Twas the third day of Wilderness when all through the festival grounds, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse. On Saturday morning, Storm Antoni dumps a deluge of rain on Cornbury Park that turns every surface to mud. Typically, on each one of the four days that it runs, Wilderness is awake by 8am with revellers engaging in morning yoga or a cheeky barre class. Others stumble bleary-eyed in search of a coffee after an evening spent in the hedonistic late-night area The Valley. But not this morning. Instead, a downpour of near biblical proportions threatens to keep campers firmly ensconced in their tents.
As rumbling tummies eventually force festival-goers out into the cold rain, though, it becomes clear that even torrential conditions can’t dampen the spirit of this festival. Despite Wilderness often being mocked as the UK’s most middle-class, bougie festival – which, to be fair, it is – the sense of community that radiates throughout every area is palpable. People share umbrellas, and offer up spare rain ponchos to one another. Music, comedy and activities keep people shuttling from tent to tent, while the bartenders and food vendors work hard to keep the libations flowing through each cloudburst.
