This is a question that could apply to all music festivals to be honest, but for the sake of argument, I will use Glastonbury.

The question sounds like the sort of thing asked by a long haired aging hippy that remembers when festivals were ‘all about the music, man’.    

There is a school of thought that thinks festival goers of yore were the equivalent of wine connoisseurs, drinking only for the taste and sophistication. Whereas festival goers now are like louts that drink only to get drunk and basically enjoy being in surroundings where, pretty much, anything goes. 

This is a flawed argument. Every regular festivalite I know attends for both reasons, and I would be surprised if that has ever changed. The gatherings in the sixties were notorious for drug abuse, alcoholism and, in the worst cases, fatal violence. All of this is nostalgically looked back on as all being done in the name of ‘open mindedness’ and ‘finding new levels to appreciate music and life’ from.  

It is certainly fair to say that the music genres at festivals are becoming slightly blurred. Jay-z’s performance at Glastonbury in 2008 was a watershed moment in the festival, when it officially cut its ties with its folk and guitar past. That is simply moving with the times and supplying demand, after all, the festival is a business. 

What are your thoughts though? Have festivals lost their special meaning? Did they ever have one? Have they always just been a good excuse to sit in a field, listen to music and let your hair down for a weekend, and if so, is that such a bad thing? In a word; probably no. (irony)  

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