Two first-time Glastonbury attendees said they are “ready to have a go… and then suffer” as thousands descended on the festival site after the gates officially opened.
Hot sunshine was interspersed with torrential showers in Somerset on Wednesday, soaking early arrivals at Worthy Farm, while others prepared to party.
Kathy Sharp, 53, and her 55-year-old husband Tony, from Liverpool, said they decided to go for the first time after their daughter came home “raving” about Glastonbury last year.
“Our daughter came last year for the first time, so she came home and was raving, and it’s on Tony’s bucket list,” Mrs Sharp told the PA news agency.
“I think (her) experience made us more eager to try and get the tickets.”
The couple set off at midnight to get to the festival with their daughter, but were swiftly left to their own devices once they arrived.
Mr Sharp, who is hoping to see US rockers Guns N’ Roses, said: “We came down on the coach with them and she basically said ‘Right, you go in that field over there, and we’ll go in that field over there!’
“We’re ready to have a go for five days and then suffer when you get home, that’s the way it goes!”
Meanwhile, rain-soaked festival-goers said they had experienced a “whole week” of weather on the first day of the festival.
Edyta Krzesak, a music photographer from Minehead, Somerset, was wearing a T-shirt, trousers, bucket hat and sunglasses and was left “soaking wet” by a heavy downpour at 11.30am.
“I would say it’s been the whole week in one day,” the 45-year-old told PA.
“It’s been a fresh morning, kind of breezy – it was cold when I woke up – then it was extremely hot when I had my breakfast, then it kind of cooled down.
“Now look at me… I don’t have even my waterproof coat, I left them at my tent thinking I will not need them and I’m soaking wet.”
Ms Krzesak, who is at her eighth Glastonbury, said the weather “could always be worse” as she recalled “horrendous” mud at Worthy Farm in previous years.
“Our little car was pulled from the mud by a tractor… (and) getting my trolley through the mud – it was horrendous,” she said.
“I came home I was soaking wet, I was so tired – but I still did it (the) next year.”
Seasoned Glastonbury attendee Dave Lowe, 36, from Manchester, advised other festivalgoers to drink “plenty of water” and to “look after each other”.
“We left Manchester at half-one on the coach, so an overnight trip. Managed to get some sleep on the coach, which was nice – the overnight trip is usually like stepping through the looking glass, so you lose a load of sleep on your first day without doing anything,” he told PA.
“It’s always good to get a nice spot – we like to be able to chill and watch what’s going on over there in the morning when we wake up. We’ve got the Windrush choir this weekend, so we’ll be serenaded by them at midday when we awake from whatever we’ve been doing the night before.”
On tips for others at the festival, Mr Lowe said: “If you’re camping here, make sure you bring earplugs, because they start doing the sound tests pretty early, and that’ll blow you out of your tent!
“Plenty of water, stay hydrated, have a good time, and look after your neighbours, and look after each other.”
Somerset residents who live less than 10 miles from Worthy Farm and have been to the festival dozens of times said they set off at 11.30pm on Tuesday so they could pitch their tent next to the Pyramid Stage.
Mike Bash, a 37-year-old project manager working in construction, told PA: “We left about 11.30pm last night and arrived at quarter past midnight, then stayed up in the queue and had a few beers.”
Mr Bash is at the festival with a group including 66-year-old Nigel Bryant, who has been to the festival more than 20 times and said his favourite memory was featuring in a Lily Allen music video.
The pair said they have made “great friends” at the event.
Asked what makes it special, Mr Bash said: “The spirit – it’s free, you can go where you want and do what you want.”
