What a freaking movie. So many twists and turns. Absolutely intense from start to finish.

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Glastonbury is special, a festival you can go to where the sum is greater than all the parts, where the lunacy of the some of the punters is as essential a part as the headline acts a festival you can lose yourself in.As a Glasto veteran from 1981 until the present I was fascinated by what this film would show, would it reflect the nature, feel and fun of Glasto, would it portray the worst with the best, most of all would you get a feel for the magic of it and would a veteran be transported back there for a couple of hours.This film succeeds on all counts. Beautifully edited with a soundtrack including as wide a range of the music as has been encountered in Michael Eavis' fields I did indeed feel transported.It manages to reflect all the essential elements, the people and the lunacy, the beauty, the sounds, the sights and even the smells of Glastonbury.It tells the history accurately with no punches pulled. It shows the terrible mud and floods as well as the beautiful in one scene of a trapeze artist suspended under a balloon.It captures the spirit of Glastonbury Festival.A magnificent achievement.

If, like me you're aching for the start of the festival season, and mourning the fact that there isn't a Glastonbury this year; this DVD is a must to buy!!! Directed by Julien Temple, this film is one of the most absorbing and inspiring music films I've ever seen! I left the Cinema singing my favourite Morrissey songs, (Come on Mozza) missing the Mud, (did you loose your tent last year?) and looking forward to next year already.Although some of the content left me yearning for times gone by, (John Peel ROCKS).... Some of the music is just CLASS.. such as Coldplay, The Scissor Sisters, Radiohead, Blur, Foo Fighters, Fun Lovin' Criminals, David Bowie, Goldfrapp, Kaiser Chiefs, The Killers, Nick Cave, REM, The White Stripes, Velvet Underground, Quintessence, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Terry Riley, Morrissey, Faithless, Melanie, Prodigy, Toots an the Maytals, Primal Scream, Richie Havens, Alabama 3, Billy Bragg, Ernest Ranglin, Black Uhuru, Cypress Hill, The Skatalites, Babyshambles, The Levellers, David Gray, Bjork, Stereo MCs, Chemical Brothers, Dr.John, Joe Strummer & the Mescaleros, , Pulp, Beck, Noel Gallagher, The Dandy Warhols, Moby, James Brown Watch this Documentary / Film to bring the memories flooding back, its the second best thing after going to Glastonbury!!!!!!

Attended a film event at the Colston Hall in Bristol of Julien Temple's documentary about the well known UK festival, from its origins in 1970 as a free festival - clock the footage of folk singer Melanie really giving her all here, plus various archive footage reminiscent of Woodstock - right up to the massive corporate-sponsored event it is today. My wife works for a well-known phone company so we got tickets quite easily and at a reduced rate and she now wants to volunteer to work on the phone charging stand . . . but won't sleep in a tent! Anyway, this movie does not run in any chronological sequence but intersperses past footage with more recent festivals, with a very in-your-face approach. Watch as eager freeloaders try to scale the Superfence and get chased away by security gorillas. Be reminded of heavy-handed police tactics of the Battle of the Beanfield in 1985, which inspired segments of both books I wrote(and promote on appropriate websites.) and also discover why organiser Michael Eavis had to let travellers leave when anarchist types infiltrated them and ruined an otherwise peaceful community. Mud lovers will also revel in footage of last year's flooding shambles and various drunken antics! Clock the entertainers and garish, freakish but very funny and well designed costumes they wear! Go harmonise with nature . . . hee. Live music footage includes Coldplay, Scissor Sisters, Bob Marley, Billy Bragg, David Gray, Chemical Brothers, Velvet Underground(I loved these in my youth!), David Bowie . . . and ROLF HARRIS.Like another reviewer stated, it almost feels like you are there in amongst the madness and noise. Having worked behind the scenes last year on site there with scaffolding for the TV tower situated in front of the main pyramid stage, walking atop the stage(half built!), asking lots of questions(research!), and clearing up afterwards, it was a fascinating and hugely entertaining piece of history brought to life. Whatever music you like, there's something for everyone here. I have to say that I would not like the job of the cleaners in a certain part of the event.But not only did we get the movie, we also got a short acoustic set by The Levellers, which for me brought back so many memories of 1990-1992, I followed them when they toured with New Model Army, met them, got crammed into a small Leicester venue called the Princess Charlotte while those that couldn't get in listened in the streets in 1990, and had fun. This band still have all that energy, even seated playing acoustic! Highly recommended.

Living near the Glastonbury Festival site gives me a rather different perspective from that of the visiting Festival fan. And this film offers both views - that of the "local" and that of the visitor to mid-Somerset. Covering all 30 something years of the festival's life, Julien Temple's film distills many hundreds of hours of professional film, archive film and home movie into just over two hours and really makes you feel that you spent a whole weekend there. Just like the Festival, there are different experiences for different audiences and those who love the festival for rock music will have some considerable reward with lovely filming (and soundtrack) of the main stage acts. Others who spend their time in the more alternative areas of the festival are also rewarded with extraordinary performers. A few of the punters are great value too - look out for the young man who had been there far too long although he could just about remember that he arrived "last Sunday". Most interesting for me was the piece of contemporary social history that the film delivers. The first years of love and peace, followed by the travellers' convoys, the gradual growth of the corporate influence and the era of the all-encompassing wall chart our own memories of the festival through more than three decades. Some of the earliest archive footage is wonderful with great characters drawn from Pilton, the village near Glastonbury that hosts the Festival. Television coverage from those years will show you how much life has changed - as indeed have the TV presenters themselves. And the journey that Michael Eavis has himself taken over this mighty era is nicely covered too. The stars of the show are, for me, the family who have the unenvied responsibility of clearing the loos early each morning. Father and his two sons - not men to tamper with - note that it's not a bad job "early mornings and plenty of people to talk to" but the graphic footage of their work might make you think it's the worst job in Somerset! Edited in a way that doesn't do the work for you - years mixed together, no names for interviewees or performers - means you have to keep focused but at the end of the film I was left with a clear and enjoyable image of the journey the festival and its people have taken.