Glastonbury still magical for veteran festival-goers

Glastonbury veterans who have attended for more than four decades say the festival has not lost its magic.

Steve Apelt, 60, from Chiselborough, Somerset, has been a regular since the early 1980s and first went to Glastonbury aged 21.

He said he had watched the festival go from "chaotic" to "the most beautiful thing on the planet".

Pat Rogers, 73, who has attended since the 1970s said he still finds "there's so much to see at Glastonbury".

Mr Apelt said: "It went through that time when it was a festival when everyone was jumping the fence, and it all became a bit chaotic, to now, which is the most beautiful thing on the planet.

"Last night, we spent hours just walking around and every corner that you turn there's something else that's so innovative, beautiful, pretty and so many people just love it for that."

HGV driver Ben Rogers, 46, from Wells, who first came to Glastonbury aged one, said it is "simply the greatest show on earth".

"Many say it's too commercial now, but for me, it's still kept that incredible vibe and atmosphere you simply can't explain to anyone who hasn't been," he said.

"Everyone comes and instantly embraces - it's impossible not to," he added.

Mr Rogers, a retired car technician, said variety is what sets the festival apart.

"You don't just turn up for the groups and go home, there's so much to see at Glastonbury," Mr Rogers said.

But he added that it has become "quite political".

"At my age, it irks me a little the political side of stuff as everything is in your face," he said.

"Everybody has got to have a voice for something, but it's too much down your throat, in my opinion," added Mr Rogers.

On Thursday evening the original Glastonbury veteran, founder Michael Eavis, performed a collection of classics on The Park Stage.

The 87-year-old, who was wheeled on in an office chair due to a foot injury, kicked-off with Frank Sinatra's Love's Been Good To Me.

Eavis changed the words from "There was a girl in Portland" to "There was a girl in Pilton", in reference to the nearest village to Worthy Farm.

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