OFF: No Glasto 2001

[M Holmes]

ANDREW GARIBALDI writes:

> so all the other festival promotors will be clapping their hands with glee -
> unless of course the councils concerned  and police follow suit and become
> so overly 'concerned' that things disappear altogether..

It's a fair call after Roskilde. I was at Glastonbury last year and there
were various ways in which it could have been dangerous as a result of
as many people gatecrashing as legitimate revellers. Obviously there
were health dangers from overload of the sanitary and litter collection
facilities. There were several times when overcrowding was hostage to a
single incident causing a panic. Fences were knocked down with unconcern
as to anyone who might be crushed on the other side. Most dangerous of
all, tents were forced into a situation where they were 4 inches apart
at best, with open fires well within risky distances from same. If
you've ever seen a tent go up, it's impressive. It takes ahandful of
seconds and anyone inside has sticky burning nylon (think napalm)
falling onto them. Worse, any tent within a few feet (safe distance at
legal campsites is 12 feet) may follow suit, with the probability of
this happening higher with shorter distances. Unless someone is quick
enough off the mark with closely packed tents (I.E rips enough of the
nearby tents out of the ground to create a firebreak, you can easily
have a wall of flame within a few minutes. If you run from that at
Glastonbury when it's crowded, you'll come to a hdge, or worse, a 12
foot high metal fence. And tents were often camped in roadways so a fire
tender would be unlikely to arrive quickly. This in a situation where
drunk and stonedpeople are negotiating a route in the dark through tents
almost on top of each other, and often carrying flares or lettng off
fireworks.

The risk are there. The risks are real, and Glastonbury was very lucky
not to see any of them turn sour. Eavis has made the only decision he
could, as did the local Police and Council.

I'm a great Glastonbury fan (I've been to 11 of them) but unless they can
put a stop to those who only want to steal from the festival and who cause
danger to others by their selfishness, then I agree that it'll have to
stop. If the Staag Luft 13 model pioneered at the Ise of Wight can't do
it (Eavis has a 25 foot interlinked fence planned for 2002) then sadly
that'll be the end of it.

That's my 89 quid's worth anyway...

FoFP