Phil Rich: Why Glastonbury Works
Part of Glastonbury’s charm therefore exists in a collective simplification of this work/reward binary. The physical effort of dragging a heavy trolley means that you can create your temporary home. The greater effort you put in, the greater environment you are able to create for yourself. The greater this environment, the more pleasurable it is going to be. This explicit, simple cause and effect is inherently satisfying. Glastonbury is just as much about creation as it is about passive enjoyment.
I’ve never been to Glastonbury but in his postmortem on this year’s festival, I feel like my buddy Phil Rich arrives at something of a universal conclusion with regard to big music festivals. There’s always some amount of discomfort involved in the festival experience (temperature, weather, distance, fatigue, etc.) and yet, so many of us patronize festivals year after year knowing full well that we’re going to be baking in the hot sun for days on end. I think Phil is right to point out that festivals allow us to feel like we’ve “earned” the right to see a performance, thereby making the payoff that much more satisfying. No pain, no gain, right?
