Greenfields
Lost Vagueness
Dave Matty is spending the weekend at Glastonbury without seeing any major bands and hanging out at the 'other' side of Glastonbury. He's reporting here about his adventures.
With a reputation as the most anarchic and culturally twisted field at the festival, with a full casino, ballroom, roller disco, cabaret stage and even a silver-service restaurant with diners attired in full evening wear, Lost Vagueness is where performers and audience participate together in warped decadence. Don't forget mutant waste props, the Chapel of Love & Hate (weddings every day) and the Mayhem Hop. Arrive before dark or get very lost indeed.
But this year something seemed to be missing from Lost Vagueness. Where are the performers? The jugglers? The artistic anarchy? Where was the mayhem? And where was the creepy sculpture of the head with the hands growing out of the ears that has scared the hell out of me for as long as I can remember? In its place this year is a tower with floodlights; hardly 'culturally twisted'.
Maybe it's the rain or the mud or the cold. People seem to be trying really hard to have a good time, but maybe the 'vibe' is missing? Maybe it's the new one-way system introduced to avoid over crowding. Because everyone walks in the same direction, seeming to know where they're going, noone appears to be truly 'lost'.
This is where I'm supposed to suggest that perhaps I'm getting a bit old for all this. But then I remembered an old hippie saying, "You're never too old to have a happy childhood".
Visitors do look truly happy and everyone is making a fantastic effort to dress up and let go, this year. Nun's habits, ballgowns, wigs, three-piece suits; you won't look out of place here, no matter who you are, what you do, or what you look like. Acts include Dreamstate Circus, Merlinski Spacelee, Divine Company and Grrrlesque. The Radio 1 wedding took place in the Chapel on Sunday afternoon to music from Kid Carpet and 'Shuffle and Think'.
The Oxygen Bar was fab, so was the Moldovian Sex Party and the LostoVision Song Contest. And if you do come here and get Lost and stay all night, there's a fab Veggie breakfast bar near the entrance so you won't need to even think about heading back to babylon.
When I crawled into my tent, within spitting distance of Lost Vagueness, at 5am, I could still hear the beat thudding away hard enough to send me to sleep while nodding my head in time to the music. And when some clever fairy switched the music on again at 7am a few hours later, I was literally shaken out of my sleeping bag. Greenfields, I love you! See you next year...
See the photos from Lost Vagueness