Summary (by AI): I was fascinated by my visit to the Glastonbury Festival site in Somerset, where I finally saw the iconic Pyramid Stage and marveled at its history and scale.
Blog: I have never been to Glastonbury, and it is to my great annoyance that I've never actually managed to get there. I do love my music, but I’ve always been a little bit wary of going, just in terms of the whole shenanigans of camping—traipsing around, wondering what the weather is going to be like, and all that sort of stuff.
I do, however, religiously follow it on the BBC. I'll sit and get my TV out into the back garden to have a little mini Glastonbury camp-up of my own. One of the things I really want to do is go and see not just the main stage, but all of the alternative venues, which always look completely fascinating. The thing that really fascinates me is the fact that the whole of that Glastonbury valley just transforms into a mini-city. The organisation behind it must be immense, and I just love those flyover shots you see of all the campsites stretching out into the distance. It’s just incredible.
Anyway, I was off to Somerset recently, and I was thinking about what I could look at from a landmark perspective. I thought, you know what? It’s not quite a statue, but the Pyramid Stage basically works because I knew it was a permanent structure.
It was a lovely day, so I ended up plugging it into Google Maps and followed the directions. As I drove, I could sense I was getting closer. I could see where the campsites usually are and catch some of those brilliant views you see from the hills on the BBC's TV coverage. But it turns out you can’t actually get to the Pyramid Stage itself, even though Google Maps claimed you could. Instead, I ended up driving down a road that led me right into Worthy Farm—which is obviously the heart of it all, where Emily and Michael Eavis live. There were signs up saying "No turnaround, you must have come down here by mistake"—not in an aggressive way, but just letting you know you'd gone down the wrong route. It was quite funny, but I realised I wasn't going to be able to get too close that way.
As I was driving away from Worthy Farm, I noticed a little turning off and realised I was on top of a hill. I pulled off, walked into the middle of a field, and there it was, laid out in front of me: the whole Glastonbury landscape, with the Pyramid Stage right in the middle of it.
It turns out that the original stage was built in 1971, on a one-tenth scale of the Great Pyramid of Giza. The second one, built in 1981, was a permanent version that actually doubled as a cowshed during the winter, but that one burned down in 1984. The current stage is the third iteration. It stands over 30 metres tall, is made of about four tonnes of steel, and is positioned specifically so that the sun rises directly behind it during the summer solstice, which I think is quite cool.
Standing there in that field, looking out at the stage, I thought about how incredible it is that you are in the middle of this beautiful West Country valley, yet some of the most famous artists in the world—David Bowie, Adele, Beyoncé, Metallica, Kanye West, and The Smiths—have all played on that exact stage. It is absolutely fascinating.
Emily and Michael Eavis must have had the most incredible lives, having all of that going on in their backyard for the last fifty years. I will definitely get there myself one day.
The Map: