Glastonbury Festival Tales [Illustrated] [Hardcover]

"No coffee table is complete without this glossy retrospective of the coolest festival"

"a comprehensive history of the country's biggest party...an incredible story"

"a fascinating oral history"

"admirably thorough...anecdotes that keep you turning the pages"

"a great book"

Over the years Glastonbury has swollen in size from an event with a mere 5,000 visitors in 1970 to a mammoth 'city in the fields' attracting over 100,000 paying customers and over 40,000 performers, workers and site staff. This book will be told in the stories and largely unseen photographs of all these people who have contributed to, performed at or simply been part of the Glastonbury phenomenon since it began. Michael Eavis, the organiser and owner of the Somerset farm where the festival takes place, will talk alongside his closest friends and family about the beginnings of Glastonbury and its development. In this book you will hear from the melting pot of people that make Glastonbury such a unique and remarkable event including Bob Dylan, the Man with the Hundred Foot Arms, Chris Martin, David Bowie and the legendary engineer who is in charge of waste disposal for the tented city. It will be an oral history from everyone involved; those who understand the importance of the festival, not just as the best live music festival in the country but also as a cultural and social event like no other. This will be the definitive book for everyone who has ever been or wanted to go to Glastonbury.

The definitive oral history of one of the world's greatest music festivals --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Told in the words and photographs of the people who have contributed to, performed at, or simply turned up and enjoyed Britain's biggest music event, Glastonbury Festival Tales lifts the lid on what makes the festival such an extraordinary and enduring occasion.

Written by John Shearlaw and Crispin Aubrey, journalists and members of the Glastonbury press office with unrivalled access to the people who make the festival what it is, this definitive volume features a remarkable collection of voices from the festival's past and present: performers - David Bowie, Fatboy Slim, Moby, Chris Martin, the Chemical Brothers, Rolf Harris, Bill Bailey and the late John Peel - fans, welfare workers, music journalists, stage builders, the organisers Michael and Emily Eavis and even the legendary man who deals with Glastonbury's city of waste,.

Tracing its history from a small, local festival in 1970 to today's mammoth 'city in the fields', through the court cases, the riots, the fence-scalings and the shootings not to mention the music, the mud, the drugs and the celebration, Glastonbury Festival Tales is the book for everyone who has ever been or wanted to go to Glastonbury.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

John Shearlaw, journalist, columnist, film researcher and author, has worked for the Glastonbury Press Office since 1995 and has been involved with the festival since it began, giving him unrivalled access to every area of the organisation. He is also a key researcher for the forthcoming Glastonbury film, due out in 2004. Crispin Aubrey is a journalist and author who has written for many publications including the Guardian and Time Out. Now based in Somerset, Crispin has been involved with the festival for the last twenty years as punter, stall-holder, volunteer and press officer.