Visiting the town to take part in Glastonbury Calling one day music festival, we took time to explore and search the town for props for our music video. There is no shortage of gothic, fantasy, creative, wicca, crystal and healing shops and a constant aroma of patchouli so of course we had no trouble finding 2 pairs of fairy wings. We loved the town, had to explore the tor, and were really impressed with the organisation of the festival…
Glastonbury Calling celebrated its 10th anniversay this year. Of course, everyone has heard of Glastonbury Festival and the name has become linked with music, so it’s not surprising that a one day music festival does well here. But you can bet it still takes a lot of hard work. Thirty acts performed across five venues between 2.15 pm and midnight. Tickets are just £20 for access to all music at all venues and, for the first time, they sold out this year. Each venue had a ticket desk where you exchanged your online booking for your ‘access all’ wristband. The venues varied in size, all pub venues having a function room, so if one venue were to get at full capacity then ticket holders would have to choose a different venue or wait for a space. Obviously the system works.
We were on second at The Riflemans Arms, after Gurt Dog – folky rock-bangers, brimming with West Country history, politics and wry humour. We started our set with Chiddingly Onion Pie Murder and by the end had the audience singing along with Judge, Jury and Executioner. It was great fun and we stayed on there to hear Nature Is Noisy (a solo version from Cameron Patrick Scott as the band has gone their happy separate ways since being booked) before going to grab a curry and watching The Kahunas (indie, urban, celtic folk) and ending our evening with a bop to ska punk from Shoot The Moon. The whole place is full of every kind of outfit from druids, hippies, punks, angels, fairies to rockers and a bit of steam punk. As our song goes, any looks is right here!
After a fairly early night due to a long drive on Saturday, we woke to the smell of freshly baked bread in the Airbnb and enjoyed a real coffee and a chat with our musical hosts – it was almost like staying with ourselves! We then headed up to the tor but didn’t walk too far up as we had a lunch appointment near Chew Magna (!). There was a real peace on the hill – it could just have been a bit of post gig euphoria, combined with a cold but beautifully sunny morning and birdsong, but we could feel something special about the place. The suggestion that Joseph came there to bury the holy grail seems a little far fetched, but hey, it’s all about belief which is fine.
