavorted in the spray, some naked. That was the rehearsal.

Twenty minute later the truck returned. This time the police helicopter was there with the side door open. Remember this was years back when everything was more basic. It seemed the side door may have been open for a camera to get a better shot. I'd been watching the police helicopter since I arrived and I'd never seen it with the side door open.

This time the helicopter hovered where it could get a good shot of the proceedings. Having been prompted by the rehearsal a number of suggestible festival goers stripped off and cavorted in the cooling spray. The helicopter stayed long enough to get footage of the staged event. I don't remember who left first, the helicopter or water truck, they left when the staged and rehearsed event was over.

I always assumed the footage was used to demonstrate to politicians etc. what 'these people are like, and during a drought! Shameless!'

Now I'm so cynical it wouldn't surprise me if this was just crooked masonic coppers getting festie porn.

a reply to: TrueBrit

There are no open fires allowed at the festival I go to,and there is a good number of security staff keeping people out of trouble. This past summer the mess was quite minimal due to bins everywhere on the grounds,and a large one in between the campsites and parking lot. No glass containers or bottles are allowed either. The meaning behind my local festival is green anyways,so it usually attracts the type of crowd that won't litter but theres always a few that spoil it.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Bloodstock sounds OK. Steer clear of the Brownstock security.

TWO bouncers who were jailed after kidnapping a festival-goer and abandoning him on a busy road will not be leaving prison early.

Brownstock reveller 32-year-old Paul Wickerson was killed in Lower Burnham Road after he was hit by several cars.


Security guards Gregory Maxwell and Brian Atkins were jailed in June last year, for three years and three years and nine months respectively, for the kidnapping of the 32-year-old Brownstock reveller in 2013.

www.chelmsfordweeklynews.co.uk... =mr&lp=4

The festival is a joke full of cardboard hippies and drugged up rich kids that wouldn't know music if it kicked them in the head. Plus it's like monsoon season in Vietnam most years all in all you would be better to lie in your garden with the sprinkler on while asking one of your neighbours to steal your belongings and your partner to serve you warm flat lager for £9 a pint

a reply to: Kester

I'd like to offer a conflicting view to your friend's experience. I worked at Glastonbury a few times and was one of the security pawns who got there a week or two early. We'd have shifts guarding the stages, generators and perimeters etc; good money for dull hours. Longest shift was 27 hours...in summer...

Most security guys went off-shift, got pissed and slept. I'd have a wash and go meet mates and watch bands playing.

The end of Glastonbury was always a dreary affair with wreckage and rubbish left all over the place. The litter-pickers saw every abandoned tent as a lucky-dip because festival-goers couldn't be arsed taking everything back with them. Most tents would be empty and some would have clothes, stereos and decent back-packs - some of the tents were pretty good too. They'd be scouring the grass for dropped money, lost jewellery and baggies of weed or coke. Often they were too late because the Old Guard security guys had already shone their mag-lites around the area before pickers arrived.

I'm digging deep for recollections here. Eavis' house wasn't on the beaten track for litter pickers or even security. All of Glastonbury Festival is mapped out with pathways and gates. Oxfam, security and festival workers were designated certain gates and areas. His home was isolated away from everyone else and I've a vague recollection that he herded his livestock there too to escape the visitors. Unless it was a different time, there was no chance of someone just happening to be under his open window.

I spoke to the guy a couple of times in different years. He seemed alright if a little too tall lol. He didn't seem to have a bad attitude. That's my experience/anecdote versus your friend's.

On one year, I was injured and taken to the local ER. The nurse who treated me said she was one of the first Glastonbury attendees. She'd been one of the originators having drinks in Eavis' kitchen. She didn't have a bad word to say about the tall SoB.

a reply to: Kandinsky

Recently we've had more than the usual problems associated with the long term psychological effects on innocent relatives of a family member who went down the path of infiltrator, spy, provocateur, false flag bomber. That annoys me which makes me write more, and takes so much time I then rarely get back to continue the thread. I apologise for leaving so many unanswered points recently. This comment of yours clearly deserves a response.


It would have been some time in the early eighties he told me. I have no idea how many years before it was. I have no reason to doubt his story.


I recounted the tale because there is a link to festie types supporting the criminal elements among the honest and deserving refugees. The careful mind control of festie types, the forbidden viewpoints etc., all add up to a dangerous mix of well meaning helpfulness and base, cynical manipulation.

This thread isn't specifically about Eavis as a man. It's one example of an overheard conversation that gave the game away.

The one time I saw Eavis he laughed hilariously just at the sight of me. That's another story which I can't tell, but it's likely it will be a memory for him. I'm pleased I offered him the chance of a good laugh. It was early in the morning, there was no one else about. I was slightly non-plussed as I hadn't had the joke explained to me at that point. He drove past slowly laughing uproariously. All I can judge from that is he enjoys a good laugh.


We see here en.wikipedia.org... he laments the decline in political activity associated with the festival. But what has he done about it? He's taken honours from the Queen. That isn't what rebels do. He's had awards for services to the music industry. mitsaward.co.uk...

Is it not obvious the manipulation of festival goers has led them from political awareness towards musical consumerism. A dead end road.


The poo thing has been going on for a long time.

In 2002 the Festival was fined £10,000 after a cesspit for one of 32 blocks of deep drop toilets leaked and its contents polluted the River Whitelake. Environment Agency officials detected high concentrations of ammonia in the river as far as two miles downstream of the Worthy Farm site where the festival is held. Pollution had also occurred following the previous festival in 2000

www.agreenerfestival.com...


He's a man who brings a lot of city poo into a farming area. Some of it gets taken away again. The total amount of fossil fuels used must be phenomenal. I think these figures are a few years old.

Two thirds of people attending the festival come by car.

. . .

Three thousand two hundred and twenty toilets must be delivered to the site before the festival begins. During the festival, they are emptied into large tankers which make 40 trips a day to take the sewage 30 miles to Avonmouth on the Bristol Channel.

www.rgs.org...

I've known other men with the pasted on smile, those eyes, and charming manners. This one wears a suit when he goes to court over his out of control poo collection. Each to his own.

a reply to: Kester

recently we've had more than the usual problems associated with the long term psychological effects on innocent relatives of a family member who went down the path of infiltrator, spy, provocateur, false flag bomber. That annoys me which makes me write more, and takes so much time I then rarely get back to continue the thread. I apologise for leaving so many unanswered points recently. This comment of yours clearly deserves a response.

Hey no worries I do it myself because sometimes my mind doesn't have the words and other times I'm tired or distracted. I've probably written five comments for every one that gets posted.

he laments the decline in political activity associated with the festival. But what has he done about it? He's taken honours from the Queen. That isn't what rebels do. He's had awards for services to the music industry.

You're spot on there. Glastonbury sends a whack of money to charities but it doesn't stand for anything. There's no great sense of rebellion or changing society. Even in the Green Fields it's more sorta middle-class and buying stuff from Body Shop. Eating 'Gastro' veggie burgers at £6 a pop. Then again, will a few thousand in a field change the world?

I worked at a few different festivals and interacted with police, security, undercover security and plain-clothed police. On several occasions, I'd say there were agitators there and will never know if they were trolls and assholes or had a wider purpose. Some people are what I call social arsonists.