In-Tents Questioning: Glastonbury - Katie Lee
Katie Lee is Shiny Media's Editorial Director, which means that what she says is quite literally gospel. She went to Glastonbury this year and the first thing she did afterwards - before even removing her wellies - was answer our questions about her experiences. She told us all about she-pees, sinking stalls and pear cider.
1. Kindly tell us your name, age and where you’re from. Now.
Katie Lee, 28, currently residing in London.
2. Which festival have you recently attended?
Glastonbury.
3. Have you attended this festival before? If yes, how does this year compare?
I have attended this festival many times before and this year was probably the one with the most drizzle.
4. Which act gave the best performance, and why?
I really enjoyed King Creosote on the Sunday night on the Park stage. There were only about 100 of us who’d stuck out the shit weather, and there was a real party mood to it. The Earlies came on, as well as Adem and King Creosote’s brother (who is lead singer of the Aliens) and they were all having a lovely time, hitting tambourines and fiddling about with percussion instruments. It was like music class in primary school.
On the way back, I walked past Corinne Bailey Rae on the Jazz World stage and she only had about 200 people there. I think on Sunday night a lot of people let the rain get the better of them – although anyone willing to stand in the rain and mud to watch Corinne Bailey Rae is clearly mad.
5.If you could have promoted one act on the bill to headline status, who would you choose? Why?
Probably the Arcade Fire, who were on the Other Stage on Friday. The sound was awful (the sound was a constant problem all the way through this year’s festival) and everyone had crushed so far in that it was impossible to get anywhere near the stage. They were meant to be one of my festival highlights, but I hate the Other Stage - the sound was shocking, the view was terrible and in the end we just gave up and went over to see Hot Chip.
6. Did your opinion of any acts change radically as a result of their performance?
I know a lot of people enjoyed the Cold War Kids, but I thought the singer came across as grumpy and arrogant, and he shouted the whole way through instead of singing properly. Also, Amy Winehouse’s “performance” was bum-clenchingly embarrassing.
7. Nicest surprise / biggest disappointment (music-related or otherwise)?
Nicest surprise: The Earlies were great and I didn’t really know them before. The fact that I randomly happened to witness the admiration that people feel for Pete Doherty was nice as well. It felt a bit like watching a poorly-rehearsed busker who’d just learned how to play guitar, but the atmosphere was lovely and it stopped drizzling.
Biggest disappointment: There were lots for me this year – the terrible sound problems (especially Arcade Fire and the Killers), plus the fact that we just couldn’t face trekking through the mud to see Beirut (although Willie Mason was great and I’m glad I was there to sing along with everyone). And the fact that I finally gave in at the end and went back to my nice warm van, meaning I missed Gruff Rhys headline the Park and Bill Bailey on the Theatre stage.
8. What was the best heckle you heard?
“TURN IT UP, TURN IT UP, TURN IT UP” through the first half of the Killers performance. Apparently it was all to do with licensing restrictions and meteorological conditions and all that blah-de-blah, but it was ridiculous nonetheless. Funnily enough, the upside of the shit sound was that we made friends with all the people around us so we could all indulge in a good moan.
8. Any high-quality onstage banter you feel deserves highlighting?
Gruff from the Super Furries always gives good banter. He started rambling on about how “this next song is for the All Day Breakfast stall that’s sinking in the mud over there. It says it’s All Day Breakfast, but it’s now turned into a kebab shop, because it’s PM”. Not particularly hilarious in and of itself, but Gruff has perfect comedy timing and Welsh accent, so everything he says is funny to me.
Also, King Creosote said “anyone see us earlier at the Guardian Lounge? We were great back then, but then we discovered these fantastic things – large glasses of coke with rum in them.” He was smashed.
9. What was the funniest moment (music-related or otherwise)?
Getting really drunk on Saturday (the only way to deal with the mud). After that, everything was funny and we all had a lovely time. We also went and sat in the dry of the cabaret tent and laughed heartily to Jeremy Hardy.
10. Weirdest moment (if different)?
Using the She-pees was pretty weird. Also, having mocked the She-Pees, we girls soon realised how much sense they made and there was a mini-riot when they shut at 9pm. A couple of (presumably) pilled-up girls shouted “what would you do if we just went right here?” at the staff, and before they had time to say “we’d call the green police on you” the girls had pulled down their pants and started weeing right there in front of us all. I was scandalised.
11. Any moments of sheer terror you’d like to share?
I don’t think I experienced the emotion of terror the whole time I was there.
12. Anything you wish you’d brought with you?
The Whiz that I was sent ages ago to review and treated as a huge joke. It’s basically a plastic funnel for girls to wee through, and it would have made life a lot easier – disrobing with a large muddy coat on is no fun. I also wish I’d bought a porta potty for my campervan. Before the festival, I thought it would be disgusting. However, I soon realised that cleaning out your own loo is preferable to using a public one.
I’m not obsessed with toilets, by the way. I know it sounds that way, but that’s just what Glastonbury does to everyone. Honest.
13. Anything you wish you’d left behind?
I really didn’t need all those pairs of flip flops.
15. Please mark the following elements out of 10, with any comments:
General facilities:
3/10. We paid 50 quid extra for our campervan field and the loos were 2 fields away
Crowd / audience:
7/10. Not as good as usual, I thought – too many po-faced kids in skinny jeans. But we still made some nice friends and the ones that stuck through the rain and mud were troopers.
Food and drink value for money:
9/10. The food was great, and I developed a strange liking for Brother’s Pear Cider.
16. Finally – anything else you’d like to mention?
I'd just like to reiterate that I’m NOT obsessed with toilets.
Thanks for taking part in our humble questionnaire. Your place in heaven is assured (assuming you haven’t previously murdered anyone).
Have you attended a festival? Would you like to undergo some In-Tents Questioning? Get in touch at stuart(at)shinymedia.com! You too could see yourself all up in the internet! "Woot"!
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