Glasgowbury... The Story (and Aftermath)

First of all,
I couldn't get a good enough signal to post in the mountains, so humble apologies; however, WHAT A FUCKING WEEKEND!!!
Me, The Bean, The Meek, The Port & Banana arrived down at around 7 on Friday, pitched the tents in a matter of an hour and got settled in for the midgies to feast on us. It was cold enough, but no rain thankfully. Rion along with his Missus (whose Catalan stew saved a few bellies... Amazing chef!) Hollie, Marty and JAAMIEEE arrived shortly after to put up their sleeping quarters.
Rion, Marty and the crew left to go to a warm bed, hot showers and more importantly, CLEAN TOILETS! Me and my crew stayed to battle the elements head on with warm cardigans, a warm blanket and the smallest picnic blanket I've ever seen!
We had a few drinks, then went off to bed quite early; I had a big day ahead of me, and wanted to make sure I was ready for anything!! So sleeping tablet, and bed for me.

The next day, we woke around 7am... Restless enough sleep because of the cold; but a sleep was a sleep. The Bean packed LOADS of foodstuff for us, and had a French breakfast. Coffee, Croissants, Pain Au Chocolat and orange juice! On a fucking mountain?? Amazing stuff! The day was starting out to be a lot lot warmer, so that put us all in top form.



That was us ready for the day ahead. The Q and their girlfriends arrived shortly after... We helped them with their tents and had a laugh. We mingled about, talked to some other people we knew, and before we knew it; it was 1:00pm! Time flies! The festival area opened at 12! We got our sweaters, jumpers, cardigans and what have you, plus stuck a couple of rain macs into The Bean's bag... just in case!

On our way up, we met Reno and Dermot carrying a big tent bag; which I am assuming was filled with drink, (and lots of it) as it took the two of them to carry it!



We made it there just in time to catch the last couple of songs from Balkan Alien Sound, who blew the Eagles Rock stage away with their high powered gypsy folk which had even me dancing; a difficult feat at the best of times!
We took a wander around the area, seeing the stalls selling beer,Coffee, Merchandise and food. I then nipped backstage to familiarise myself with the layout, and where our stage was and so forth. Bumped into 'We Are Resistance', an extremely talented band hailing from the Draperstown area. There was a lot of beard complimenting and beard rubbing!

Back on the main site, we watched a couple more acts, and The Bean and I headed back to the campsite for a little rest; and also to get my suit sorted for the show.
The campsite was now STUFFED with people & tents! One guy thought he was onto a winner by booting a rugby ball as far as possible, and it landing on tents. People with no sense fuck me off; but anyway...
We got back to the tent just as the rain began... Damn shame! It was a great morning. Ah well; its Ireland...Rain comes with the country.

We made it back to the festival site to see our boys 'The Q' (interesting fact? Rion drummed temporarily for them about 4 months ago). They were immense! Guitars up full, and Pablo was the frontman of frontmen. (Not as good as Marty though cause he's just class, but I'm always concentrating on playing to take notice!)



The Q finished, and outside was PISSING DOWN! Really heavy rain; so macs on, and back to the campsite. The catalan stew hit the spot, and we had a few drinks. The rain eased up a bit; so we ventured out once more up to the Spurs of Rock stage to see our good friends, 'The Mighty Stef'; who were unbelievable as always. They dedicated my favorite song of theirs to the Gentry boys, and there was a roar from behind us!! Needless to say, I got nervous at that point. After the Stef, we had to run back stage to Mr Stephen McCauley for a radio interview with the BBC. We clambered into the back of a van, Wally at the helm and drove as far away from Lafaro's sound as possible so we could record a little tune for Mr McCauley. We did a bizarre rendition of 'Highbrow' and were sped back to the backstage area for Spurs of Rock; just to catch 'Swanee River' start. Jesus the crowd was enormous. How the fuck were we going to follow them!??

We watched and waited; and anxiously got our gear ready for a swift changeover; and stood at the wings. Swanee finished off their epic 'Baby Better Lady' then it was mad dives to get the drum kit changed, keyboards up,amplifiers heated and guitars tuned. With a quick sound check from Paul Sheerin, we ran back to the van and got changed into our suits... Then the madness began...

Marty walked onstage to an enormous roar from the crowd and began Leadbelly; to which we followed. I'd forgotten my nerves; strapped on my guitar (yes ladies and gents... My babies are back!) and Rion, Wally and I joined Marty in the song. With the count in from Wally, I hit the D chord and it almost blew my head clean off!! What a noise!! After a lot of jumping around, we moved straight into Johnny Hero. The photographer was right in front of me; and as we started the chorus, I leapt into the air, jumped back and promptly rolled about the ground! I kept playing, and the flashes of cameras made me think 'Jesus... I need to make this look intentional...' The ground was muddy, and some was on my shoes, so what I actually did was slip, but The Bean told me afterwards that it looked completely intentional! So job done as far as that was concerned.
Next up was Baditude. Ballsy as buck and again, a lot of leaping. Marty giving it his all onstage. He was going nuts too! We had a ball.
We began the changearound... Wally up front on harmonica, and Rion on the drums; and we brought onstage Mr Conor O'Kane for 'Troublesome Woman Blues'... Yet another crowdpleaser. The night went on, we sang Whiskey Town with Mr Keith Harkin on guitar, and to 'Bubblehead' ending on the accappela version of Leadbelly. The crowd were all singing along, and again we had Keith onstage singing with us, Paddy Nash, and God knows who else!
We left the stage with chants of 'ONE MORE TUNE! ONE MORE TUNE!' behind us.
We stood at the backstage, looked at each other and took to the stage one more time, blasting out 'The Ballad of The Landed Gentry'...
We then left on one of the biggest highs I think I've ever had... Robert was leaping about, Wally was buzzing and Rion, Marty, Dermot & Conor were just high with excitement... And that was it.

I ran around to find the Bean, and brought her and The Meek back with me. It was 11:40, and The Bean's favourite local band ASIWYFA were due on stage in 20 mins. We had to get all our gear into the van, leave space for a bed for Wally and Henry McCullagh was due to go on any minute. We broke the gear down and left it backstage; and The Bean, The Meek & I ran to see ASIWYFA.
I managed to see about 15 minutes before having to go and start loading gear, when it transpired that people were going on stage with ASIWYFA for the last song to sing...
I got The Meek and The Bean, ran to the stairs, and watched the enormous crowd. Everyone was on stage ready to go, then we got the go ahead.
Out we went, clapping our hands and singing to the crowd! It was fucking unreal! The Beans face was all lit up, really having a blast! It was pretty special.

When we got back to the Spurs of Rock stage, it turned out that Stevie from Swanee and our very own Big Marty were onstage with Henry McCullagh (from Wings/ Joe Cocker's band) singing 'Little help from my friends'!! Jesus! I don't think even Marty was expecting that!(***edit by Marty - Yes John I knew about this weeks before as it was arranged by Dermot [Mod] and Paddy G.***) AND they sang 'You've really got me' by The Kinks!

That was the end of the Glasgowbury festival. The gear was packed, the crowds were leaving and we were on a big big high.

On the way back to the campsite, there was a lot of people who recognised me from the band, and were shaking my hand, telling me that the band were brilliant. I found it strange. Can't help but wonder if people would talk to me had I not been in a band..

Back at the campsite, the heavens opened and it poured and poured. People took refuge in their tents; including me. Across the way, was Big Marty's big TeePee, with what must have been about 30 people in it; and him and Wally were doing an impromptu gig with Stevie Blues. I was happy listening... I was exhausted, and content.

We all went to bed at around 4.30am. My sleeping pill worked withing minutes; and that was my Glasgowbury 09.

A lot of work is put into that festival every year, and its growing; and if it wasn't for people like Stella Glasgow, Paddy Glasgow and all the G'Bury crew, it would turn into a monster; but with people like that in control; it'll always be the best festival in the world and the biggest highlight in any Irish musician's year.



Cheers for reading

J