Glastonbury Diary: Day 1

So this weekend was a big one for us as we we're off to Glastonbury! It was the 1st time at the festival for Urusen as a band, as well as the 1st time ever for Nick and I. So stocked up with rum, face wipes and pepperami (150% pork - figure that one out!) we set off down our favourite stretch of British tarmac (the good old M4) for Worthy Farm.

We arrived at the sight after some negotiating with security to ensure that my van Valerie was allowed to park in the special reserved area (not because she's ugly, she just had the wrong ticket!) where we were met by Colin who ferried us down onto the site (1st bit of luxury!) along with our gear. We were joined in transit by a band called Mik Artistik who had been travelling since 11am the previous morning and were taking it easy this year after having played 14 times last year - we thought 4 on our debut was impressive!

Anyways, campsite made (Ben arrived the night before and literally hoisted a Urusen flag to mark our territory) we sped off to our 1st gig - a 2pm slot in the backstage theatre stage bar. It was a perfect way to open our Glasto account, a really chilled affair with cajon instead of drums and doubling up on mics for harmonies. There was a moment of excitement when I thought I'd spotted Johnny Lee Miller in the audience, but it turned out to be a false alarm!


With a couple of hours to kill until the next show (8pm in the Avalon Cafe) we went for a bit of an explore. The sun was baking and there was already 1000s of people milling around the site - a trigger for us all to very much get into the
festival spirit. Meanwhile, Ben slipped off to do a quick interview for Glastonbury Radio, which led to an interesting meeting that could end up with Urusen doing a Ministry of Sound chilled session - who'd have thought!!


The Avalon Cafe is the second stage in the Fields of Avalon. It had doubled in size since last year and was a great venue for us. When we took to the stage the crowd was a good one but then, as if things couldn't get any better (we were playing at Glastonbury after all!) the heavens opened, driving ever more people into the shelter of the tent and by the end of the gig the whole place was rocking - in a Urusen-stylee! We all agree it was up there with the best gigs we have ever played - we were all walking on air for the rest of the night, and so a big thank you is in order for everyone who braved the rain to come out and see us. We celebrated with a few Ciders and a bit more exploring, before heading back to the tents to escape the rain. What a day - and the festival hadn't even begun yet!