World of Chig   

19.6.02

Glasto shocker


Worrying news today from the organisers of next week's Glastonbury Festival. They have apparently said that they are not going to show the World Cup final on the Sunday, EVEN IF England are in it. According to Radio 5 Live this lunchtime, they're trying to say that Glasto is a musical and cultural festival. Yes. And? Can't argue with that, but what's the most predominant aspect of popular culture at the moment? It's football.

I was taking it for granted that they were putting up screens, and I'll be absolutely appalled if this is true, and will probably drive off the site to go and watch it somewhere else. However, a music journalist on Simon Mayo's R5L show said he thinks the organisers will have to rethink this, because the village pubs in Glastonbury probably won't hold 100,000 people(!) I certainly hope they do, but they'd better hurry up about it. You can't just find huge video screens at a moment's notice, unless they were just going to
use those at the side of the main stage. At Glasto '98 though, we watched one of England's World Cup games in a different field, on a screen which I think was erected for the occasion. And bloody fantastic it was too, even though it was POURING with rain and it was only a first round group game. They can't deny us this time, surely? I'll be very, very angry if they do.

The other point to make is that the game is at noon, so it doesn't affect ANYTHING on the music stages, and the acts performing on the Sunday include Rod Stewart, Isaac Hayes and Roger Waters anyway, so no one under 40 will be very interested.

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